Hello all!

Subscribers will no doubt be aware that there has been a significant drop in the frequency of new videos being put up on HistoryCourses. I sincerely apologize for this. Sometimes life just comes at you fast. The good news, however, is that it is very clear to me where the bottleneck is – it isn’t in the researching or writing, but in the animating. I have reams and reams of written material and research, but turning that into videos simply never happens.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to shift what I’m doing on HistoryCourses. Instead of releasing the lectures in video format, I am pivoting to audio. This is a move I have considered making for quite some time now, not only because of the production bottleneck caused by the videos but also because many members have communicated to me that they don’t particularly enjoy sitting there and watching a video. They’d rather listen to the content or read it. Moreover, shifting to an audio format will allow me to be both a lot more analytic in my presentation and prolific in my output, which I think is something that all you history enthusiasts will appreciate.

That said, there is a great value to visual aids, especially when the subject matter involves complex interacting details, a family tree, or reference to a map. Accordingly, I am going to provide a PDF booklet of relevant maps, family trees, diagrams etc. along with every single audio lecture, available to all paid members. The cited and annotated transcripts are going to remain exclusively for higher-tier subscribers, but the maps and visual aids will be available to everyone.

I anticipate that I will be able to release an average of 45 minutes of new audio material per week – perhaps a little more in a good week, a little less in a hard week. We will be able to advance much more rapidly through the course material under this new system, and I look forward to being able to better diversify the courses’ subject matter as a result of this new speed. I will also be working back and redoing the earlier lectures to be in line with this new structure. The For Settlement to Superpower podcasts are going to be completely reworked into a series of courses on pre-colonial and colonial American history, along with full transcripts, visual aids, and superior production quality. The FSTS-based course will likely be free and accessible to all as a sample course.

Looking forward to continuing this journey together with you all!

Abraham