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Ep. 298: Cooking Captain Cook

Published: 2021-11-08 10:00:00
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Steven Rinella talks with Hampton Sides, Ryan Callaghan, Phil Taylor, and Corinne Schneider.


Topics discussed: Where Captain Cook died in Hawaii; blaming everyone and taking statues down in the future; the beauty of youth deer season; bullpen vs. arm bar; hermaphroditic parrot fish making our beaches by pooping out sand; Pablo Escobar's invasive hippos; when a gray wolf takes a 1,000 mile walk from Oregon to Southern California; the greatest American survival story of all time that no one knows about; cannibalism, scurvy, and mutiny; all of Hamptons books and The Exotic; the Battle of Chosin Reservoir; Hampton choosing book subjects based on places to which he wants to travel; Kit Carson's war on the land; spreading syphilis; Mai, the cause celeb and bringer of BBQ to England; how the British really know how to name ships; and more.


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Referenced Books

Blood and Thunder
by Hampton Sides
Steve Rinella enthusiastically recommends this book about Kit Carson and the opening of the American West in the 1840s-60s. He mentions rereading the entire book from start to finish before the interview.
Referenced at 00:00:08
Ghost Soldiers
by Hampton Sides
Hampton Sides discusses his first history book about the Bataan Death March in WWII and the Philippines, and a rescue mission to save the last survivors. Later mentioned it was made into a movie called 'The Great Raid.'
Referenced at 00:00:08
Hellhound on his Trail
by Hampton Sides
Hampton Sides describes this book about the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis and the psychological profile of James Earl Ray, including the FBI manhunt that followed.
Referenced at 00:00:08
In the Kingdom of Ice
by Hampton Sides
Hampton Sides discusses this book about the first official American attempt on the North Pole via the USS Jeanette in 1879-1881, describing it as an unknown American survival story comparable to Shackleton's expedition.
Referenced at 00:00:08
On Desperate Ground
by Hampton Sides
Hampton Sides discusses his book about the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, the most epic battle of the Korean War, fought in -35 degree weather. He describes it as a story of how the First Marine Division fought their way out of being surrounded by Chinese forces.
Referenced at 00:00:08
In the Heart of the Sea
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Referenced in discussion of cannibalism survival stories. Hampton Sides mentions the book's story of the tragic whaleship Essex, including an anecdote about a survivor being asked if he knew someone and responding 'No, I ate him.'
Referenced at 00:00:08
Undaunted Courage
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Mentioned in discussion of how some stories are too big and sprawling to adapt to film, comparing it to Blood and Thunder. The book is about the Lewis and Clark expedition and has 'probably been optioned twenty times' according to Hampton Sides.
Referenced at 00:00:08