Many thanks to @tds153.bsky.social for having me and @hallierubenhold.bsky.social on yesterday's BBC Front Row show to discuss the growing deluge of book club scams targeting authors. Check out the recording at around the 22:00 mark. www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...

Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.

Lost my phone in London, with four credit cards and £150 cash in the case. Returned to me within 21 minutes. This hellhole of a city eh.

People who immigrate to the U.S. come here to find safety and opportunity and contribute to our communities. We should be welcomed with dignity, not demonized.

The spamming marketing crooks targeting authors are getting so desperate that I’m now receiving multiple approaches every day. At one time they used AI to create a personalised sounding approach. Now they can’t even be bothered to get my titles correct: ‘Loved your book, Moonrise Sunset’.

“AI giant Anthropic ran a massive program called Project Panama where they spent tens of millions of dollars to hoover up used books, which they then sliced, scanned, and pulped.”

The radical right lies about London. They can't fathom that a city anyone can call home can also be successful and vibrant. Londoners know better. https://www.ft.com/content/05b8e8ba-5763-46f1-a2e5-9820bbe4d053

Everybody knows that Pupper just won Downhill Gold

We're back again this week even EARLIER than usual because this Thursday at 6 ET (<-- 1 hour early!) we're back with the incredible @hallierubenhold.bsky.social (THE FIVE) and her new book STORY OF A MURDER!! Livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYx6... Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFaf...

History and true crime readers! The next guest on @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social will be @hallierubenhold.bsky.social talking about her new book, STORY OF A MURDER! Thurs Feb 12, *6pm* ET. Become a VIP member from $5 for pre-show green-room access. 💙📚 🗃 #TrueCrime www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYx6...

Thank you to Elif Shafak and those who joined us last night in person and online for The National Humanities Lecture. Drawing on literature, history and her own experience as a writer and storyteller, Shafak made an impassioned case for the humanities. Watch here www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/... 1/3

Steve Pozgaj

God my heart aches for Victoria’s family. What’s never addressed here is why the police didn’t think the murder of a student and the murder of 5 sex workers was linked, but I can guess. Identical to the Yorkshire Ripper - he was ONLY a ‘killer of prostitutes’. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There once was a random man, Who’s on his socials whenever he can, He likes to be rude, He’s that kind of dude, But always claims he’s a fan. #Limerick

116 years ago today Belle Elmore went missing. Her husband, Dr Crippen told her friends, the Music Hall Ladies Guild that she had gone to America to deal with a family emergency. But she hadn’t. He’d poisoned her and buried her in the cellar. They would spend the rest of 1910 bringing him to justice

Jane Fonda, “they arrested the wrong Don.”

The climatologist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The epidemiologist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The activist told me historians will wonder why we didn’t do more. The historian told me that nobody listens to historians.

First of all, many congratulations to all of those men who were shortlisted for the #duffcooperprize duffcooperprize.org If ever there was an example of why the #womensprizefornonfiction was needed, it’s illustrated here.

I'm guessing that the content is as insulting as the execution.

Want a found family of curious #book lovers, meeting twice a month for live chat about weird science, bizarre history, true crime & strange medicine? It’s free. It’s a safe space. Our next chat will be about @hallierubenhold.bsky.social new book STORY OF A MURDER. 📚 peculiarbookclub.com

Does anything compare to that sinking feeling when you’re investigating a family from around 1891-1911 and note they’ve got a lot of young sons who will probably be dead by 1918?

@hallierubenhold.bsky.social: ‘History is meant to be rewritten – it’s not fixed’. The author on challenging our perceptions of true crime, restoring the reputations of maligned women and being trolled by Ripperologists. ✍️ @timadamswrites.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3YPgy1K

Congrats to @hallierubenhold.bsky.social, @calfraser.bsky.social, Michael Cannell and the other nominees. An impressive list!

Well, much to my surprise and delight, #StoryofaMurder has been nominated for an #EdgarAward!

