Buck Rogers in the 21st and a 1/4 Century : Space Opera without Space Nazis Feral Historian 2026-09-18 | Buck Rogers in the 21st and a 1/4 Century : Space Opera without Space Nazis
Starship Troopers : Service Isn’t The Point Feral Historian 2025-09-05 | There’s a long-running argument over whether Heinlein’s book describes military service as the exclusive path to citizenship, or if “federal service” is a much broader basket of enfranchisement. While a close read of the book makes it unquestionably clear which is correct, it misses the greater point. Heinlein was writing about the role of civic virtue in the stability of a republic, his citizenship-through-service framing is the literary conceit for discussing that larger question. For a more detailed examination of the nature of Federal Service, I recommend James Gifford’s essay on the subject: nitrosyncretic.com/rah/ftp/fedrlsvc.pdf 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorian🔹 and Merch! | feral-shop.fourthwall.comObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 also on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro00:45 What is Federal Service?02:18 An Exploration of Enfranchisement03:13 Expanded Universe05:38 But Why?06:59 Starside R&D09:07 “Unreasonable Facsimile”10:54 Filtering Civic Virtue
D’Joan, C’Mell, and the Rediscovery of Man Feral Historian 2025-08-29 | The first month's ad revenue from this video will be donated to 2 animal rescues. pauseforpawsaz.com and sites.google.com/site/catallianceteam/homeCordwainer Smith, through short stories and novellas, tells a sprawling history spanning thousands of years and an entire galaxy. In this one, I’m looking at a single narrative thread of that world, the gulf between man and animal and the partnerships that make humanity whole again after a long span of cultural stagnation and loss of vitality. 🔹 New Merch! | feral-shop.fourthwall.com🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 and now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro02:19 Partners and Divisions05:15 Heading Down to Clown Town15:53 Mans’ Other Friend19:22 Norstrilia
Is a World State Inevitable? Feral Historian vs Damien Walter Feral Historian 2025-08-22 | Check out Damo’s take. youtu.be/b2YVDhSyBVUScience fiction is full of depictions of global superstates and beyond, depictions of humanity as a single unified people. Is this possible? And if so, what might a viable world state actually look like? Or is it all just the fever dream of dirt-league Stalins? Join Damo and myself for a two-part discussion of the inevitability, possibilities, and acceptability of a world state. 🔹 New Merch! | feral-shop.fourthwall.com🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 and now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro03:32 A Story of War09:08 Us and Them10:52 Culture17:24 Federation and Nationalism22:03 Reminders from the ComBloc23:45 The World State We Have
Red Star : The Dawn of Soviet Sci-Fi Feral Historian 2025-08-15 | Soviet science fiction is a long winding road and it starts with Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star. Let’s start down that road. 🔹 New Merch! | feral-shop.fourthwall.com🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 and now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro03:15 Introducing Martian Socialism06:35 Tektology10:03 Crafting Communism15:08 Mars Has Problems19:06 Old Man of the Mountain20:32 The Engineer Menni
A Fire Upon The Deep and the Identity Gradient Feral Historian 2025-08-08 | Vernor Vinge’s “A Fire Upon The Deep” would take a two-hour video to completely dissect. This is not that video. Instead, I’m looking just at the recurring ideas of collective identity and distributed consciousness. And all without a single mention of Skroderiders. This one has been sitting around for about a year, due to lack of b-roll to cover the numerous jumpcuts due to my rambling and the rather persistent flies on that particular day. It’s a little rough, but let’s just roll with it. 🔹 New Merch! | feral-shop.fourthwall.com🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 and now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f1
The Running Man : Prescient Subversive Shlock Feral Historian 2025-08-01 | Most of the satire in this film is so on the nose that commentary is redundant, but there are a few subtleties that are often missed in the bombastic spectacle of it all. More than that, many of the film’s best elements come from the ways it deviates from the book it’s based on. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD🔹 and now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f1
Starships and Walls : Which Shall We Build? Feral Historian 2025-07-25 | While faster than light travel may be impossible, proclaiming absolutes based on the understanding of a particular time has a spotty record. But even if we are limited to sublight travel by the fundamental nature of the universe, we as a civilization have several macro-level choices to make, one of the most significant being which foundational concept do we want to build a future on: Ships? Or walls? 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWDand now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro01:50 The Athenian Sailor05:25 Frontiers06:00 Assuming it’s Impossible07:26 Picard Without Starfleet?09:40 Culture over Economics15:28 Founders of Worlds
The Terminator and the Determinism of Narrative Feral Historian 2025-07-18 | The first 2 Terminator films are classics. The 4 attempts to make Terminator 3, not so much. But taken together they’re a good riff on historical determinism both in terms of trends toward certain outcome, bust most of all in terms of the narratives we accept to explain the world becoming the thing that shapes it. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWDand now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro00:52 Birth of a Story04:10 Probability over Prophecy07:00 What If the Story Doesn’t Fit?
