This week's post is a round-up of the five most-read newsletters since I launched earlier this year. I'll take you through them here, but check out the full post for some behind-the-scenes details and notes on what's coming next year. 🧵

Metropole senior editor, @ryanreft.bsky.social looks back on 9 years at the helm as he departs: "[T]hat’s how I feel about The Metropole. It’s a ship at sea for all those who want to come aboard–climb the ladder. “We’ve got ourselves/Gonna sing it, gonna love it, gonna work it out at any length.”

Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Congrats to ‪@austinmccoy.bsky.social‬, as Gen X, Native Tongues (A Tribe Called Quest, Prince Paul, and especially De La Soul remain among my favorite hip hop groups) holds a special place in my heart. We gave the book a brief but joyous shout out in our Best of 2025 (I know it's not out yet!)

"Media comes at us so fast nowadays, and along with the fragmentation of culture that has accompanied the increasing pace of society, it become much too easy to miss great works, be they film, television, or books. Our senior editors offer a few thoughts on older works they discovered this year."

We light the first Hanukkah candle this evening, but we could all use some light right now, so here’s my 254th #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from last week. Add more below, share widely, & solidarity, all.🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Departing senior editor @ryanreft.bsky.social offers up a few of his favorite musical choices for 2025 as our Best of 2025 rolls on: themetropole.blog/2025/12/11/t...

I had the pleasure of reading "Police and the Empire City. Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York" for The Metropole blog @urbanhistorya.bsky.social while being in the US. I've learned a lot! For my review I've also added some thoughts, especially on the intersection of race and class.

"In sum, Guariglia’s book is an important contribution to the history of policing, setting a standard about how to highlight the crucial role of race and ethnicity for future research." @sarahfren.bsky.social on @mguariglia.bsky.social's Police and the Empire City

"Unlike an album or a film, it takes more than two hours to read and fully absorb a book. All this is to say our Best Books of 2025 may really the best books we read in 2025 that were published in the last three months or three years, but that is an awkward heading."

"While streaming has diffused offerings across platforms – we don’t have 20 million people watching Seinfeld weekly on NBC anymore – there’s no shortage of great television. Our senior editors took a pass and provide you with the best shows they caught this year." Not asked for, yet delivered.

Like Rudolph or Mariah, the #ScholarSunday powers grow ever stronger as December deepens. See for yourself with my 253rd thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast eps, new & forthcoming books from last week. Add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

Our senior editors took a pass at their favorite films of 2025, did you need this? Probably not but then again why not?! themetropole.blog/2025/12/04/t...

A discussion between Colin Wood and Father Stephen M. Koeth about Catholicism, cities, and suburbanization with a big dollop of Kenneth Jackson themetropole.blog/2025/12/03/c...

I’m so thankful for the chance to compile & share #ScholarSunday threads of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books. So let’s end the holiday weekend with my 252nd! Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

“As with many long-term urban planning projects, and the delicate balance between preservation and progress, Tokyo confronts an identity crisis that is fundamentally an iteration of the same tensions that marked Japan’s entrance into modernity”

With the semiquincentennial behind us, launching the next 250 with my 251st #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

"Why Nothing Works is a plea for progressives to zoom out for a second and register that their own ideology is more complex and, in many cases, contradictory." The Metropole sat down with Marc J. Dunkelman to discuss his 2025 book Why Nothin Works and its relationship to urban history.

"Emerging as first a savior, and later the man responsible for driving the city deeper into economic despair, was a charismatic politician with a penchant for sweets and cigarettes named Larry Langford." David Bruno on Birmingham's failed attempts and rebranding. themetropole.blog/2025/11/18/i...

Here it is, a very special--& especially supersized—250th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Please add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

This month I feature @placesjournal.bsky.social, @urbanhistorya.bsky.social, @charlotte-leib.bsky.social, @ginastar.bsky.social, @miskoaki.bsky.social, and more! #envhist

I was super happy to read and edit this entry in @urbanhistorya.bsky.social’s #MetropolitanConsumption theme for November. One of my favorite pieces we’ve published.

For us midwestern folk, Wisconsin Dells occupies a storied place in our summer vacations, but it has come at a cost as the tourist attraction has been devouring water in the region and obscuring other worthy forms of tourism around the Dells. Matthew King's deep dive (zing!) into the Dells

Here it is, my 249th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below in comments, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

My book has a publication date (June 9, 2026)! Follow he link for a 30% discount. White Power: Policing American Slavery shows how enslavers built a legal & police system and how remnants of the system persisted in American life. uncpress.org/978146969484...

