Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters

Oct 18 2024 69 ep. 77 mins 14
Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters Podcast artwork

The 19th Century - the American Spirit really comes from here.
Fighting, Food, Fashion & Fraud
Plus mayhem, bombast, fornication, mendacity, debauchery, slander, sensationalism and vapid triviality... and swearing.

Yet it's the least understood American century - far more than the Civil War, the Railroad & Cowboy Movies. Through 20th & 21st century TV & Movies, Jamie Lewis of Plague Of Strength & Greta Hardin of The History of American food will take up on a wild ride through the most exciting parts. These history junkies will talk you through a wild assortment of media as we discuss things like:

• physical culture & body building
• medicine shows
• carnivals & the circus
• sex work
• organized crime
• & ever so many fights

Plus the 19th century is the source of: artificial purple dye, electricity, coast to coast instant communications, gas lighting, photography, the bowie knife, the colt revolver and the gatling gun, cardboard boxes, cigarettes, refrigerated train cars, bodybuilding as entertainment, modern gymnastics, all the current fighting sports, the submarine, and the very first automobiles.