When I moved to Nashville in 2017, residents voted no on a huge public transit referendum, kept saying that we’d have self driving cars so soon it didn’t make sense to invest in transit. (But also the mayor resigning in disgrace after having an affair with her bodyguard in a graveyard didn’t help)

A great summary of what's changed at IMLS, including reactions from former directors. Among my remaining questions about both IMLS and NEH right now: what is the peer review process like? Who are the "peers" evaluating these applications still?

For the 1976 Bicentennial, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival lasted a full 12 weeks, bringing nearly 5 million people to the National Mall. This year, it's being forced to go "on the road" to make way for Trump's half-baked "Great American State Fair." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...

The image of Toussaint Louverture had to be removed because the Olympic committee considered it a "political statement"?? www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...

Got quoted in the NYT today, ate tacos for dinner. Good day.

Re-upping again, because I'm in the damn New York Times.

This is one of the highlights of my career: a lovely blurb from the brilliant @vscharff.bsky.social! 🥰🙏📚 THE WESTERNERS is out March 31, 2026 with @scribnerbooks.bsky.social

Re-upping again, because I'm in the damn New York Times.

"Black Americans have long highlighted Washington’s slaveholding, even if some white citizens and white institutions have not wanted to hear it." @johngmarks.com in @nytimes.com ⤵️ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...

You'll find this shocking, but Colin Kaepernick's demonstrations for racial equality are not mentioned in this press release about how the Pro Football Hall of Fame is going to recognize America's 250th. www.profootballhof.com/news/2026/02...

This is a really excellent piece about what it means to resist tyranny and defend liberty today, as we approach our 250th anniversary. washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/05/p...

This video promoting the WH's "Story of America" video series for the 250th somehow celebrates the "patriots" who overthrew colonial rule, while also celebrating Americans' colonial ventures—they "tamed the Wild West" and fought on "the shores of the Philippines." www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oRR...

Scholars take years to write books and then sometimes when the book comes out, they and their books are thrust into the news.

I'm quoted (and my book is mentioned!) in this excellent piece by Jennifer Schuessler about the President's House site in Philadelphia and our broader fight over George Washington and slavery. My first time ever having my name in the NYT, pretty excited about it. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...

I'm quoted (and my book is mentioned!) in this excellent piece by Jennifer Schuessler about the President's House site in Philadelphia and our broader fight over George Washington and slavery. My first time ever having my name in the NYT, pretty excited about it. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...

I've been sorting through my angry thoughts about the gutting of the Washington Post. And while the whole story is terrible—humanly for the talent that has been laid off, and politically for our democracy—I'm especially appalled by the philistinism of getting rid of books and arts coverage.

I just watched all of Karen Pirie so my deepest apologies if you hear me speaking with a Scottish accent in the next few days.

This piece is wild for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that it claims loyalists dispossessed during the Revolution have a stronger claim to reparations than enslaved people. www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/4443...

Gramsci once observed "the old is dying and the new struggles to be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear," and I'm not sure there would be any better encapsulation of our society's comorbidities than this headline.

This is a great piece, but so strange for me to read. For my first book—about free Black people before the end of slavery in Charleston and Cartagena, Colombia—I essentially went through the process he describes here over and over and over. uscpress.com/Black-Freedo...

The statue of Columbus that was placed outside the U.S. Capitol in 1844 was such a flagrantly offensive embodiment of Manifest Destiny that it was removed in 1958 and carted off to storage at the Smithsonian. I'm certain things will go just as well for this Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight.

"Today, we're excited to announce our plans to improve our position in an increasingly competitive, fractured media landscape by producing a much, much shittier product."

For Trump, "history" is just a big Hall of Fame. The only question that matters is: "is this person famous?" It's why you get his complaints about negative portrayals of historical figures, and it's how you get him saying people are talking about Frederick Douglass "more and more."

We got one normal school day for our 4-year-old, followed promptly by a water main break directly in front of his pre-school. Second water main break within a half mile of my house this week. Montgomery County, MD is seriously struggling with this snow/ice/cold.

