This is the tale of one of the weirdest cultural-political experiments in modern history. The brutal end of WWI left many Italian soldiers dissatisfied, since the Allies refuse to grant them lands they had conquered at the price of rivers of blood. Feeling cheated by their own government and the Allies, some of these soldiers turned to the most popular man in the entire country: Gabriele D’Annunzio. Saying that he was a famous writer and a veteran of WWI doesn’t capture the magnetic power...
2025-03-17 17:24:06 +0000 UTC
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In recent years, popular books about Native American history have done an awful job peddling to the public a highly inaccurate, and borderline racist portrayal. In this episode, I put my 24 years of teaching Native American history to good use, and show you how readers may not be able to tell the difference between entertaining lies and real history.
2025-03-10 18:12:06 +0000 UTC
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Within a couple of weeks, I'll be publishing the next episode exclusive for you sweet people who support my work. The episode will be much more comprehensive than the article you can access here. But in the meantime, I figure I'd offer you this written version of my thoughts on one of the books that I'll be discussing in the upcoming mini-episode.
2025-02-28 21:19:28 +0000 UTC
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“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 hypocritical priests that I had to turn back.” Drukpa Kunley
For once, here’s an episode about individuals who didn’t build their reputation by killing. Considering much of ...
2025-02-17 17:37:07 +0000 UTC
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Here's the link to join the zoom meeting in about half an hour. Please, mute your microphone and unmute whenever you want to speak. If you want to participate, but can't, no worries. We'll have more in the future.
have a great one,
Daniele
Join Zoom Meeting https://csulb.zoom.us/j/88644394824 Meeting ID: 886 4439 4824
2025-02-15 18:02:41 +0000 UTC
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To say that the song Bella Ciao is famous would be the understatement of the century. Not only it’s one of Italy’s most well-known songs, but it has also been translated in just about every language you can think of—from Tagalog to Yiddish, from Tibetan to Kurdish—and it has been covered by artists all over the world. It has transcended its relevance to Italian history and has been embraced as a hymn of resistance to tyranny by people across the globe. For a long time, t...
2025-02-10 09:02:54 +0000 UTC
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Today, my friend and, in my opinion, one of the greatest writers who ever lived moved on to a different plane of existence. Tom was a generous, kind, hilariously funny, and delightful human being. He sent me money when I was broke and lent his writing mastery to editing part of one of my books for free. Nothing but love for him. Here's a link to something I wrote for his last birthday, this past summer
2025-02-09 18:15:31 +0000 UTC
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I have been wanting to do another zoom meeting for you sweet folks financially supporting the show, but I was KO'ed by Covid for a while. Now that I'm feeling better, I'd love to hop on zoom with you all on Saturday Feb 15 around 10.30 am Pacific Time. Assuming nothing changes between now and then, I'll post a zoom link here just a few minutes prior to that time on the 15th.
Also, this will be a busy History on Fire month: this week I published the second part of the Marcus Aurelius ser...
2025-02-05 05:16:32 +0000 UTC
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“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 film Casino
“The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying i...
2025-02-03 18:28:15 +0000 UTC
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Here are some thoughts about the show American Primeval.
2025-01-31 02:45:37 +0000 UTC
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Just a quick reminder that due to contractual reasons, I can't release ad-free versions of the episodes that were originally created for Luminary--not even on Patreon. So, my apologies for the ads. Ads, however, will not show up on Patreon for all the new episodes I created (such as the ones released over the last couple of months).
“Rise up and do battle.” Homer
“Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you...
2025-01-20 18:39:59 +0000 UTC
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The British colonies in North America used to be the dumping grounds for convicts and other ‘undesirables’. In 1783, after losing the lands that would become the United States, Britain needed a new place where they could deposit people they didn’t want within their own borders. By 1788, the British colonization of Australia began. Seeing foreigners coming to steal lands they had inhabited for 60,000 years and bringing diseases destroying more than half of their population, Australian Ab...
2025-01-01 19:09:54 +0000 UTC
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“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 little nugget of a story, which predates the arrival of the Spaniards. This is the first time this episode gets to be released to the public outside of any paywa...
2024-12-16 06:45:05 +0000 UTC
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James Pieratt (from Wild Hunt Conditioning) is a world-record breaking hybrid athlete, a wilderness ultramarathon runner, and one of the world's top functional training experts. What does this have to do with history? His specialty is researching the training methodologies of ancient peoples: from athletes in the original Olympics to Native American ultra-runners, from samurai to Spartans. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
2024-12-09 22:09:14 +0000 UTC
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Bob Marley while making eggplant parmesan.
