History on Fire

EPISODE 75: Poets and Pirates, Sex and Drugs, Love and Music; D’Annunzio and L’Impresa di Fiume (part 1)

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 ...

Mini-Episode 33: Modern (Awful) Trends in Native American History

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...

Making $ Through Atrocious History: A Review of Empire of the Summer Moon

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 t...

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 ...

Zoom Meeting 10.30 am PST

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 ...

Mini-Episode 32: Bella Ciao

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...

Farewell to a Master

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 fo...

Zoom Meeting?

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 the...

EPISODE 74 Stoicism, Pandemic and War: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 2)

“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 f...

A Review of American Primeval

Here are some thoughts about the show American Primeval.

EPISODE 73: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 1): Stoicism, Pandemic and War

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 rele...

Mini-Episode 31: Aboriginal Guerrilla

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...

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 (a...

Mini-Episode 30: Wild Hunt Conditioning

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: fro...

Bob Marley and Eggplant Parmesan

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 Ta...

Daniele in Cucina Episode 08: Bison Stew

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 2024-12-03 01:02:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Happy Thanksgiving

Conan would like to take a brief pause from his busy schedule of crushing his enemies to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving

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...

Upcoming Episode

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." Rob...

Mini-Episode 29: The Battle Over History Podcasts

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 Bug...

Midnight, at the Crossroads: The Story of How I Learned How to Write

Here's how I leared to write. True story

Battle at the Uji River

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.

Episode 72: John Brown (Part3) Violent Delights, Violent Ends

*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...

Mini-Episode 28: Thomas Paine with Will Clark (Grey History Podcast)

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 guillot...

Mini-Episode 27: History and Scriptures with Gil Kidron

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 questio...

Episode 71: John Brown (Part 2) A Reckoning in Blood

*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...

Report on the Zoom Meeting

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 smooth...

Link for Zoom

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

Why History?

2024-09-14 03:37:03 +0000 UTC View Post

EPISODE 70: John Brown (Part 1): Heartbreak & Slavery

*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...