Not tanned, not really rested, but definitely ready.

Ring in the new year with the greatest and wildest pamphlet that ever blasted monarchy at the root. 9 days until COMMON SENSE turns 250

The destruction of knowledge and history is haphazard & breathtaking. NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts.

Whatever you think of the politics of this it is not “history-heavy,” but alas history gestural. Pls do read the report (weirdly not linked in the CNN piece?) www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/y...

Thomas Paine began 1776 with _Common Sense_ and the call to reject monarchy, and ended with _The American Crisis_, warning that "these are the times that try men's souls." Like many in my field, I've spent the last dozen years preparing for 2026, sure that the fullest histories serve us best. 1/

Last post for the year to say that @jcblibrary.bsky.social we've been thinking hard about how to support scholars and scholarship amidst the multi-dimensional crises for humanities research. We remain committed to our traditional fellowships (indeed in the wake of NEH revocation we expanded), but 1/

So much to say about this year, by turns marvelous, enraging, and heartbreaking. At every turn I'm beyond grateful for communities of family & dearest friends always, and so many colleagues and friends who make life joyful and meaningful. One more (work) post and I'm out for 2025. Peace to you. ❤️💔

There are so many ways that archival collections and thus histories can be amplified or silenced --including digitization. This was one of my efforts at describing how that works, and the implications. www.historians.org/perspectives...

Seen a lot of people I like argue with idiots here this morning, so this is a Christmas message imploring you not to do that. The best outcome is that you win an argument with an idiot. That is a waste of time. The other outcomes are worse. Just block them, sing another carol, have a wee sherry 🎅🏻🎄🎁

I feel once again compelled to emphasis the digitizing in the literal scanning sense is fairly unimportant if it is not accompanied with metadata providing context for discovery. Both humans and AI will make things up when they don't know what they are looking at.

Brilliant from @adamserwer.bsky.social: the Roberts Court's attack on the Reconstruction Amendments are "consistent with the Antebellum Constitution’s narrow definition of who “We the People” are." Here are some legal historians exploring the Antebellum Const. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Which should be the most basic expectation of a citation and yet.

Here’s an article that I wrote five years ago in which I call MYSELF Cassandra. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Love to see @rezekjoe.bsky.social in the NYT w some Common Sense about T Paine! Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/b...

Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

NIST having to say to the media "time is not broken." That's 2025 all over. The venn of people who know what NIST is, and are so certain of tech is just two circles. www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...

As everywhere: carolinapublicpress.org/73953/cultur...

There’s a lot of complex stuff going on but gosh yes basically this.

I’m glad I didn’t log out this morning. Just joy and creativity and love.

'Though completely eclipsed by Don Quixote, Cristalián de España, which was first published in 1545, has a unique claim to fame. Its 800 pages, bristling with swords, sorcerers, dragons and damsels, make up the earliest known work by a female Spanish novelist.' 1/2

I paid Rolling Stone enough money while they had a TV critic to not mind going around the paywall now. Enjoy! archive.ph/Ta745

A non-existent paper attributed to ‪Ben Williamson‬ has already been cited 42 times. It's like Scholarly Communication has been injected with misinformation bombs. Events are totally out of control. No one has a handle on its extent. And, there's no plan to stop it. @benpatrickwill.bsky.social

One of the benefits of publishing with PBSA is that we do all the copyediting in-house with real, live humans (and I can vouch for this because I am that real, live human editing the copy)

***My department is hiring*** Assistant Professor of the History of Brazil networks.h-net.org/jobs/69649/s...

THERE ARE NO JOBS IN ACADEMIA! NO JOBS! DOZENS OF HYPER QUALIFIED APPLICANTS PER JOB!

When @clintsmithiii.bsky.social agreed to blurb my book, I NEVER imagined he’d call it “exceptional” and certainly not “how history should be done.” Clint’s amazing work is read and respected by every public historian I know. Having kind words from him is a real honor. bookshop.org/p/books/thy-...

