Podcast appearances and mentions of gregory crouch

Author Gregory Crouch reflects on how his love of history and narrative non-fiction has enriched his life and his appreciation of human struggle. He draws on colorful historical figures and episodes when discussing how an understanding of time and place can make the most significant of differences.Greg is author of Enduring Patagonia (Random House, 2002), China's Wings (Bantam, 2012), and most recently, The Bonanza King (Scribner, 2018). For more on Greg's life and work, please visit his website at gregcrouch.com.Living Philosophy is brought to you by Philosophy2u.com.Host:Dr Todd MeiMusic: www.bensound.comPhoto: Greg Crouch

At the turn of the 20th century, a rogue tiger terrorized the villages of Nepal and northern India. By the time British hunter Jim Corbett was called in, it had killed 434 people. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Corbett's pursuit of the elusive cat, and his enlightened efforts to address the source of the problem. We'll also revisit a Confederate spy and puzzle over a bloody ship. Intro: Ralph Beaman devised a sentence that ends with 15 prepositions. The stones of Pennsylvania's Ringing Rocks Park chime when struck. Sources for our feature on the Champawat tiger: Jim Corbett, Man-Eaters of Kumaon, 1944. Dane Huckelbridge, No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Man-Eater in History, 2019. Hemanta Mishra, Bones of the Tiger: Protecting the Man-Eaters of Nepal, 2010. Nayanika Mathur, Paper Tiger, 2016. Sujeet Kumar Singh, et al., "Understanding Human–Tiger Conflict Around Corbett Tiger Reserve India: A Case Study Using Forensic Genetics," Wildlife Biology in Practice 11:1 (June 2015), 1-11. Iti Roychowdhury, "Man Eaters and the Eaten Men: A Study of the Portrayal of Indians in the Writings of Jim Corbett," Research Journal of English Language and Literature 5:1 (January-March 2017), 37-41. A.J.T. Johnsingh, "Status and Conservation of the Tiger in Uttaranchal, Northern India," AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 35:3 (May 2006), 135-137. Jim Doherty, "Tigers at the Gate," Smithsonian 32:10 (January 2002), 66-67. Sarah Zielinski, "How a Tiger Transforms Into a Man-Eater," Science News, March 19, 2019. Adele Conover, "The Object at Hand," Smithsonian 26:8 (November 1995), 28. "Jim Corbett Dies; Big-Game Hunter; Told of His Exploits Against Indian Killer Tigers in 'Man-Eaters of Kumaon,'" New York Times, April 21, 1955. "Champawat Residents Remember Jim Corbett on Birth Anniversary," Hindustan Times, July 26, 2017. "The Remarkable Legacy of Tiger Jim," Independent, Nov. 1, 2007, 38. Michael T. Kaufman, "Tiger, Protected From Man, Flourishes Again in India; The Tiger, Protected, Prospers in India Tiger Cubs Live Longer A Special Counting Method," New York Times, Sept. 16, 1980. Christine Hauser, "Number of Tigers in the Wild Is Rising, Wildlife Groups Say," New York Times, April 11, 2016. "A Hunter Who Went on to Save the Hunted," The Hindu, Nov. 10, 2018. "Remembering Corbett! A Legend, Man of Many Parts," [New Delhi] Pioneer, July 26, 2015. "The Tiger Hunter Who Earned His Stripes," Sunday Telegraph, Oct. 13, 2019, 16. Vineet Upadhyay, "Jim Corbett's 100-Yr-Old Rifle Returns Home to His Village," Economic Times, April 6, 2016. Dane Huckelbridge, "How to Ensure Tigers Come Roaring Back," Globe and Mail, Feb. 9, 2019, O.5. D.B.N. Murthy, "It Is Jim Corbett's Country," Alive 365 (March 2013), 48-50. Gregory Crouch, "'No Beast So Fierce' Review: The Making of a Killer," Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4, 2019. R. Raj Rao, "'No Beast So Fierce: The Champawat Tiger and Her Hunter, the First Tiger Conservationist' by Dane Huckelbridge: In the Forests of the Night," The Hindu, May 11, 2019. Bill Purves, "History's Deadliest Single Animal? Story of the Killer Indian Tiger and the Man Who Hunted It Down Detailed in New Book," South China Morning Post, March 6, 2019. Listener mail: The Patreon posts mentioned in the listener mail segment are "Greenhow Misgivings" (discussing the problem) and "Followup to 'Greenhow Misgivings'" (describing the measures we took). This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Steven Jones. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

