Discover the woman who commanded 70,000 pirates and owned the South China Sea.

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/mrs-cheng-ching-shih-pirate.htm

http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/the-pirate-ching-shih

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-chinese-female-pirate-who-commanded-80000-outlaws

https://library.um.edu.mo/ebooks/b35720116.pdf

Credits

Photo Credit: "Pirates: An Illustrated History of Privateers, Buccaneers & Pirates from the Sixteenth Century to the Present" (Londond, 1996). P.230. Book note mentions that, "this fanciful depiction is from History of Pirates of all Nations published in 1836"

"I can’t do it. I’ve got to get into something that brings me hard, solid gold in my hand."

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

Hatch, Thom. 2014. The last outlaws: the lives and legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Photo Credit:

CJDiJulius.myportfolio.com

Media Credit:

The Marty Ray Project

Also check out Marty Ray's podcast here!

I am extremely fortunate to have the chance to interview Mr. Donald Cooke. His story picks up after the Ayatollah has seized control of Iran. And so enjoy this sequel of sorts, told from an eye witness to the dramatic events surrounding the Iran Hostage Crisis.

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Photo Credit:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Iran-hostage-crisis

“We made the Shah what he has become. We nurtured his love for grandiose geopolitical schemes and supplied him the hardware to indulge his fantasies. Now, his regime is coming apart under the pressures of imported modernization.”

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

Milani, Abbas. 2012. The Shah. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Photo Credit:

CJDiJulius.myportfolio.com

Media Credit:

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Soularflair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXv2WLR9IEI&ab_channel=JudeTsang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkDKeij1CY&ab_channel=APArchive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NLb55uwgU&list=PLE2YFd8t5FbNW4ELDUB4bZjMCrvcQIXhg&index=5&t=0s&ab_channel=ThamesTv

"Dozens of stowaway microorganisms lurked on board, and Mir had developed the distinct aroma of sweaty men locked in a small house with cognac."

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/krikalyov_sergei.htm

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-last-soviet-citizen

Credits

Photo Credit: https://www.rbth.com/history/330415-last-soviet-citizen-cosmonaut

“Only fancy to yourself, an old German Baron, with a large brilliant star on his breast, three French aides-de-camp and a large, spoiled Italian dog, and none of all that company could speak a word of English.” 

https://www.patreon.com/writteninbloodhistory

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

Lockhart, Paul Douglas. 2010. The drillmaster of Valley Forge: the Baron de Steuben and the making of the American Army. New York: Harper.

Credits

Cover Art Credit: Courtney DiJulius

Music Credit: Dario

“Most of all the blood, my arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul.”

Patreon

Taubman, William. 2017. Khrushchev: the man, his era.

Cover Art Credit: Courtney DiJulius

Music Credit: Dario, Song of the Volga Boatmen - Red Army Chorus - Leonid Kharitonov

“I stayed alive while most of my contemporaries, my classmates at the Academy, my friends with whom I had worked in the party organization, lost their heads as enemies of the people." 

Patreon

Taubman, William. 2017. Khrushchev: the man, his era.

Cover Art Credit: Courtney DiJulius

Music Credit: Song of the Volga Boatmen - Red Army Chorus - Leonid Kharitonov

“Surely, in a building that had 1,942 keys, there were people who knew how to get down to these cellars without the permission of the authorities..."

Patreon

Further Reading/Principle Sources:

https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/08/26/unmasking-the-parisian-phantom-of-the-opera/

https://www.oldstyletales.com/single-post/2018/09/25/The-Phantom-of-the-Opera-Historical-Inspirations-Literary-Analysis-Film-Adaptations----a-Spooky-Spotlight-on-the-Gothic-Novel>

“Although born a slave I always felt that I was a man and ought to be free, and I would be free or die.”  

Patreon

Lineberry, Cate. 2018. Be free or die: the amazing story of Robert Smalls' escape from slavery to Union hero.

Cover Art Credit: Courtney DiJulius

Music Credit: Dario Tartagni