Went to see The Sheep Detective on a lark, my last day in Hanover. It’s a sweet little movie.

1) I asked a mathematician friend yesterday about AI programs’ tendency to hallucinate. He said he discussed it with a tech person who noted they were trained on models that resist saying “I don’t know”. Therefore, making something up is better than admitting they don’t know.

Absolutely wonderful classes during my time as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth these past 3 weeks.The students have been phenomenal, asking great questions and arguing with one another respectfully. The lunches with students have been great, too. So impressive. Very pleased!

What! Get a load of the people making George Washington’s bed and working in his fields. www.facebook.com/share/v/1Dyc...

Elon Musk and Friends in the Den of Oakland’s Literary Lion www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/t...

🤣

On the Dartmouth Coach back up to Hanover!

Cartoon by Nick Anderson. (Follow him on Substack: https://nickanderson.substack.com/)

Did the graduate school commencement at Bryn Mawr today. What a lovely campus and great group of people!

How I miss this touch! Happy Mother’s Day.

Yes! www.historians.org/news/federal...

What are the purported advantages of Microsoft Teams?

Interesting. I gave a talk about my new book on Jefferson and race recently. I could tell some were upset when they learned it was not all condemnation all the time. Neutral statements were taken as praise.,

Back at Dartmouth as a Montgomery Fellow for a couple of weeks. Going to classes, meeting with students, and sleeping soundly in a familiar place.

Among my obsessions, the critical importance of government documents. As a historical subject as well as source. IOW, it's *always* been a data state. My new piece for Smithsonian on chasing paperwork around the American Revolution. Owes to work by: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ever...

In today’s episode of “you’re out of touch”: I bopped into the Dartmouth Coop looking to buy a spiral notebook thinking there’d be an assortment, only to find one lone type, about five in number. Then it hit me: write-in notebooks aren’t a staple for students anymore.

Look what I just got!

Congratulations, Jill Lepore! WE THE PEOPLE is a 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner in the History category. A special congratulations also to our Norton finalists Bench Ansfield and Peter Kuper!

Looking forward to Allie joining us in the fall! #humanities

Picked these two up by @agordonreed.bsky.social and @johngmarks.com

Coming soon. Very excited about this.

this is a great book — highly recommend it

My view is that the American South never fully took to liberal democracy. And I think we have to reckon with that to face the moment we’re now in. I wrote about it for @thebulwark.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/liberal-de...

A must-read pieceby my colleagues @nikobowie.bsky.social and Daphna Renan.

One of the photos I was sent.

Today is Pub Day! US History at the 250th.This grew out of a conversation about the past a & what it means now @nhannahjones.bsky.social, @agordonreed.bsky.social @sienriquez.bsky.social, @redped.bsky.social Erika Lee Robert Parkinson Marc Stein @william-sturkey.bsky.social y, & Catherine Clinton

Led by hometown hero Herbie Hancock, the show included an appearance by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a performance by Buddy Guy, a tribute to Quincy Jones and remarks read on behalf of Pope Leo XIV.

Black fliers out there: do you often find yourselves seated next to other Black passengers on flights, even when there are very few Blacks on the plane? Of course I don’t mind, but I wonder about the math of it. I’ve documented this over years to friends whom I text whenever it happens.

Walking behind two young women in the airport this morning. One reports that she ate some Thai food that was so spicy that she ” had to take a Tums”. Her friend laughed, and then said in the sing songy voice “🎶 she’s 31…🎶” They both laughed. 💀

@joe-scarborough.bsky.social calls Jefferson on Race "an extraordinary work about an extraordinarily complicated man," in his conversation with @agordonreed.bsky.social on @morningjoe-msnow.bsky.social with co-host @mika-brzezinski.bsky.social. Listen to their discussion here:

Thirteen Justices for thirteen circuits, with an increase each time a circuit is added. No constitutional amendment needed. Long overdue. Increase the size of the federal judiciary, too. A country that supposedly prizes the rule of law can afford this.

Interesting day. I met Queen CamillaI did not curtsy, however. Also Anna Wintour.

Interesting day. I met Queen Camilla. I did not curtsy, however.

Frankly, I had not anticipated this when I was working on the book. But it’s a wonderful idea.

My piano teacher, Jonathan Baker, on the history of the piano—with a section on Jefferson. www.bakerpianolessons.com/piano-variat...

What a bracing conversation with @esglaude.bsky.social

Can’t go wrong with tamales!

Ninth Grader Demi Johnson receives National Geographic award for plan to save Mississippi's oyster reef population. The ninth grader has produced 1,100 oysters that will in turn spawn millions of larvae into the ecosystem, a huge ecological impact

Whoa! apnews.com/article/mara... Sawe of Kenya becomes first person to run a sub-2-hour marathon to win in London

Can you go home again?! Apparently yes*, and I'm so excited to head to Williamsburg later this week for a talk @ William & Mary's Swem Library. Friday @ 5. *Also they will use your headshot from c 2010. 😆🥰

Tomorrow (Apr 26) at 3:00pm EST, @agordonreed.bsky.social will be at Nassau Presbyterian Church for a talk on her landmark work, Jefferson on Race. With @esglaude.bsky.social, she will examine Jefferson's ideals of equality and his contradictory life as a slaveholder. Register here: buff.ly/SUAw1mX

Belated reposting of coverage of the OAH America Is Anxious About Its 250th Birthday. So Are Historians. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/a...

Join us - online or in person, in NYC - for a probing conversation about race and racism in the founding ideas of Thomas Jefferson. events.leapevents.com/tickets/anne...

Looking forward to this conversation with @bstaples.bsky.social www.nypl.org/events/progr...

We’re in for a lot more of this. What perplexes is the willingness to trust the “expertise“ of AI but not the expertise of live humans.After all, AI is a compilation of information from live humans. He Warned About the Dangers of A.I. If Only His Father Had Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/w...

If you’re in the Princeton area, come and listen to me and @esglaude.bsky.social talk about my newest book, Jefferson a Reader on Race. This Sunday at 3 pm . princetonlibrary.libnet.info/event/16061539

Oh my. What a terrible story. We can’t let this come back. I had the measles as an infant. My mother said that I was so sick. This is not a joke. Measles Took My Daughter. This Is What I Want Everyone to Know. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/o...

Some presidents of the OAH.