Uncovering Aspects of History

Richard and Kimon speak with Oliver Webb-Carter, co-founder and editor of Aspects of History, a magazine and website that showcases great writing and research in history and historical fiction.

Prior to starting Aspects of History, Oliver had a varied career as an archaeologist and a banker. As a young man, Oliver worked at a dig site in Belize for six months, which helped shape his interest in the past.

In 2002, just after graduate school, Oliver got a job working in IT at JP Morgan. He loved IT and worked in this department until 2010. He moved into change management, helping intra-company contract negotiations. After, he worked in controls management, an important compliance department. He never worked in trading, but had significant experience in many parts of banking world.

In 2010, he started taking night classes, learning Ancient Greek. Oliver found himself growing disinterested in his day job, regularly waking up at 3am unable to get back to sleep. After a few more years, Oliver began to explore other ideas for work.

As a fan of history, Oliver saw that authors had difficulty promoting their works beyond initial book launches. He points out that publishers are increasingly less interested in promoting their authors. To help with this problem, Oliver co-founded Aspects of History.

Aspects of History is subscription-based, and the main purpose is to introduce readers to great historians and their new books. Every year, Aspects of History publishes 6 issues with articles, interviews, and reviews.

Oliver also discusses the challenges that came with quitting a stable, well-paying job to pursue his passion. He discusses his wife’s support, and how this was integral to making the entrepreneurial leap.

At the end of the interview, Oliver talks about the future for Aspects of History and plans for growth.

Oliver Webb-Carter is co-founder and editor of Aspects of History.

Richard Lucas is a business and social entrepreneur who founded, led and/or invested in more than 30 businesses.

Kimon Fountoukidis is the founder of both Argos Multilingual and PMR. Both companies were founded in the mid 90s with zero capital and both have gone on to become market leaders in their respective sectors. Kimon was born in New York and moved to Krakow, Poland in 1993. Listen to his story here.