My name is Ben Baumann and I created the podcast Root of Reality to tell the most incredible story ever. The billions of years that led to you. In my podcast, I will discuss the history of various topics from the formation of the universe to today, using the latest scholarly evidence to give you the most accurate picture possible of how our modern world came to be. In addition, I regularly conduct oral history interviews with guest experts from all walks of life with personal experience on the topics discussed to add modern relevance. Lastly, Roots of Reality has an international audience and is globally ranked in the top 2.5% of all podcasts according to ListenNotes.com.
About Me:
I am a historian from the United States of America and I have always been fascinated by life’s greatest questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going? As a result, I decided to become a historian, to understand essentially the history of existence, by taking big picture view of history from the formation of the universe to the present to understand how our modern world came to be.
My Credentials:
*Work:
-2023 to Present, Executive Producer for the nonprofit news publication Divided We Fall
-2022 Associate Producer for the nonprofit news publication Divided We Fall
-2019 to Present, Historian in Indiana
-2019 to Present, Creator/Host of the Roots of Reality Podcast
-2018 Legislative Fellow for the Kansas Legislative Research Department
*Awards and Honors:
-2021 Best History Podcast at PopCon.
-Listed as one of the “100 Best History Podcasts” by FeedSpot in 2023, 2024
-Listed as one of the “Top 100 History Podcasts” by GoodPods in 2023, 2024
*Education:
Bachelors Degree in History from Saint John’s University in Minnesota.
Masters Degree in Ancient Studies (Focus on Big History) from the University of Amsterdam
*Publications:
*Other Writings:
Alexander the Great in Sogdiana
*Archaeological excavations:
Omrit Settlement in Israel (Greco-Roman Site)
Ilindentsi-Masovets Settlement in Bulgaria (Neolithic Site)
*Talks:
-2023 Indiana Historical Society “How to Conduct an Oral History Interview.”
-2023 GeneaologyKC “How to Conduct an Oral History Interview.”
-2022 Oral History Association Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California “No Longer Recognizing Politics.”
-2022 American Spaces in Uzbekistan at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan “Federal and State Government.”
*Current Research:
-20th and 21st Century American political history and conducting oral history interviews with former politicians.
-Pseudohistory and its impact historically and today.
-Ways to combat political polarization.
*Research Interests:
History of Democracy, Pseudohistory, Oral History, Genealogy, Human Origins, Societal and Cultural History, Political History, Sports History, Cosmography, Big History, World History, History of Science, Geopolitical History, as well as modern American and international politics.
*Travels:
Armenia, Aruba, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Nepal, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City.
Methodology:
The goal of the podcast is to provide what is most likely to be true about our history and reality, in an objective, nonpolitical, and evidenced based way. The methodology for creating these episodes come from various historical fields, including Big History and more traditional history, and I fuse them together to create a summarized big picture view of the history of existence. All research done for the podcast has been researched by me and a list of sources and further reading for each episode is available to those interested on the site. I use only scholarly and reputable sources to communicate the general consensus of experts on the subjects presented, not opinionated arguments.
If interested in my work feel free to contact me via email at Rootsofreality13.8@gmail.com or on social media.
Best wishes,
Ben