History Impossible

In this episode of History Impossible inaugurating 2025 and the sixth anniversary of the show, we will be looking at the Los Angeles Fires of 2025 but from an extended, historical, and probably overly philosophical lens. Because as it turns out, natural disasters are a constant of the human experience and create some of the greatest extremes, and reflecting on what afflicts us now alongside what has afflicted us in the past can provide at least some clarity (or, in my case, closure).The destruction faced by Los Angelenos in 2025 is not too dissimilar from many examples of destruction in relatively recent history. From the Krakatoa explosion in 1883, to the Galvestone hurriance in 1900, to the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906, there are plenty of examples. We examine these and their after effects in detail in this episode of History Impossible. It was an emotional experience to go through all of this and I hope you all can appreciate why. I wrote the original essay upon which this episode was based over a mont