Ten years on from the Brexit vote: a new @yougov.co.uk poll finds that 77% of the British public have trust in the expertise of historians bit.ly/49I9NV7 It's heartening to hear that so many value, and certainly haven't had enough of, the historian as expert. #Skystorians 1/4

With the World Cup approaching, I thought I’d share a topical story about an underwhelming England performance: In May 1958 England were preparing for the tournament with a friendly against Portugal. Beware, warned Roy Peskett in the Daily Mail, of Augusto Rocha, ‘o Pequeno Tigre’ from Macao

Link: youtu.be/xWUqQv1UEbg

For anyone interested, MJHA's recent roundtable on the history behind myths about the ninja and the samurai is now available on the MJHA YouTube Channel! Featuring Ran Zwigenberg (Penn State), Polina Barducci (Cambridge), Rob Tuck (ASU), and Oleg Benesch (York University). Link in the replies!

Last week I posted Song Qingling on a fun dove-shaped jet, so today I thought I’d stay on the theme of rocket-power in Mao-era Chinese propaganda. The most famous example of which is ‘rocket Mao’ from this Great Leap Forward poster from 1958. (1/7) #China #Skystorians #propaganda #Communism

New Book Announcement: “Samurai” by Rosina Buckland and Oleg Benesch @uwapress.uw.edu @britishmuseum.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/samurai-by-r...

I happened across this cover for the January 1957 edition of China Reconstructs, an ‘external propaganda’ publication for overseas readers. Featuring a flyover from Song Qingling (宋庆龄) in a dove-shaped jet(!), it captures many of the key features of 'external propaganda' (1/8) 🧵 #skystorians #china

I recently had a fun conversation with @mattalt.bsky.social and Satona Suzuki about samurai and popular culture as part of the British Museum events programme for the Samurai exhibition. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lHj...

Looking forward to this!

In Our Time this morning is on Indian Indentured Labour, with (among others) the excellent Dr Purba Hossein. One for the #Skystorians. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

I'm thrilled to announce "Global Samurai I" - a special issue of Japan Review, featuring 11 open-access articles and with a wonderful cover by Tetsuya Noguchi. This research feeds into and builds upon the "Samurai" exhibition now on at the British Museum 1/12 nichibun.repo.nii.ac.jp/search?searc...

Went to London today to see the spectacular Samurai exhibit that @olegb.bsky.social co-curated and to do some research at the BL, forgetting that it's April and the plane trees are out in full force. Lord help me. How do Londoners survive Spring??? HOW???

This Friday and Saturday (UK time) we'll be hosting a public symposium on "Global Samurai" at SOAS University of London, as part of the programme of the British Museum exhibition "Samurai" Event page, including programme and registration information: www.britishmuseum.org/events/globa...

Exciting news! The @yorkpsychology.bsky.social are recruiting 3 new ART (research and teaching) lecturers! One role will be prioritised for cognitive, affective and/or social neuroscience. #neuroskyence #cognition #psychscisky #neurojobs

This is a fantastic video about using AI for analysis of historical materials, in this case a Japanese postcard from the early twentieth century.

There's a week to go until the 19 March application deadline for these four history positions at York!

Thrilled to have been awarded a Vandervort prize for my recent article "The Invention of the Kamikaze: Dissent and Resistance in the Japanese Military" by the Society for Military History, as one of the two best articles last year in the Journal of Military History!

The Portland Timbers tifo yesterday went full samurai (with an axe instead of a sword): www.reddit.com/r/MLS/commen...

Happy #InternationalWomensDay! It won't come as a surprise to you, that the Merchant Adventurers were mostly male, however women did play an active role in the Company. In other words; they kicked ass. Here below is a shorter than it should be thread of these very cool women:

Recently digitised - at Ramree Town in Burma's Arakan region, two Indian soldiers (prob from the 1st Tripura Rifles) stage a mock duel with captured Japanese swords. Filmed by cameraman John Sprague in April 1945 #filmcataloguing #ww2 #history Full film: IWM JIN 40 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...

Join us in March for our lecture with Rosina Buckland who will explore the British Museum’s major new exhibition (on now until 4 May) which examines the centuries-long trajectory of a Japanese icon, the samurai 🎌 Monday 16 March 2026. Find out more 👉 https://loom.ly/XA6T5dw

A very nice and detailed writeup of the British Museum Samurai exhibition in Japanese: artexhibition.jp/topics/news/...

