Last night, I was awarded a College Teaching Excellence Award from UNH. I count it amongst the highest honors of my career, and am so grateful for the more than 1,000 UNH students who have made teaching a joy for me for my 17 years here.

So grateful for this generous review of Canal Dreamers, which situates my “eloquent” and “expansive history” in recent context. 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social

Terrific review of @jlepler.bsky.social's "eloquent history of Nicaragua’s canal proposals during the 1820s."

It's not every day an author enjoys a phenomenal book review from a leading historian who also happens to be a descendant of one of the subjects of her book. Thank you for taking us on this walk with you @benjaminepark.bsky.social! 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social www.facebook.com/share/p/19oo...

We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books. 👇 drb.ie/move-over-fo...

I feel absolutely heartbroken over the demolition of the East Wing. This wasn’t even a full year ago 💔

ok who did this? ☹️

I was delighted to be invited by @johnfea1.bsky.social to answer some questions about "Canal Dreamers." The blog post went live today: thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/21/t... It's great timing because the book is currently on sale on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Canal-Dreame... 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social

The Canvas outage today made me think about that episode of "Arthur" when the internet goes out and, horror of horrors, the kids have to play with analog toys like Polaroid cameras. They end up having a blast. Here's hoping my students picked up the awesome book due next week. #academicsky

I know Amazon's "Best Seller's Rank" is a fraught measure, but teenage me, who dreamed of becoming a US historian, would be so tickled to learn that, for a moment, she had authored a number one best-selling book in Nicaraguan history. @uncpress.bsky.social

On Friday, I get to share a lecture from my History of Animals course with participants in a Free Library of Philadelphia online program. The topic is "Dinosaurs: Animal History Before Humans (And After)." 🦕🦖It is free to join the webinar. Register here: libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/eve... 🗃️

At 7 PM tonight, I will be talking at Water Street Books in Exeter, NH. So excited to share my research! 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social

I am excited to teach The Memory of '76 by @michaelhattem.bsky.social in my early American grad seminar tomorrow. It will be a new staple for the course because it is concise, eloquent, provocative, and a survey of popular and academic historiography. 🗃️ yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Tonight’s full moonrise is breathtaking. What a lovely and slightly haunting end to an 82 degree day in October in New Hampshire. I appreciate the free trip to Florida, but global warming much?

Following this discussion. I need to update my sense of the field. The transition to coal seems super important these days.

With news that Trump wants to be put on a $1 coin, here is the $.05 fractional currency featuring Spencer Clark, Superintendent of the US National Currency Bureau that led to outrage over putting living people on currency. PA Rep Russell Thayer’s 1866 appropriations amendment forbid this practice.

"Swim beyond your school!" And other hilarious and fishy advice from the @shearites.bsky.social program committee! 🗃️

Delighted to see Canal Dreamers featured on UNH Today, um, today. @uncpress.bsky.social 🗃️ www.unh.edu/unhtoday/202...

All are invited to the first in Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series, "Turning Your Dissertation into a Book," Oct 9 at 1pm ET. Organized by our Faculty Outreach Committee with the Rutgers Ctr for Minority Serving Institutions. Register here: https://buff.ly/UiOAr5M

I love teaching my intro-level course on the History of Animals. I'm excited to share my lecture on "Dinosaurs: Animal History Before Humans (And After)" through a free online program sponsored by the Free Library of Philadelphia on October 17. Register here: 🗃️ libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/eve...

I really needed a sign today that what I do as a historian matters. I did not expect to literally see a sign. On the sidewalk. And in the window. Hooray for local bookstores! Water Street Bookstore totally made my day! 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social @sonyabonczek.bsky.social

A quarter century ago, I had an amazing year as a visiting student at Mansfield College of Oxford University. I am so honored that Canal Dreamers is featured on the alumni book review page of @ox.ac.uk. @uncpress.bsky.social 🗃️ www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/article/off-...

getting fired from your job because some dipshit student who missed their calling in the Stasi filmed you talking about gender in a class about gender

Not only is this coming for you, it is here and we are collectively behind in preparing.

Thanks for announcing the release of Canal Dreamers! It’s so exciting to share it with everyone! uncpress.org/978146969055...

