Book 4, The Gallows and the Deep. It begins. 🏴‍☠️

Might be this week's episode. Depends on how long it takes my editor to edit it. In the meantime, last episode was piracy with @piratebeckalex.bsky.social. Just search for "Untitled History Podcast" on your pod app of choice. No housefires in that one.

Later this month I will be a panelist at @sandiegocomic-con.bsky.social called From "Blackbeard to Netflix: Pirates in Modern Media." Includes historian Dr. Mark Hanna and directors/actors from Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Sails, and One Piece! Read about it here: sdccblog.com/2026/07/a-pi...

This week on the Untitled History Podcast, I sit down with @piratebeckalex.bsky.social to explore the myths and reality of the golden age of piracy, including how pirate attacks actually worked. Watch below or listen via your pod app of choice! www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXtW... #history

Does Hollywood Get Pirates Right? Great article for @thr.com by Sean Kingsley from Wreckwatch! I even got to contribute a few quotes. 😊🏴‍☠️ www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Finally getting to cozy up with this bad boy as I work on my new project.

Watch me break down the brand new trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced! youtu.be/2ProXIaQftQ?...

Timeline cleanse.

And Dame Averil Cameron (1940-2026), historian of the Byzantine empire bit.ly/4ex8POD #Skystorians

And of course I am the voice of doom in this NYT piece about academic historians and the 250th www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/a...

I got into eel history by studying the Dutch eel ships on the Thames. We don't generally remember them much now, but they were there from the c.1470 - 1938. They used to be low-key famous, even appearing in Nicolas Sarony's 1929 cigarette card collection, "Ships of All Ages." 🗃️🧪

General George Washington required Continental Army soldiers be inoculated for smallpox. We would not have won independence if he hadn’t. You dumb chucklefuck.

Today we launch Read More Books, a semi-regular Commonplace series featuring @kawulf.bsky.social asking authors five questions about their new book. We kick off with @johngmarks.com and his fascinating study of the long fight over Washington's legacy of slavery.🗄️ commonplace.online/article/read...

Had an excellent time yesterday recording a fun pirate video for @history-hit.bsky.social. Working as a public historian is such a joy. Looking forward to being able to share it with you all!

Pre-ordered! This looks like a fascinating must-read for those looking to pivot more into public history.

1) who are your favorite women historians on Bluesky? Tagged them here! Omg so many!!! A few: @kelsapellettiere.com @piratebeckalex.bsky.social @phdrachel.bsky.social @hngreen.bsky.social 2) and what is on the menu at your home tonight? Wegman’s mushroom & truffle pizza #HATM

For #internationalwomensday, support female authors and learn about amazing historical women! The paperback/2nd edition of my book, Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read, is available for pre-order and out Dec. 31! a.co/d/0bH6NfTa

In honor of its final season, check out this talk I gave connecting the history of pirates to #Outlander vimeo.com/1140915870?f...

Second week into the semester and I’m already behind. No one’s fault but mine. I get a bit too enthusiastic and carried away about the material

The 2nd Edition of 'A New History of Asian America' by Shelley Lee has now published! An expansive, updated synthesis of the Asian American experience, it is essential reading for UG students of #Americanhistory www.routledge.com/A-New-Histor...

Alex Pretti’s coworkers take a moment of silence this morning

We have a timely AMA today with @johnmkinder.bsky.social and Jen Murray on the memory of the Civil War in a polarized America over on @askhistorians.bsky.social- Come check it out! www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...

This hit so fucking hard today.

Found a catalogue of some of my pirate articles today. I’ve moved a couple of times over the last few years so I thought they were lost but NOPE! I’m always happy to write for anyone about pirates and I have availability if desired! 🏴‍☠️🗃️ @historytoday.com @historyextra.bsky.social

On the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade, I am reflecting on my recent trip to Ghana, where I had the privilege to visit Cape Coast Castle, a place I had encountered countless times, but only through records at The National Archives.

Hi Bluesky! I haven’t been active as a historian on social media in a long time, but I’ve decided it’s time to really reengage in this part of my life. I’m looking forward to reconnecting and connecting with my fellow historians and academics!