Chris Harding kindly hosted a conversation with Rosina Buckland and I on BBC 3 about the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I'm a bit late to this announcement but wanted to share that the newest issue of the JJS is now out! Very proud of the essays and book reviews inside. My coeditor Sabine Frühstück, the book review editor Jessamyn Abel, and our managing editors David and now Athena all did incredible work.

We are advertising 4 jobs at York for historians (1 year medieval, 2 years modern Britain and public history, 3 years modern China, and open ended modern Middle Eastern) features.york.ac.uk/history-jobs/

We attended a brilliant talk @york.ac.uk on Monday, all about the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum We’ve got copies of the accompanying book #SIGNED by authors Rosina Buckland @olegb.bsky.social … but only 2 left! Grab yours! www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page... #Samurai #BookSky📚💙

Great review; great exhibition. With a sharing link for 3 non-subscribers. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

With the Year of the Horse approaching at a canter (sorry…), I was delighted to stumble on this excellent 1983 series of paintings of the Nine Marshals of the People's Republic of China at the brilliant Chineseposters.net. chineseposters.net/themes/nine-... #China #History #Chinesenewyear #horses

Rosina Buckland and I recently had an enjoyable chat about the Samurai book (and exhibition!) with the excellent @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social hosts Nathan Hopson and Ran Zwigenberg: newbooksnetwork.com/rosina-buckl...

NEW! The British Museum’s Samurai exhibition explores historical reality behind the legend, featuring expert insights and a collection of stunning artifacts Join experts as they discuss how the exhibition interrogates the stereotype. Samurai - 16 Feb https://ow.ly/B7fM50Y7xFV

The National Diet Library is exploring the possibility of extending its Digitized Transmission Service for Individuals (DCTI) to those residing outside of Japan. To understand potential demand, the NDL and CULCON have created a survey. Deadline for responses 3/31! forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

It's interesting to see what different reviewers pick up from the exhibition, from women's firefighter robes to Noguchi Tetsuya's glorious sculpture of a samurai riding a rubber duck.

Come for the history, stay for the sexy, demonic glory. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Congratulations to @olegb.bsky.social on a five-star review of the new Samurai exhibition at the British Museum. Opens on 3rd Feb. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

If you want to hear more from our January Third Thursday Lecture speaker Professor @olegb.bsky.social, he's a guest on the latest episode of The East Angle podcast, run by Dr Ra Mason and Dr Sherzod Muminov from @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @politicsuea.bsky.social! youtu.be/29YY-7mQvls?...

Who wore it better? The 47 Ronin or the HMS London? www.britishmuseum.org/collection/i... publicdomainreview.org/collection/d...

I was very fortunate to have the chance to speak at @sainsbury-institute.org in Norwich last week, and the recording is now online. I really appreciate the invitation, and all of the great questions and comments following the talk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGo...

Really looking forward to this, and to being back in Norwich!

I'll be giving a talk at The Japan Society in London next month on “Japan, Britain, and the Globalisation of the Samurai," which will also tie into some of themes of the upcoming British Museum special exhibition. www.japansociety.org.uk/event?event=...

From 3 February 2026, the special exhibition "Samurai" will be at the British Museum. I've had a lot of fun working on this together with the brilliant Rosina Buckland. If you happen to be in London, and feel that you need more samurai in your life, do drop by! www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

Finally out now 🥳🎉 -- and in OA! 🙏 Katja Triplett / Yoshimi Orii / Pia Jolliffe (eds.) (2025): Japan in the Early Modern World: Religion, Translation, and Transnational Relations @ doi.org/10.1007/978-... Includes two contributions by yours truly on Jesuit prints from Japan. 1/

Fascinating footage.

As people have their heads in syllabi and classes, I’d like to highlight how ‘In the Land of the Lacandón: A Graphic History of Adventure and Imperialism’ (MQUP 2025) can be used in teaching. (Please repost and push this thread along.)

Having spent a bit of time trying to pin down what "medieval" means in Indian historiography, I sympathise with the guy who just put "(though no one agrees)" after his proposed date range

🧵 of my favourite sixteenth-century bronze statues flanking the empty tomb of Maximilian I in the Innsbruck Hofkirche

Hurrah!! Brilliant new book from my wonderful department colleague!

Inventing the Way of the Samurai by @olegb.bsky.social explores the concept of “Bushido” from genesis in 19th C Japan as an “invented tradition” in response to European concepts to its postwar rehabilitation.