Thanks to Samantha Muka for her generous review of #WorldWarZoos in her recent essay "On Loving and Leaving Zoos" in the Journal of the History of Biology doi.org/10.1007/s107... also featured new editions of "Savages and Beasts" by Nigel Rothfels and Zoo & Aquarium History by Vernon Kisling, Jr.

I was thrilled to get a chance to work with Vietnamese scholars and students on developing new approaches to American Studies! #AmericanStudies #Vietnam ussh.vnu.edu.vn/eng/news/dao...

Just had a great conversation with Claudia Hirtenfelder of @theanimalturn.bsky.social. We talked #zoos, #war, #elephants, hungry #animals, and much more. Part of a new series from @theanimalturn.bsky.social on "Animals and War" coming in 2026!

We're a month & 1/2 away from the publication of Jen Murray and my collection on #CivilWar memory in a polarized America. Podcasts, Q&As, AMAs, op-eds, guest essays-- we'e up for anything. Just reach out! @univnebpress.bsky.social They Are Dead & Yet They Live share.google/mCCs2LlWyaio...

Profound piece by @alecolaianni.bsky.social on animals in wartime. I am honorered that she drew upon my book #WorldWarZoos for this devastatingly powerful essay. @uchicagopress.bsky.social #zoos #war #ukraine #gaza #ecocide #holocaust

Buy University Press Books This Holiday Season #academicpresses cc: @uncpress.bsky.social @utpress.bsky.social @lsupress.bsky.social @fordhampress.bsky.social @univpressofkansas.bsky.social @univnebpress.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

Cat: "If I could, I'd kill you."

In Hanoi for work. I so want to rent a scooter, but I don't think I can ride as aggressively as I'd need to.

If you are looking for a gift for that World War II-loving grandpa (or snarky grad student cousin) in your life, why not treat them to "World War Zoos" this holiday season? It will be make great yuletide conversation. 30% off at the University of Chicago Press. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Excited to be at Seattle's Museum of Flight on Veterans Day. Stop by the William M. Allen Theater at 2:00 pm, Sunday, November 9. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Thrilled to find I am thanked in the acknowledgements of my friend and colleague Sarah Griswold's terrific new book "Resurrecting the Past." If you want to know about the Louve's connections to early 20th century Syria, be sure to pick up a copy! @cornellupress.bsky.social

Jen Murray & I just signed off on the proofs for our new edited collection (out February 1) on Civil War memory. Who knows how much will change in the next 3 months? Still, I think we've done a pretty good of showing that memory battles are far from over. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/978...

Off to Albuquerque on Thursday for my first Western History Association meeting. Chairing what looks to be a great roundtable on "The Wounded West." Hopefully, I can go to the No Kings protest while in town.

Thrilled to see this review of "World War Zoos" in Il Foglio. #zoos #war @uchicagopress.bsky.social Zoos under bombing: When animals suffer from war, too | Il Foglio share.google/5vxX4hrl6aMx...

If you are in Seattle on November 9, I hope you come out to the Museum of Flight to talk about Veterans Day and the history of disabled vets in the US. www.museumofflight.org/exhibits-and...

Great visit to Blacksburg Books in Blacksburg, VA! Can't wait to talk World War Zoos at the Lyric Theater on Monday (1:30 pm). #zoos #worldwarii @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Looking forward to talking zoos, war, and writing as part of Virginia Tech's STS@VT Seminar Series. Writing a "Sad Animal Book" Friday, September 26 @ 1:30 PM ET Blacksburg: Athenaeum Classroom, Newman Library 124 NoVA: Virginia Tech Research Center 5-024

The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...

75% off sale on all e-books from @uchicagopress.bsky.social Pick up copies of Paying with Their Bodies, World War Zoos, and much more!

My talk with @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social is now online. #worldwarzoos Greenhouse book talk: John Kinder on Vimeo share.google/Wkv56HgAMKY9...

I can't wait to visit Blacksburg, VA in September to talk zoos and World War II. I also get to chat with the STS folks when I am there, which is always invigorating. World War Zoos Lecture and Book Signing 1:30 pm September 29, 2025 Lyric Theater

It was a pleasure to review this terrific book.

It looks like I'll at Virginia Tech on September 29 to chat about zoos in World War II. I am also hoping to talk to @ashleyshoo.bsky.social and the STS folks about a current research question: can head injuries trigger homicidal tendencies?

This is a Place We Made: Centering Place in Disability History For the last 4 years, NCPH has worked with the National Park Service to document disability history. Join us on July 24 at 1:00 pm ET to discuss the project. Register to receive the Zoom link at community.ncph.org/event/Disabi....

#animals #love #ethics #vegan #GoVegan #veganism #AnimalRights

Ummm...sure. And, if we just believe hard enough, maybe, just maybe, it will be true.

