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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Podcast Episodes
The City Of Dreams: The Aztec Conquest Part 2
Wonder and warmth quickly turn to slaughter and horror as Hernan Cortes meets Emperor Moctezuma in the explosive conclusion of this two-part series. SOURCES: Levy, Buddy. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and…
The City Of Dreams: The Aztec Conquest Part 1
How a handful of mercenaries, explorers, and pirates destroyed the Aztec Empire and burnt its capital city to the ground. Two cultures collide in the first of a two-part series on the Conquest of Mexico. SOURCES: Levy, B…
Forbidden Children: China's One-Child Policy
The story of China’s infamous One-Child Policy, the most ambitious (and catastrophic) social engineering project the modern world has ever seen. SOURCES: Fong, Mei. One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment…
Six Days: The 1967 Six Day War
How a single week in 1967 changed the Middle East, and the world, forever. This is the action-packed, heartbreaking origin story of Israel and the Six-Day War. SOURCES: Oren, Michael B. Six Days Of War. 2002. Pressfield,…
Wonder Women
African berserkers, graceful samurai, and deadly Soviet fighter pilots. A three-part, globe-trotting tour of remarkable female soldiers and the complicated lives that they led. SOURCES: Vinogradova, Lyuba. Defending the…
They Saw Red
The Rated-R-for-Russian story of the Red Army’s horrific campaign of vengeance against Nazi Germany. SOURCES: Beevor, Antony. The Fall of Berlin 1945. 2003. Huggler, Justin. “Fall of Berlin: ‘Of course I was afraid. I wa…
The Tiger and the Turtle: Samurai Invasion of Korea
Sea battles, tiger hunts, and a mountain of human noses. This is the Shakespearean saga that triggered centuries of bad blood between Korea and Japan. SOURCES: Samuel, Hawley. The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Inv…
This Is Sparta?
A myth-busting breakdown of history’s favorite fitness cult. SOURCES: Hanson, Victor Davis. A War Like No Other. 2005. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War Plutarch. Parallel Lives Xenophon. Hellenica Cartledge,…
Conflicted - Welcome
A quick introduction to the concept behind the show and your host, Zach Cornwell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