If you are inclined to read about funny novels in the 18th century, periods, labor and birth, hysteria etc you can pre-order the book! www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/delaware/bod...

New Publication Alert Hamlin, Christopher. "Rotten Bodies: Class and Contagion in 18th-Century Britain. By Kevin Siena." The Journal of Modern History, vol. 92, no. 4, 2020, pp. 933–35. JSTOR. #danieldefoe #defoe #18thCentury #C18th #18thC

I've begun a starter pack of scholars of the early modern Low Countries. Let me know if you want me to add you. #earlymodern 🗃️ go.bsky.app/VsHZ9xJ

Enter for your chance to win a copy of Ronaldo Angelo Johnson's Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2025). The raffle ends this Friday (11/28) at 11:59pm EDT. ageofrevolutions.com/2025/11/24/b...

TOMORROW! Nov. 25, 4 PM PST - come to my FREE virtual talk about pirates in colonial North Carolina and their connection to the Outlander series!

Do you like Outlander? Do you like pirates? Then come to my virtual presentation to discuss piracy in the Outlander series and Colonial America for the Wake County Public Library on Tuesday, Nov 25 at 4/7 PM PST/EST. It will be over Zoom and registration is FREE! wakegov.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Destruction of the White House East Wing began today. Here it is in better times with better residents.

Took my students to the Getty Villa to see Ancient Greek/Roman artifacts today. Who says field trips aren’t for university?

ICYMI, you can watch my talk about my book, The Pirates’ Code, for the @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social on YouTube! youtu.be/b06sRWooshk?...

TOMORROW! June 11, 6 pm BST/10 am PST, come to a free online webinar to see me speak about my book and all things Pirates’ Code at the York Festival of ideas! Get you ticket at this link. @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social yorkfestivalofideas.com/2025/calenda...

The #Kickstarter has gone live! Pledge your support for the first comic issue of Fang Hunters, a group of intergalactic vampire hunters! www.kickstarter.com/projects/nat...

Non-history plug: If you like comic books and want to read about a rag-tag group of intergalactic vampire hunters (think Firefly meets Cowboy Bebop meets Buffy), please support my husband’s Kickstarter campaign by following his page! officially launches May 1st! www.kickstarter.com/projects/nat...

Amazing phrase describing pirates that I’ve never encountered before: “Beasts of Prey.” source: A Speech made upon the Condemnation of Pirates [Nicholas Trott] 🗃️

GOP Sen Mike Lee suggests using privateers to take on the cartel at the US border. Because this has always been a great idea in history 🙃 www.abc4.com/news/nationa...

Saw a cybertruck and my son asked why Elon Musk would think that looked good and I said "remember that drug they gave you at the hospital when you broke your arm, and you got scared and said everyone had 4 eyes? he takes that all the time"

This spring my colleague Rachel and I will teach for the 3rd time out gender studies class at a women’s prison. We would appreciate any donations to provide folders, notebooks, and pens for our incarcerated students. To support them, venmo Rachel at Rachel-Leah. Many thanks!

After 8 years, I have finally finished the first draft of my pirate novel! I began writing it in August of 2017. The idea came to me 2015 when I read a particularly interesting trial from the Old Bailey Online. It's been a long road with many stops & starts, other articles & books, but here we are!

BREAKING: Israel has just confirmed that the small bodies delivered today are Kfir and Ariel, but the adult body was not Shiri Bibas. Where the hell is Shiri???

Am very much looking forward to reading @nmkennedy.bsky.social @joplingn.bsky.social @piratebeckalex.bsky.social

Thank you to the You’re Dead To Me podcast to help make me an expert to give today’s lecture in my brand-new-never-taught-before class. @gregjenner.bsky.social

"History's boldest pair of renegades." Today's article pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @piratebeckalex.bsky.social! Subscribe to Damn History: buff.ly/3CqxZ0z www.trulyadventure.us/revenge

This semester, I’m teaching US history, modern world history, modern European history, and pirate history. Time for some epic dismantling.

I’m just going to say that AOC is the acting leader of the Democratic Party until someone proves otherwise. At least insofar as she is responding to the moment with leadership.

We’re dead.