David Avrom Bell
@davidavrombell.bsky.social
📤 1911
📥 276
📝 229
Historian, writer, New Yorker
“They talk very loud, very fast, and all together. If they ask you a Question, before you can utter 3 Words of your Answer, they will break out upon you, again—and talk away.” John Adams, on New Yorkers, August 23, 1774.
3 days ago
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New column. 2025: The Year of Trump?
davidabell.substack.com/p/2025-the-y...
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2025: The Year of Trump?
Many years ago, I asked a friend what label he thought future historians would give to the period we were living through.
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/2025-the-year-of-trump
6 days ago
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Upcoming two-part graduate student conference at Princeton and Sciences-Po on "The French Revolution and the Sacred." Call for papers here:
fit.princeton.edu/events/frenc...
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The French Revolution and the Sacred
“Revolution continues Christianity, and it contradicts it. It is, at the same time, its heir and its adversary.” – Jules Michelet (1848)In the years leading up to the bicentenary commemorations of 198...
https://fit.princeton.edu/events/french-revolution-and-sacred
7 days ago
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A new column of mine in the Chronicle of Higher Education, on the in-fighting at the American Historical Association:
www.chronicle.com/article/acad...
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Opinion | Academic Politics at Their Most Counterproductive
The American Historical Association is being torn apart over members’ views on Israel.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/academic-politics-at-their-most-counterproductive
12 days ago
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How to Celebrate the 250th?
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
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How to Celebrate the 250th?
Historians of the United States are in a bind.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidabell/p/how-to-celebrate-the-250th?r=7gbbv&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Larry Glickman
about 2 months ago
Perhaps the most damning words in this article are the claim that this is "a bitter conservative family fight" over the neo-Nazi, Nick Fuentes. What does this say about the conservative family?
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My newest review, of Lynn Hunt's "The Revolutionary Self," in The Nation:
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
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The Invention of the Modern Self
How did the idea of the individual come into being?
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/revolutionary-self-lynn-hunt/#
about 2 months ago
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www.chronicle.com/article/why-...
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Opinion | Why Harvard Students Are Afraid of B’s
For many students at elite colleges, anything less than excellence feels like failure.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-harvard-students-are-afraid-of-bs
about 2 months ago
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New column: On grade inflation and university culture today.
davidabell.substack.com/p/no-a-for-e...
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No A for Effort
A friend of mine once told me that on his first day at Stanford Law School, the dean greeted the incoming students with an unsettling remark: “I’m sorry to tell you this, but half of you are about to ...
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/no-a-for-effort
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Samuel Moyn
about 2 months ago
Sigh
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
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Opinion | Resistance to Trump Isn’t Enough
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-presidency-congress-resistance.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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A new essay of mine on the situation in France:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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France has survived revolutions and wars: its crisis now is deep, but not terminal | David A Bell
From the raid on the Louvre to the spectacle of Sarkozy in jail, it is tempting to think France is on a downward spiral. But history tells the tale of its resilience, says historian David A Bell
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/25/france-revolution-war-crisis-louvre-raid-nicolas-sarkozy
2 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
The New York Review of Books
2 months ago
David A. Bell
@davidavrombell.bsky.social
on the Enlightenment  and race
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A Baleful Legacy | David A. Bell
Enlightenment writers who proposed ways of improving and even perfecting the human species laid the theoretical foundations of modern racism.
https://buff.ly/hpuyweP
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David Avrom Bell
Itay Lotem
2 months ago
This is a welcome post about expertise, but even more so about the dangers of total suspicion and the nihilism it encourages. Thinking of societies fueled by total suspicion always gets me back to experiences in Russia recently, but also to close post-Soviet contacts. One story always returns 1/4
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Berin SzĂłka
2 months ago
“Expertise is… a process, driven by trial and error. ʼBelieving in the scienceʼ doesn’t mean taking what scientists say at any moment as holy writ—the scientists themselves don’t do this. It means believing in the process and accepting that what is seen as truth today may look like error tomorrow.”
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Do we need to "stop trusting the experts"?
davidabell.substack.com/p/do-we-need...
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Do We Need to "Stop Trusting the Experts"?
(As RFK, Jr. Urges)
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/do-we-need-to-stop-trusting-the-experts
2 months ago
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My newest piece for the NYRB, on William Max Nelson's excellent book on Enlightenment biopolitics:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
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A Baleful Legacy | David A. Bell
Enlightenment writers who proposed ways of improving and even perfecting the human species laid the theoretical foundations of modern racism.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/11/06/a-baleful-legacy-enlightenment-biopolitics-nelson/
2 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Dave Weigel
3 months ago
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXXQ...
