Kevin Manzel
@kevinmanzel.bsky.social
š¤ 970
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History. Music. Books. Running. Learning. Always learning. VP Content Strategy, The Great Courses.
The fact that Leonardo and Michelangelo could exist at the same time, in the same place, making historically great art simultaneously, but Michelangelo hated him is both fascinating and sad.
about 13 hours ago
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PowerPoint is the opium of corporate culture.
2 days ago
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I want a dramatic series on the years that young Michelangelo was in the Medici household at the same time as Lorenzo the Magnificent.
4 days ago
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The fact that they halt the trumpet every time at the note when he was (allegedly) shot in the throat by an arrow is incredible.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mar...
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St. Mary's Trumpet Call - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Trumpet_Call
5 days ago
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Had an email exchange of ideas for a live talk with a scholar I hold in very high esteem today. It was so collegial and mutually creative, sometimes disagreeing but always respectful, and the end result was so great. Why canāt all conversations be like that?
6 days ago
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Learned today about the many lives of the Orlando Column in Dubrovnik. Love how they reoriented its direction in the 19th C toward France and Austria to warn them off attacking.
www.atlasobscura.com/places/orlan...
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Orlando's Column in Dubrovnik in Dubrovnik
An ancient knight and a symbol of the city's freedom.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/orland-s-column-in-dubrovnik
7 days ago
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Had no idea oc (Occitan) and oui (modern French) were linguistically and historically related and that Languedoc meant ālanguage of oc.ā I canāt wait to annoy my wife with this fact later.
8 days ago
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Current Greek history book made Heinrich Schliemann 10 yrs younger than he really was when he married his arranged-marriage child bride. I think Iām done with this book.
9 days ago
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Checking on streaming numbers for Great Villains and in the 2 weeks itās been live itās possibly st(r)eaming toward a record pace. Who knew it could be viewed as a current events piece?
10 days ago
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reposted by
Kevin Manzel
Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. šļø
10 days ago
If you like the GrimkĆ©s including the nephews, Iāve got an episode of āForgotten Americaā for you! Check it out on The Great Courses or Audible.
bit.ly/4omm0oi
& definitely read Kerri Greenidgeās book. šļø
#HATM
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Just learned that those heretical Cathars were pescatarian, anti-war, anti-capital punishment, and were so highly literate that the Dominican friars in northern France actively discouraged education to prevent Catharismās spread.
11 days ago
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Fun may be a stretch but I was absolutely spellbound learning of 3 notorious villains of the Old West Iād never heard of: Joaquin Murrieta, Alferd Packer, and Arthur Rockford Manby. Packer inspired Cannibal: The Musical.
13 days ago
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Was pleased to see Henry Kissinger make the list of Great Villains of World History. He had solid credentials to make that list.
16 days ago
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Reading a history of Greece in a well-known franchise of brief national histories and the number of factual errors is absolutely astounding. Wrong century, timelines wrong, people influencing others who died a century before them. So frustrating.
18 days ago
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"Footprints that represent actions of people over minutes, thousands of years ago, were destroyed within days," Britton said.
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
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In a 'race against time,' archaeologists uncovered Roman-era footprints from a Scottish beach before the tide washed them away
Archaeologists raced against the tide to record a unique set of footprints made 2,000 years ago on a Scottish beach.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/in-a-race-against-time-archaeologists-uncovered-roman-era-footprints-from-a-scottish-beach-before-the-tide-washed-them-away
20 days ago
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If youāre a writer looking for inspiration for a horror plot or an evil character, please watch Great Villains of History on The Great Courses Plus. It is a rogueās gallery of men and women that is at turns horrifying, thought-provoking, and baffling.
22 days ago
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So, a comrade and fervent champion of Joan of Arc wasā¦also a grotesque, eventually convicted child serial killer? What a strange, horrific historical footbote.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_...
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Gilles de Rais - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais
26 days ago
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reposted by
Kevin Manzel
mattš»āļø
26 days ago
the best part of KU's Pink Game is granny ball at halftime!!
#RockChalk
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Amazing archaeological find:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/s...
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Elephant Bone in Spain May Be Proof of Hannibalās Tanks With Trunks
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/science/hannibal-war-elephants-carthage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MFA.pwTN.T3ED-HDtttI5&smid=nytcore-ios-share
26 days ago
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Running through NoVaās snowcrete hellscape listening to Great Villains lectures on Marquis de Sade, Fred Crisman (new to me), Peter the Hermit, Charles Manson, and Jim Jones was bizarrely enthralling
27 days ago
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Very excited to read this new story by
@coyhall.bsky.social
.
28 days ago
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Loved the ending for Dr. Andrew Wilsonās Art of War Great Course: āMay your chi be keen and your shi abundant.ā
28 days ago
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Next best thing to archaeological mysteries are archaeological mysteries being solved.
archaeology.org/news/2026/02...
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News - New Research Confirms Location of Lost City Founded by Alexander the Great - Archaeology Magazine
JEBEL KHAYYABER, IRAQāAncient written sources record that when Alexander the Great returned to Mesopotamia from [ā¦]
https://archaeology.org/news/2026/02/10/new-research-confirms-location-of-lost-city-founded-by-alexander-the-great/
29 days ago
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reposted by
Kevin Manzel
Scientific American
30 days ago
Yes, we talked to a geologist who curls about the very special geology of curling's stones, please enjoy
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Why curling rocks come from just two spots on Earth
The rocks used in the Olympic sport of curling come from one island in Scotland and one quarry in Wales. What makes them so special?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-quirky-geology-behind-olympic-curling-stones/
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Behind the Scenes of filming Great Tours: The Silk Road with Great Courses favorite Dr. Eamonn Gearon.
