Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich

remember when the panama papers came out and we found out every rich person on earth was committing tax fraud and then nothing happened

He was doing what many have been saying white men should be doing. He went outside to observe, he documented, he put his body on the line to protect another person and for this he was murdered by the gatekeepers of the fascist regime.

New Book! Brooke Newman's The Crown's Silence 'The book reveals that by 1807, when Britain abolished the slave trade in its empire, the British crown had become the world’s largest buyer of enslaved people, buying 13,000 men for the army for £900,000." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

"Negroes are not now merely a subject of change but an active organ of change. This is the new political equation in contemporary society." Dr. MLK Jr. Forgotten Call for Economic Justice in 1966 published by @thenation.com remains evergreen. #MLK #blacksky

ICE raids are not the first time this was made explicit. I think people downplay how much Jim Crow was not just about controlling Black people but it was also about controlling white people. If you thought racism was dumb and acted that way you could end up with a bomb in your home

The standard for “cultural revolution” according to centrist and right wing commentators is “liberals being loud about their opinions” whereas Trump is making prosecution, regulatory, and funding decisions based on the politics of the speaker but that’s also libs fault for making him mad

W.E.B. Du Bois lives!

MAGA, a movement of cynical cruelty that is fueled by atomization, has accidentally created the conditions for in person communities to be formed around resisting their repression bsky.app/profile/aaro...

This is the context in which “how harmful has diversity been for white people's employment?” conversations dominate our discourse for weeks on end.

Just got my author copy of Black Atlantic Worlds! I’m honored and delighted to be a part of this volume. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978088...

In case you need a positive reminder: How effective is protesting? According to historians and political scientists: very www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Can I risk proclaiming the end of a historical process before the dust has completely settled? The woke wars are over methinks.

Thanks Kelly! I was very lucky to be able to have some wonderful conversations about my book last year. You can check out one here:

Santa managed one book from my list this year, and I’m right pleased it was this one @maryhicks.bsky.social Thanks for the work Dr Hicks! #MaritimeHistory

The people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

WaPo reports that ICE is planning 7 massive human warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people. Recalls the acting ICE director 2015 statement that he wanted to see a “business”-oriented approach to deportations, “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Thanks Jim, for the wonderful convo on your great pod Revolutions in Retrospect!

Sharing my review of @maryhicks.bsky.social's fascinating book Captive Cosmopolitans! In the new issue of Slavery & Abolition: doi.org/10.1080/0144...

@maryhicks.bsky.social wrote my favorite book on the Atlantic in the last few years. It’s 50% off hardcover over on Amazon. Just sayin. amzn.to/4ptVSaY

One of the Trump administration's lasting legacies could very well be the decimation of American agriculture: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARGS...

Harvard faculty disgusted but not surprised by close ties between Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

I get we are in an uncertain period in which leftists and liberals of various stripes are enamored with the idea that we must experiment with embracing aspects of Trumpism to be competitive electorally, but surely "your healthcare costs will double" isn't at the top of the list of issues to co-opt.

Captive Cosmopolitans: Black Mariners and the World of South Atlantic Slavery by @maryhicks.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/captive-cosm... Absolutely fascinating (and upsetting) - an award winning book

I'm really honored to have Captive Cosmopolitans join the long line of fantastic books which have won the Warren Dean Memorial prize. Thanks so much to the committee members, who have authored many books that I've been inspired by, for this recognition:

Yoy can call the Cook County State's Attorney and ask that all charges against the Broadview protesters be dropped: (312) 603-1880 (if there's a better number, lmk!)

👀 🚨 Trump’s big brutal bill will “kill more than 51,000 Americans annually.” @ddayen.bsky.social prospect.org/politics/202...

63% of American adults had unfavorable views of Martin Luther King Jr in August 1966, per Gallup surveys 46% of Mississippi GOP voters said interracial marriage should be illegal in a 2011 PPP poll to push w/e is popular instead of trying to popularize justice is to admit you lack moral leadership

Please join us tomorrow for a conversation on my book, Captive Cosmopolitans, with James Sweet! All the info needed to register for the Zoom link can be found here:

This is the first news article I've seen to suggest that the last decade of campus panic — the activities of Heterodox Academy in this particular case — might have something to do with Trump's attack on universities. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/a...

Sudan fails in attempt to make UAE accountable for acts of genocide

A visual analysis shows the U.S. likely bombed a migrant detention center in Yemen on April 28. At least three U.S.-made GBU-39 bombs at the site of the attack, which killed 68 African migrants, according to the Houthis, a militant group that controls northern Yemen.

I think we should raise the salience of this.

Excellent article: "This idea, that capitalism, slavery, and colonialism are the forces that have shaped our contemporary world, is central to the exhibit... this was the exact sort of story that Trump... would like to excise from museums, classrooms, and every other realm of American life."

I reported on economics full-time in 2020. It taught me there are no incentives to have a baby in the US. Women in the US have to pay for pre-natal, medical and child care, earn less, do most of the parenting and chores, get promoted less, and are now at 27% higher risk of maternal mortality.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had some amazing conversations about my book, Captive Cosmopolitans, in the last few weeks. This one with my friend John Drabinski on inspiration, Caribbean theory and Black Atlantic worlds is one of my very favorites: open.spotify.com/episode/1iUP...

The National Park Service quietly edited its website about the Underground Railroad to remove key references and quotes from Harriet Tubman and soften its language about slavery

Thanks to Kelly Pollack at the Unsung History podcast for allowing to me share a bit about my new book, Captive Cosmopolitans. This was a great discussion! www.unsunghistorypodcast.com/EnslavedMari...

moral panics re "woke," "political correctness," etc were designed to make: 1. counter-cultural commitments to relational egalitarianism & mutual consideration seem like stodgy, censorious conformism; 2. degenerate commitments to bigotry & complacency seem like high-minded tolerance & defiance

W.E.B. Du Bois on the white takeover of southern public schools after Reconstruction. Not a coincidence that the chapter, "Back Towards Slavery," follows his analysis of the eventual dedegration of the public school system. Attacks on education are vital to (re)instituting authoritarian rule.

This shameful DOGE takeover and wholesale assault on civil servants is sowing chaos and restricting Americans from accessing historical records—records which belong to the American people—and from learning about the past. 🗃️

BREAKING: House Republicans have released their budget resolution. They are aiming to cut Medicaid by at least $880 billion, and cut SNAP by at least 20%.

Was recently interviewed by the great Gerald Horne about my new book Captive Cosmopolitans for Freedom Now. Check it out in their archives (it can be found in the Jan 25th show) www.kpfk.org/archives/

Calling the history police on Kendrick’s halftime show.

Every day all month long, I’ll be posting not just pictures but links to my favorite books on Black history, along with Blue Sky links if possible. Today is Day 6 with Judith Carney’s BLACK RICE www.amazon.com/dp/067400834...

RIP freedom of the press www.kqed.org/news/1202597...

Every day all month I’ll be posting not just pictures but links to my favorite books on Black history, along with Blue Sky links if possible. Today is Day 4 with @parisnoire.bsky.social amzn.to/3CspYZs

Team: I'm happy to say that the Omohundro Institute's Digital Humanities Projects Coffeehouse returns on February 18, 2025 at Noon ET with Dr. Jane Landers of Vanderbilt University, Director of the Slave Societies Digital Archive. Join us! oieahc.wm.edu/events-overv...

The vision of the US economy effectively being put into action is essentially what southern manufacturers wanted in the 1930s. Regional/racialized wage structures, protectionism to preserve waning competitive advantage, and regulatory capture by business. www.cambridge.org/core/books/d...