Eliot Stein is a senior journalist and editor at the BBC. He has traveled the globe profiling remarkable people maintaining extraordinary cultural rites against all odds. From the last Incan bridge master who dangles precariously over a rushing river in Peru to weave a suspension bridge out of grass to a single family of alchemists in India who have guarded a centuries-old formula for a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self, Eliot’s work examines what it means when the unique rites that have shaped us and the places we come from fade away. These are just some of the last custodians preserving age-old rites on the brink of disappearance against all odds. Let Eliot Stein introduce you to all of them.

Eliot Stein frequently speaks about the homogenization of culture, ancient knowledge, and the wisdom we can all learn from these once-upon-a-time rites. He has given talks at universities, on TV and radio segments, to corporations, and frequently appears on podcasts, including Rick Steves, Atlas Obscura, Frommer’s, and more. Also, he has spoken at libraries, packed convention floor auditoriums in New York and London, bookstores, bars, and even senior citizen communities.

In addition to the BBC, Eliot’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, CNN, Condé Nast Traveler, The Independent, and elsewhere.