Julia : A Feminist Retelling of 1984? Feral Historian 2025-07-11 | Julia, a 2023 novel by Sandra Newman, does more than just retell Orwell’s 1984 through Julia’s eyes. That perspective switch presents an Oceania that is both more mundane and more familiar. It’s certainly a companion piece more than a stand-alone work, but it does have something to offer both in how it examines Orwell and a few times, how it contradicts him. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWDand now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro02:18 a Different Perspective09:30 Caught in a Trap12:45 Backstory15:40 Departures20:18 Endings and Beginnings
I, Robot : The Ellison Script Feral Historian 2025-07-04 | Harlan Ellison’s screenplay adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” is arguably the best sci-fi movie never made. Let’s take a look at the script itself, why the film was never made, and how it might have altered science fiction cinema in the wake of Star Wars. The published screenplay also has several concept illustrations by Mark Zug, which really give a sense of the unique visual style the film could have brought to the screen. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWDand now on Kobo kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ninti-s-gate?sId=f30f9d90-907a-449a-aeab-7b25215297f100:00 Intro01:59 Robbie04:32 A Little Detour06:18 A Lifetime and a Galaxy12:12 Liar14:06 A New Theory16:29 The Rapid Rise of the Federation21:01 Obstacles and EllisonCorrection:0:42 Illustrations by Mark Zug. Check the link for more of his work. markzug.com
Andor : The Cause Consumes Feral Historian 2025-06-20 | Andor is the most off-brand Star Wars story in many ways. It follows the cultural shifts of the last 50 years more than most of the other Star Wars properties and it incorporates multiple Left-wing historical influences into the Rebellion, yet does this with what in many ways has become a story not of revolution, but restoration. The end result is a story that works on multiple levels, from the individual characters of Cassian, Dedra, and Syril up to the macro-level symbolism of the transformation of the Rebellion from an insurgency to a Galactic State. I mention Damien Walter’s “Andor : A Marxist Story” video in this one, which you can watch at the link:youtube.com/watch?v=D2rt9bDi3eQ🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:00 Misplaced Faith06:36 Gohrman Got Played08:04 Sacrifice13:17 Rebel Politics15:40 Friends and Enemies Everywhere17:55 Mixed bag of Influences24:31 Rebellion of the Status Quo
Gattaca : Layers of Dystopia Feral Historian 2025-06-13 | Gattaca shows us a tiny sliver of a world defined by the gap between the genetically enhanced and the natural-born, yet what we see in that sliver has much wider implications. This is based on a conversation with Ross and Ryan at the History on Film podcast (that episode isn’t up yet) shows.acast.com/the-history-on-film-podcast🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:11 All Men are Not Created Equal02:44 False Promises and Artifice07:38 Anti-Determinism09:29 Post-Human Disappointment
The T’au : Greater Good? Lesser Evil? Feral Historian 2025-06-06 | Of all the Warhammer 40K xenos, the T’au stand out. There are Tau haters, thinking they don’t fit the setting, and Tau fanboys that think they actually are good guys. For me, the Tau are a vital piece of the 40K universe and they are more Lesser Evil than Greater Good, and even that is by 40K standards. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:15 Something Fishy06:55 The Greater Good09:46 The New Humans13:09 Chaos and Farsight15:57 The Fourth Sphere18:42 Humanity and the Warp20:33 Evil Exists
Biggs and the “End of History” Feral Historian 2025-05-30 | The “Biggs Edit” isn’t just a contentious question of Star Wars arcana, but an example of some of the problems historians face trying to reconstruct the past. Problems that are only going to get worse in the age of AI. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:12 Not So Easy05:02 A Slim Hope05:50 Not Equal Claims06:46 Memory and AI
Communism, Socialism, and Star Trek Feral Historian 2025-05-23 | There’s a long history of Star Trek being equated with communism, both in praise and condemnation. But is it really mappable to modern politics, given that it assumes a different set of socioeconomic conditions? More to the point, is socialism (in the Marxist transitional sense) just a dead-end?🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro00:51 What’s Capitalism?04:00 Communist, not Socialist07:14 Theory and Practice08:51 Goals and Process