The most worrying thing about this is that we think the values of the past should align with our values. That’s a slippery slope. Examine the conduct of pretty much everyone and you’ll find they come up lacking. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

And for the people fleeing wannabe space wanker and his racist hordes there is also this starter pack for women in history …

🚨 COMING TOMORROW🚨 Jack the Ripper's victims were not all prostitutes. 💔 On #HistoryRage, @hallierubenhold.bsky.social reveals the truth behind the labels. Only two were known to engage in sex work; the others led lives far more complex than the myth suggests. #HistoricalMyths #TheFive

If you missed last year’s Story of a Murder events, there are more to come in 2026. These are the first with future dates to be added. Upcoming Events hallierubenhold.com/upcoming-eve...

Richard Flanagan has expressed my thoughts about Adelaide Writers Week perfectly. www.theage.com.au/national/pol...

And while I’m recommending worthy watches during this festive period, #Pluribus is fantastic - a gripping, bizarre, thought provoking (and very Vince Gilligan) exploration of what it means to be human - which is the best way of describing it without spoilers. It’s amazing.

This film is BREATHTAKING. A masterclass in how to tell a simple life story with maximum impact. #TrainDreams is cinematic poetry - and also an example of subtle and intelligent period drama.

It has begun. Stay away from the supermarkets, children.

It’s readers like this who make writing books so special. It still amazes me to see how many lives have been touched by The Five.

How Christmas music wears us down gradually: Oct: Oh God, it’s still October! Nov: No! Too soon. 1 Dec: Resignation 20 Dec: *humming unaware* ‘Just hear those sleigh bells jingling…’

What does Gen AI mean for the work of the historian and the value of historical experience, skills and craft? 'The Historian in the Age of AI' by @chriscampbell1.bsky.social. New Comment article now available in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' bit.ly/4atErTB #Skystorians 1/2

Thank you Hallie. It’s brought the sadness I’m feeling for Annie and her family home in a very literal way. I also found the former Merry Wives of Windsor pub where she asked for directions (at one time a restaurant run by Antony Worrall Thompson).

A bit gobsmacked today reading Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five to find mention of this house that’s only 100m away from where I live in Windsor. Just before Christmas 1886, Annie Chapman walked from Whitechapel to visit her estranged husband here at 1 Richmond Villas. @hallierubenhold.bsky.social

What some people think history is… Found this at the back of a bookshelf. Should have put most historians out of business long ago.

History lovers, if you haven’t seen Netflix’s #DeathbyLightning, do watch it. Only 4 episodes about 2 men, President James Garfield and the man who killed him. What I loved about this little discussed episode in history is that it focuses on the characters of the men involved, and something else…/1

New blog! I devoured Story of a Murder by @hallierubenhold.bsky.social 📚💙 deadgoodreading.com/story-of-a-m...

Trying to think and write with my decorator drilling into the opposite wall is perhaps the greatest challenge I have faced this year.

There's already a ton of replies but I really think everyone should go read @hallierubenhold.bsky.social Story of a Murder

THE FIVE by Hallie Rubenhold is a stunning intervention into the sensationalism and obsession with Jack the Ripper. what was life really like for actual real women in late Victorian London?? way more interesting than how they died!! @hallierubenhold.bsky.social

I thought this was going to turn into a story needing its own True Crime Netflix series, but no. This is quite something. metro.co.uk/2025/11/18/w...

Pluribus is basically about what would happen if ChatGPT took over the world.

Ep. 1 of @hallierubenhold.bsky.social’s #IntimateHistories podcast really resonates. “History is the story of people, & people’s lives are meaningful & profoundly messy.” Social history, she says, is the counterweight to ‘great man’ history — I think family, local & house historians would all agree.

Great discussion with @hallierubenhold.bsky.social about her book, The Five: The Untold Lives Of The Women Killed by Jack The Ripper! Recommended reading & listening. 💫 #book www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...

"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975 “It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975