Mastering Metals: From Sticks & Stones to Cars & Computers

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my new podcast: Context. If you’ve enjoyed engaging in history with me so far, I think you’ll continue to find …

Money is a form of trust.  Credit, not coins, has been the heart of financial innovation.

Communities that have learned how to leverage credit most effectively and facilitate its transfer between parties most …

Our submergence in the flow of time can make it difficult to comprehend how fundamental timekeeping technology has been to the evolution of our …

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement centered in northern Europe during the late 1600s and 1700s that is largely responsible for establishing our modern convictions concerning the virtues of representative …

We've all heard about how the printing press revolutionized book production. But, the real revolution was in how printed books, as opposed to …

Historian Brad Harris reveals the correlations between the spread of coffee consumption and the rise of modern institutions.

From science to security, insurance to stock exchanges, and all the way through to democratic …

Historian Brad Harris reveals what empowered us to wield cold. 

While most of the achievements of technology seem based on our conquest of heat, the …

In this introduction to Season Two, historian Brad Harris challenges the growing cynicism toward the ideas of progress and modernity, recalling what The Enlightenment was all about.

Music provided by Zack Hemsey, …

In the Season One finale of How It Began, historian Brad Harris reveals the beautiful history of how life came to know its true origins through …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris takes us back to collapse of the Roman Empire to reveal how the world's most popular and expressive language, …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris reveals the surprisingly fascinating history of financial markets and how the development of stock sales since the 1600s powered everything from the age of discovery to the ability …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris takes us back to the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and reveals how that moment scared America's best scientists and engineers into inventing the Internet. Discover how a series of …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris uncovers how we managed to advance from building machines for our muscles to building machines for our minds. Explore the history behind the life or death struggle to process …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris reveals the incredible story of how humanity learned to harness electricity. From William Gilbert's work with …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris illuminates the history of humanity's efforts to heal. Discover the origins of surgery 12,000 years ago and …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris unearths the history of engineering that has made possible the biggest construction projects of all time, from …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris brings us back in time over 35,000 years ago to reveal the very beginning of dog domestication. Learn how …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris explores the origins of our modern methods of scientific discovery. From ancient Greeks who developed rational …

In this episode, historian Brad Harris compares the horsepower of our modern machines to the power of stallions that helped empires rise and fall for millennia. Travel 30,000 years into the past to witness the first …

In this exciting introduction to the series, historian of science and technology Brad Harris gives an epic preview of what's to come as he shares his …