PODCAST · society
History on Fire
by Daniele Bolelli
Where history and epic collide--"History on Fire" is a podcast by author and university professor Daniele Bolelli.
Episodes
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EPISODE 120: A Lynching, Columbus Day and Italian Immigration
“[Italians are]… of questionable value from a mental, moral, or physical standpoint.” Anthropologist George Dorsey writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1910. “[Italians are]… biologically incapable of rising either now or through their descendants above the mentality of a 12-year-old child.” David...
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EPISODE 119: The History of Duels
“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split.” Robert E. Howard. "If he had shot me through the brain, sir, I should still have killed him." Andrew Jackson Since the dawn of time, human beings have killed each other in...
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[FEED DROP]: We The Founders (The Constitution) | Government That Doesn’t Suck
Government That Doesn't Suck is a Rewind Studios original podcast from the creators of History That Doesn't Suck, hosted by Professors Lindsey Cormack and Greg Jackson. Each episode digs into the surprising story of an American institution — from the origins of the internet, to the National Park...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 88: The Red Wedding
“I ask you why we must tear ourselves apart for this small question of religion?” from the movie Elizabeth Once upon a time Game of Thrones was the most watched show on earth, and I could freely make references to it knowing my listeners would get them. Then came the last season that was so...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 87: The ‘Death, Destruction and Damnation’ World Tour Reaches Florida
"I answered him that… I, as Captain-General of these provinces, was waging a war of fire and blood against all who came to settle these parts and plant in them their evil Lutheran sect... For this reason, I would not grant them a safe passage, but would sooner follow them by sea and land until I...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 86: The French Wars of Religion
“Nation… a term inherently so vague and so contradictory that it must always be taken in a mystic sense, as meaning whatever the ruling classes hold it convenient to mean at the moment.” Lewis Mumford This is a story about politics, faith, paranoia, betrayal and conspiracy theories. More...
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EPISODE 118: Woe to the Vanquished
“Everything resounded with the confused noise of terrifying threats and shrieks of despairing anguish blended with the wailing of women and children.” - Livy Later this year, I will launch a podcast that will run separately from History on Fire, and it will be entirely dedicated to Roman history....
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EPISODE 117: The Amistad Rebellion
This story has everything. Raids to enslave people. A bloody rebellion at sea. Piracy. A diplomatic crisis pitting Spain, the United States and England at odds with each other. High stakes courtroom drama which sparked intense clashes between abolitionists and cheerleaders of slavery. Some of the...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 84: History and Video Games
“We don’t need anyone to tell us what to do; not Savonarola, not the Medici. We are free to follow our own path. There are those who will take that freedom from us, and too many of you gladly give it. But it is our ability to choose—whatever you think it is true—that makes us human… There is no...
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EPISODE 116: The Daring Ones - The Arditi in WWI
“Se non ci conoscete, guardateci i coglioni, siamo gli Arditi del Capitan Mattioni.” Arditi song The Italian Army during WWI was not exactly a well-oiled military machine. In terms of supplies, logistics and leadership, it was a disaster… that is, until someone came up with an idea that didn’t…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 83: From Slavery to Boxing: The Story of Bill Richmond
“Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.” Friedrich Nietzsche “Boxing inhabits a sacred space predating civilization; or, to use D.H. Lawrence’s phrase, before God was love.” Joyce Carol Oates Stories that begin with slavery rarely end in happiness. I’m a huge fan of celebrating individual...
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EPISODE 115: Us vs. Them
“I love people as I meet them one by one. People are just wonderful as individuals. You see the whole universe in their eyes if you look carefully. But as soon as they begin to group, as soon as they begin to clot, when there are five of them or ten or even groups of smallest two, they begin to...
