It’s that time of year friends! Thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social and our friends at @contingent-mag.bsky.social, Laura and I are putting together a list of 2025 articles & books by contingent & indie lit critters. DM, reply, email me @ suny press. And spread the word!!

A couple of good books on this are the Cloak & Gown by Robin Winks, about Yale and the IC (mostly OSS), and recently Code Name Puritan by Greg Barnhisel, about NH Pearson, an OSS Yalie and key 20th century literary figure who got Angleton hired into the OSS in London. cc @gbarnhisel.bsky.social

This, from @sivav.bsky.social, is the mic drop reply to the “Compact” you have been waiting for. It won’t, but it should really just end the discussion and deliberations straight up. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Perhaps this garbage first-half performance by the #texaslonghorns is karmic payback for the university enthusiastically signing on to the Trump extortion "compact." Complicating that analysis is the fact that the team embarrassing them is Florida, flagship of another MAGAfied system.

"It’s not possible to read a biography of William F. Buckley today except through the lens of Trump and MAGA." Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of Sam Tanenhaus’s "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/did-the-buck-stop-with-buckley/

Was William F Buckley responsible for Trump and Trumpism? In my latest piece for the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social , I argue that despite the men’s dramatic differences in self-presentation, Buckley might be seen as Trump’a patrician precursor.

I had a great conversation with Daniel Oppenheimer about @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER for his “Eminent Americans” podcast. Listen here! danieloppenheimer.substack.com/p/mr-blue-bl...

The BOOK HISTORY editors are here in Rochester at the @sharpweb.org conference and ready to answer your questions or help you with any issues you might have missed! #bookhistory #sharp2025

Wonderful and thought-provoking keynote by Simone Murray at the “(Dis)Trusting the Institutions of Literature” conference in Dublin.

It’s springtime in New York and the new BOOK HISTORY is out! Featuring contributions by @whitneytrettien.bsky.social @juandmurillos.bsky.social @borna-i.bsky.social and others, this issue of @sharpweb.org ‘s official scholarly journal is 🔥📚! Link in the comments

NYC folks! I'll be talking about my @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER at the venerable Grolier Club on Tuesday May 13, 6:30pm. Register (for free) at this Eventbrite link. www.eventbrite.com/e/code-name-...

When @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social assigned me to review @vincebeiser.bsky.social POWER METAL, the President of the United States wasn't yet extorting other nations for their rare earths. But hey, here we are! At least it makes the book more timely.... lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...

"Vince Beiser lays out the environmental destructiveness of what he calls the 'Electro-Digital Age' in his buzzkill of a new book," Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of "Power Metals: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future." lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

My time on two NEH fellowship review panels impressed and inspired me with the quality of the proposals and the care and seriousness the panelists took in evaluating them. All of this gone, and grantees informed with a tone composed of equal parts glib dismissiveness and sneering patronization.

From what I can tell NEH has unilaterally and immediately canceled all its grants to state humanities councils and last night placed most or all the NEH's staff on leave. They're on leave but must remain available by phone to answer questions from the people dismantling the NEH.

A few tips for NEH grantees: 1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP. 2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

I reviewed @elysegraham.bsky.social ‘s very entertaining BOOK AND DAGGER for the New Republic this morning. newrepublic.com/article/1889...

Don’t let the snow keep you from my Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures book talk tonight! It’s at the main Carnegie Library in Oakland at 6pm. I’ll be talking about my new @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN (link in the comments)

Two of my main interests are intelligence history and modernist writing. For decades I've been fascinated by Norman Holmes Pearson: OSS CI chief in WW2, Yale English prof, a key founder of American Studies, and advocate for avant-garde writers like H.D., Moore, Stevens, etc. This new bio is great.

Lovely piece on my CODE NAME PURITAN in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social this morning. Thanks @benjamenwalker.bsky.social for writing it! lareviewofbooks.org/article/they...

As a judge for the MLA's "First Book Prize," I was honored to read 35 amazing books by early-career scholars. Congrats to co-winners Adhaar Noor Desai and Miya Qiong Xie, and the shortlist authors (including @jamieljones.bsky.social and @dootson.bsky.social). Just wow. www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...

Lovely review of my booK! “Pearson became one of the most important academic figures in the collaboration between academia and the national-security state… Code Name Puritan, scholarly and immensely thorough, will be the basis for all future work at that nexus.” www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

My first Bluesky post is a bit of self-promotion: the story that WESA, the Pittsburgh NPR station, did on my book this morning. www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-...