My daughter has a friend whose parents moved away from the area but who doesn't want to change school, so she pretty much lives with us. I enjoy sharing with them the things that brighten my life. Yesterday on the menu we had: teaching them some Tai Chi (for balance and as a meditative practice), some self defense-oriented martial arts (san soo: the first style in which I got a black belt), how to cook eggplant parmesan, a deep dive in Bob Marl...
2024-12-06 18:48:01 +0000 UTC
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I haven't posted a video of a recipe in a while.
Today, my lady, Sovannahry Em, cooks a recipe using the incredible bison from Dakota Pure Bison. This is perfect winter food: bison stew! This is easily one of my favorite meals.
If you'd like to order some bison from https://dakotapurebison.com/ use code HOF10 for a discount.
2024-12-03 01:02:43 +0000 UTC
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Conan would like to take a brief pause from his busy schedule of crushing his enemies to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving
2024-11-28 16:53:30 +0000 UTC
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"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 spear, and we know nothing of women’s work. But in your country no woman has anything to do with such things—your women stay at home in their wagons occupied with feminine tasks, ...
2024-11-18 17:10:48 +0000 UTC
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Some quotes prefacing a brand new episode of History on Fire coming out tomorrow. After this, I'd say the topic is not exactly a mystery.
"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 spear, and we know nothing of women’s...
2024-11-17 19:24:38 +0000 UTC
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The Atlantic magazine has recently published an article by Arash Azizi entitled “The Dangerous Rise of The Podcast Historians”—a rather harsh critique of the field of which I am part. So, in this episode, I sharpen the knives, analyze Azizi’s argument and provide my reply. As Bugs Bunny used to say, “Of course, you realize this means war.”
2024-11-11 20:48:26 +0000 UTC
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Here's how I leared to write. True story
2024-11-03 02:40:08 +0000 UTC
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I just posted on the History on Fire YouTube channel a short video about the first battle of the Genpei War. It contains a little bit of footage shot during my visit to Japan.
2024-10-29 05:44:38 +0000 UTC
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*Quick reminder that for the previously paywalled episodes that are I now release to the public, I can't make them ad-free (not even on Patreon) not due to my choice, but due to contractual reasons. So, all new episodes (and of course the bonus mini-episodes) are ad-free. The previously paywalled ones (including this) are not.
“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 ...
2024-10-21 17:12:15 +0000 UTC
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A cooperative episode with Will Clark from Grey History Podcast. We chat about the life of Thomas Paine, America’s forgotten founding father, whose life is weirder than fiction. Passing through his rise and fall, his friendship with Thomas Jefferson, his nearly getting his head guillotined by Robespierre, and much more.
2024-10-18 03:33:19 +0000 UTC
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Today, I get to mostly be quiet and listen. I am joined by Gil Kidron, the host of A Podcast of Biblical Proportions. His specialty is the exploration of the fascinating relationship between history and Hebrew scriptures. He knows much more than I do on the topic, so I get to ask questions as we explore the story of Exodus.
2024-09-30 22:33:11 +0000 UTC
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*Quick reminder that for the previously paywalled episodes that are I now release to the public, I can't make them ad-free (not even on Patreon) not due to my choice, but due to contractual reasons. So, all new episodes (and of course the bonus mini-episodes) are ad-free. The previously paywalled ones (including this) are not.
The subject of this series is easily one of the most divisive individuals in U.S. history. The man we are talking about is Mr. John Brown. Many, in fact, see Brow...
2024-09-23 17:53:40 +0000 UTC
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Just closed the Zoom meeting with those of you who were able to participate. It was a very enjoyable (at least for me) informal chat jumping from topic to topic, based on people's questions and comments. I had a great time with it. If you have suggestions regarding how to make it flow more smoothly next time, please let me know. Also, next time I'll try to schedule it on a weekend, so it's easier for people to join without having to take time off work. Thank you again for chatting with me and...
2024-09-16 19:00:13 +0000 UTC
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For anyone who wants to hop on a zoom, we'll start at 10 PST (in a few minutes): Join Zoom Meeting https://csulb.zoom.us/j/86164084003 Meeting ID: 861 6408 4003
2024-09-16 16:54:36 +0000 UTC
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I have been teach...
2024-09-14 03:37:03 +0000 UTC
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*Quick reminder that for the previously paywalled episodes that are I now release to the public, I can't make them ad-free (not even on Patreon) not due to my choice, but due to contractual reasons. So, all new episodes (and of course the bonus mini-episodes) are ad-free. The previously paywalled ones (including this) are not.
“You know what John Brown did? He went to war. He was a white man who went to war against white people to help free slaves. White people call John B...
2024-09-11 04:46:11 +0000 UTC
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