History on Fire

“Death poems

Are a delusion.

You just die.” Zen monk Kanzawa Toko

The tale of the 47 Ronin is one of the most renowned revenge tales to ever come out of Japan. It is the subject of countless books, plays, and movies. It is also a story that has ignited never-ending debates. Some people argue that the 47 Ronin were paragons of virtue—perfect embodiments of the loyalty and honor that should be expected from the samurai. They offered the answer to the riddle that was plaguing the samurai at the beginning of the 1700s: what does being a member of a warrior class at a time of enduring peace? Other people instead look at the same story and walk away feeling like the 47 Ronin were violent thugs animated by questionable motives. In this two-part series of History on Fire, we dive deep into legend & history to find answers.

In this episode:

-A crash course in Japanese history

-The transformation of the status of the samurai

-The curious institution of seppuku

-Ritual disembowelment as a way to say ‘sorry’

-Death poems

-The ‘Kaishakunin’—a pal who would cut your head off to spare you the prolonged agonies of ritual disembowelment

-The “Dog Shogun”

-Asano Naganori: “Given to pleasure in preference of the sober business of government.”

-The consequences of pulling a blade inside the Shogun’s palace

-Bonus revenge story: two angry sisters against a samurai

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“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 were street bandits. We loved robberies, without asking anyone’s permission, without compromises. I wanted a Ferrari? One hit and I’d buy it. Cops would take it from me? Another robbery and I’d buy it again. I enjoyed all my money. De Pedis instead would buy night clubs, restaurants, houses. He was the boss of Campo dei Fiori.” Antonio Mancini

“Of course you realize, this means war!” Bugs Bunny

This series is about the rise of a street gang that took over Rome in the 1970s and 1980s. The Magliana gang was not just one of many criminal organizations who operated in Italy. Among their business partners, they counted Italy’s most important politicians, bankers, secret services, and possibly the Vatican itself. The gang left an indelible mark on Italian history. The story of their rise to power and of the heyday of their rule truly is stranger than fiction. It’s the kind of story that makes you think that the Godfather 3 perhaps was a documentary after all. There are lots of books and documentaries about this story but they are nearly all in Italian, so it looks like I’m your man if you wanna hear this story in English—or whatever approximation of English I speak. In this episode:

-Some disturbing glimpses at how power operates away from the spotlight

-Corrado Carnevale “The Sentence Slayer”—the Supreme Court Justice most loved by the Mafia

-Fascist psychiatrist Aldo Semerari loses his head (in more ways than one)

-How the killing of journalist Mino Pecorelli was probably connected to one of Italy’s most powerful politicians

-The death of Franco Giuseppucci and the revenge war it ignited

-If life is a box of chocolates, Nicolino Selis got a very bad chocolate

-Abbruciati and the Banco Ambrosiano shootout just 1/3 of a mile from where I grew up

-Why banking for the Vatican is not good for your health: Michele Sindona and Roberto Calvi

-The Vatican Bank, money laundering for the Mafia, anti-communism and missing money

-The split in the gang: Testaccini vs. Magliana

-The Emanuela Orlandi kidnapping

-The Magliana internal war: Toscano, De Pedis, and informants

-Cooperative vs. competitive systems

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“A lifetime serving one machine

Is ten times worse than prison”

The Clash (from the song Bankrobber)

“We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all, just for the asking… Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. The keys to a dozen hideout flats all over the city…When I was broke, I would go out and rob some more. We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking.”

From the movie Goodfellas

“Drugs are power” Antonio Mancini

This series is about the rise of a street gang that took over Rome in the 1970s and 1980s. The Magliana gang was not just one of many criminal organizations who operated in Italy. Among their business partners, they counted Italy’s most important politicians, bankers, secret services, and possibly the Vatican itself. The gang left an indelible mark on Italian history. The story of their rise to power and of the heyday of their rule truly is stranger than fiction. It’s the kind of story that makes you think that the Godfather 3 perhaps was a documentary after all. There are lots of books and documentaries about this story but they are nearly all in Italian, so it looks like I’m your man if you wanna hear this story in English—or whatever approximation of English I speak. In this episode, we’ll see one of bloodiest gangsters in the late 20th century being buried among Cardinals; why law-abiding citizens are fascinated with gangsters; the genesis of the Banda della Magliana; the kidnapping of the Duke Massimiliano Grazioli Lante della Rovere; how the gang took over Rome; the gang becoming the liaison to the criminal underworld for Church and State; the story of The Years of Lead; Italian Prime Ministers being kidnapped by Communist guerrillas; the killing of Franchino Nicolini, and much more.