The Human Reach : Think “The Expanse with no Alien Tech” Feral Historian 2025-05-16 | John J. Lumpkin’s “Through Struggle, The Stars” and “The Desert of Stars” published in 2011 and 2013 respectively, tells the story of a 22nd Century war for interstellar colonies, a war that’s grounded in believable politics stemming form our own time. Being an indie book it’s not as widely known as some comparable series, most notably The Expanse, but I recommend giving it a read.I don’t know the author nor was I approached to review the series. I just liked the books. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:37 Big Picture Breakdown04:15 Hints of MAGA05:43 Space Combat and Tech08:53 Book 210:26 The Other Future13:47 The Epilogue
A Boy and His Dog, Fallout, and Apocalyptic Myths Feral Historian 2025-05-09 | A Boy and His dog (1975) is in many ways the prototype post-nuclear-war wasteland story, inspiring the genre all the way up to the most recent iteration of the Fallout franchise. The films highlighted here are by no means a comprehensive list, just a sampling across time. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:10 A Boy and His Dog05:25 Further Into the Wasteland07:45 End of the World Stories
Living Witness : Interpreting the Past Feral Historian 2025-05-02 | Episode 23, Season 4 of Star Trek Voyager stands out as a great example of using science fiction not only to address political issues of the day, but addressing the methodology and perils behind the historical study of those issues. It's a well-crafted reminder that history is not "the past" but rather a reconstruction of the past often based on fragmentary evidence and distorted by assumptions. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:32 History, Memory, and Myth05:29 The Thoen Stone06:55 Constructed Narratives
Warhammer 40000 : Cultural Relevance Feral Historian 2025-04-25 | 40K is not top-tier science fiction, but it is reflective of our times. Whether in its depiction of endless war, dysfunctional government, or its “satire” that is less absurd than our actual politics; Warhammer 40000 has a chance to become the peak-2020s sci-fi for future generations looking back. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:40 That Last Quarter Century07:22 Hope and Peril
Foundation : Rome (if you want to) Feral Historian 2025-04-18 | Is a Second Galactic Empire the best way to go about cutting short the Dark Age? Or might there be other ways of achieving the core aim? Let’s take a brief look at the central goal of the Foundation. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:14 Transmission Vector06:51 Options
Blake’s 7 and Revolution Drift Feral Historian 2025-04-11 | Blake’s 7 is in some ways a story derailed by casting changes and production pressures. But if we set that aside and look at the story it ends up telling on its own merits, it becomes a tale of the shifting tides of war, of revolutions being left behind by events, and of the tendency to impose the narrative of the “last big fight” onto other conflicts in a misguided attempt to understand them through analogy. This is the Youtube edit, as the BBC is rather protective of their IP. The original longer cut is over at Patreon. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro03:28 Sideways Star Trek05:10 Expectations Set10:21 Imposing The Old Narrative12:16 How Few Remain
Andor : Redefining the Rebellion Feral Historian 2025-04-04 | Star Wars has become a very mixed bag of tone and quality, but Andor is easily the most nuanced and “realistic” of the many stories the franchise has produced, in part because Andor isn't a Jedi, a swashbuckler, or the son of someone important. In short, he's a rando that got sucked in. The series is open to a wide range of interpretations. This is one of them. Or if you prefer, here's Damien Walter's examination of Andor through an explicitly Marxist lens, which I found interesting on several points. youtu.be/D2rt9bDi3eQ?si=QKdCdMauYeHfXlh4🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:01 Revolution Salad03:38 Ideology is Packaging08:45 Andor is Us
Caesar’s Legion : The Hedgehog’s War Feral Historian 2025-03-28 | Is the Legion the best hope for civilization in the post-apocalyptic world or just a big raider gang that needs to be wiped out? Either way, it’s a force riddled with contradictions. Full of possibilities, some foreseen by Caesar and others that he’s completely blind to. I gave up trying to get New Vegas to run on new hardware, so the game clips are taken from some of Oxhorn’s Fallout videos, which are great lore-dives.Between when this was recorded and posted, I read “On Grand Strategy” by John Lewis Gaddis, which gets into the themes here in much more detail. I recommend it if the strategy of aligning goals and capabilities or the fox and hedgehog models are of further interest. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:18 Origins03:41 War as Sacrifice04:50 Foxes and Hedgehogs07:35 Determinism and Skipping Steps11:05 Mongols and Romans
