Conflicted: A History Podcast
Untangling history’s greatest controversies. Every month, we take a hard look at the historical conflicts that raise difficult questions, stoke controversy, and send our moral compasses spinning.
Gore: The Brutal History of Bullfighting
Some revere it as an art form, others revile it as a blood sport, but no matter where you stand, few traditions stir up strong emotions quite like the centuries-old ritual of bullfighting. Born in the villages of rural Spain, refined in the crowded arenas of Seville, and fetishized by wandering aficionados like Ernest Hemingway, the “corrida de toros” holds a special place not only in Spanish cultural life but in human history. Beneath the pomp and pageantry, will we find senseless animal cruelty? Or a transcendent reflection on the human condition?
SOURCES:
Bailey, C. (2007). “Africa Begins at the Pyrenees”: Moral Outrage, Hypocrisy, and the Spanish Bullfight. Ethics and the Environment.
Bentley, Logan. (1962). “What The Horns Couldn’t Do”. Sports Illustrated.
Colenutt, Mark. Spanish Bull: A Provocative Guide to Bullfighting. 2014.
Conrad, Barnaby. The Death of Manolete. 1958.
Dozier, Thomas. (1955) “The One Who Lived”. Sports Illustrated.
Gamado, Ignacio. Discovering the World of Bullfighting. 2021.
Hardouin-Fugier, Elisabeth. Bullfighting: A Troubled History. 2010.
Hemingway, Ernest. Death in the Afternoon. 1932
Kennedy, A.L.: On Bullfighting. 1999.
McCormick, John. Bullfighting: Art, Technique & Spanish Society. 1998
Mitchell, Timothy. Blood Sport: A Social History of Spanish Bullfighting. 1991.
Ribezzo, Viviana. Adresi, Marta. The Corrida: The History of Bullfighting from its Origins to Present Day. 2018.
Tauromaquia. Jaime Alekos. 2017.
Tynan, Kenneth. (1955) “The Death of Manolete”. The Paris Review
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