Listening to Susanah Romney in 2015, about intimate networks. “Small scale connections that individuals were making across the oceans really added up to something that was a lot weightier than what just the companies were doing or just the colony governments were doing.” #genealogy #earlymodern

My forthcoming book— For which I began research in 2006. Is now posted on the website for Princeton University Press. Cover will be added soon. The King’s Slaves: The British Empire & the Origins of American Slavery

Are you a professor planning to incorporate THE INTERMEDIARIES (medical #history, Weimar, #Jewish history, #transgender history, #LGBTQ fighting Nazis) into your course? I have pdf to share, additional teaching materials, images, and resources for use. Please ping me. wwnorton.com/books/978132...

I don't know who thought making this image of HCR was clever but they've either never experienced the combo of her steely look and sharp observations -- or they have, and they hope they could blunt both. I promise you they can't.

"Trauma is a shape-shifter." Two necessary pieces on feeling, managing, writing about the impossible and impossibly regular gun violence. Fr Brown anthropologist of gun violence @ievajusionyte.bsky.social about culture, not just policy. But policy too. 1/ www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/17/o...

This is pretty wild ngl!

In re 2014 and “something changed” in academic hiring. In a very long career, preceding by decades the moment identified in this weird assertion, I have never once had a job I wasn’t told repeatedly that I got because “ they just wanted to hire a woman.”

When illegal slave ships were intercepted by British, French, Portuguese and other antislavery patrols in the 1800s, African captives were not freed - they were sent into indentured servitude. More than 700,000 souls. It’s a huge story in the history of abolition.

And the RI Blood Center is being staffed by a huge number of professionals who volunteered for extra shifts. Taking walk ins. www.ribc.org/donate-blood/

The grief, shock, and anxiety is enormous. Meaningful grassroots student and community run efforts are underway. Also institutional ones, somewhat safer to share on the open 'net, such as the university's Student Emergency Support Fund. To help: 1/ bbis.advancement.brown.edu/BBPhenix/giv...

I have so many thoughts about Jane Austen's 250th. Mostly appreciation from the Austen scholars from whom I have learned so much about an author whose works I have read for so long: @triciamatthew.bsky.social @devoney.bsky.social @drbibliomane.bsky.social and today a wonderful new piece... 1/

Such a good thread for JA's 250.

For Jane Austen’s birthday, a delightful & informative blogpost about Sir Walter Eliot & his favorite book, from @kawulf.bsky.social

🎉 I'm so excited for this work. As a historian and practicing archivist, @amaliasl.bsky.social brings an essential multi-disciplinary perspective to this vital topic. Congratulations, Amalia!

The collateral damage of people upset (often with good reasons) about generative AI is their digital humanities colleagues. It’s outpacing 2010 levels of vitriol, by a lot. The irony is we’re the best allies — we understand how the tech works and can translate between the doom and the hype. +

From historian Ed Ayers-our new video playlist: How to Upgrade Your American History: youtube.com/playlist?lis... 🗺️ 🍎 #sschat

I can't say anything coherent about the brutal regularity of gun violence, or about the crushing grief of families of victims, or the ambient grief we're all feeling. But I can say that everything I ever read about the powerful warmth of community, and the kindness of friends near and far, is true.

This is an adaptation of our planned winter break and internal work time. It reflects a response to the needs of our campus in the all too regular tragedy we’ve experienced. Our current research fellows are hearing more particulars and we’ll work to meet their needs, too, as best we can.

💔 The library was achingly beautiful in this morning's snow. 1/

“Most of us live off Hope” Ever true 💔

Reposting this thread in response to a mass shooting at my Alma mater, a shooting that took place in a building where I used to write papers in the computer lab back in the 80s.

www.brown.edu message from @brownpublichealth.bsky.social President Paxson

In case you have never seen this.

Too tired to write so transcribing. And feeling the energy come back as I realize how excited I am to write about this thing... So much is shitty in the world, but ah these moments! Yes, I know not everyone would be blissed out about an account of soldiers tromping around in upstate NY in 1777.