The Dispossessed : State Happens Feral Historian 2025-03-21 | Ursula K. le Guin’s “The Dispossessed” is one of the most in-depth examinations of how a large anarchist society might function, addressing both the problems it solves and those it creates for itself. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the communist-leaning variants of anarchism in particular.This video is in part a companion to this one youtu.be/fzp4Y4OamgY from a few weeks ago. The original cut of that one had a brief mention of a couple details from The Dispossessed, but it really needed its own video. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:58 Anarres is not an Island04:45 Shevek goes to Urras07:00 Abolition of Property08:30 Social Pressures and Pravic12:30 Necessity and Ossification14:45 Necessity of Conflict15:45 Shevek’s Wild Ride
Aliens vs Predator : A Coming of Age Story Feral Historian 2025-03-14 | A look at the first 4-issue AvP miniseries from Dark Horse Comics as both a solid treatment of the Aliens and Predator franchises together, but also as kind of coming of age story for humanity entering a wider universe. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:40 Back to Basics04:40 Coming of Age
Exo-Squad : The Best of Times, The Worst of Times Feral Historian 2025-03-07 | Exo-Squad is a great example of “I saw this as a kid and it was amazing—” not quite holding up later in the details, but being based on a solid story foundation. With its dive into questions on war, totalitarianism, collaboration with the enemy, and the interplay between culture and biology; Exo-Squad deserves some credit for the potential trapped within its ‘90s animation and marketing-tool constraints. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianObligatory shameless plug for Ninti’s Gate🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:43 Collaboration09:11 Inevitable Betrayal10:25 Power Structures12:21 Lack of Culture14:04 Space Pirates15:20 Mega Speciation17:20 Thrax and the Fall of the N-Saps21:52 Some Good, Some Bad
Star Trek and the New Frontier Story Feral Historian 2025-02-28 | Star Trek has been the “new frontier” story for so long that it’s become more retro than futurist. But that doesn’t mean the frontier story itself is dead, only that there’s a disconnect between the future we want and the visions of it that we have. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianI wrote a book, Ninti’s Gate, which isn't much like Trek at all, save for some starships. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:19 Time and Space06:06 Inhabited Spaces09:44 A story of the Past
Cloak of Anarchy : Gradations of Statelessness Feral Historian 2025-02-21 | A Cloak of Anarchy, written by Larry Niven and published in 1972, is a simple story. But it offers us an entry to examine the basic ideas of Anarchism without diving head-first into the political theorizing of the big anarchist philosophers. This one is a 3-minute look at a simple short story wrapped in a 20-minute attempt to cast aside the most basic misunderstandings of what anarchism is.I don't consider myself to be an anarchist, but by most standards I'm damn close. Take what I say here in that light. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianI wrote a book, Ninti’s Gate, set in a largely stateless world. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:00 Cops-Eyes03:09 Absence of Rulers06:37 AnComs and AnCaps10:07 Is Anarchism Leftist?11:30 Practical Considerations16:17 Anarchism and Environmentalism19:00 Closing Ramble
Stargate SG-1 : GWoT Star Trek Feral Historian 2025-02-14 | Looking back on Stargate SG-1, a few things come into focus. One being that, like Star Trek before it, Stargate speaks to the liberal ideals of mutual respect and progress. But while Star Trek is a story from the WWII generation, Stargate reframes those same ideas through the lens of the shift from the late ‘90s “end of history” era to the Global War on Terror. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianI wrote a book, Ninti’s Gate, first in a trilogy with Book 2 later this year. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:08 In This Corner . . .03:15 Fragile Empire05:45 Breakaway Civilization08:25 Comparative Civ12:08 Militarism and Balance14:02 Speaking to its Time15:04 Liberalism Working