“If you insulted Mackay you could expect to get in a fistfight.”  My good friend and author Greg Crouch comes back on the Paleo Treats podcast to discuss the story of John Mackay, one of the four Bonanza Kings who ran the massive profitable Con. Virginia mine on the Comstock Lode. Greg talks about how the digital age has transformed writing about historical events, about how writing a book actually happens, and how he developed his writing style. “I signed the contract for the book in summer of 2014, and it was published in 2018.  With 3 months to go on the contract due date and after 3 years of work, I was thinking, I don't know if I can do this!” Greg is a West Point grad, was a Ranger during the invasion of Panama, a climber putting up first ascents in Patagonia, and an incredibly well read and thoughtful human.  He's one of my go to sources when I want to understand the world because he has an uncanny memory that is the result of years and years of reading and the big W word:  Work. Within the first page of reading The Bonanza King you'll see just how much of that work Greg puts in a book.  The facts, the background, the perspective, and the connections across a wide swath of that history show the depth and breadth of sheer study he puts in to writing a book. From Mark Twain's connection to John Mackay all the way to how the Civil War was affected by gold mining in Nevada, and from the development of San Francisco to the laying down of our modern lines of communications, Greg paints an incredible picture of an absolutely remarkable story. Whether you like rags to riches, stories of hard work, engineering ingenuity, or just reading about a rippingly interesting slice of history, The Bonanza King is as good as you'll get, and with the background of this podcast, that much more enjoyable. Sit back and dig in to the show! Cheers, Nik @ PT

John Mackay's life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay's fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch's book is about more than Mackay's rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mackay’s life began humbly, immigrating as a child from an impoverished Irish household to New York City where he worked selling newspapers in the streets. Within four decades, he was a stakeholder in one of the wealthiest precious metal strikes in the history of the American West, and by the end of his life was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s fascinating story in The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Scribner, 2018). Crouch’s book is about more than Mackay’s rags to riches tale, however. The Bonanza King is also a portrait of Virginia City, Nevada, as it grew from dusty mining camp to mountain boomtown before falling again into relative obscurity. Mackay and Virginia City together encapsulate how the mineral economy of the Great Basin could create and destroy seemingly on a whim, and The Bonanza King is a rollicking retelling of how the man and the place were inseparably linked during the heady days of the Gilded Age West. Stephen Hausmann is a doctoral candidate at Temple University and Visiting Instructor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently writing his dissertation, a history of race and the environment in the Black Hills and surrounding northern plains region of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 2, 2018 - Our time machine strikes gold in Nevada’s Comstock Lode — a world-record vein so immensely valuable that it changed the destiny of the United States as the Civil War loomed. Our guide on this journey is Gregory Crouch who brings us: The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West. It's the history-making, rags-to-riches story of an Irish immigrant who made his fortune, won the love of his adopted country -- and then fell from the national memory in part because nobody had a bad word to say about him. Gregory Crouch's previous books include the World War II flying adventure China's Wings and the alpine memoir Enduring Patagonia. He studied history at the United States Military Academy at West Point, completed U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools, and led two infantry platoons. Visit him at GregCrouch.com, Facebook.com/GregoryCrouchAuthor, @GregoryCrouch on Twitter, or Gregory.Crouch on Instagram.            

A damnably interesting fellow, Gregory Crouch is a climber & author who has traveled from Patagonia to Persia in search of first ascents, hard ascents, easy ascents, and everything else that goes with climbing in heavy weather. Crouch has written excellent books, in this podcast we talk about Enduring Patagonia, China's Wings, Right Mate Let's Get On With It and others. Greg is a superb storyteller, and from the story of how his birth precipitated a major change in English politics to the latest adventures climbing in Iran he offers the perspective of a live well lived.

