I am really excited that this week we are reading The Hamlet Fire by Bryant Simon, a tour de force if ever there was one. I love the feeling that words and thinking can transform us, and I hope, transform the world. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

today we had a convening of best friends club

America

Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.

WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.

Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:

hahahahaha LFG

Have you ever thought, ‘What I really need to survive the dumpster fire that is 2025 is a picture of a puppy racing to show you her pink foam ball’? If so, then today is your lucky day! Enjoy!

I think it is definitely a story that Maxwell is getting preferential treatment behind bars, but good luck writing that story without encouraging the dehumanization of incarcerated people.

We’re thrilled to share that Truthout is taking over The Appeal’s journalism. With Truthout’s powerhouse reputation for independent, reader-funded journalism, our reporting on overpolicing and mass incarceration will continue and reach even wider audiences. theappeal.org/news_awards/...

Lamont’s contempt for Connecticut’s public institutions and working people should be disqualifying 🚮

a lot of people don’t know that prison expansion in the 1950s was largely constrained by the belief that you couldn’t safety operate an institution that held over 1,000 people (CUS is endlessly interesting to me for its points of comparison with carceral history)

Today's read: former UCHI fellow Fiona Vernal and UCHI graduate assistant Timothy Brown (@uconnhistory.bsky.social) premiered an exhibit titled: “Bloomfield Mosaic: Stories from our Jewish, African American, and West Indian Communities.” This exhibit features over 40 oral histories.

Things that you’ll find in Children of Chicago — •The city of Chicago •Grimm’s Fairy Tales •The Pied Piper of Hamelin •More Chicago Children of Chicago is available now wherever you purchase books. bookshop.org/p/books/chil...

Tom Dart come get your boys

First review of Living in a DAISY Age is in! Amazing. I also did not anticipate all of the feelings I'd have after seeing the first response. (Also, can't lie--I breathed a sigh of relief. haha) From Publisher's Weekly. Scan the QR code or follow the links below to preorder the book! Out 1/27/26

A lot of the comments are about how people are going to start fleeing TAMU and Texas for other schools. I wish I thought they could, but they can’t, except a few superstars. There are No Jobs. Anyone who has a job right now has won the lottery and people have kids to feed.

The wonderful people at @uncpress.bsky.social sent me an advance copy of my book and I think I’ll have a little cry now. You can order it from here and it will arrive soon (use code 01UNCP30) for a discount uncpress.org/978146968920...

This is Carl. He was just woken up from a nap. Hopes for your sake the house is on fire. 12/10 (IG: grumpus.steve.carl)

If you’re at the American Society for Legal History conference this week, stop by and see our stellar new legal history books. Book exhibit opens today (11/13) at noon. @universitypress.cambridge.org

Huge shout out to our own Timothy Brown! Check it out:

a young woman in our family is doing study abroad and the endless “joke” has been whether she is or isn’t coming back

I’m quoted in this wonderful piece in UConn Today about our recently premiered Bloomfield Mosaic exhibit. This oral history project set out to capture the stories of the Jewish, African American and West Indian population of the CT suburb. today.uconn.edu/2025/11/ucon...

this is white ladies in midlife crisis erasure

do you think this will be what kills email

I do! And wait until you see the blurbs. I'm overwhelmed. www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

was teaching Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky today and I’m feeling it

every woman acutely understands this face.

I don’t know if it was exactly the point but @jamellebouie.net’s column made me feel like we could win, which is something I don’t necessarily feel all the time www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...

***Book Reviewers for the JAEH Needed*** If you are interested in reviewing books for the Journal of American Ethnic History, please complete the volunteer reviewer form or send your contact information and areas of expertise to [email protected] iehs.org/review-books...

I take great comfort that local police are doing traffic enforcement while ICE snatches people off the street, important that we fake living in a normal society until we make it

grateful that my kid has shown a lifelong preference for musicians from or inspired by the scene of Athens, Georgia

I wrote historiography all day

Srsly, authors want to know: are the attacks on DEI -- which are attacks on every area in which I publish -- changing what you publish. In short: NO. How any attacks on higher ed first hit is at the level of labor. Scholarly publishing is SOCIAL & COLLABORATIVE. When ppl suffer, publishing suffers.

I'd missed this last wk in PW abt university presses. My takeaway: the biggest challenge UPs face right now is not Tr*mp. It's sustaining the peer review process. I say this to authors all the time: Our primary crisis is yours, too, & it's A LABOR CRISIS. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

a contribution of my book that I’m proud of: I unravel the myth of good intentions that animates carceral politics and a lot of contemporary liberalism. racist intent matters. harmful outcomes in policymaking matter. www.pennpress.org/978151282349...

Today the Supreme Court heard a very, very technical case about whether a government contractors (in this case, private prison company GEO Group) should get essentially qualified immunity for contractors (I'm oversimplifying). The answer, it seems, will be no. news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...

"friends disappear" is really, really good

“Rights, like jobs, can be gender-coded, and these rights are valued accordingly.”

Astonishing: Bovino and his agents showed up at the Bean this morning to pose for pictures. While Border Patrol snapped photos, one agent shouted, “Everyone say, ‘Little Village!’” The neighborhood where they are least welcome and most acutely felt. blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/10/b...

for University Press Week, I hope you'll check out our series Chicago Visions and Revisions, a growing peer-reviewed trade series full of great books about Chicago that you can cuddle up and read while it snows press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/se...

"Banned in the USA" has the juice that we need this morning youtu.be/zKjXF5a3R9g

my dad told me he's going to wear his Eagles hat (???) to his Seahawks bar in Western Washington (!!!!) I don't know what's happening but go birds

👁️👁️ “Hird said while some faculty have six months of medical leave available to them, it does not include healthy post-partum mothers, fathers, non-birthing mothers & adoptive parents that are not experiencing a qualifying medical condition.” dailycampus.com/2025/11/10/u... #nutmegsky

seems important that people who can connect the dots between events and interpret their meaning are part of the workforce and society

the vibes are in shambles, may I suggest a Kate Atkinson book? (all of them, but especially Behind the Scenes at the Museum) www.nytimes.com/article/kate...

it is important to my Future Employability (??) that I demonstrate my utter dependence (???) on a tool I believe replaces me (????) even for tasks that it does badly (?????) and that a less lazy version of me could learn without undue difficulty (?????????????????????)

There is always money for the consultants. No matter how much “austerity.” Always always always.