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“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 Offspring

“Hello darkness, my old friend…” Simon and Garfunkel

What makes seemingly normal men commit horrific acts against civilians during war? What allows some people to act heroically in the darkest circumstances and what makes others turn into monsters? How does training and leadership play into this? After discussing the stories of Sand Creek and My Lai in Episodes 32A and 32B, in this episode Darryl Cooper (The Martyrmade Podcast) and I sit down with retired Navy Seal, author and podcaster Jocko Willink (The Jocko Podcast) to tackle these questions.

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"Because I felt like I was ordered to do it, and it seemed like that, at the time I felt like I was doing the right thing." Private First Class Paul Meadlo explaining his role in the My Lai Massacre.

"How do you shoot babies?" Meadlo was then asked. His reply... "I don't know. It's just one of them things."

"I felt then and I still do that I acted as I was directed, and I carried out the order that I was given and I do not feel wrong in doing so." Lieutenant William Calley Jr. addressing his own leadership during the action.

"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’m not going to lie. This is one of the darkest episodes of History on Fire. But there are reasons for this journey into the heart of darkness. The stories of Sand Creek and My Lai offer an opportunity to explore human agency, the choices separating good and evil, and how some individuals can choose to become sources of light even in the most horrible circumstances. In part B, I hand the microphone to my friend and master podcaster Darryl Cooper (from The Martyrmade Podcast.) Darryl explores the context of the Cold War in order to come to terms with what happened at My Lai, in Vietnam, in 1968. Horror abounds, but if you are looking for heroes in the midst of the horror, you can do a lot worse than hear about the story of Hugh Thompson.

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"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 with this tribe, which must result in their extermination.” Major Jacob Downing

“Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! ... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians. ... Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice.” Quote attributed to Colonel John Chivington

“They were so honorable and so strong, but I felt like they were alone and sometimes when you want to do the right thing, the people that want to do the right thing suffer… even today.” Lorraine Waters about Silas Soule and Joseph Cramer

“It was hard to see little children on their knees… having their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized.” Silas Soule

I’m not going to lie. This is one of the darkest episodes of History on Fire. But there are reasons for this journey into the heart of darkness. The stories of Sand Creek and My Lai offer an opportunity to explore human agency, the choices separating good and evil, and how some individuals can choose to become sources of light even in the most horrible circumstances. In this first part, we will explore the events that in Colorado in the late 1850s and early 1860s led to a dramatic clash between the Cheyenne tribe and the United States. Within the context of this painfully ugly story, 26-year-old Captain Silas Soule offers a shining example of heroism.

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“It’s the steel that they love” Juvenal

“I needed money for wine” Titus Pullo in HBO’s series Rome

“We can live vicariously through that moment, or use it to fuel what we desire in life.” Jake Rossen  

"You must die erect and invincible. What difference will it make if you gain a few more days or years? We are born into a world in which no quarter is given." Seneca

“He who has learned how to die has learned how not to be a slave.” Seneca

"Joy... is the victim's revolt and revenge against dishonor and powerlessness." Carlin Barton

Ancient Romans were obsessed with gladiatorial combat. In this two-part series, we time-travel back to get a sense of what the Games (of which gladiatorial combat was the main attraction) were like. In this episode: how gladiators were both superstars and despised outcasts at the same time, gladiators’ groupies, Marcus Aurelius’ wife taking a bath in gladiator’s blood, Commodus and his 620-0 record in the arena, the clash between Christianity and gladiators, the evolution of MMA in the early 1990s, having your violent cake and eating it too, gladiatorial video games, Titus Pullo’s badassery, Conan’s prayer (The video of my daughter mentioned in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIh5zNfmm8), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, MMA fighter Enson Inoue, gladiatorial combat as a master course on Stoicism in action…

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"The stupid crowd is waiting eagerly

For the two valiant heroes to contend.                                                         

No farther than their noses can they see;

A spectacle is all they comprehend.” Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 30.27

Ancient Romans were obsessed with gladiatorial combat. In this two-part series, we time-travel back to get a sense of what the Games (of which gladiatorial combat was the main attraction) were like. In this episode: the origins of gladiators, human sacrifice, Achilles and the Iliad, feeding the dead with blood, who were the gladiators, female gladiators, the ludus, the different types of gladiators, the battles among the damnati, the naumachia, executions and ‘snuff plays’, the venatio, crushed by elephants or eaten by lions, the collapsing arena that killed over 20,000, the editor of the games, poor Romans eating lion for dinner, thumbs (up and down)...

