Unmitigated Pedant Bret Devereaux has another of his historical explaination/analyses up, and it’s what it says it’s about, a deeeeeep dive into how people made iron. This follows his last series, which looked at how people made bread.
From a well-fed and industrialized point of view, iron’s a lot more sexy, honestly.
For people who might be wanting more than just a spoon-fed overview, there is also a bibliography.
Riders of Skaith 