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Listen Now: American History Tellers | The Mayflower
The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 82: The Other 300 (Part 2)
“Take me back to the quarries.” Philoxenus “Pelopidas died as he’d lived, a freedom fighter who rushed fearlessly into the fray.” James Romm “As one approaches Chaeronea, there is a tomb of the Thebans who died in the battle with Philip. No inscription adorns it, but a monument stands over it in...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 81: The Other 300 (Part 1)
“There was no uproar, and no silence either, but that certain type of noise that results from anger and battle. Clashing shield on shield, they were shoving, fighting, killing, dying.” Xenophon “Pelopidas, after receiving seven wounds in front, sank down upon a great heap of friends and enemies…
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EPISODE 114: The Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana
“With P2, we had Italy in our hands. The Army, the Guardia di Finanzia, the police… they were all ruled by our members.” - Licio Gelli “Every week the streets of Milan were the theater of demonstrations, and were lit up by the fires of Molotov cocktails.” - Guido Passalacqua My childhood took…
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EPISODE 113: Rome’s Forgotten Guerrilla Master
“For many of those for whom there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the story of Sertorius should be an example and an inspiration.” - Philip Matyszak Here’s the tale of one of Rome’s greatest and least known generals. A master of guerrilla warfare, he defeated many legions sent after him…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 80: The Patriotic Mobsters
“Lucky will not be pleased to hear that you have not been helpful.” - Joe Adonis “The outcome of the war appeared extremely grave. In addition, there was the most serious concern over possible sabotage in the ports. It was necessary to use every possible means to prevent and forestall sabotage…
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EPISODE 112: Historical Daddy Issues
“The thought of him now and always has been a sense of comfort. I could breathe, I could sleep, when he had me in his arms. My father—he got me breath, he got me lungs, strength—life… The best I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness and great unselfishness.” -...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 79: Slavery
It was only a few generations ago when large numbers of people in United States saw nothing wrong with the notion of buying, selling and owning human beings. Weirder yet, some slave owners were masters in the mental gymnastics required to feel morally justified in enslaving members of their own...
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EPISODE 111: When Monsters Choose War
“It is our belief that Saddam wishes to return Islam to blasphemy and polytheism...if America becomes victorious...and grants victory to Saddam, Islam will receive such a blow that it will not be able to raise its head for a long time...The issue is one of Islam versus blasphemy, and not of Iran...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 76: Poets and Pirates, Sex and Drugs, Love and Music: D’Annunzio and L’Impresa di Fiume (Part 2)
“I am beyond Right and Left, just as I am beyond good and evil… I am a man devoted to life, not to formulas.” - Gabriele D’Annunzio “We are the only Italians worthy of being called Italians.” - Gabriele D’Annunzio This is the tale of one of the cultural-political experiments in modern history.…
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Poets and Pirates, Sex and Drugs, Love and Music: D’Annunzio and L’Impresa di Fiume (Part 1)
“We heard that D’Annunzio was coming, and Italy and freedom were coming with him.” - Anonymous Italian citizen of Fiume “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” - William Blake “Legionaries adore him. The men from the palace fear him. Little kids think he’s the devil.” - Leon…
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EPISODE 110: A Tale of Two Saints, St. Francis and Drukpa Kunley
“What are servants of God good for, if not for moving the hearts of men and elevating them to spiritual joy?” - St. Francis “I’ve come to help you all. Where can I find the best beer and the most beautiful women?” - Drukpa Kunley “I tried going to hell, but the path there was so packed with...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 74: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 2): Stoicism, Pandemic and War
“No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead.” - From the…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 73: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 1): Stoicism, Pandemic and War
“Rise up and do battle.” - Homer “Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you to become whatever you want to be.” - Deng Ming Dao Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny...
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EPISODE 109: The Mesoamerican Godfather
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” - Mario Puzo “Grant me revenge!” from Conan the Barbarian, 1982 “I am immortal” - Nezahualcoyotl I originally created this episode years ago, as I was researching the Spaniards’ invasion of the Mexica (aka Aztec) empire, when I run into this…
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EPISODE 108: Tattooed Headhunters of the Steppes
"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind… Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph." - Robert E Howard “Becoming a barbarian was often a bid to improve one’s lot.” - James C. Scott “We are riders; our business is with the bow and the...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 72: John Brown (Part 3): Violent Delights, Violent Ends
“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” - John Brown “If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment without the mockery of a trial.” - John Brown “John Brown, and a thousand John Browns, can invade us, and the...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 71: John Brown (Part 2): A Reckoning in Blood
“I think he [God] has used me as an instrument to kill men; and if I live, I think he will use me as an instrument to kill a good many more.” — John Brown “I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form.” —…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 70: John Brown (Part 1): Heartbreak & Slavery
In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early part of John Brown’s life and his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the ethics of punching a Nazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both pro and anti-slavery forces used...