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“No matter how much I make up, there’s stuff in history that’s just as bad, or worse.” George R.R. Martin

 “Though I would treasure your friendship, I am mainly interested in your facility with murder” Tyrion Lannister

“That’s what I do. I drink and I know things.” Tyrion Lannister

“If we don’t put aside our enmities and band together, we will die. And then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne.” Ser Davos Seaworth

Sansa “Now, I’m sure cutting off heads is very satisfying, but that’s not the way you get people to work together.” Sansa Stark

I always say that history is really no different from Game of Thrones (minus the dragons). The passion, brutality, the joys and heartbreak, human greatness and human pettiness… it’s all there. And as it turns out the connection between history and the world created by George R.R. Martin’s run deep. In this episode, I am joined by Aziz Al-Doory from The History of Westeros Podcast, and together we discuss some (definitely not all) of the ways in which history has influenced Game of Thrones. In this episode we’ll tackle: The Wall & Hadrian’s Wall, flaying, human sacrifice, feeding enemies to dogs, Agamemnon and Stannis Baratheon, parallels with the Bible, the Dothraki and nomadic steppe peoples, execution by molten gold, the real life examples of the High Sparrow, the walk of shame, the inquisition, the Red Wedding, the siege of Constantinople & the battle of Blackwater Bay, and much more.

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“He refused to allow anyone—white or black—or any laws and customs—to dictate his place in society or the manner in which he should live.” Al-Tony Gilmore

“This negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks.” Asst Atty. Gen. Harry Parkin

“No brutality, no infamy, no degradation in all the years of Southern slavery, possessed such a villainous character and such atrocious qualities as the provision of the laws of Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and other states which allow the marriage of the negro, Jack Johnson, to a woman of Caucasian strain… Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant to the very principles of a pure Saxon government. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy, and ultimately this slavery of white women to black beasts will bring this nation to a conflict as fatal and as bloody as ever reddened the soil of Virginia or crimsoned the mountain paths of Pennsylvania… Let us uproot and exterminate now this debasing, ultrademoralizing, un-American and inhuman leprosy.” Congressman from Georgia Seaborn Roddenberry

“It comes down, then, after all to this unforgivable blackness.” W.E.B. Du Bois

“I loved him because of his courage. He faced the world unafraid. There wasn't anybody or anything he feared.” Irene Pineau

“I would rather listen to you than hear an oration from a professional politician. I can learn more from you.” Mexican President Venustiano Carranza

By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson.

Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people.

Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo.

At this time when simply looking a white man in the eyes, or talking to a white woman, could get one lynched, Jack Johnson made a living beating the hell out of white men in the ring. Living defiantly as if prejudice didn’t exist—he felt—was the best way to defeat racism.

It would be easy to mistake Jack Johnson’s story simply as a tale of standing up to racism. It’s about that—sure. But it’s also about a lot more. Because as much Jack Johnson stared down white supremacy, he also battled those black people who insisted that he behaved like a hard-working, God-fearing role model. But JJ wasn’t about to trade a cage for another. He wouldn’t be anyone’s puppet. He would have no master telling him how to live—not white ones, but no black ones either. His story is the tale of a man who, in spite of a time and place that would not allow it, was on a defiant quest to be free, and live life on his own terms.

In this episode:

-The campaign to ban boxing

-Grappling with the demons of success

-Jack Johnson vs. Winston Churchill

-Marriage and suicide

-Legal persecution and marriage # 2

-The Police Gazette calling him “the vilest, most despicable creature that lives… he has disgusted the American public by flaunting in their faces an alliance as bold as it was offensive.”

-The paranoid hysteria at the roots of the Mann Act

-Running from the Law

-The title defense against Frank Moran

-At a party with Rasputin

-Rubbing elbows with Pancho Villa

-Jess Willard

-Prison life

-Marriage # 3

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