So much of American history is just impulsive and extremely stupid elites, who don't believe in consequences because they have never personally experienced them, doing highly consequential stuff because they're bored or believe it might make them richer. I guess a lot of our culture, too.

As a historian one of the few comforts I have right now—and in the face of right wing legislature designed to destroy history departments—is colleagues I trust and students we train will ultimately get to record and document the legacy of these tyrants and thieves and shape how they are remembered.

“Like prime, but with human beings”

I’m embarrassed for these people. I was at a writing retreat this summer that suggested we use genai for ideation. They told academics to use a plagiarism machine for ideas. If you are doing this, do us all a favor and leave the field. If you have no more ideas, you shouldn’t be an academic.

I would like to re-up this as there are 4 more weeks to hand in an application for this PhD position on the "hunger blockade" @uni-freiburg.de

Great news! Not only can you read more about this indispensable and important volume and its exceptional editors and contributors at the @cornellupress.bsky.social book page, but you can also order yours for 44% off using 09WINTER. Ready? I'll wait. (💯/💯) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

FYI: @jeffcrutherford.bsky.social and Robert von Maier's "The German-Soviet War" "offers a richly varied set of insightful essays by renowned authors and is therefore, in fact, indispensable for those with an interest in the history of the Second World War." (1/2) www.tracesofwar.com/books/6839/T...

Scraping the bottom of the barrel: a problem in late 1941 for the Luftwaffe in North Africa and the army in Soviet Union. Only three-plus years of war to go.

Quite the interesting — and informative — thread.

Take advantage of the 44% off sale at @cornellupress.bsky.social and pick up the book Robert and I edited, The German-Soviet War. Makes a great holiday gift for those interested in the broader context of the war on the Eastern Front. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Regular reminder that the full set of German intelligence assessments for Operation CRUSADER is here, together with some explanations and background. This is to my knowledge the most/only comprehensive resource in English covering German intelligence of their enemy in a specific operation in WW2.

Let’s see if the afternoon is better for this question.

Historians of Germany, fascism, & the Second World War: any suggestions for recent book chapters/articles that examine the historiography of Nazi Germany along the lines of those in Kershaw's rather dated The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems & Perspectives of Interpretations? It's for a senior seminar.

“Woke has no place at the Alamo,” Buckingham said of the building where everyone famously acquiesced to the rule, wisdom and customs of those in power.

This thought-provoking piece is worth a read (take two). open.substack.com/pub/deadcarl...

Available for pre-order now. Recommend to all of your friends who think of WWI only in terms of the Western Front! The results of two hugely talented historians co-authoring a book.

something the American isolationists have never appreciated is the degree to which Europe not feeling this way was a material benefit to us

In case anyone is looking for a primary source reader on the German army on the Eastern Front in the Second World War, the one I co-wrote with Adrian Wettstein is one sale for $12.14 on Amazon. Described by the incomparable @crusaderproject.bsky.social as "a must." www.amazon.com/German-Army-...

David Alegre Lorenz - Verdugos del 36 La maquinaria del terror en la Zaragoza golpista À paraître en octobre chez Critica

As I noted a while back, this is a new feature on the blog, aiming not to make me rich (ha!) but just to defray some of the cost of running the shop. The articles retail for £4, this is the first one. @alanallport.bsky.social @jeffcrutherford.bsky.social @rgpoulussen.bsky.social

You know things are going well when a school district tries to attract students by touting its metal detectors in a tv commercial.

The best hope for America's continued future as a great power lies in Trump's indiscipline and incompetence undermining MAGA attempts at authoritarian regime-building in ways that enable Democrats to win in 2026 and 2028

The idea that an instructor can and *should* be fired for daring to teach something not explicitly mentioned in course catalog is the pinnacle of the "students as customers" idiocy that's been steadily destroying American universities for decades now. You're taking a class, not buying a product.

A top 50 US university yesterday fired an instructor, a department chair, and a dean because a course made some reference to transgender people without the brief official course description in the catalog saying “trigger warning: gender.” In conclusion, those intolerant lefty kids, cancel culture.

