History on Fire

EPISODE 97: The Psychology of Power in History: A Conversation with Aziz Al-Doory

“…we venerate the crooks, rapists, and pillagers credulous historians have repackaged as ‘founders,’ ‘conquerors,’ and ‘civilize.’ We erect statues and consecrate tombs to commemorate their difference-making. But in fact, most of these monuments memorialize the dark deeds of unhinged lunatics ...

EPISODE 96: The Wildest Man You Have Never Heard Of: Thomas Morton

“The Puritans feared that which was undomesticated.” — Jeff Hendricks“Our earliest American heroes were Morton’s oppressors, Endicott, Bradford, Miles Standish. Merry Mount’s been expunged from the official version because it’s the story not of a virtuous utopia but of a ...

Feed Drop For "This Job Is History"

Where the oddest jobs from the past meet a comedian from the present… and it’s awkward! On this weekly show, Chris Parnell (SNL, Rick and Morty) welcomes guests who have held some of human history’s most unexpected and downright bizarre ...

EPISODE 95: Tom Le Forge: The Real Dances with Wolves

“The adopted father gave away many presents to the people, and these in turn gave presents to me. Thus I became a Crow Indian, a brother of Three Irons and a son of Yellow Leggings, who was a leading counselor ...

EPISODE 94: The Last War Chief

“Reflecting upon the chiefs I had known, I realized that here had never been one who was very well off. Poverty was part of a chief’s obligations…” — Frank Bird Linderman “While we painted ourselves the drums kept beating, and ...

EPISODE 92: Jujitsuffragettes With Attitude

“…a mad, wicked folly…” — Queen Victoria about the notion of women having the right to vote“When I watched a policeman fell a girl to the ground and kick her across the platform, my only regret was that I had ...

EPISODE 78: Bruce Lee (Part 2)

“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none ...

EPISODE 85: The Siege That Changed All of History

“I cut off their heads. I burned them with fire. With their blood I dyed the mountain red like red wool. Men I impaled on stakes. The city I destroyed, devastated… the young men and maidens I burned in the ...

EPISODE 77 Bruce Lee (Part 1)

“Energy is eternal delight.” William Blake “Hong Kong in the 1950s was a depressed place. Post–World War II Hong Kong had suffered from unemployment, a poor economy, over-crowding, homelessness, and people taking advantage of each other. Gangs roamed the street, ...

EPISODE 67 Ripples of History

“If I knew the way, I would take you home.” From the song Ripple by the Grateful Dead “The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” Bertrand Russell “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan ...

BONUS EPISODE Dan Carlin’s “The End Is Always Near”

“That is the nicest guilt trip anybody has ever given me in my entire life.” — Dan Carlin Dan Carlin is one of my all time favorite human beings, and on top of that an incredible podcaster. He’s now a ...

EPISODE 52 The Lady and Her Gun

“It's just incredible that this little hand has killed Nazis, has scythed them down by the hundreds, without missing…” Charlie Chaplin “Miss Pavlichenko's well known to fame, Russia's your country, fighting is your game, Your smile shines as bright as ...

EPISODE 52 The Lady and Her Gun

“It's just incredible that this little hand has killed Nazis, has scythed them down by the hundreds, without missing…” — Charlie Chaplin “Miss Pavlichenko's well known to fame, Russia's your country, fighting is your game, Your smile shines as bright ...

EPISODE 49 The Father of Martial Arts: Jigoro Kano (Part 1)

“It was a period of stupendous change and immense challenge; the entire social, political, and economic landscape of Japan would be transformed within a few decades. Just as this new era was dawning in Japan, Jigoro Kano was born, on ...

Welcome Message

Welcome to History on Fire. On this podcast feed you can find over 50 episodes of the History on Fire catalog featuring stories of Joan of Arc, Crazy Horse, gladiators in ancient Rome, and much more. For all new episodes ...

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EPISODE 47 Give Me Back My Legions! (Part 1)

“Bits of weapons and horses' limbs lay about, and human heads fixed to tree-trunks. In groves nearby were barbaric altars, where the Germans had laid the tribunes and senior centurions and sacrificed them.” Tacitus “It stands on record that armies ...

EPISODE 45 Sex, Sake and Zen: The Life of Ikkyu Sojun (Part 1)

“The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile sitting meditation.” — Ikkyu “Thirsty, you dream of water. Cold, you want fire. Not me: I want the firm warm breasts and ...

EPISODE 43 The Melian Dialogue (The Peloponnesian War and Morality in History)

“The strong do what they want, and the weak suffer what they must.” — Athenian embassy to Melos via Thucydides “As far as right and wrong are concerned, our people think there is no difference between the two—that those who ...

EPISODE 41 Joan of Arc (Part 3)

“We know that everything that she has said has come to pass, that her words are always confirmed by the event—she has in truth come to achieve great things in this world.” — Antonio Morosini“Go and camp for today, because ...

EPISODE 39 Joan of Arc (Part 1)

“No person in the Middle Ages, male or female, has been the subject of more historical studies than Joan of Arc.” — Kelly Devries“The life of Joan is such a flagrant beating of the odds that no facts sufficiently explain ...

EPISODE 37 The 47 Ronin (Part 2)

“Among other things, the Way of the Samurai requires that he realize that something may occur at any moment to test the depth of his resolution, and day and night he must sort out his thought and prepare a line ...

EPISODE 35 The Magliana Gang (Part 2)

“There was money that wasn’t coming back and the choice was between leaving some cardinal dead on the street or to strike someone close to the Pope. We chose the second path.” — Antonio Mancini “We of the Magliana gang ...

EPISODE 33 On Good and Evil: From My Lai to Sand Creek

“Most people are not evil. Most people are weak. And weakness is fertile ground where evil can thrive.” — DB"Every Day/ On our fellow man we prey/ Dog eat Dog/ To Get by/ Hope you like my genocide” — The ...

EPISODE 32A Anything That Moves (Part 1): The Parallel Stories of Sand Creek and My Lai

"Every Day/ On our fellow man we prey/ Dog eat Dog/ To Get by/ Hope you like my genocide” — The Offspring “Hello darkness, my old friend…” — Simon and Garfunkel“I believe now it is but the commencement of war ...