30 days ago
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So much fun that my Art of War Great Course has made connections to Thermopylae, Gettysburg, George Washington (several times), D-Day, the Schleiffen Plan, football, basketball, and his fatherās poor business decisions.
about 1 month ago
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Kevin Manzel
š³ļøāā§ļø Josie Wars: Episode XXL -Ā Rise of Riesman
about 1 month ago
@joelbaden.bsky.social
Just wanted to tell you that I am ADORING your Great Courses series!!!! Bravo!!!!
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Calling all history nerds! Interested in a FREE live online lecture on the rise of the Venetian maritime empire by Great Courses Prof Thomas Noble on 2/26 2 pm EST? Lecture + live Q&A. Register here:
streamyard.com/watch/Td7J2f...
about 1 month ago
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Kevin Manzel
Supplanting Haystack
about 1 month ago
This historian is amazing. I feel like watching her documentary series has given me more insight into America than countless hours of modern news media.
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Kevin Manzel
Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. šļø
about 1 month ago
Thank you so much! Iām thrilled you liked the series & found it enlightening. āForgotten America: Rediscovering Events that Changed the Nationā is available through The Great Courses Plus or Audible. šļø
bit.ly/4omm0oi
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The professor for Art of War walking you thru a line-by-line translation of Chp 1 is both insanely ambitious and thrillingly satisfying.
about 1 month ago
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Iām at that point in my career where I supervise and ādirectā writing more than I actually do it myself. But, my god, when I do get to write - even something brief - for an audience, I really freaking love it. ā¤ļø
about 1 month ago
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Kevin Manzel
Flames on the side of my face.
about 1 month ago
My entire YouTube algorithm is niche social histories. I have been radicalized to pay for The Great Courses Plus, which I do not regret to inform you is 100% worth the money.
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Omg Iām watching the chat absolutely blow up for
@carterhaughschool.bsky.social
on the Great Courses Journeys Live event and it hasnāt even officially started yet. Love it!!!
about 1 month ago
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New favorite nonfiction writing criticism: āThereās too much throat clearing⦠.ā I canāt wait to use that. (Just donāt use it on me pls.)
about 1 month ago
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I do, too. Outstanding course by an outstanding professor, Dr. Eren Taser.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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Went for a long run in 15-degree weather to try and forget about the news for a while. Didnāt work. Iām more angry and sad than when I left.
about 2 months ago
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So glad I squeezed in a late run before the temperature plummets. Got to learn that both Mozart and Beethoven were inspired by music of Ottoman janissaries. Beethoven even features it in his Ode to Joy.
about 2 months ago
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Kevin Manzel
Scott Solomon, PhD
about 2 months ago
Travel with me to Panama and Costa Rica! Ill be hosting an amazing trip for The Great Courses in Jan 2027. We will be transiting the Panama Canal, visiting the spectacular San Blas Islands, and exploring DariƩn National Park, among the many highlights!
www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/panamacanalp05
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Panama Canal (Ponant 05) | TGC Journeys
Embark on an unforgettable Central American journey under the guidance of Professor Scott Solomon from Rice University, a biologist, science communicator, and expert in ecology and evolution.
https://www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/panamacanalp05
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Kevin Manzel
Adam Rothman aced his cognitive test
about 2 months ago
Did Napoleon write this?
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I highly recommend joining this live talk. History, myth, literature, and two outstanding and fascinating professors FOR FREE. And you can ask them questions. Register at the link below.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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A horrifying thought: AIās best comp for a previous technology that fundamentally changed information creation and access was the printing press, which was wielded for spreading violently polarizing views in the Wars of Religion.
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Kevin Manzel
Rachel Gunter, Ph.D. šļø
about 2 months ago
I discussed this in the lecture on Asian Exclusion (covering Chinese Exclusion & Japanese Incarceration) in Forgotten America for the Great Courses and Audible.
bit.ly/4omm0oi
#HATM
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The history of AI is filled with appearances by so many great thinkers: Babbage, Lovelace, Russell, Chalmers, Gardner, Turing (Turing, Turing, Turing), Darwin, Asimov, and others. The human aspects are as interesting as the science itself.
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Kevin Manzel
Sarah E. Bond
about 2 months ago
𦷠āanalysis of tooth enamel samples collected from the remains of people buried in England b/w the end of Roman rule in Britain around A.D. 400 & the arrival of the Normans around 1100 indicates that migration to the island was continuous throughout the periodā š¦·
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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News - Medieval Migration to England Tracked in Tooth Enamel Study - Archaeology Magazine
EDINBURGH, SCOTLANDāAccording to a statement released by the University of Edinburgh, analysis of tooth enamel [ā¦]
https://archaeology.org/news/2026/01/13/medieval-migration-to-england-tracked-in-tooth-enamel-study/
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Drinking game: Do a shot every time a Great Courses philosophy professor mentions John Searleās Chinese Room.
about 2 months ago
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Iām fully locked into the new Great Courses AI course because the content is 𤯠but also because Prof Patrick Grim is a complete vocal doppelgƤnger of Peter Coyote (probably another German word for that).
about 2 months ago
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Me every time I hear an archaeologist shredding Schliemannās ādigsā at Troy
about 2 months ago
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Crazy to think that parchment was invented in Pergamon because Egypt embargoed shipments of papyrus for use in the rival library. Parchment in fact derives from the name Pergamon.
about 2 months ago
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Ok Great Courses fans, get ready. Youāve been asking for it. Friday 1/16 we release a course on AI. Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Of Minds and Machines, taught by longtime TGC philosophy prof Patrick Grim.
about 2 months ago
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