Short but fascinating. I had a great time talking history with Peter on @historyshortspod.bsky.social

Jackie Cochran was unstoppable. Thanks to her, the first American women to pilot military aircraft flew in Britain during World War II.

Any one of the American pilots could have been the inspiration for a movie, that’s how dramatic they were.

Talking about forgotten trailblazing women is the counter programming we need!

Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.

Homicide rates: NY 4.5, FL 7.2 Life expectancy: NY 79, FL 76.1 Uninsured rate: NY 4.8, FL 10.7

On this Memorial Day, I want to honor Mary Webb Nicholson. She was killed in the crash of a faulty RAF Miles Master fighter during WW II. Mary was one of 25 American women pilots who flew for Britain during the war, because the U.S. military did not permit women to fly. (Photo courtesy her family.)

The @washingtonpost.com wrote a rave review for SPITFIRES! www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...

@beckyaikman.bsky.social on the “Atta-Girls,” the women pilots who chased adventure during World War II.

Love this piece by @beckyaikman.bsky.social up on @literaryhub.bsky.social, from Aikman's latest book, SPITFIRES. "Someday, the women all knew, if they survived the war, the door to modernity that had opened for them might close again." Just ordered & can't wait to read! lithub.com/how-a-group-...

Today on the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of World War II in Europe, it’s time we honored the American women featured in SPITFIRES. They flew the biggest, fastest, scariest aircraft in Britain when they weren’t allowed to fly for their own country. It’s been 80 years people!

Listen to author @beckyaikman.bsky.social as she joins the History of WWII Podcast to discuss her new book SPITFIRES! Learn about the American women who flew during the war. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Five years in the making, SPITFIRES is out today!

Is your mother a trailblazer? Aren’t they all? Then this is the perfect gift! SPITFIRES, the story of the bold, forgotten American trailblazers who flew for Britain during World War II. On sale tomorrow or pre-order now! Either way, you’ll get it in time to impress your mom!

The American women who flew in Britain in World War II are finally getting the recognition they deserve. @pbsnews.org captured the story of my book SPITFIRES in this report. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Jonathan Eig won the Pulitzer Prize AND a place on the York Times bestseller list for magnificent KING: A LIFE. I’m so honored that he wrote this blurb for SPITFIRES.

CBS Saturday Morning features me and my book SPITFIRES tomorrow morning! The piece captures the excitement, drama and personal stories of the American women who flew for Britain during World War II.

One of my favorite authors, @keithob.bsky.social, wrote the enthralling New York Times bestseller FLY GIRLS, about the thrilling exploits of 1930s women risking it all in air races. I’m grateful he shared his thoughts on SPITFIRES.

#OnThisDay, 27 April 1925, Edna Ferber wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel 'So Big'. She donates the prize money to the Authors League to support sick and elderly authors. #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #ReadMoreWomen #AmericanHistory 🗃️

Olivia Campbell knows how to spin an exciting tale about women pioneers. I’m thrilled that she enjoyed the ride with the SPITFIRES heroines.

Our friend Mohsen Mahdawi. Legal US resident. Palestinian leader at Columbia who spoke out against antisemitism. Kind, thoughtful man. Today, Mohsen went to his final citizenship interview in VT where masked ICE agents put him in handcuffs and drove off. We don’t know where he is.

Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive” Theft is not a valid alternative.

ABOUT THE SPITFIRES: Ann Wood was president of her college class, ambitious for a career in government or business. As an American pilot in Britain during World War II, she made connections in hopes of finding postwar work that was rarely open to women at the time.

I admire the beautifully written work of Shelley Puhak, who is kind enough to recognize my efforts in SPITFIRES.

Major General Mari K. Eder knows a thing or two about daring women who are brave enough to serve their country. Her seal of approval for SPITFIRES means a lot to me.

Oprah Daily put SPITFIRES on this "kick-ass" reading list! "If these fierce heroines don’t show up on a limited series soon, we’ll eat our hats." www.oprahdaily.com/entertainmen...

Must say I'm so happy to be connected with All the wonderful women from all over the world here on BlueSky.... ❤️ Wishing you a Happy International Women’s Day !!! #womensday #InternationalWomensDay #HappyInternationalWomensDay

The British RAF in World War II was much more open to women of color than the American military.

My philosophy on this thanks to @djpatil.bsky.social

This is what revisionist history looks like, in real time. And this also is why it might appear that archaeologists and historians have to dig deep to discover the existence of powerful women and marginalized groups -- because their legacies are so often erased.

More than 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, a New York Times analysis found. The purges have removed information about vaccines, veterans’ care, hate crimes, scientific research and more.

Looking forward to this story of courageous women.

History matters! Young people need to see what they can be.

Erasing stories about the service of women and Black pilots from history has one purpose: to advance the lie that they cannot excel at work that requires exceptional skill and courage, when in fact they have.

It turns out, the first American women to fly in a war were almost completely forgotten to history. I spent four years tracking down their thrilling story. The book is out May 6. You can pre-order it now -- anywhere books are sold.

We all depend on brave people like the helicopter pilots in this heart-pounding story to keep us safe. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/u...

Immigrants are saving the dogs! They're saving the cats! They're saving the homes of the people who live here!

States shouldn't have to earn the right to federal aid. But in any case, California, which subsidizes the rest of the country, definitely has open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

I think there should be memorial services for lost houses. Let people grieve.

Since we have no idea if the winds are going to make these fires worse I think everyone could check on neighbors and make sure everyone has a plan and place to safely evacuate to. Please check on your elderly & disabled neighbors & people new to LA who may not have friends or family in the area.

@laist.com has tips from California's insurance commissioner on how to contact the state and start the claims process, and how to keep you and your loved ones from falling for scams.

I’ve gotten obsessed with how little many people understand what reporting is, what journalism is – I wish there was a modern TV show or movie that really got into the nitty-gritty, because I think art is one of the only ways people absorb ideas (and fantasies/myths) about jobs

I started hearing Tuesday from people who knew I was in LA, checking on me. Suddenly today people who get their news from Fox got in touch, all surprised at what was happening. I guess the Fox ghouls ignored the catastrophe until they decided to politicize it.

Nothing about the Los Angeles fires in this morning’s physical New York Times. Nothing about Jimmy Carter’s death the day after he died either. I’ve always loved reading on paper, but it seems to have given up completely on being timely.

People outside of LA truly don’t understand how apocalyptic this is. It’s worse than it’s ever been. Entire residential neighborhoods are burning to the ground.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, here's where to get information on the fires: - View the fire map at fire.ca.gov - Download the Watch Duty app - Sign up for NotifyLA alerts with the city at emergency.lacity.gov

You know why I love reading? These days it’s one of the few respites from being constantly advertised to.

Let us contemplate the timeline in which Cass Elliot reinvented herself as a Broadway musical star and lived on and on and on.