Context with Brad Harris
What led to the rise of the modern world? How have we made so much progress, and what are its consequences? There are countless great books exploring these critical questions... we know we should read them, but most of us don't have time. Join historian Brad Harris as he distills their insights in a… read more
All Episodes
The Fall of Rome, and the End of Civilization
December 12th, 2018
Today, I’m speaking with Bryan Ward-Perkins, author of The Fall of Rome, and the End of Civilization.
It has become fashionable to argue that Roman …
The Two Cultures, by C. P. Snow
November 21st, 2018
The Two Cultures by C. P. Snow was one of the most influential lectures of the 20th century, triggering an intense epistemological debate within …
Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway
October 30th, 2018
Merchants of Doubt is not just a book about how illusions of scientific controversy have been constructed, it’s also about the people who constructed them, and its most shocking revelation is that the very same people …
Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science, by Peter Atkins
October 8th, 2018
If civilization collapsed, and our descendants could rediscover a single work to get humanity back on track scientifically and technologically, Peter …
Evolution's Other Narrative
September 17th, 2018
In this episode, we're shifting gears and I'll read an article that I published in 2013 in the journal American Scientist called "Evolution's Other …
Plagues and Peoples, by William McNeill
September 5th, 2018
The history of disease demonstrates both the accidental nature of history and the triumph of human reason that can enable us to gain some control …
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles Mann
August 20th, 2018
In 1493, Charles Mann shows us how Europeans emerged at the center of a modern, globalized world by establishing the Columbian Exchange; a system …
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford
August 6th, 2018
Genghis Khan was so influential that, to understand how Europe began to shake off its medieval provincialism, how the Islamic world lost much of its …
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn
July 24th, 2018
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a classic in the history of science, and one of the most cited books of the twentieth century. Thomas Kuhn …
Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West, by Margaret Jacob
July 10th, 2018
Margaret Jacob’s book helps us understand how scientific knowledge became integrated into the culture of Europe through the 1600s and 1700s, and how …
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, by David Landes
June 26th, 2018
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations was published by David Landes in 1998, and it has occupied a preeminent place on the bookshelves of scholars ever …
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond
June 6th, 2018
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies was published by Jared Diamond in 1997. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, along with several …
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