For Trump, "history" is just a big Hall of Fame. The only question that matters is: "is this person famous?" It's why you get his complaints about negative portrayals of historical figures, and it's how you get him saying people are talking about Frederick Douglass "more and more."

As a NJ native and historian of slavery, I’ve thought about this one so many times!!! So excited someone finally did this, cant wait to check it out.

Finally got my copy from the county library, @juliagaffield.bsky.social! Excited to dive in.

More details about the America250 - Super Bowl partnership. Apparently they're going to take game-used items for a time capsule to be opened in 2276. Yes you read that year correctly. america250.org/news/america...

All the stars are here: Brantley Gilbert, Brice Bradley, Gabby Babby, Bibb Glibsy, Slab Gabbert, Brice Bryce,

This is seriously A+ science writing right here.

This is infuriating for lots of reasons, not least of which is that this isn't a project about slavery! It's about free Black property ownership! It's a story of Black success and resilience that required careful archival research. It was removed solely because it's a history of Black people.

The Utah Historical Society just produced a new, excellent map of "The Peoples of North America in 1776." Great resource for anyone teaching, writing, presenting about Native peoples as part of their 250th work. america250.utah.gov/power-of-pla...

My Q&A with @tj-stiles.bsky.social is a masterclass in intellectual humility, narrative ambition, and the unromantic economics of writing. Also, a perfect editor moment after his NBA win — tears, applause, a dry reminder: aren’t you glad I made you cut all that stuff? substack.com/home/post/p-...

Even if we set aside the ethical shortcomings of Substack, that platform has become completely inscrutable to me. Their insistence on becoming a social media site has made it practically unusable.

Here's another fun one from Oklahoma: encouraging residents to commemorate the 250th by spending 250 minutes in Oklahoma state parks. legiscan.com/OK/bill/SR27...

As I anticipate my book’s publication day and dive into research for a new biography project, this Q&A between @tj-stiles.bsky.social and @alexiscoe.bsky.social couldn't have come at a better time. I could read this over and over. open.substack.com/pub/alexisco...

"[T]he administration has ordered more changes to other parts of Independence National Historical Park, including alterations to displays at the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall that address slavery and the broader struggle for civil rights by Black people." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

One of most mind-boggling things about climate change is how much faster it is than planet can accommodate. It takes ~1,000 years for deep water to mix with surface (as Scott Denning puts it "The deep water does not know we are here yet!"), and some Earth processes that remove CO2 take 100,000 years

Good news: the panels from the slavery exhibit at the President's House have not been destroyed. www.inquirer.com/news/slavery...

Awesome, Turnstile won a Grammy for that album.

My 1st grader is apparently never going to have a real day of school ever again. 🫠🫠🫠

Came across a kid’s George Washington book that told his life story by making it all about his teeth, but somehow the most offensive part to me was making this famously Black rower in the crossing of the Delaware into a white guy.

It seems to me that this administration has a range of tactics for ensuring the public encounters histories that support and celebrate its ideological goals. Still working this out but I think it’s a spectrum, as follows:

Thanks again to Ben for featuring some of what I've been working on for #ScholarSunday! - I spoke with @inquirer.com about the removal of the slavery exhibit at the President's House site. - I helped @aaslh.org write our statement opposing government interference in public history at NPS sites. +

From Jan 30: "Trump reshapes US historical and cultural institutions" Me on Jan 20, on Trump's most consequential actions from first year back in office: "Disrupting American Culture"

The Trump administration had another rough day in court trying to defend their removal of the slavery exhibit at the President's House site in Philadelphia. www.inquirer.com/politics/nat...

Wow ALL the 250th announcements are dropping this weekend. Looks like the Hirshorn is going to expand its loan program to send works to all 50 states. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/a...

I think the real question here is will the America 250 Indy Car race go around this construction site?

Ugh nevermind, of course the answer to the question "why does this patch look so bad and use an off-brand looking logo?" is "because Fanatics is responsible." Public recognition of the 250th is slowly seeping into the wider culture, but in very weird ways. www.fanaticsinc.com/press-releas...