I want to very gently say something, and I hope nobody will be mad: If somebody on the internet says something that is NOT about politics and NOT about how terrible everything is, it’s a kindness not to reflexively make a comment (in jest or not) that brings it back to those things.

a “Space Force”, if you will

What if Ken Burns’ new documentary felt less like a night on the couch and more like settling into a lively living room of fellow history lovers? Join our Watch Party with 3 early American historians—ask questions, compare insights, enjoy the story together. This party will be 🔥!

Hi y'all! I wanted to re-up the CFP for the Southern and ask if anyone would be interested in putting together a roundtable reconsidering the impact the American Revolution had on Southern religious life: www.thesha.org/submit-a-pro...

IOW, the US government has stopped making cents.

Alas, probably not:

At least he's heard about it, huge for him

Reposting this…for reasons.

Back when I was a litigator and I had to review documents I was absolutely staggered at how almost every powerful, important, and wealthy person could barely write a coherent sentence. bsky.app/profile/inte...

CFP: "AMERICAN REVOLUTION INTERNATIONAL" - Huntington Library, Nov. 6-7, 2006. With generous support from the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC, my co-conspirators & I look forward to two days of generative conversation. Travel & lodging included! Proposals due 1/10. Please spread the word! 🙏

there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all

Like taking candy from a platformed baby--I couldn't help myself. alexiscoe.substack.com/p/douthat-th...

Since today is Veterans Day, here’s a piece I wrote ten years ago about the history of the holiday we now mark every Nov. 11. I was fortunate to write several articles for We’re History, one of @hcrichardson.bsky.social’s great public projects. Go to werehistory.org to read lots of great articles.

Notes and slides for my talk "Strategic and tactical decisions for positive engagement during challenging times" which is less dry than its title might suggest. Links: www.librarian.net/talks/videot... Read the talk including slides with alt text: www.librarian.net/talks/videot...

But do I think someone who has never worked in news or TV fully understands this distinction and should quickly dismiss a standards department? Nope.

That version of Standards generally disimproved the stories (as we liked to say), with suggestions like removing all names from an investigation when those names existed in public documents, “just to be safe.” Getting rid of legal and fact-checking would have been disastrous; Standards, not so much.

A fair point. When I was at CNN, for instance, we had to pass legal AND something called The Row (fact-checking and journalistic standards), which invariably improved our stories, AND Standards & Practices, which I gradually realized meant corporate standards and was largely about butt-covering…

bonus points if you tell me various #vastearlyamerica things that happened in 1764 (the year when the Kaya books take place in the Pacific Northwest)

Ken Burns’ new documentary about the American Revolution premieres on Sunday at 8pm Eastern, and @herberthistory.bsky.social, @michaelhattem.bsky.social, & I are hosting a watch party! It’s free to join and you can chat with and ask us questions throughout the premiere.

⏳ Ken Burns’ The American Revolution premieres this Sunday, Nov 16 at 8pm ET on PBS! Warm up for the premiere with a behind-the-scenes look at how the film was made. 🎧 New episode: benfranklinsworld.com/425 #KenBurnsPBS #AmericanRevolution #Documentary #BFW

I managed to get two of the three kids scheduled for a dental cleaning at the same time on a day with not school and I feel like I’ve unlocked a cheat code.

Today in person and online! Join the Brown Department of History for a conversation with Karin Wulf and Leslie M. Harris (Northwestern U.) on Wulf’s latest publication, Lineage: Genealogy and the Politics of Connection in Early America (Oxford UP, 2025). Details: events.brown.edu/event/321221...

From today's Chronicle of Higher Ed briefing. I am *never* an advocate of cutting programs. But I am curious to see if there will be the same type of "students aren't majoring in this, so let's cut the program" discourse around computer science as there always is for the arts and humanities.

Hey this is today. 😊

I’m a baseball fan for life. I go through withdrawal every year in early November when the World Series ends. The absolute saturation of gambling into the games, stadiums, and broadcasts makes me want to walk away from the game.

The cost of building anew probably goes a long way to explaining why neither major party has splintered in the past thirty years even though each has seemed headed that way at times.

It is so disheartening to hear someone who should know better say that if their book was in the Anthropic database that means it was being read more. That’s … not how any of this works.

I got this useful bon mot from a middle school teacher recently. In response to, “I DONT UNDERSTAND,” he calmly said, “okay what steps have you taken to understand?” And that’s when I realized that a lot of folks have no steps.

It's dreary, dark, and pouring rain here in eastern New England this morning. So I'm required to post and share this music video.

Great look into the comprehensiveness of EEBO and EEBO-TCP and what that means for using those tools. Highly recommend for all computational bibliographers and early modernists doing large-scale work with EEBO

The Rose Reading room at the NYPL, for instance, is a place where literally anyone can have access to world class research materials— a universe of ideas— and, if they use them right, and stay at it, they can become a genius

Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge

THE POOREST PERSONS ON TWITTER MAY HAVE ACCESS TO MORE BEAUTY AND MEANING THAN THE ‘MOST WEALTHY PERSON IN THE WORLD’ omg. Just absolutely devastating, from the top ropes.

The Politics of Family/History. I've been so grateful for opportunities to talk abt the history of genealogy in early America & its implications. Tuesday lovely colleagues @brownhist.bsky.social are hosting my conversation w the great Leslie Harris. Join us! events.brown.edu/history/even...

Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.

The Mamdani political sign generator is kinda fun https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/for.html

And the 1986 iteration thereof.

Omg

If you’re trying to catch up on what went down with #SNAP late last night at #SCOTUS, here’s my attempt to read the breadcrumbs on the “administrative stay” issued by Justice Jackson—and why a justice so critical of the Court’s grants of emergency relief to Trump still granted temporary relief here:

Omg

This! The extent to which people don’t actually enjoy thinking has been eye opening.

This. Especially because I believe that writing is thinking (for me). I don’t want to lose that.

I can’t believe Zohran is transing the trains already www.mta.info/article/f-m-...

Coming this afternoon at #USIH2025, a fun session on thinking about public history and #America250, moderated by @sarageorgini.bsky.social and featuring me, @kathrynbrownell.bsky.social @theotherrbg.bsky.social @lizcovart.bsky.social (unfortunately @katejewell.bsky.social can’t be here).

In Detroit for #USIH. @jmadelman.bsky.social and I decided to check out the Motown Museum. It was a great tour and worth the stop.

CFP for Slavery North conference on "Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution" @umassamherst.bsky.social 7/9-7/12/2026, abstracts due 12/19/2025 #vastearlyamerica slaverynorth.com/event/call-f... 🗃️

This & her indispensable role in passing the ACA are the defining points in her career. Adding: Pelosi's opposition to the Iraq war came from her knowledge & leadership on national security, something that persuaded/affirmed other colleagues in their opposition to war.

Mamdani-Spanberger-Sherrill axis suggests outlines of an emerging Dem coalition organized around anti-Trump *and* affordability politics. This is doing serious damage to the MAGA coalition. Its success this week undermines the idea of a big Trump 2024 realignment. 7/ newrepublic.com/article/2027...

When a chatbot gets something wrong, it’s not because it made an error. It’s because on that roll of the dice, it happened to string together a group of words that, when read by a human, represents something false. But it was working entirely as designed. It was supposed to make a sentence & it did.