While not being the book many fans wanted (and still haven’t gotten…), George R.R. Martin’s 2018 “Fire and Blood”, a fictional history prequel to "A Game of Thrones" is worthy of historical examination in its own right. Aside from being a lesson to historians in how to write entertaining, captivating history, it also offers insight into some of the bigger themes and ideas related to the study of history and the historical process. Why does history focus on war so much? Who determines which events are important in history and how they should be remembered? What happens if there are different perspectives on the same event? At what point do the "positives" of empire like infrastructure and commerce negate the negatives of conquest, brutality, and oppression? "Fire and Blood" is a fun standalone fantasy history book, but it's also more relevant to the real world than you might think.
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Episode 140: The Road Part I
Episode 139: Vagabond Princess with Ruby Lal
Episode 138: The Metamorphosis Part III
Episode 137: The Metamorphosis Part II
Episode 136: The Metamorphosis Part I
BONUS: The Library of Babel
Episode 134: Roma Part II
Episode 133: Roma Part I
Episode 132: The Mexican Dirty War Part VI-Spaces of Memory
Episode 131: The Mexican Dirty War Part V-Massacres and Memories
Episode 130: The Mexican Dirty War Part IV-Violence and Change
Episode 129: The Mexican Dirty War Part III-Revolution of the Mundane
Episode 128: The Mexican Dirty War Part II-Spectres of Revolution
Episode 127: The Mexican Dirty War Part I-The Politics of Memory
Episode 126: Reconstructing Emotion in History
Episode 125: Burning
BONUS: Staying Behind
Episode 124: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Wounded World with Chad Williams
Episode 123: Piranesi
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