I serve on the AAHM's Outreach and Education committee, and we are about to launch an exciting 2025 History of Medicine Week series! We have events all next week, a couple are only for AAHM members but most are open to anyone interested.

Historians, please share these two exciting new positions in the Texas A&M History Department: careers.historians.org/jobs/2167991... careers.historians.org/jobs/2168299...

Great read

Historians call this "positive eugenics." Policies that encourage "normal" people (however that idea is conceived at a particular time) to have more kids. The sister to that is "negative eugenics." Laws that prohibits "unfit" people from having kids. One often does not exist without the other.

U Chicago Press has a sale on history books with the code history2025, including 30% off mine (& whoa at the incredible company it is in here!)

When working on my postpartum depression book I met folks so excited about therapy chat bots (& now genAI therapy). New parents in the US struggle to find mental health providers, struggle to afford them, and don’t have childcare to see them. This doesn’t solve those problems. It just accepts them.

First academic journal review of my book Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America! Thoughtful (and positive, phew!) review in the Journal of Social History, from the amazing Wendy Kline.

Wow: tenure letter writers’ publication records (h-index) are better predictors of tenure decisions than candidates’ own publication record.

Going over page proofs for an article coming out this fall! First piece from my new project. I am super proud of my recent book on postpartum depression but I can't lie, this has been a less depressing project so far...

I thought every public pool was required to blast pop or pop country, but my they are blasting The Smiths at kids swim lessons in freaking College Station, Texas and it is all so gloriously wonderfully weird

A fun interview I did with Laura McClaw Helms, with way less editing than I am used to so you can read me just jumping around topics like a hyper squirrel (albeit a squirrel with a lot of enthusiasm for the history of postpartum depression)

Michael Steudeman joins @NPR’s Throughline to explore the 19th-century roots of the Dept. of Education—drawing from his upcoming book ABSENCE OF NATIONAL FEELING. Listen + catch the book mention at the end! 🔗 buff.ly/TccdOzc #UPMississippi #Throughline #EducationHistory

Many people don’t know that there are #oralhistory collections that provide firsthand accounts of the experiences of Black Texans. Take a moment to explore them today. Here’s one collection: #Juneteenth #TexasHistory #BlackTexans #BlackTexasHistory bn.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2...

So this review calls Blue "a magnificent, comprehensive, and long-overdue history of postpartum depression in the US," which is incredible. More incredible is the author weaves her own postpartum depression/psychosis story into the academic review in thoughtful and moving ways.

My daughter's camp counselor described her as "a whole vibe," and I am too old to know if this is a compliment, an insult, or a little of both.

Haunted by this 30-year-old postpartum depression self help book I bought used, that came with the questionnaires filled in.

targeted ads really going for the jugular

Completely beyond capacity (aren't we all) but was asked to blurb a book of poetry related to postpartum illness and of course had to say yes. I earned a minor in English 20 years ago and FINALLY I can cash that baby in.

"The NEH’s entire budget is about $200 million — less than what the Department of Defense spends every six hours. And yet its reach touches towns that rarely see federal investment in education and culture."

just accidentally put my annual gyno appointment on the department calendar, so that's how today is going

It is my first official day as a full professor (the regents decision was yesterday) and I am struggling to figure out how to change my outlook signature. So, already leaning hard into the professor brand.

Text from a colleague who taught my book Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America this semester! If you use Blue or a chunk of Blue in a syllabus this fall let me know, and I am always super happy to zoom in to your classes to talk about it too.

My second grader learning citation warms over my chatGPT-embittered academic heart

Did an AMA about my book on reddit, which was a really neat way to share some of its ideas with a way bigger audience, even if I felt like a total dinosaur!

We all know the thing where we culturally don't care about women at/after menopause, but cancelling an expansive and influential 34 year study of postmenopausal women is really saying the quiet part aloud.

📢📢📢 We are looking for contributors to respond to RFK’s recent eugenic-laden speech, his response to the measles outbreak, or any of his other policies. If you are interested you can DM this account or send us a pitch via our website. Please share widely! nursingclio.org/write-for-us...