When I was a kid I loved the movie “The Flying Tigers.” You know, the one with John Wayne about the intrepid American volunteers sent to China to fight the Japanese before the United States really could fight the Japanese. I recall building a model of one of their P-40 Warhawks with their distinctive “shark’s mouth” nose art. And though I knew a lot about The Flying Tigers, I didn’t really know much about the Big Picture in which they operated. Thanks to Gregory Crouch‘s fine China’s Wings: War, Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom during the Golden Age of Flight (Bantam Books, 2012), I do. Greg does not tell the story of The Tigers; he tells the story of the aviation pioneers who made The Tigers possible. These were the man of the China National Aviation Corporation. They brought commercial aviation to China, which is an excellent tale in itself. But they also volunteered to fight the Japanese even before The Tigers entered the picture. Importantly, they also blazed “the Hump,” the dangerous trans-Himalayan air route between India and China that kept the Nationalist Chinese in the game and generally provided aid and comfort to anti-Japanese forces. This is a wonderful book full of remarkable characters and unbelievable adventures. There’s a bit of romance as well. I asked Greg during the interview whether he’d sold the film rights. I imagine he will soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I was a kid I loved the movie “The Flying Tigers.” You know, the one with John Wayne about the intrepid American volunteers sent to China to fight the Japanese before the United States really could fight the Japanese. I recall building a model of one of their P-40... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I was a kid I loved the movie “The Flying Tigers.” You know, the one with John Wayne about the intrepid American volunteers sent to China to fight the Japanese before the United States really could fight the Japanese. I recall building a model of one of their P-40 Warhawks with their distinctive “shark’s mouth” nose art. And though I knew a lot about The Flying Tigers, I didn’t really know much about the Big Picture in which they operated. Thanks to Gregory Crouch‘s fine China’s Wings: War, Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom during the Golden Age of Flight (Bantam Books, 2012), I do. Greg does not tell the story of The Tigers; he tells the story of the aviation pioneers who made The Tigers possible. These were the man of the China National Aviation Corporation. They brought commercial aviation to China, which is an excellent tale in itself. But they also volunteered to fight the Japanese even before The Tigers entered the picture. Importantly, they also blazed “the Hump,” the dangerous trans-Himalayan air route between India and China that kept the Nationalist Chinese in the game and generally provided aid and comfort to anti-Japanese forces. This is a wonderful book full of remarkable characters and unbelievable adventures. There’s a bit of romance as well. I asked Greg during the interview whether he’d sold the film rights. I imagine he will soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I was a kid I loved the movie “The Flying Tigers.” You know, the one with John Wayne about the intrepid American volunteers sent to China to fight the Japanese before the United States really could fight the Japanese. I recall building a model of one of their P-40... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

When I was a kid I loved the movie “The Flying Tigers.” You know, the one with John Wayne about the intrepid American volunteers sent to China to fight the Japanese before the United States really could fight the Japanese. I recall building a model of one of their P-40 Warhawks with their distinctive “shark’s mouth” nose art. And though I knew a lot about The Flying Tigers, I didn’t really know much about the Big Picture in which they operated. Thanks to Gregory Crouch‘s fine China’s Wings: War, Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom during the Golden Age of Flight (Bantam Books, 2012), I do. Greg does not tell the story of The Tigers; he tells the story of the aviation pioneers who made The Tigers possible. These were the man of the China National Aviation Corporation. They brought commercial aviation to China, which is an excellent tale in itself. But they also volunteered to fight the Japanese even before The Tigers entered the picture. Importantly, they also blazed “the Hump,” the dangerous trans-Himalayan air route between India and China that kept the Nationalist Chinese in the game and generally provided aid and comfort to anti-Japanese forces. This is a wonderful book full of remarkable characters and unbelievable adventures. There’s a bit of romance as well. I asked Greg during the interview whether he’d sold the film rights. I imagine he will soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices