Age of Invention, by Anton Howes

Age of Invention: Salt Syndicate, Part I

The story of one of the most important inventions of the sixteenth century that nobody has ever heard of, and the multi-national syndicate that promoted…

Sep 28 • Anton Howes

149

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18

March 2026

Age of Invention: Why Scotland Succeeded

It was capital, not education

Mar 24 • Anton Howes

363

58

49

January 2026

Age of Invention: Tudor Trade War

The true effects of Henry VII's "industrial policy"

Jan 12 • Anton Howes

163

28

22

October 2025

Age of Invention: Joel Mokyr's Nobel

A triumph for history and the importance of ideas

Oct 13, 2025 • Anton Howes

186

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30

August 2025

Age of Invention: The Century-Long Depression

There’s an old proverb about England, current in the sixteenth century, that it was a hell for horses, a paradise for women, and a purgatory or prison…

Aug 26, 2025 • Anton Howes

294

71

40

July 2025

Age of Invention: All Fired Up

The mystifying, centuries-long failure of the coal briquette

Jul 2, 2025 • Anton Howes

126

9

16

April 2025

Age of Invention: Just Kiln Time

The Quest for Pale Ale, Part I

Apr 22, 2025 • Anton Howes

90

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10

February 2025

Age of Invention: How Coal Really Won

The Coal Conquest, Part II

Feb 12, 2025 • Anton Howes

189

38

33

October 2024

Age of Invention: The Coal Conquest

There was no shortage of trees

Oct 4, 2024 • Anton Howes

217

64

38

June 2024

Age of Invention: The Dutch Salten Age

Part III of the Salt Series

Jun 27, 2024 • Anton Howes

142

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11

May 2024

Age of Invention: The Second Soul, Part II

The Lands that Salt Forgot

May 1, 2024 • Anton Howes

127

21

11

March 2024

Age of Invention: The Second Soul, Part I

Here’s a riddle. There was a product in the seventeenth century that was universally considered a necessity as important as grain and fuel. Controlling…

Mar 8, 2024 • Anton Howes

205

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