And not to be dramatic, but it’s never a bad thing to have a non-abstract sense of the murderous lengths American corporate and governmental power structures will go to in order protect themselves. None of this is ancient history.

Whenever someone mentions Baedeker, I just have to mention that they published a travel guide for...the General Government in 1943. k-larevue.com/en/about-the...

A university's most precious long-term asset (faculty) is the same population of workers that most universities do everything they can to render precarious, anxious, and isolated. I'm a consultant now, give me a million dollars

˙ Bis zu 450.000 Polen haben im Zweiten Weltkrieg in der deutschen Wehrmacht gedient. Lange galten sie als Landesverräter – doch die historische Wahrheit ist komplizierter. Das zeigt eine Ausstellung in Danzig. Von Jacek Lepiarz für die Deutsche Welle. . www.dw.com/de/polen-die...

"SA-Führer: The Senior Leadership of Hitler's Storm Troops, 1920-1945, Volume 1 (Oberster SA-Führer and SA-Stabschef)" has been printed. UK release date: 30 October 2025, U.S. release about a month after that. #Nazis #WW2 #Germany #ThirdReich #Holocaust #History #Hitler #WarCrimes #Genocide

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.

All those years fighting fascism and then communism to create our own KZ Lager universe/Gulag archipelago.

If pundits would like to talk about violence, a terrorist recently shot up the CDC and another assassinated Democratic officials in Minnesota but they sort of let both stories disappear Not as threatening as motorbikes in DC I know but maybe we could circle back?

Fascism is coming after vaccines, climate science, evolution, demography, statistics...no one in higher ed is safe

Someone please remind me again why universities insist on paying so much money for external expertise that is usually inferior to that of the experts they already employ?

A virtual bookclub is a popular request in my online courses & I am VERY happy to announce that The Historian's Desk Bookclub is now ✨LIVE✨ We're voting on our 1st book THIS WEEK & will have our 1st virtual call in Oct 🥰 Link to sign up and vote in bio & in the next post ⬇️

you know who universities could make deals with, if they wanted? unions

Well, if this is Cedric Mullins' final game with #Orioles, he is also going out with a bang. Yet again ... an unbelievable catch to rob a home run! Add it to the highlight reel:

Hurray! The paperback edition of my book ‘Holding Out’ has just been published. It’s flying off the shelves, so don’t delay, buy today!

Highly recommend Roman Töppel's recently published Manstein: Kriegstagebücher und Briefe 1939-1941. He's the first historian to receive full access to Manstein's private diary/letters & has made excellent use of them. His discussion of the planning for the invasion of France is quite good.

It's simply amazing to me that the U.S. spent 70 years (1945-2015) constructing a post-WW2 military, economic, and social world order to its liking, only to turn around and decide it was actually the victim of this order the entire time.

All the dire implications notwithstanding it is hilarious how evil this technology is. Billions of dollars spent on this greasy lying stupid thing that was literally built to replace people, and everyone that uses it gets weaker, lazier, dumber, and sadder for having done so. Well done all around.

Hey @earlfckinweaver.bsky.social: "Dempsey struck out 3 times against Jenkins and looked ... more helpless each time. When asked if he would have pinch-hit for Dempsey in the 9th, Weaver grumped: 'Nah. We all wanted to see how bad the 4th one would have been.'" www.joeposnanski.com/p/the-baseba...

The devastation of Caen Library and Archives Canada Item ID number: 3205660

Take a break from the awfulness of present events and join @susangrunewald.bsky.social, @ww2tv.bsky.social, and myself tomorrow to discuss the German-Soviet war. We'll look at the interaction between ideology & economics in both Nazi & Soviet practices during the war. www.youtube.com/live/KYdsGJ_...

copped some light beach reading thanks to my main man @jeffcrutherford.bsky.social

The ONLY tangible *reason* for ICE to have a larger budget THAN THE MARINE CORPS has ONE answer, and you can find the legacy of that answer in places like Buchenwald and Dachau. It isn’t theoretical, it isn’t hyperbole, and it isn’t fear mongering. It is BASE. LEVEL. REALITY.