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I Tracked Down The Company Ruining Restaurants
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXXQTzQXRFc
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My new column, on the political crises in France and the US.
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
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France and America: Twin Crises, Different Trajectories
Both the United States and France are in the midst of paralytic political crises.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidabell/p/france-and-america-twin-crises-different?r=7gbbv&utm_medium=ios
3 months ago
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Why the idea of “vaccine choice” is based on a dangerous misconception of what parents can control (by my better half):
www.wsj.com/health/why-v...
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Essay | Why Vaccines Work Best When We’re Young
Parents concerned about vaccinating their babies deserve to know why doctors recommend it.
https://www.wsj.com/health/why-vaccines-work-best-when-were-young-c19e5c9d?st=5XvjU4
3 months ago
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The Power of Political Martyrdom
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
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The Power of Political Martyrdom
In the days after the murder of Charlie Kirk, pictures of Horst Wessel started to circulate on social media.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidabell/p/the-power-of-political-martyrdom?r=7gbbv&utm_medium=ios
3 months ago
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A new piece of mine in the Chronicle. Yes, it's stating the obvious. Sadly, the obvious needs to be stated.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
(also available on my Substack w/out paywall:
davidabell.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...
).
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Opinion | The Myth of Faculty Indoctrination
Charlie Kirk’s killing has reignited a right-wing canard.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-myth-of-faculty-indoctrination
3 months ago
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The Myth of Faculty "Indoctrination"
davidabell.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...
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The Myth of Faculty "Indoctrination"
Of all the foolish things posted online by prominent people last week, perhaps the most foolish came from the veteran far-right journalist and agitator Dinesh D’Souza.
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-faculty-indoctrination
4 months ago
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France will be in the headlines this week, with a no-confidence vote Monday and a national day of action (“Bloquons tout”) Wednesday. Here’s my take on why President Macron’s leadership led to this. And please consider subscribing to my free newsletter.
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
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Macron's Fatal Misreading of History
Next Monday, the French government is almost certain to fall, pushing France into a renewed political crisis.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidabell/p/macrons-fatal-misreading-of-history?r=7gbbv&utm_medium=ios
4 months ago
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How Macron has been undone by his own self-serving reading of French history:
davidabell.substack.com/p/macrons-fa...
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Macron's Fatal Misreading of History
Next Monday, the French government is almost certain to fall, pushing France into a renewed political crisis.
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/macrons-fatal-misreading-of-history
4 months ago
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“A profoundly unpopular government is at war with its own people. It is corrupt, immoral, and taking Israel to a place of extremes, where there is might at the expense of morals; messianism at the expense of humanity and hope.” Extraordinary piece by
@jo-ann.bsky.social
in
@newrepublic.com
.
4 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Durba Mitra
4 months ago
thank u to
@itihaasnaama.bsky.social
for recommending my new book The Future That Was alongside these amazing authors
@kalramnath.bsky.social
@abalasub.bsky.social
🥰💕
youtube.com/shorts/S99MW...
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ये किताबें पढ़कर इतिहास के सारे बवाल समझ आ जाएंगे| Book Recommendations
YouTube video by The Lallantop
https://youtube.com/shorts/S99MW0T0HUk?feature=shared
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We have another contender for Nuttiest Republican Office-Holder, and, folks, I think this one may be a winner.
x.com/shadowofezra...
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https://x.com/shadowofezra/status/1955694408122417193?s=46
5 months ago
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A cover letter plus a research statement, a teaching statement, a diversity statement and a writing sample? Talk about overkill. I have run a lot of faculty searches and can say from experience that you don’t need all this.
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5 months ago
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My newest piece for the @nytimes, on the similarities and differences between the AI revolution and the Enlightenment, and what the latter shows about the dangers of the former:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/o...
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Opinion | A.I. Is Not a 21st-Century Enlightenment
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/opinion/artificial-intelligence-enlightenment.html
5 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Eric Weinberger
5 months ago
From
@davidavrombell.bsky.social
substack. There's a price not just Columbia, or Harvard, pays for buckling - all Americans do when illegal means of enforcement are by them legitimized
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My take on Trump 2.0 at six months: neither fascism nor business-as-usual but government by extortion.
open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...