Today several different students in separate conversations expressed interest in a course on the French Revolution. 🗃️

Honestly this is just really cool. I wrote a book and now they're going to sell it in stores. This was my one little dream and now it's a thing. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634502...

Today is PUBLICATION DAY for Canal Dreamers! A dream come true! 🥳📘📖🗃️ Seacoast folks, I will be talking at Exeter’s Water Street Bookstore on October 9 at 7 PM. Please come! If you can't come, @uncpress.bsky.social has a sale (01NEWSITE50) or try 01SOCIAL30 uncpress.org/978146969055...

I am assigning this in my grad seminar. Such a wonderful article and technique!

“If employers want job training, they should pay for it. Not us, not the government, and not students. Universities should not have to beg for scraps– they should be refuges from competition, not another arena.”

Fantastic resource for historians: a spreadsheet of NARA's digitized microfilm, with links to the files in the Archives catalog. May it help you as much as it has helped me. www.archives.gov/files/colleg...

The colors from my garden brighten any day!

One of the good things that happens when your book is about to celebrate its publication day is that you get to return books to the library. This is the first of three wagonloads! What will I fill those shelves with now that Canal Dreamers is done? 🗃️ @uncpress.bsky.social

The kindest of compliments! Thank you @bhgreeley.bsky.social

I just got a nice note from a stranger saying he'd pre-ordered my book, The Almighty Dollar. That is how I found out my book, The Almighty Dollar, is available for pre-order. Please pre-order my book, The Almighty Dollar. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634502...

Sofia and I have a new article out about Civil War era monetary policy and architecture, as understood by Stephen Colwell. Colwell is an interesting figure I wrote about in my AHR article as well. In some ways very conservative, in others radical... read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article...

Hey #historyofanimals folks, check out this fascinating story about Winston Churchill's platypus. I can't wait to ask my students about this line: "History is totally dependent on who's telling the story." H/T @dael.bsky.social 🗃️ www.bbc.com/news/article...

Thank you @econroykrutz.bsky.social ! It is so fun to see Canal Dreamers in the wild!

Thanks for announcing “Canal Dreamers”!

A compelling tale of a monumental project in Central America that never happened by people mostly forgotten. A cautionary tale of ambition, hubris and associated shenanigans in the 1820s. Due for publication Aug. 2025 Book Review at lachief.substack.com @uncpress.bsky.social @jlepler.bsky.social

Last week, a very special package from @uncpress.bsky.social arrived! I was traveling and eager to touch the Word files turned into PDF files transformed into real paper between glossy covers. Canal Dreamers is a dream come true for me! My nine-year-old son snapped a perfect memory of the moment. 🗃️

Canal Dreamers in the wild! Thank you @econroykrutz.bsky.social! I did not get to check out the book exhibits at #SHEAR2025. So glad to know that @uncpress.bsky.social displayed an advance copy at @shearites.bsky.social. Whoever snagged the copy, I can't wait to hear what you think!

First advanced reader’s review is up on Barnes and Nobles, and it is wonderful! Thank you @lachlanuk.bsky.social @uncpress.bsky.social @sonyabonczek.bsky.social www.barnesandnoble.com/w/canal-drea...

That’s it for me for #SHEAR2025. It was short but sweet. We had a full house at our panel this morning (ignore my empty chair), and I had a blast with old and new friends. Time to race home for my son’s Seussical Jr. performance. And I hear there’s a book—20 years in the making—waiting for me.

OMG! My first look at “Canal Dreamers” as a physical book is in a viral TikTok! Go @sonyabonczek.bsky.social and @uncpress.bsky.social! So excited to get my paws on the real thing when I get home from #shear2025.

Are you heading to Providence for #SHEAR2025? Are you interesting in pitching a piece to Commonplace (@commonplacejrnl.bsky.social) or learning about submitting? Please reach out to me and let's try to chat at the conference. More info in our house style sheet:🗃️ commonplace.online/article/comm...

Gardening can be very therapeutic in troubling times. Here’s yesterday’s small but mighty harvest of beans and berries.

Hey, I recognize one of those covers!

Where’s Jess? Can you find me in this photo?