Two Eagles : Chapter 3 – Werner and Orion Feral Historian 2025-02-07 | Operation Paperclip is well known at this point, however its connection to the American space program is more convoluted than a simple transplanting of rocket scientists, as Werner von Braun’s vision suppressed but did not entirely extinguish homegrown American approaches to space travel. This is the lightest Two Eagles episode. Chapter 4 is going to be rather grim and I’m working on it in small doses. And here's a link to the playlist for this series. youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsV4ivWCLIPUyiCk58725ZtsrHiHSlFWdFor more on this topic I recommend a couple books. First, “Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship” by George Dyson is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive look at that program available. Second, while not the most in-depth look at every aspect, Annie Jacobsens’ “Operation Paperclip : The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America” gives a solid overview of the entire program, who was brought over, and what they were doing during the war. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianI wrote a book, Ninti’s Gate, first in a trilogy with Book 2 later this year. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro00:48 Haus Ingeburg02:31 Lost Possibilities03:30 Werner and Orion07:30 Long Echo
Mass Effect Without Reapers : A Look Back at Andromeda Feral Historian 2025-01-31 | Since I'm working on some new stuff that's talking longer than expected, including new Mass Effect videos, here's a never-posted look at ME:A, for good or ill. Part 4 of a trilogy is always a difficult thing to pull off, and while few would argue that Andromeda was successful, perhaps it came closer than it gets credit for. It just forgot about one little thing . . .This one has been on standby for a while, shot in November of ‘23. The coat and I both have a little more wear since then, but Andromeda hasn’t changed. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianNinti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 intro01:15 Ryder03:55 Mistakes06:06 Missed Opportunities
The Guns of the South : Checkmate, Alt-Hist Plausibility Sticklers Feral Historian 2025-01-24 | Harry Turtledove’s “The Guns of the South” gives us a look at a victorious Confederate States as they grapple with the consequences of slavery, war, and the challenges of building a new nation. It also skewers a favorite activity of alt-history readers, the nitpicking of plausibility in the points of divergence, by dropping South African time travelers with AKs into the middle of the Civil War. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianNinti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:08 America Will Break04:49 Right and Left 05:36 CSA at odds with AWB08:08 Forrest10:16 Technology13:16 “Why then . . .”
Strange and Norrell : Magic as Technology Feral Historian 2025-01-17 | Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke) is a bit of a departure from the usual fare here, but it presents an interesting metaphor for how societies react to new technologies. The clips are from the 2015 BBC adaptation of the book. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianShilling for my own book, Ninti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:05 Technocratic Magician04:50 Strange’s War08:18 Opposites and Assumptions12:00 Knowledge Wants to be Free13:45 Left a lot out . . .
H.G. Wells Things To Come : Through The Eyes of its Time Feral Historian 2025-01-10 | H.G. Wells’ “Things To Come” played much differently in 1936 than it does today. So much so that it offers us an insight into the politics of the period if we can step back from our post-WWII understanding and look at it on its own terms. Link to the Coupland essay.http://digamoo.free.fr/coupland2000.pdf🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianShameless plug for my own book, Ninti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:08 Revolution Envy05:15 The Gulf of Time06:32 Wells and the BUF08:02 Empire and Establishment12:11 The World State15:18 To Understand the Past . . .
Enterprise : How Not To Be a Khest in the Post-Post-Apocalypse Feral Historian 2025-01-03 | Enterprise is generally remembered more for its potential than for what it delivered, but it speaks to something at the heart of Star Trek in a more direct way than any other iteration. When paired with the Trek novel “The Final Reflection” by John Ford, Enterprise sheds some light on the cultural state of both its own time and ours. This one had to be cut on a bit because, well, youtube . . . so if some of the clips seem like they should be longer; they were. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianShilling for my own book, Ninti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:41 From There to Here03:48 Post-Post-Apocalyptic06:51 Komerex and Khesterex11:05 To Boldly Go12:31 From Here to There?