Kristi Noem’s DHS Torched Over Absolutely Wild AI Post Promoting ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ www.huffpost.com/entry/dhs-al... I wish. Alligators are far less dangerous than humans. They tend to leave folks alone...unlike actual ice agents.

Writing a book on alligators for @reaktionbooks.bsky.social and have come across this this sort of thing several times. Alligators as threat to prevent the escape of enslaved people. Indeed, there's a long history of tying alligators to violence against Black people in American culture.

And Jen Murray and I just turned in the the copynedits for our book on Civil War memory. Oh well.... And, yes, the end of the Civil War was indeed turbulent. But you'll have to read the book to discover if the war ended in 1869.

Many folks are surprised to learn that the U.S. Southwest is jaguar country. Though they were killed off to near extinction north of the U.S.-Mexico border, a few have been spotted 😉 in AZ in recent years. You can help them. ➡️ biodiv.us/4k6Pcfx 📹: @peccarynotpig.bsky.social

Well, I did my best to answer folks's questions. If I missed something, please be sure to hit me up. And thanks again to @askhistorians.bsky.social for inviting me to do an AMA.

My AMA is now "live." Actually, I will check in in an hour or so to see if folks have any questions about World War Zoos. @askhistorians.bsky.social

So this is our Gallipoli? Got it.

We've got a special #AMA coming tomorrow @Skystorians! @johnmkinder.bsky.social , author of World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals during the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age, will be here on AskHistorians to answer all your questions about this zoological history topic! Don't miss it!

It is as if this administration believes in a world without consequences. Lie about staying out of foreign wars...no consequences. Illegally bomb another nation and threaten to murder foreign leaders...no consequences. No sense that this can--and likely will--blow back on us.

He would. Then again, Dylann Roof is an ignorant coward who was so scared of Black people that he felt the need to murder church folk. South Carolians...this is what you're celebrating -- not heritage, not history, just old-fashioned racism.

Thankfully, these sites appropriately disparage U.S. history, so I am sure they'll be fine. Seriously, though, you can't (ever) depend on the gov't to tell the nation's history. People have have to do it. And if the gov't doesn't like it, that is all the more reason to do it.

Great appearance by Meredith Lair on Vox's "Today Explained" podcast talking about the Trump parade.

I am thrilled and humbled by @kevinprenger.bsky.social's generous review of my new book "World War Zoos." I've had plenty of doubts about this book, I'll admit. Still, it is immensly gratifying to know that I was able to know that folks appreciate my effort. #worldwarzoos @uchicagopress

On June 23, I'll be on @askhistorians.bsky.social to answer questions about my new book, World War Zoos! Hit me up with questions about zoos, war, animals...or some of my other interests, disabled veterans, war and crime, alligators. @uchicagopress.bsky.social

I am in Jackson, MS researching executions in the 1940s. Meanwhile, back home in OK.... Anyone who spends any time on this topic will, or at least should, realize that capital punishment is arbitrary, cruel, & senseless. www.huffpost.com/entry/oklaho...

Even with my awful Dutch, I can recognize a positive review. (I hope!) Thanks @kevinprenger.bsky.social for spreading the word. I sincerely hope European readers take a look at the book. A good chunk takes place in the Netherlands, a nation of remarkable zoo folk.

It was a joy to chat with Michelle McAloon about #zoos, animals, and -- off mic -- the new pope on the excellent Cross Word podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/5VKY...

On Tuesday July 29, I'll be at Magic City Books in #Tulsa chatting with the activist and UCC minister Chris Moore about my new book World War Zoos. I hope to see folks there. @uchicagopress.bsky.social #worldwarzoos #zoos

Just spent a few hours at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. A handful of references to wartime injury, next to nothing on veterans' postwar struggles, little on dissent and desertion, nothing on GIs behaving badly.... Plenty of room to improve.

Spent an interesting few hours at New Orleans' Great American Alligator Museum. Handbags, movie posters, toys, art, leather goods, and taxidermy...so much taxidermy.

Off to New Orleans to visit the Great American Alligator Museum (it's for work, I swear), some archives, and maybe the National World War II Museum, if I have the time. I don't usually go in for war museums. Too much hoo-rah, not enough pain and suffering.

Disabled people are begging for your solidarity right now. This admin is embracing eugenics at break neck speed. They’re setting the stage to blame us for our disabilities so they can remove access to care, social supports, medications & more. Fight back (and wear a mask when you do!)

US military museums, often pet projects of the ultra-wealthy, purport to provide accurate depictions of war. But even the most clear-eyed exhibits are problematic, even deadly. “They put these things on an altar, like they’re sanctified. These are not toys, they are weapons."

If you want to take this seriously, resist euphemism. Service members don't "fall." They die. #memorialday