I know I said last week’s #ScholarSunday thread was the year’s final one, but y’all did too much good work this week to ignore—so here’s a Christmas bonus, my 256th thread of public scholarly goodness from the past week! Add more below, share widely, & enjoy! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Meanwhile, there are only a handful of historians of modern Indonesia at US universities and half a dozen schools where you can study Indonesian, the language spoken by the fourth largest country in the world and the inhabitants of the world‘s largest city.

We don't do fundraising pushes very often, but that's because we're fortunate enough to have a loyal group of monthly givers. Almost everything you read this year was paid for by 161 people. If you like what we do and want to see more, become a supporter today.

"While early medieval depictions of the crucified Christ are quite diverse...I had never come across a Christ-figure quite like this." If you haven't read Michael Eber's "Christ, What a Monster!" yet, do yourself a favor. Only @contingent-mag.bsky.social contingentmagazine.org/2025/12/11/c...

"Distinguishing between monsters and the real products of evolution is only easy in retrospect..." Keep up with @contingent-mag.bsky.social's "A Time of Monsters" series including Sam Moore excellent essay, "Aaahh!!! Fake Monsters." Read, share, and enjoy! contingentmagazine.org/2025/12/14/a...

Need something to listen to while you wrap gifts, cook, drive, or dissociate? I've got you:

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

The latest piece in our December series, "A Time of Monsters," is ALIVE! Do extreme climate conditions and extreme human behavior go together? Does drought and famine help create "monsters?" Read this wonderful essay by first-time Contingent author, MK Foster. #skystorians #monsters

Merry giftmas to all, and to all a good gift: the Check Book gift guide has arrived at the PERFECT TIME.

Archivists/librarians please share the coolest thing in your collections that will never be digitized.

This is why...historians still have to go to archives, as @marcus1984.bsky.social @contingent-mag.bsky.social has written. contingentmagazine.org/2019/03/25/m...

Just a reminder that we *are* open for pitches for our mailbag column where we explain the nuts and bolts of historical work.

The next piece in our special December series explores "the rise and hunt of monsters in monstrous seasons of prodigious, inescapable heat."

Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Just started reading an advance copy and you should gift yourself this book for the holidays. Alfred McCoy, Cold War on Five Continents @haymarketbooks.org HaymarketBooks.org share.google/cAM9ZXObq9Pi...

As always, we're happy to bring you a lit studies companion to our yearly history book/article lists. Assembled by @rcolesworthy.bsky.social and @hartmann-villalta.bsky.social

Out now! My convo with the inimitable @wellerstein.bsky.social about his new book, THE MOST AWFUL RESPONSIBILITY. I loved going deep with Alex on the challenges of document management and the very practical things (post on reddit!) he does to hone his craft. draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis... 🗃️

"While we will never be able to know the exact meaning this manuscript carried, I am heartened by the thought that queer monks may have used it to find community in their monstrous, Christ-like existence."

"The skeleton of one esp. elaborate specimen, Cornelius Meyer’s dragon, was displayed in Rome in the 1690s. Meyer, a civil engineer, likely produced the skeleton to quell local rumors that a live dragon was still at large in the countryside, & in so doing, to keep his construction project on track."

“In the faunal frenzy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, even serious naturalists competed with fabulists like Barnum for the attention of the public.” Our latest piece in A Time Of Monsters, from Sam Moore.

A doodle of a transmasc Jesus in a 9th century book of monsters is the starting point for @ebermichael.bsky.social’s new piece in @contingent-mag.bsky.social. Don’t miss it.

No more excuses for not having read *the* book of the year on the working poor & homelessness. A book that fundamentally challenges the conventional definition of "homeless," one that shines a light on exploitation & profitmaking out of all of this and does so through powerful, personal stories.

Huge thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social for including me in this series, and for shepherding my first foray into non-academic writing. This was a blast to work on!

