EPISODE 17 The War for the Black Hills (Part 2): The Long Defeat

“…And together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” — J.R.R. Tolkien 

“I shall have glory by this losing day.” — William Shakespeare

“Oyate kin ninpi kta ca lecamu yelo” (“I do this so that the people may live.”) — Lakota song

“My mind was occupied mostly by such thoughts as are regularly uppermost in the minds of young men. I was eighteen years old, and I liked girls.” — Wooden Leg

To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were — and still are — "the heart of everything that is." To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time.  

In this episode: 

  • When he is not attacking camps full of women and children, Custer is a sensitive guy who cries at the theater

  • How Grant, Sheridan, and Co. engineered their own version of the Gulf of Tonkin incident

  • Frodo, the destiny of Middle Earth and Sitting Bull

  • Custer decides to challenge Grant over corruption

  • Lost in presidential dreams, Custer probably never realized he was being set up

  • An American army that wasn’t really American

  • A soldier’s scalp in an abandoned village

  • The Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother

  • Cross-dressing Crow warriors

  • Custer: “Why are you doing all this?”
    Half Yellow Face: “Because you and I are going home today—by a trail that is strange to both of us.”

This summer I will be part of a tour of the Little Bighorn and relevant sites across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota organized by www.geeknationtours.com Check out the details of the tour at http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-the-battlefield-of-little-big-horn/ 

This episode is sponsored by www.blueapron.com/onfire For less than $ 10 per meal, Blue Apron delivers straight to your door seasonal recipes along with pre-portioned ingredients to make delicious, home-cooked meals. Get your first three meals free—with free shipping—by going to www.blueapron.com/onfire

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. 

My lady (and author of History on Fire logo) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/. This is the video of her pro debut match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM81mds1Qs&feature=youtu.be Thank you to Onnit, Datsusara, Float Clinic, Shaman’s Simple Solutions, and Fight Chix for sponsoring her for her first MMA fight. If you’d like to check out Fight Chix merchandise, you can get a 20% discount by going to http://www.fightchix.com/ and entering the code Fire20 upon checkout.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/ 

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/ 

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

EPISODE 16 The War for the Black Hills (Part 1): The Heart of Everything That Is

“The Black Hills is my land and I love it.
And whoever interferes will hear this gun.”
— Lakota song

“Came to the Hills in 1833… got our gold in 1834. Got all the gold we could carry. Our ponys got by Indians. I have lost my gun and nothing to eat and Indians hunting me.”
— Ezra Kind

To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were — and still are — "the heart of everything that is." To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time. 

In this episode: 

  • We become acquainted with one of this story’s key characters: George Armstrong Custer

  • “In years long numbered with the past when I was verging upon manhood, my every thought was ambitious—not to be wealthy, not to be learned, but to be great.” Custer

  • Custer’s key role at the Battle of Gettysburg

  • Reckless and proud

  • AWOL

  • Washita

  • ‘Garry Owen’ was Custer’s version of Apocalypse Now

  • The genesis of the hatred between Benteen and Custer

  • Raping POWs

  • Lack of money makes President Grant a peaceful man

  • The Mafia of the railroads

  • The Yellowstone expedition and the economic collapse of 1873

  • The Thieves’ Road, and Charley Reynolds’ ride

This summer I will be part of a tour of the Little Bighorn and relevant sites across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota organized by www.geeknationtours.com Check out the details of the tour at http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-the-battlefield-of-little-big-horn/ 

Thanks to Audible for supporting our podcast.  Get a free audiobook with a free 30 day trial at http://audible.com/hof

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. 

My lady (and author of History on Fire logo) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/. This is the video of her pro debut match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM81mds1Qs&feature=youtu.be Thank you to Onnit, Datsusara, Float Clinic, Shaman’s Simple Solutions, and Fight Chix for sponsoring her for her first MMA fight. If you’d like to check out Fight Chix merchandise, you can get a 20% discount by going to http://www.fightchix.com/ and entering the code Fire20 upon checkout.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/ 

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/ 

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/



EPISODE 9 Crazy Horse (Part 3)

“Hold on, my friends! Be strong! Remember the helpless! This is a good day to die!”
— Crazy Horse 

Everything we have seen so far in Crazy Horse’s life was a warm-up. In Episode 9, things really heat up: leadership, a legend in intertribal warfare, a bison apocalypse, Black Buffalo Woman, a bullet in the face, heartbreak sets up home in Crazy Horse’s tepee, drowning pain into an ocean of blood, taking on the Northern Pacific Railroad, round one with George Armstrong Custer, the thieves’ road, fighting on—in the face of hopelessness, Sun Dancing, against the Army at Rosebud and at the Little Bighorn. Plus, the story of the poor man who decided it was a good day to go hunting ducks, and instead run into Crazy Horse.  


This Crazy Horse series is dedicated to James R. Weddell (“Ista To’paicagopi”), a great friend and the subject of Dakota Warrior: The Story of James R. Weddell

This episodes is sponsored by http://www.geeknationtours.com  In addition to offering tours to many locations that would be of interest to fans of history, next summer they will lead a tour to the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, site of the 1876 epic clash between the 7th Cavalry and the Lakota and Cheyenne forces. 
Also, please show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/