Blindsight : Non-Conscious Minds Feral Historian 2024-12-20 | Blindsight, by Peter Watts, explores the idea of non-conscious intelligence and in the process delivers one of the best examples of cosmic horror I’ve read in a very long time. It’s a story with implications for AI and how we perceive the world around us. Also, there are vampires. Most of the B-roll is from a Blindsight short film made by Danil Krivoruchko, which you can watch here: https://blindsight.space/ Some great visualizations of Theseus and the Scramblers, check it out. The Journal of Neuroscience article briefly mentioned is here:jneurosci.org/content/40/35/6801I’m certainly no neuroscientist, but the broad strokes are clear enough. And all the usual description stuff:🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianShilling for my own book, Ninti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:47 Informational Topologies02:56 Non-Conscious Intelligence04:42 Chinese Room06:37 Sapience Gradient and Zombies08:30 Vampires10:13 Cosmic Horror13:00 AI Dangers14:05 Long Road Home
Battlestar Galactica : Rebooting Cain Feral Historian 2024-12-13 | The original 1978 Battlestar Galactica introduced Commander Cain in the 2-part episode Living Legend. The reboot brought the character back as Admiral Cain with a much harder edge in keeping with trends in television at the time. Viewed together, the two Cains provide some insight into how American culture has shifted in the intervening decades, specifically with the deconstructing of heroism coupled with a surprising rigidity of perspective that has become increasingly apparent in the political sphere since the series aired. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianShilling for my own book, Ninti’s Gate. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:08 In The Face of Desperation04:38 States Unto Themselves06:54 Razors11:25 Closing
The Prince : Anatomy of a Revolution Feral Historian 2024-12-06 | Jerry Pournelle’s collection “The Prince” includes many stories written over the course of decades. In this video I’m taking a look specifically at the revolution depicted in “Go Tell the Spartans” and “Prince of Sparta” because it captures some essential themes of insurgencies in general, and particularly Leftist revolutionary movements. B-roll is taken from an assortment of movies that . . . have nothing to do with this book but the clips kind of fit and it breaks things up a bit. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianYep, still have a Ninti’s Gate plug here.🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:10 CoDo, Sparta, and the Revolution06:18 Outside Support08:18 Destabilization10:26 War Going Backwards12:42 Revolutionary Archetypes15:20 In The Name of Justice17:18 Foot in the Establishment
“And Another Thing” #1 : Lost Cause Addendum Feral Historian 2024-12-04 | Bonus video - A companion piece to the “Firefly and the Lost Cause” video from a few weeks back. I address the main criticism of that one, the question of whether Confederate soldiers “fought for slavery” or some other primary motivator.See the original piece at youtu.be/CX39cPDWJbc
The Prisoner : “It Means What It Is” Feral Historian 2024-11-22 | The Prisoner is one of those rare television series that is both completely rooted in its particular time and yet somehow timeless. It’s 1960’s Orwell-meets-Sargent-Pepper style speaks to themes of authoritarianism, social atomization, and malicious technocracy just as well today as when it was made. And while it’s been analyzed from every angle in the intervening decades, I’d be remiss if I didn’t contribute something to discussion of The Prisoner. Collin Cleary’s essay on The Prisoner, covering mostly different aspects, can be read here: counter-currents.com/2014/06/patrick-mcgoohans-the-prisonerI'm not endorsing anything else hosted on that site, just linking to an interesting article about the Prisoner that has been referenced in several places but not hosted in full anywhere else I could find. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd the obligatory Ninti’s Gate plug.🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro02:00 Antimodernism04:30 Politics and Subversion06:55 Mandatory Fun and Pathologized Dissent09:00 Rules and Suspicions11:15 It Means What It Is13:50 Once Upon a Time . . .15:00 Fallout18:57 Looking Back
Firefly and the Lost Cause Feral Historian 2024-11-08 | I’ve often been questioned for making Civil War comparisons when discussing Firefly. Here I explain why Firefly not only reflects but is based on the Lost Cause mythology of the Confederacy. EDIT: There's a further explanation of the "fighting for slavery" question here: youtu.be/FUidnzasyeAFor further background on how secession was framed at the start of the American Civil War, battlefields.org has plain text copies of several of the Confederate States' declarations of causes for secession up at battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states You can see how slavery is mentioned _a lot,_ but often framed in terms of the second-order effects of Northern policy damaging their economy, infringing on sovereignty, etc. It varied by state of course, Virginia kept it vague with references to the Federal government "perverting said powers" granted it, while Mississippi was very clear about slavery being the cause. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd the obligatory Ninti’s Gate plug.🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:12 The Lost Cause03:27 Selling the Peace05:28 Causes06:59 Firefly as a Lost Cause
The Cabin in the Woods : Industrialized Blood Sacrifice Feral Historian 2024-10-31 | The Cabin in the Woods (2011) is on one level a skewering of the trope-filled horror genre. But more than that, it comments on the horrific and micromanaged nature of our own world. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd I’m still shilling for my book, Ninti’s Gate.🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro00:30 Society needs to crumble02:57 Modern Horror05:40 Worth saving?
Walking Dead – The Ones Who Live : On Ideology and Revisionism Feral Historian 2024-10-25 | The Civic Republic has been a thread woven through the Walking Dead for years, and with this 6-episode spinoff it finally sees some resolution. In the process it plays with pseudo-science as a justification for atrocities and the post-war desire to move on. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianNinti’s Gate, available on kindle and paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:01 State Secrets03:04 Fan Service and Infiltration05:15 Bogus Science and Ideology06:46 Clean Endings and Revisionism
Fitzpatrick’s War and the the Narrative of History Feral Historian 2024-10-18 | Fitzpatrick’s War tells the story of the rise and fall of a dictator, formatted as a largely critical memoir, interrupted repeatedly by annotations from a regime-lackey historian writing later. It’s interesting as much for its structure as its story, and it deserves more recognition than it gets today.🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd the obligatory Ninti's Gate link. 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:05 The Yukons05:03 Timermen, Revisionism, and Sources08:23 Rise and Fall of Fitz11:08 Cyclical History. Again.14:33 Out for a cappuccino
Fatherland : Alternate History with a Point Feral Historian 2024-10-11 | The 1992 novel by Robert Harris is a great example of the otherwise generally mediocre “Germany won WWII” alternate history premise. By removing the regime from its current almost mythologized status as a unique and singular evil, instead portraying it as merely a repressive state in a Cold War, Fatherland illustrates an uncomfortable truth about realpolitik and atrocities. CORRECTION: Somehow I put up a picture of Bormann when I was talking about Buhler. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd my own book, not alternate history, Ninti’s Gate is available on kindle and in paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro00:55 The Case02:20 Out of Myth, into the Mundane06:13 Detente and Bureaucracy09:11 HBO’s Adaptation10:01 Ignoring Inconvenient Truths
A Canticle for Leibowitz and Cyclical History Feral Historian 2024-10-04 | A Canticle For Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller’s 1959 novel of long-term nuclear war aftermath, is a modern classic. It also presents us with a cyclical view of history that poses some questions for us today. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd a reminder that Ninti’s Gate is still available on kindle and paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro00:30 Fiat Homo03:43 Fiat Lux06:18 Fiat Voluntas Tua08:38 Cyclical History
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome : The Past is Fluid Feral Historian 2024-09-27 | Thunderdome is a layered film, riffing on law, religion, and cultural development. And it does it against the backdrop of a history that morphs with each film in the series, a post-apocalyptic future without a consistent past. This one is not monetized, because Warner Bros are like that, so thanks to the channel’s patrons over at Patreon for supporting this content. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd a reminder that Ninti’s Gate is still available on kindle and paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 intro00:57 Bartertown03:25 The Tribe04:48 The Past is Fluid07:55 Messiah Story10:45 Cutting Losses and Fading Away
Drakon : 4th in a Trilogy Feral Historian 2024-09-20 | I’ve never known anyone who said that Drakon was their favorite Draka book, but it does have some interesting elements both on its own and in relation to the earlier novels. Let's have a look back at Gwen and Ken's old-timey '90s adventure. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd for something quite different from Drakon, Ninti’s Gate is available on kindle and paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 Intro01:12 Gwendolyn Ingolfsson03:17 Weaponized Environmentalism05:52 “We’ve known her since she was a kid”07:03 Ken and Gwen10:50 Possibilities13:28 Dead End
Event Horizon : Chaos and Evil Feral Historian 2024-09-13 | There’s a fan theory that Event Horizon is a Warhammer 40K movie, which leads me to several questions starting with “why equate chaos and evil?” Pulling on that thread reveals, I hope, a few interesting insights into the story and the assumptions it builds on. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorianAnd for some sci-fi with no horror elements at all, Ninti’s Gate is available on kindle and paperback, 🔹 amazon.com/dp/B0CYXH9BWD00:00 intro00:30 40K and Chaos01:25 Back to Event Horizon03:20 The Gateway05:20 No Guilt, No Visions06:52 Weir08:00 This Side of Chaos
The Federations : It’s the Same Picture Feral Historian 2024-09-06 | I find it curious that Star Trek's United Federation of Planets is often held up as an aspirational positive future for humanity while the United Citizen Federation in Starship Troopers is framed as an authoritarian pseudo-fascist dystopia. They're very similar in most respects, and I think the major difference comes down the the underlying assumptions about what drives human decision-making on an individual level. 🔹 Patreon | patreon.com/FeralHistorian🔹 Ko-Fi | ko-fi.com/feralhistorian00:00 Intro01:05 The US is a Federation02:27 Post-Post-Apocalyptic04:39 Call to Serve07:40 Selection 09:05 Taking us as we are