"I had never come across a Christ-figure quite like this." The latest in our series A Time Of Monsters, from @ebermichael.bsky.social

"Moskowitz’s frozen dinosaur steaks betray the fear that a fast-growing and poorly regulated food industry could become a black box that delivered monstrous products and, furthermore, alienated consumers from their food."

“While coprolites shed light on lost landscapes, speculative stories — when read in historical context — reveal popular attitudes to fast-changing foodscapes.”

New on Strategic Simplicity - Vipin Narang analyzes the "Four Shibboleths of Nuclear Strategy" - where he questions the validity of four totemic concepts that often arise in nuclear policy discussions. A rare treat to have the CNSP Godfather put pen to paper - come check it out.

The Library of Congress' Asian Division is now accepting applications for their 2026 Florence Tan Moeson Fellowship: up to $3,000 to support travel, lodging, and research expenses. Due January 11, 2026. #sinology #libraries blogs.loc.gov/internationa...

Like Rudolph or Mariah, the #ScholarSunday powers grow ever stronger as December deepens. See for yourself with my 253rd thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast eps, new & forthcoming books from last week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

don’t miss the 2025 @contingent-mag.bsky.social book list! inclusive & welcoming as ever, Contingent curates a list where the hard part is not getting on it, but rather, the hard part is researching & writing a book while contingent contingentmagazine.org/2025/12/02/2...

The second of our yearly lists--this one features thirty-five articles and chapters authored by contingent historians in 2025.

So, hey, my new book on Truman and the Bomb comes out NEXT WEEK! In this post on Doomsday Machines, I give a rundown of WHAT IT IS ABOUT, and other useful information, including the talk I am giving about it on December 16. doomsdaymachines.net/p/the-most-a...

So many incredible contingent scholars doing outrageously interesting work amidst *these* professional and global circumstances. Have a gander!

Our longest yearly book list ever! Thirty six books by contingent historians for you to read, gift, and request for purchase at your library!

"Have the creators of each new iteration followed Mary Shelley’s Promethean lead, nurturing a beloved creation, or have they followed Victor’s, embracing their ambition above their creation’s well-being?" The first in our series A Time Of Monsters, from @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social

If you’d like to join our board, drop us a line!

We'll be looking to elect some new board members before the end of the year! Keep an eye out for a post later this week with information about how to nominate yourself.

Here it is, a very special--& especially supersized—250th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Please add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Do I have any followers who research the Post-WWII decolonization of Africa? I've got a few questions for an episode and I'd love to connect!

Leo is writing my next book apparently

“For cadets, earnest participation in these discussions does more than just prove that they did the reading.” Nick Hurley on his year teaching at USMA.

Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

“It was a monumental undertaking to make this an American book. To be an American book means, to me, to think about the vastness of social experience from wildly different groups of people.” Nishant Batsha on writing an American novel:

I wrote something about Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens getting (really) mad at me for not liking his big 25-year blanket extension of Atlanta's existing, old tax increment financing (TIF/TAD) districts... Thought about titling it: Is Trumpist ad hominem trickling down?

Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...

This @shafrhistorians.bsky.social event is TONIGHT (8:30 PM EST). You can still register and join us. Listen to a panel of folks offer travel and funding advice about conducting research abroad. We got plenty to share so just please join us on Zoom. See you there! #history #skystorians #hdiplo

In this week's Check Book @jjdotbiz.bsky.social shared a link to the 2023 @contingent-mag.bsky.social essay he wrote about the research he does for @blankcheck.bsky.social and how he compiles the dossiers. This is required reading for all #blankies. contingentmagazine.org/2023/08/31/h...

Here it is, my 247th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

A reminder that we're collecting books, chapters, and journal articles by non-TT historians for publication in our year-end lists. Anything with a 2025 pub date is eligible and you can submit for your friends/colleagues! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...

“Monsters always speak of power — sometimes they speak for it, other times they speak against it.” A postcard from @dinostalgia.bsky.social