Finally got a hold of my new book. Loneliness in World History. Learn about loneliness but also how we do comparative emotions research.

I can’t recommend being department chair enough. Like, I am giving a talk in Santa Barbara tonight and so I am at a coffee shop where I have an amazing view of the ocean and the mountains and also most importantly of the excel sheet on my laptop where I am busily justifying budget lines. The dream!

The amazing This Podcast Will Kill You uses my book Blue for historical context in this episode on the postpartum. And they call it "really fascinating"! (They call Leavitt's Brought to Bed fascinating 2x, very fair, so I'm deeming myself half as fascinating as that book & I'll take it).

Ahhhhhhhhh "Blue" by @rachellouisemoran.bsky.social is one of the sources shouted out by Erin for the history section of Pregnancy part 4 by @tpwky.bsky.social! This is the best possible crossover in my life and I am SO THRILLED

“The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for this administration” My NEH grant has been terminated Incredible when the funding for your book about the educational culture wars is cut as a result of the educational culture wars You can’t say history isn’t relevant

A bit of professional news, amid chaotic newsfeeds. I have spent the last ten (!) years at UNT, and love it. But I accepted a new position, and in August I will be a professor of history at Texas A&M. It is hard to leave, but I am excited for next steps and new possibilities.

My husband's new book, Willing Warriors: A New History of the Education Culture Wars, is available for pre-order! And distressingly timely. Check it out! @schoolfuss.bsky.social

When you say yes to an interview for the "evil witches" substack with no real context, and it is ends up being one of the smartest, most enjoyable interviews you've done. She even added links to some primary sources!

A California uni bought me a plane ticket to give a talk next month, which opted me into their travel alert system. So now I get weekly automated alerts warning me against my upcoming travel to Texas (aka my ticket back home). Fair enough, alert system, fair enough.

Getting excited about this talk I'm giving next month at UC Santa Barbara; a conversation with an activist who was a major player in my book. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

For those historians keeping track, esp #milhist folks, “history” is now a flagged word bc of its apparent connection to #DEI. Canary in a coal mine, indeed. @smh-historians.bsky.social 🗃️ www.tpr.org/military-vet...

“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

2-yr postdoctoral fellowship at Wisconsin in the History of Medicine and/or Public Health (19th century to the present) mhb.wisc.edu/2025/02/25/p... Review of applications to start 1 April 2025. #histSTM

Colorado's Rep Brittany Pettersen (D) flew cross-country with her one-month-old to vote against the GOP budget tonight. Dems ended up one vote short. Pettersen was part of an unsuccessful bipartisan push to allow new mothers to vote remotely. #copolitics

Hey, the audiobook for Blue is a #1 new release in the niche History of Psychology category. Link to YouTube where you can listen to the introduction for free: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8XG... @uchicagopress.bsky.social @annsprinklenarr.bsky.social

I had the privilege of blurbing Dana Simmons' new book, On Hunger. It is such a vital addition to food and nutrition studies. While you should pre-order the paperback I was also so pleased to learn it will have an open access option when it comes out this May!

I was recently interviewed about Blue on the fantastic Mom and Mind podcast - check it out! @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Audiobook release date for Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America!

The audiobook for Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression is coming out next week (Feb 18)! You can pre-order all the places you would expect to find it. The audiobook cover is confusingly NOT blue, but still looks great. Read by @annsprinklenarr.bsky.social !

"The Tooth Worm as Hell's Demon,” 18th century. The two halves open to reveal a scene about the infernal torments of a tooth worms, which people believed caused cavities. Complete with mini skulls, hellfire, and naked people wielding clubs.

"The functions of the National Archives and the Archivist of the United States are far more significant than most citizens realize" and have significant implications for our democracy (for example, the AOTUS administers the electoral college process)... 🗃️ www.linkedin.com/pulse/we-sho...

Excited for this book! There is so much amazing new work coming out on histories of maternal distress and mental illness, and it is great to watch this critical conversation unfold.

"Overall, coming a day after the government's plans to radically shrink the National Science Foundation, it's difficult to read this as anything other than an attempt to crush scientific research in the US."