A femurals is a production of IHurt Radio.

It's hard to overstate the impact of the telephone.

In the last 150 years, this communications technology has altered the land, the sky, the makeup of outer space.

And if you trace the contours of history, you'll often find the telephone in places you wouldn't

expect, a background character in stories inspiring and despicable alike.

I'm not here to approve of history.

I'm just here to tell you the story.

This is Elizabeth Cobbs.

I'm Elizabeth Cobbs.

I'm a historian.

Do you want me say more?

She is and was being incredibly modest.

I hold the Melbourne Glasscock chair in American history at Texas, A&M.

I'm the author of eight books.

I'm also a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Made two documentary films, the PBS.

I was on the Historical Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department previously for six years.

I sat on the Pulitzer Prize jury for history.

I always think that sounds...

I think that sounds more impressive than it was.

Well, yeah, don't ask for my CV.

For the initial spark that would come to connect, well, almost everything,

...