This is a lightly edited transcript of this video.

Let me introduce you to my latest project, Timeline 1700-1900, which will appear on Substack. I chose Substack because it generally refuses to control the content of its writers. I like that. I prefer to let the market decide if I’m worth listening to, rather than the management of a media company.

Content

In Timeline 1700-1900, I mean to provide an overview of politics, science, and culture such as few students or adults have these days. I’ll start in August 2024 with “The World in 1700.” After that, I’ll send out a decade every month as a PDF.

The PDF for each decade will run 15-20 pages: some decades are more eventful than others. It’ll be sorted by categories – more on those in a moment. I’ll be noting not only major events, but trends in ideas such as the rise of nationalism, liberalism, and romanticism.

One of the unique features of the Timeline is that I include excerpts from fiction and nonfiction works, as well as illustrations of artistic and technological achievements. Below are two pages from the sample decade on Substack, the 1830s.

Another unique feature of Timeline 1700-1900 is the multitude of cross-references – because historical events don’t happen in a vacuum. (More on that in this free essay on Substack.)

Below is an overview of the categories. You can read more about them in a free post of early August 2024: “History and Timeline 1700-1900: part 4, What makes the Timeline unique.

Here’s a brief glimpse at a few of the categories.

The Presidents of the United States category includes a brief bio of each, focusing on his background before the presidency. Then I look at the major issues he faced and his major achievements. I also include a quote from him, because hearing someone speak is often a revelation. Incidentally, reading all those presidential quotes in sequence, beginning with Washington, is REALLY a revelation.

The Economics category  includes major theoretical works by Mandeville, Malthus, Marx, Mill and more. It also has notes on major upheavals in employer-employee relations, panics and recessions, tariffs, and so on.

The Nonfiction category includes massively influential works that don’t fit tidily into any other category, for example: Gibbon and Douglass.

In the visual arts, we look at architecture, painting, and sculpture.

In literature, we look at fiction, poetry, and drama.

In music, we look at operas and orchestral works.

 Benefits

Moving on: let’s talk about how the Timeline benefits you.

Is your happy place reading or watching history, fiction, or historical fiction? Timeline 1700-1900 can give you a broader grasp of the context of such works that will let you enjoy them even more.

Possibly more important: If you don’t like the present and want to change it, you need to know how we got where we are today. The Timeline can help give you that perspective. You may not have heard of Kant or Hegel, Malthus or Smith, Gauss or Gibbon … but their ideas are still affecting you. Just because you don’t see the shark doesn’t mean it won’t eat you.

My credentials

You might reasonably ask what qualifications I have for taking on this kind of project. In sum:

• 9years earning a Ph.D. in Classics
• 25 years as a bibliographical researcher
• 10 years as a homeschooling parent
• 20 years writing on Alexander Hamilton

• 50 years studying Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
• 17 years writing on outdoor sculpture in New York City
• 2 years writing Timeline 1900-2021 (currently under revision)
• 25 years writing on art history more generally, including 7 years during which I sent out a group of Sunday Recommendations every single week.

So at age 146 … well, OK, some of that experience overlapped. The point is: at my present age, I have a broad background in civilizations that range from ancient Egypt to the 21st century. I love going from nitty-gritty details to the big picture, and back again … and again, and again. And I love writing: communicating this kind of integration to others. You can see my previous efforts at this on the Books and Essays page of DianneDuranteWriter.com.

Why issue the book on Substack rather than in print?

Why am I issuing the Timeline 1700-1900 on Substack, rather than self-publishing it as I did Timeline 1900-2021? Two reasons.

First: it will be helpful to have people comment on the Timeline who are experts in their fields: technology, philosophy, literature, whatever. I use a variety of sources, but I don’t pretend to be an expert in every category covered in Timeline. I’m hoping subscribers will offer suggestions. I’ll incorporate some of those into the Timeline, and mention significant contributors in the acknowledgments of the printed book.

BUT … be aware that this is NOT a Wikipedia-type collaboration. Final say on content is mine.

The second reason for putting the Timeline on Substack is that putting together a book of this sort consumes a lot of time and energy. Your financial support tells me that you consider the project worthwhile.

Financial details

Here are the specifics of the Substack project.

• You can subscribe for free. That gets you a couple posts a month, including occasional essays (“Why Study History?”) and a couple posts tying events of that month’s decade to current events.
• As a paid subscriber you get all the above, plus one decade a month in the form of a PDF. (You can see a sample decade, the 1830s, as a free post in June 2024 on Substack.) You also have access to the archive of earlier PDFs. The price is $12/month or $130/year.
• Founding Members, at $240/yr., will appear in the acknowledgements of the print version of Timeline 1700-1900.

I hope you’ll join me on Substack. If you have any questions, drop me a message there!