This is so, so, so, so true

"One context certainly not shared by all cities from which urban rebellion sprang during the 1960s was the disruption caused by the construction of massive stadiums, arenas, and athletic complexes dedicated to the consumption of sports." Clif Stratton kicks of Metropolitan Consumption month

We kick off our theme month for November 2025, Metropolitan Consumption. A short intro to set the table:

Thanks @urbanhistorya.bsky.social for the opportunity to write, about #birds #envhist #urbanhist and #light! 🐧 🐦 🐤 🕯️ 💡 ⚡️

Congrats to this year's GSB winner, @charlotte-leib.bsky.social, read her entry "The Healing Wounds of Light: Birds, Cities, & the Fast, Slow & Forgotten Violence of Artificial Illumination" & Alexandra Mitchell's "Playing with Fire: Pyrotechnic New York Youth at the Turn of the 20th century" here:

Check out my interview with Mariam AlSaad on global warming and youth-led climate action in Kuwait. AlSaad founded one of Kuwait's first environmental advocacy organizations in her early twenties.

Today's the deadline to pitch the Urban History Association and Network in Canadian History and Environment blog series "Urban and Environmental Dialogues," exploring relationships between the built and natural worlds. Send us your stories! CC @urbanhistorya.bsky.social @nichecanada.bsky.social

Pitches are due this week for the Urban History Association and Network in Canadian History and Environment blog series "Urban and Environmental Dialogues," exploring relationships between the built and natural worlds. Excited to read these! CC @urbanhistorya.bsky.social @nichecanada.bsky.social

ONE WEEK left to submit proposals for our Urban and Environmental Dialogues series with @urbanhistorya.bsky.social that will explore how the environment-at-large and the urban built environment have shaped one another throughout history. niche-canada.org/2025/09/29/c... #envhist #urbanhistory

Hope to see our friends from @pbs.org learning, @natlhumanities.bsky.social @techncss.bsky.social @historyed.bsky.social @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social @periodicprez.bsky.social @urbanhistorya.bsky.social @vasocialstudies.bsky.social

"For years now, urban planner James Rojas has led tours of L.A.’s Eastside, pointing out the murals, landmarks and architecture formed by Chicano & Latino culture." @laist.com: laist.com/brief/news/l... #UHA2025LA

After an excellent #UHALA2025 BIG THANKS to: Program Comm co-chairs: James Zarsadiaz & Jerry Gonzalez Local Arrangements Comm co-chairs: Becky Nicolaides & @elewinnek.bsky.social UHA President A.K. Sandoval-Strausz All of our student volunteers, And not least, Executive Director Daniela Sheinin!

"In all the world, there neither was nor would ever be another place like this City of the Angels," #CareyMcWilliams. Spent the last 4 days at @urbanhistorya.bsky.social's conference at the historic Biltmore Hotel. Still processing all the wonderful Los Angeles history research shared @ #UHA2025LA.

More pics from the weekend..below left is @wwnorton.com author Bench Ansfield at the @urbanhistorya.bsky.social exhibit holding Born in Flames, & on the right, @fordhampress.bsky.social author Christopher Breu at the @moderniststudies.bsky.social exhibit with In Defense of Sex. #uha2025 #msa2025

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

“[T]here remains much more work to be done to decipher and expose how the workscapes and necroscapes borne from the production of artificial light affected people, animals, cities, and environments together, in tandem.”

Echoing that thanks! A terrific tour + chance to talk more about race, recreation + landscape history not only with @elsadevienne.bsky.social, learning from her new pub * #SandRush *, but also @lawrencecphd.bsky.social, whose first book *The Frontier of Leisure* examines these themes, too! #envhist

Spotted this @pennpress.bsky.social beauty in the wild in Los Angeles. Thank you to @urbanhistorya.bsky.social for a wonderful conference!!!

The #UHA2025LA conference today included excellent tour of the historically #Black neighborhood of Belmar & LA's iconic #musclebeach with historians Elsa Devienne @elsadevienne.bsky.social & Alison Rose Jefferson. A deeply informative, engaging morning! Thank you Elsa & Alison! #LosAngeles #history

#uha2025LA was a wonderful conference. Was so glad to see Latinx history centered in a non-ethnic studies conference setting. Many kudos to @aksandovalstrausz.bsky.social Daniela Sheinin and the programming and local arrangements committees for their amazing work!

Brian Purnell and Ansley Erickson gave great presentations on their panel New Histories of New York #uha2025LA

Here it is, my 245th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more in comments below, please share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

#UHA2025LA —Enjoyed viewing all the #digitalhumanities projects and supporting our @urichmond.bsky.social DSL Director Rob Nelson sharing their latest mapping work in progress- “Fires of Empire”

Some highlights from the #UHA2025LA #instagram #stories feed! www.instagram.com/urbanhistory... #urbanhist #planninghist #energyhist #envhist #Biltmore #LosAngeles

historians: food4thought—have the panels at #UHA2025LA exemplified the validity of the below claim? Or have they revealed it as a promising but unreachable fallacy? ➡️In other words “can we start over?”A key Q to consider given the complexity of what it means to renew or begin again in #urban env’s