December 15

Ep. 0088: Thaddeus Russell on Undermining Jihadists with Britney Spears & more

Thaddeus Russell is a historian and cultural critic and the author of A Renegade History of the United States. He holds a Ph D from Columbia University. He teaches American history and cultural studies at Occidental College and has taught at Columbia University, Barnard College, the New School for Social Research, and Eugene Lang College.   He has published articles in a variety of scholarly and popular venues.  Russell has appeared on the History Channel, Al-Jazeera, Fox News, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Join CJ & Thad as they discuss:

  • Thad’s background, including how the material that eventually became A Renegade History of the United States prevented him from getting a tenure-track position at Barnard College
  • Thad’s thoughts on cultural history vs. Marxism, the consumer revolution, the market, and capitalism
  • The tensions between puritanism and hedonism in capitalism and in American history
  • The influence of Michel Foucault on Thad’s work
  • The puritanism and asceticism of democracy
  • How ‘ideology free’ or ‘objective’ history is nonsense
  • Thad’s rejection of objective reality and morality
  • Some thoughts on the present and future of higher education
  • Thad’s current project on the history of American pop culture’s spread & influence around the world

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Category: American History, Interviews, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0088: Thaddeus Russell on Undermining Jihadists with Britney Spears & more
December 11

Ep. 0087: Grain and the State

Wheat close-up

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • How people lived in the Paleolithic Era, which actually encompasses the vast majority of human existence
  • The Neolithic Revolution and the coming of agriculture
  • The domestication of grains and their rise to dominate global food production
  • The rise of “civilization,” including its downsides
  • The characteristics of grains which make them the preferred food crops of states
  • Alternatives to sedentary, fixed-field, grain-dominated agriculture, which states tend to discourage
  • A few thoughts and observations about grains and states in the modern world

Please consider supporting the show via Patreon!

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Wheat photo attribution: By User:Bluemoose (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Category: Ancient History, Podcasts | 8 Comments on Ep. 0087: Grain and the State
November 20

Ep. 0086: DHP Heroes: George Carlin

George Dennis Patrick Carlin (1937-2008) was not just one of the greatest comedians of the last 50 years, he was also one of the most intelligent and, ultimately, dangerous.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • George Carlin’s life & career
  • Some of the major and/or recurring themes in his work
  • Carlin’s significance & influence

External Links

[Photo of George Carlin: By Bonnie from Kendall Park, NJ, USA (Jesus is Coming.. Look Busy) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)]

Category: DHP Heroes, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0086: DHP Heroes: George Carlin
November 9

Ep. 0085: Daniele Bolelli on Taoism, History, & other cool stuff

Daniele Bolelli is a writer, martial artist, university professor, and podcaster. He was born in Italy and currently lives in Los Angeles.  His podcasts are The Drunken Taoist Podcast and History on Fire.  His books include On the Warrior’s Path, 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know: Religion, Create Your Own Religion, and a new one coming out in December of 2015 entitled Not Afraid: On Fear, Heartbreak, Raising a Baby Girl, and Cage Fighting.

Join CJ & Daniele as they discuss a wide range of topics, including:

  • Being versatile
  • The limitations of conventional academia
  • Why history, especially in a conventional institutional setting, can be so boring
  • Taoism & Zen Buddhism
  • The joys of history podcasting
  • Daniele’s history podcast, History on Fire
  • Some thoughts on Hollywood’s “historical” films
  • The Roman slave rebellions that Daniele covered in his first two History on Fire episodes
  • Daniele’s upcoming book, Not Afraid, due out December 2015

External Links

 

Category: Interviews, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0085: Daniele Bolelli on Taoism, History, & other cool stuff
November 5

Ep. 0084: DHP Villains: Robert Morris, Original Bankster

Robert Morris is one of the lesser-known “Founding Fathers” today, even though arguably he was one of the most important and influential.  He served as a virtual chief executive of the country in the latter years of the Revolutionary war and was the father of the American Federal Leviathan and the crony capitalist system that lives in symbiosis with it.

(BTW, I was a bit under the weather, but happy to get this one cranked out anyway!)

