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Ep. 236: Crawling Back from the Dead with Michael Punke

Published: 2020-08-31 09:00:00
Description Show ▼

Steven Rinella talks with Michael Punke and Janis Putelis.

Topics discussed: Expressing dissatisfaction with "The Revenant" movie; the Madison buffalo jump looking like it did 200 years ago; dressing up in an 1876 cavalry uniform; the challenge of giving someone else’s perspective; maiming corpses after the Fetterman Fight; carving an arrowhead out of Jim Bridger's shoulder; mountain man Hugh Glass and whether or not he blew himself up by touching a spark to a powder keg; watching an oxen turn into a bullion cube; history being so great that you don't need to make up stuff to tell a good story; how it’s so wrong to substitute high plains for rain forest; the George Bird Grinnell story as the birth of the American conservation movement; the ethic of self restraint; and more.

 

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Referenced Books

The Revenant
by Michael Punke
The main topic of the podcast. Michael Punke is the guest discussing his historical novel about Hugh Glass, a mountain man who was mauled by a bear and left for dead, then crawled 200 miles seeking revenge. The book was later adapted into a major motion picture.
Referenced at 00:00:08
Fire and Brimstone
by Michael Punke
Punke describes this as his nonfiction book about a mining disaster in Butte, Montana in 1917, told in a narrative, novelistic style but completely factual.
Referenced at 00:00:08
Last Stand
by Michael Punke
Punke's book about the buffalo and conservation, focusing on George Bird Grinnell, a 19th century hunter-conservationist who was instrumental in saving the buffalo from extinction and preserving Yellowstone National Park.
Referenced at 00:00:08
Ridgeline
by Michael Punke
Punke's forthcoming novel (to be published in June of the following year) based on the Fetterman Fight of 1866, which was the worst US military defeat until the Battle of Little Big Horn. The book tells the story from multiple perspectives including Native American viewpoints.
Referenced at 00:00:08
The Saga of Hugh Glass: Pirate, Pawnee, and Mountain Man
by John Myers Myers
A biography of Hugh Glass described by Punke as 'entertaining and quirky,' written in the 1960s. Punke notes it has a very one-sided, politically incorrect view of Western history but contains interesting legends about Glass's life, including his capture by the pirate Jean Lafitte.
Referenced at 00:00:08
Life & Death at the Mouth of the Musselshell
by H. Duane Hampton
A published historical journal that Steve Rinella has been discussing, consisting of daily accounts from someone who spent years at the mouth of the Muscle Shell River in Montana. A historian collected, published, and provided commentary on the journal, including trying to corroborate the existence of individuals mentioned in the entries.
Referenced at 00:00:08