History on Fire

“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.” — Frederick Douglass “I have only a short time to live, only death to die and I will die fighting for this cause...

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 Christianity to justify their stances, racism masquerading as philanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion, g...

“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 also a fearless rider, who could not be thrown by neither the fiercest horse nor the roughest ground; an...

“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 the Heike “When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting.” - Kill Bill "Let those in...

“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 world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of th...

“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 them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” - Liana Germani “I was mostly afraid of torture had they...

“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 sun sets and rises back again, But an eternal night of sleep awaits us When our brief light turns to dar...

“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 prayed God to help me.” Rufina Amaya “In El Salvador the rich and powerful have systematically defrauded...

“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 property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people...

“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 Qing treatment of POWs If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably...

“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 not a remarkable era in China?” A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion “Jesus our Elder...

“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 for the harm they can cause to others.” Lin Zexu about British opium traders “Heaven is furious with ang...

“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. Here we go. Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by E...

“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 subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120...

“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 “The more White investigated the flow of oil money from Osage headrights, the more he found layer upon lay...

“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 women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own a...

“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 physical training “As far as we were concerned, they were gods.” Bob Body about the Rangers who rescu...

“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 clear that our words meant swords and daggers.” Benvenuto Cellini Italian artists from the Renaissance...

“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 while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign o...

“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 science, wisdom, and power, yet it has also brought godlessness, immorality, treason, the abnegation of trut...

“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 History on Fire episodes is my soft spot for individuals who are mildly mentally deranged, but have some...

  “Most people go through life thinking they’re totally safe. People like us, we know the truth. Life is hard and dangerous, and sometimes you just got to chop off somebody’s head to survive.” Ash vs. Evil Dead “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.” Lucius Cornelius Sulla “Around four o’clock on that Monday afternoon of the thirteenth, with a ligh...

“There a papoose cries by its mother’s breast which, cold and insensible, can nourish it no more; there lies a young girl with her long hair sticky of blood, hiding her mutilated face… And here—here rests the beautiful young squaw whom yesterday I offered a cigarette—dying, with both her legs shot off. She lies there without wailing and greets me with a faint smile on her pale lips.” First Sergean...

“Sent to report on a story that wasn’t there, reporters invented one.” Heather Cox Richardson  “Lakota will kill you.” A meadowlark speaking to Sitting Bull in a vision “If the white men want me to die, they ought not to put up the Indians to kill me… Let the soldiers come and take me away and kill me, wherever they like. I am not afraid. I was born a warrior.” Sitting Bull     In historical terms...

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