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Robert Morris’ origins, rise in business, and entry into American politics
  • His role early in the war as a key member of the Secret Committee of Trade, and some of his questionable dealings in that capacity
  • Morris’ leaving of Congress in 1778 and return in 1781 as Superintendent of Finance, a post he held until 1784
  • Morris’ role as one of the most powerful members of what historians now refer to as the “Nationalists,” who pushed for a stronger central government, more taxes, a central bank, and a large, fully funded national debt, as means by which to create a system in America more to their liking
  • The eventual success the ‘Nationalists’ had several years after the war, when they became the ‘Federalists’ who wrote & implemented the Constitution
  • How Robert Morris’ handpicked man for Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, succeeded in implementing most of Morris’ wishlist during the Washington Administration, and the legacy that has passed onto American history ever since

Please consider supporting the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon!

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Category: American History, DHP Villains, Economic History | 1 Comment on Ep. 0084: DHP Villains: Robert Morris, Original Bankster
October 20

Ep. 0083: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (part 6)

Here it is — the sixth & final installment of the DHP History of Irregular Warfare series with Bill Buppert.

Join CJ & Bill as they discuss:

  • Circumstances in which insurgents do or do not have the moral high ground
  • The impact of technologies on insurgency & 4GW
  • The importance of narrative
  • Alleged “best practices” for counterinsurgency (or COIN)
  • Links between the rise of the modern state and the proliferation of resistance to it
  • Lessons to be learned from insurgencies, even for those who never plan on physically fighting the state
  • Thoughts on methods of defense against external threats for a stateless society
  • The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka & why they failed
  • Tying things back into the trifecta of narrative, legitimacy, and grievances

Support the DHP via Patreon

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Category: Interviews, Military History, Podcasts | 10 Comments on Ep. 0083: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (part 6)
October 15

Ep. 0082: The Alliance of Throne & Altar

Here is the first mobile DHP episode in a while, recorded over the course of my commute to & from work. (BTW, the audio is much improved over previous in-the-car recordings!)

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • The basic concept of this alliance, including its origins and the symbiotic nature of it
  • How religion most effectively fulfilled the legitimizing function for the rulers for most of history
  • How “intellectuals” now increasingly fulfill that function since religiosity has declined in many parts of the world
  • A few of the ways in which the modern state is aspiring to be god-like in terms of omniscience & omnipotence
  • The possibility that the standard liberal/conservative split is at least partially explained by a split between people who prefer their rulers to be legitimized by secular intellectuals & those who prefer their rulers to be legitimized by clergy

Support the show via Patreon

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Category: Concepts and Theories, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0082: The Alliance of Throne & Altar
October 8

Ep. 0081: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (part 5)

Join CJ & Bill as they discuss:

  • Key factors that cause insurgencies to succeed or fail
  • The importance of external help to guerrillas and insurgents
  • The effects of terrain (including urban terrain) on irregular warfare
  • Circumstances under which guerrillas and insurgents have or do not have an advantage

Support the show via Patreon

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Category: Interviews, Military History, Podcasts | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 1

Ep. 0080: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (Part 4)

Join CJ & Bill as they discuss:

  • Some of the post-WWII wars of ‘decolonization’ the British & French fought in places like Malaya, Kenya, & Algeria
  • Vietnam, comparing the French performance there in the 19th century to the French & American performance there in the mid-20th century
  • Some thoughts on the recent wars in the Middle East and Southwest Asia

Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon

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Category: Interviews, Military History, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0080: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (Part 4)
September 28

Ep. 0079: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (Part 3)

Join CJ & Bill as they discuss:

  • Col. T.E. Lawrence’s operations in Arabia during the First World War
  • The Anglo-Irish War and its primary mastermind, Michael Collins
  • The concept of “peak guerrilla” or “peak G” in the West in the years 1916-1922
  • Mao Tse Tung as theorist and practitioner of guerrilla warfare in the Chinese Civil War

Support the show via Patreon

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Category: Interviews, Military History, Podcasts | 4 Comments on Ep. 0079: History of Irregular Warfare with Bill Buppert (Part 3)