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EPISODE 107: The Forge of the Samurai: The Genpei War Part 2
“This is how 70,000 horsemen of the Taira died, buried in this one deep valley; the mountain creeks ran red with their blood and the mound of their corpses was like a small hill.” - The Tale of the Heike “Tomoe had long black hair and a fair complexion, and her face was very lovely; but she was...
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EPISODE 106: The Forge of the Samurai: The Genpei War Part 1
“The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.” - The Tale of…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 69: Capturing Mussolini
“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” - Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini “The…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 68: My Grandma and Her Bombs: A Story of WWII
“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” - Benito Mussolini “Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 66: Sex in Ancient Rome
“From an author’s perspective, writing about sex is risky, because if you write well enough, evocatively enough, vividly enough, you make the reader want to put the book aside and go get laid.” - Tom Robbins “Let's live and love, Caring less than nothing for The moralizing of stern old men. The…
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EPISODE 105: Rationalizing Evil in El Salvador
“I didn’t know what to do. They were killing my children. I knew that If I went back there to help my children I would be cut to pieces. But I couldn’t stand to hear it, I couldn’t bear it. I was afraid that I would cry out, that I would scream, that I would be crazy. I couldn’t stand it, and I...
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EPISODE 104: The Saint and the Death Squads
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter he kingdom of God.” Matthew 19: 24 "And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 65: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 3): A River of Death
“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” Zeng Guofan “Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” A British testimony on the...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 64: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 2): Jesus’ Chinese Younger Brother
“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 63: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 1): Drug Dealers and Visionaries
“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” Stephen Platt “They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever…
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EPISODE 103: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 2)
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.” Miyamoto Musashi Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come....
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EPISODE 102: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 1)
“All warfare is based on deception.” Sun Tzu Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go. Musashi has been the...
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EPISODE 101: The History Behind Killers of the Flower Moon
“But the years of peace and plenty was not to last. Slowly the days turned sour and the watchful nights closed in. Thrór's love of gold grown too fierce and sickness had begun to grow within him. It was a sickness of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will follow...” JRR Tolkien…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 62: Plagues, Mystery and Dancing
“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” Paracelsus “They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many…
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[RERUN] EPISODE 61: Raiders in the Night
“Never in history had the United States Army been called on to rescue such a large number of POWs from so deep in enemy territory.” William Breuer “We were in the best shape of our lives, and with this mission we understood why he had driven us so hard.” Alvie Robbins speaking about Henry Mucci’s...
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EPISODE 100: Thug Life, Benvenuto Cellini (Part 2)
“Brother, this is the greatest sorrow and the greatest trial that could happen to me in the whole course of my life. But don’t despair; before you lose sight of him who did the mischief, you shall see yourself revenged by my hand.” Benvenuto Cellini “Folk too gathered round us, for it had become...
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EPISODE 99: Thug Life: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 1)
“If one of you comes out of the shop, let the other run for a priest, because there’ll be no need for a doctor.” Benvenuto Cellini “The whole world was now in warfare.” Benvenuto Cellini “And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 60: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 2)
“On these hills, where everywhere were rolling skulls, skeletons, and decaying body parts, Baron Ungern used to like to go to rest.” One of Ungern-Sternberg’s officers “Look at [Europe's] past full of fire and blood and the vicious, savage struggle of man against God. The West has given man...
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[RERUN] EPISODE 59: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 1)
“My name is surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is the truth and what is false, what is history, and what is myth.” Roman von Ungern-Sternberg “Ungern had fused with the war, and equally, the war, in turn, had fused with him.” Willard Sunderland A recurring thread in...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does History on Fire have?
History on Fire currently has 144 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is History on Fire about?
Where history and epic collide--"History on Fire" is a podcast by author and university professor Daniele Bolelli.
How often does History on Fire release new episodes?
History on Fire publishes regularly with 144 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to History on Fire?
You can listen to History on Fire on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts History on Fire?
History on Fire is created and hosted by Daniele Bolelli.
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