Usually, I chat with historians about writing. But this week we're pulling back the curtain on book publicity! @sonyabonczek.bsky.social, dir of publicity at @uncpress.bsky.social, joined me to demystify the work of publicists and give some advice to authors. Listen: tinyurl.com/sonyabonczek 🗃️ 📚

"We were easy to spot, clad in architectural garments in Balenciaga’s signature black." A postcard from @hottycouture.bsky.social

Dan Kovacs' incredible essay on US World War I veterans sailing to France to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the United States’ entry into the war is still a MUST READ. Read it and many other great pieces like it only @contingent-mag.bsky.social Read, share, and enjoy!

So the Obama administration oral history project went live today. An extraordinary resource for historians and teachers, and a great credit to the team of folks who compiled them all, including Evan McCormick, @pastpunditry.bsky.social and many others.

from @contingent-mag.bsky.social and worth your time: "the central contradiction of the early American Legion ... a benign custodian of memory and shared sacrifice in combat, yet one haunted by its history of vigilantism and exclusionary nationalism." contingentmagazine.org/2026/02/02/o...

"During the First Red Scare, public officials from California to Indiana deputized local American Legion posts as armed vigilante forces, ready to purge the perceived threats of labor unrest, Bolshevism, and anarchy, threats sometimes attributed to immigrant communities."

Thanks to Frontline, part of @thehindu.com, for carrying a piece I wrote on India in the Trump 2 era. Not easy to write given the pace at which events in India are evolving, viz. the US and EU. See👇 frontline.thehindu.com/world-affair... @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @dsdkings.bsky.social @kcsi.uk

Who do the winning medals belong to: country or empire?

"In fall 1927, more than 20,000 American World War I veterans sailed to France commemorating the tenth anniversary of the United States’ entry into the Great War." Read what happened next in Daniel Kovacs' essay, the latest from @contingent-mag.bsky.social contingentmagazine.org/2026/02/02/o...

Whether you’re most excited for the Super Bowl, the Puppy Bowl, or the Superb Owl, tailgate with my 262nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, team! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

I can't wait to assign this as part of my Centralia Massacre activity

“The arguments that justify adjunct labor can be and are turned around on those who thought their positions were secure, a point adjuncts have been making for decades.”

"The 1927 expedition to Paris exposed the central contradiction of the early American Legion – an organization that sought to present itself as a benign custodian of memory and shared sacrifice in combat, yet one haunted by its history of vigilantism and exclusionary nationalism."

Pretty sure this is the first time my podcast guest was on the Daily Show the day before! @historianheather.bsky.social was such a delight to (finally!) have on the show, and I learned so much from her research and writing process. Check it out: draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...

This year, we are adding audio versions of many of your favorite articles, and donors to the magazine get early access through our private podcast feed! Donate today and you’ll get to hear all of our monster series authors over the next few weeks, beginning with Sam Moore.

@lawcha.bsky.social and @laborlawchajournal.bsky.social will jointly award a $2,000 grant for research leading to an article to a contingent/adjunct faculty, community college faculty, or independent scholar engaged in work related to working people. @contingent-mag.bsky.social @historians.org

If you're home today or need something exciting to read at work, make sure you read @theotherrbg.bsky.social's essay about a proposed German-Jewish settler colony in Alaska. Originally a bonus piece for donors, it is now available to all @contingent-mag.bsky.social readers. Read, share, and enjoy!

"The fact that a radically pro-immigrant purveyor of progressive New Deal policies wanted to move a white-passing refugee people into colonized territory to settle it is emblematic of most white Americans’ uncritical acceptance of imperialism." A bonus piece from 2025, now for everyone.

Check out our call for Book Reviews for 2026. Please get in touch with @evansmithhist.bsky.social if you have a book in mind: networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

Always a good time. Read (or reread) our review of the excellent book, Dear Miss Perkins. Happy one-year anniversary of your book, @theotherrbg.bsky.social!

If you missed it this week, take some time to read Oline Eaton's piece on the pandemic, precarity, sexual assault, and teaching. Originally meant for a collection that was never published, we've preserved it as written in the fall of 2021: "an anticipatory dread of a history we had not yet lived."

“Major historical dread meant something to me then, in that context, lifetimes ago, back in 2014 . . . It was an anticipatory dread of a history we had not yet lived.”

This is a bad time to be publishing a magazine, but then, we started in 2019, so it's never NOT been a bad time to be asking people to slow down and read something. So slow down and read something this evening.

“[F]ull disclosure: as I write this during the first week of January 2021, in the midst of an insurrection a mile away at the US Capitol, my imagination is taxed, so I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to do. But we’ll figure it out.” Our latest, from Oline Eaton. Look for Part 2 on Friday.

Something new coming your way— audio versions of some of your favorite Contingent pieces read by the authors themselves!

In honor of Nancy Drew's entry into the public domain, here's a piece on how librarians themselves were the ones to keep her off the shelves for many years. This piece was a bonus piece for donors as part of our 2022 History & Mystery series, but now it's for everyone!

A call for 🦕🦖🦣 contributors! With Victor Monnin, I'm editing a collection about extinct animal parks—it's a field guide, of sorts, that turns a critical eye on places real, imagined, and yet to be. Find the full CFP for LANDS OF THE LOST here: tinyurl.com/dinoparks #PaleoSky #HistSci #EnvHist #STS

There’s a lot I don’t know about what 2026 might bring, but I promise you this: the #ScholarSunday threads will continue! Here’s my 257th of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Happy New Year! Excited to announce that as of January 1, @sarahmpicks.bsky.social and I are the new co-editors-in-chief of the Endeavour history and philosophy of science journal. If ever you had an idea for an article in that realm, now is the time to pitch it to us!

“You can’t just get these things online,” said Dr. Williams...Older material hasn’t been converted to a digital format, while many recent scientific & engineering journals and texts are behind a digital paywall and will be harder to access from outside the library. #histsci #histSTM #humanities 🗃️📜📚

If you enjoyed a piece by us or assigned a Contingent essay to your students or told a friend about us, PLEASE consider donating. We're looking for one-time donations AND folks willing to give $3 or $5 a month. Whatever you can give to pay historians for doing the work of history.

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."