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Government by Extortion
Six months in, the contours of Trump 2.0 are coming into sharper relief.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davidabell/p/government-by-extortion?r=7gbbv&utm_medium=ios
5 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Don Moynihan
5 months ago
New, from an anonymous NIH insider: Trump is being pushed to spend more NIH money. The White House is ordering NIH to do multi-year budgets for awards. This budget trick means fewer awards, fewer labs funded, and lower paylines for researchers. đź§µ
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
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Alert: The Trump administration is quietly slashing new NIH grant awards, and it's not via the budget
NIH’s sudden move to multiyear grant funding is forcing shocking cuts in the number of grants funded. This is an effective budget cut. It's bad, folks.
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-trump-administration-is
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The ignorance shown by Vought here is breathtaking m, if not surprising.
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5 months ago
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"The universities have… in effect, declared war on millions of Americans." On the Manhattan Institute's appalling "Statement on Higher Education":
davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement
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Derangement
Twenty-two years ago, the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer coined the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome” to describe what he saw as the left’s unthinking, hysterical hatred of President George...
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement
6 months ago
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On "university derangement syndrome":
davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement
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Derangement
Twenty-two years ago, the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer coined the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome” to describe what he saw as the left’s unthinking, hysterical hatred of President George...
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement
6 months ago
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Jo Ann Mort gets it right on Mamdani and the Middle East.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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What should Jewish New Yorkers make of Zohran Mamdani? | Beth Miller and Jo-Ann Mort
Jo-Ann Mort and Beth Miller go head to head on Zohran Mamdani
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/16/jewish-new-yorkers-zohran-mamdani
6 months ago
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Belgian engineers have discovered a powerful, transformative technology for transportation over short distances. Revolutionary.
youtu.be/EAkm773d7RQ?...
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Les Pieds
YouTube video by Bruxelles Mobilité - Brussel Mobiliteit
https://youtu.be/EAkm773d7RQ?si=gKkpa_VrGTK7kwIT
6 months ago
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New newsletter:
davidabell.substack.com/p/houses-div...
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Houses Divided
Five years ago, amidst the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd, three hundred of my Princeton colleagues signed a remarkable letter, addressed to the university’s top officials.
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/houses-divided
6 months ago
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Rank in order of importance: * Trump bombing Iran * Continuing horror in Gaza * Gutting of US welfare state * Destruction of American science * Uncontrolled global warming * Mamdani's college application * Massively exploding federal deficits * Massively expanding inequality
6 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Jonathan Cohn
6 months ago
Shameful capitulation by Penn. Just gross.
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Daniel Drezner
6 months ago
I’m having a fun vacation so far have I missed anyth— oh, right.
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New newsletter: On Academic Productivity:
davidabell.substack.com/p/on-academi...
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On Academic Productivity
Over the next few months, anxious professors in the United States will compile tenure and promotion dossiers.
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/on-academic-productivity?publication_id=1202218&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=7gbbv&utm_medium=email
6 months ago
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@nytimes.com
: Columbia University is NOT “off the hot seat.” Try reporting what is actually going on there with federal funding!
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/n...
archive.is/2025.06.18-2...
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Negotiation or Capitulation? How Columbia Got Off Trump’s Hot Seat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/nyregion/columbia-middle-east-studies-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
6 months ago
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My op-ed about the perilous political situation in the US, in Le Monde:
www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...
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David A. Bell, historien américain : « Avec Donald Trump, le show est devenu dangereusement réel »
TRIBUNE. Toute personne qui s’oppose à Donald Trump devient illégitime aux yeux du président des Etats-Unis, explique, dans une tribune au « Monde », l’historien américain, ce qui crée une situation d...
https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2025/06/14/david-a-bell-avec-donald-trump-le-show-est-devenu-dangereusement-reel_6612990_3232.html
7 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Brian Tyler Cohen
7 months ago
Double.
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David Avrom Bell
David Corn
7 months ago
As the US Army celebrates it 250th birthday, Trump is celebrating the enemy that tried to defeat it.
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David Avrom Bell
Joe Walsh
7 months ago
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New newsletter: The End of "The Affair":
davidabell.substack.com/p/the-end-of...
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The End of the Affair
In Costa-Gavras’s classic 1969 film Z, a reporter shouts a question at a Greek police general being taken into custody for the murder of a left-wing politician: “Is your arrest a new Dreyfus Affair?” ...
https://davidabell.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-affair
7 months ago
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Among other things, if funding is cut 50% there literally won’t be any money to fund new grants.
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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reposted by
David Avrom Bell
Edward Nirenberg
7 months ago
I worry that not enough of a big deal is being made about how long-term the devastation of these budget cuts to our scientific and health agencies will be, beyond the absolute ruin they will cause in the acute period.
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