Erik Baker
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
📤 4560
📥 367
📝 506
Historian at Harvard, senior editor at The Drift, author of Make Your Own Job erikmbaker.com
pinned post!
I am extremely excited to share that my book Make Your Own Job received the 2026 Merle Curti Award in Intellectual History from the Organization of American Historians. It is a real honor.
www.oah.org/2026/03/26/o...
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https://www.oah.org/2026/03/26/oah-celebrates-2026-award-winners/
about 2 months ago
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Solidarity with workers at the University of Chicago Press, who have formed the first union at one of the oldest and most distinguished academic publishers in the U.S.
8 days ago
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Guy
add a skeleton here at some point
9 days ago
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Erik Baker
The Syllabus
9 days ago
Chomsky’s relationship with Epstein exposes a contradiction at the heart of his work: Chomsky often shows open disdain for the masses. This piece contends that this elitist pessimism undercuts his commitment to collective struggle. By
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
in
@thedriftmag.com
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The Judgment of the Masses
Chomsky was incapable of glimpsing anything but media brainwashing stirring up the irrationality of the masses against his friend. In “the public domain,” Chomsky told Epstein, “innuendo and…
https://buff.ly/6qUqMZT
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Erik Baker
Zeteo
12 days ago
Israel just abducted activists, journalists & humanitarians from the Global Sumud Flotilla — including our contributor Alex Colston. Zeteo demands that Israel immediately release those kidnapped & calls on the UN, the US & governments across Europe to take urgent action & hold Israel accountable.
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New installment of Sophie Haigney's advice column on when wandering attention is actually a problem (perhaps less often than you think)
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/how-do-i-s...
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How do I stop wasting my attention?
The Drift’s advice column #4
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/how-do-i-stop-wasting-my-attention
12 days ago
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I tried to shed a historical perspective on competing management styles on this ep of No Such Thing
www.nosuchthing.show/p/does-micro...
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Does micromanaging actually work?
NST goes to the office. We cover annoying middle managers, performance improvement plans, the history of corporate office culture, and more.
https://www.nosuchthing.show/p/does-micromanaging-actually-work
13 days ago
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Reminding myself that getting mad about the disrespect of punk rock by the New York Times would not be very punk rock
14 days ago
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Of course the collapse of brow categories into hopeless confusion should be expected in a society where the Bordieuian account of cultural capital no longer has the same purchase on the reproduction of social hierarchy
harpers.org/archive/2024...
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15 days ago
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Learning from this post and responses that the register connoted by "middlebrow" has significantly lowered
add a skeleton here at some point
15 days ago
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@mitchtherieau.bsky.social
on MAGA slop is a top 5 Longread of the week!
longreads.com/2026/04/24/t...
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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week - Longreads
Deaths in donation bins, the Hardy boys, MAGA slop, billionaire playgrounds, and nostalgia for the complicated.
https://longreads.com/2026/04/24/the-top-5-longreads-of-the-week-607/?utm_source=X&utm_medium=social
18 days ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
19 days ago
Join us on May 14 for our Issue Seventeen launch party!
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Erik Baker
The Drift
21 days ago
In our essays section, Max Norman assesses Karl Ove Knausgaard’s swerve from realism in his new series.
www.thedriftmag.com/roman-flood/
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Roman-Flood
Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Diabolic Realism
https://www.thedriftmag.com/roman-flood/
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Erik Baker
Edward Ongweso Jr
22 days ago
For
@thedriftmag.com
I wrote about social control, digital infrastructure, and what passes for a public sphere in our society
www.thedriftmag.com/directing-th...
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Directing the Herd
Social media platforms don’t produce a common public; they produce competing sub-publics, each with its own sense of what everyone knows.
https://www.thedriftmag.com/directing-the-herd/
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Erik Baker
Sarah Brouillette
22 days ago
My brief contribution is about Substack. Many thanks to the incredible team at The Drift.
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
21 days ago
Read Dispatches on the public sphere from
@tarpley.bsky.social
bsky.social
, Noelle Bodick,
@sarahbrouillette.bsky.social
,
@edwardongwesojr.com
,
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
, Ege YumuĹźak, Ismail Ibrahim,
@meganmarz.bsky.social
, and
@samadlerbell.bsky.social
www.thedriftmag.com/a-nicely-sit...
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A Nicely Situated Ideal
Dispatches on the Public Sphere
https://www.thedriftmag.com/a-nicely-situated-ideal/
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Issue Seventeen of
@thedriftmag.com
is now out in full online. Read our editor's note, an apologia for paranoia, here
www.thedriftmag.com/editors-note...
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Editors’ Note
The House Never Chickens Out
https://www.thedriftmag.com/editors-note-17/
21 days ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
For our new issue, I wrote about Chomsky's friendship with Epstein and the political risks of his thinking on propaganda
www.thedriftmag.com/the-judgment...
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The Judgment of the Masses
Chomsky was incapable of glimpsing anything but media brainwashing stirring up the irrationality of the masses against his friend. In “the public domain,” Chomsky told Epstein, “innuendo and suspicion...
https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-judgment-of-the-masses/
22 days ago
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add a skeleton here at some point
22 days ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
22 days ago
In Issue 17’s Dispatches section,
@tarpley.bsky.social
, Noelle Bodick,
@sarahbrouillette.bsky.social
,
@edwardongwesojr.com
,
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
, Ege YumuĹźak, Ismail Ibrahim,
@meganmarz.bsky.social
, and
@samadlerbell.bsky.social
examine the public sphere.
www.thedriftmag.com/a-nicely-sit...
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A Nicely Situated Ideal
Dispatches on the Public Sphere
https://www.thedriftmag.com/a-nicely-situated-ideal/
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For our new issue, I wrote about Chomsky's friendship with Epstein and the political risks of his thinking on propaganda
www.thedriftmag.com/the-judgment...
loading . . .
The Judgment of the Masses
Chomsky was incapable of glimpsing anything but media brainwashing stirring up the irrationality of the masses against his friend. In “the public domain,” Chomsky told Epstein, “innuendo and suspicion...
https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-judgment-of-the-masses/
22 days ago
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OAH-goers: I am giving a paper on "radical self-reliance" tomorrow morning and then chairing what will be a great panel on finance culture. Hope to see you there!
25 days ago
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New piece today: an extremely thoughtful dissection of Knausgaard's new series by Max Norman
www.thedriftmag.com/roman-flood/
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Roman-Flood
Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Diabolic Realism
https://www.thedriftmag.com/roman-flood/
25 days ago
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Issue Seventeen's Mentions are out today! Read to discover the identity of "the world’s least charismatic carnival barker"
www.thedriftmag.com/mention/issu...
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Issue 17
Extremely abbreviated reviews
https://www.thedriftmag.com/mention/issue-17/
26 days ago
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Scintillating new story out today about everyone's favorite subjects: VR porn and Siberia
www.thedriftmag.com/devochka/
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Devochka
Fiction
https://www.thedriftmag.com/devochka/
27 days ago
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You don't hear as much about the Department of Government Efficiency as you used to
28 days ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift's senior slop correspondent
@mitchtherieau.bsky.social
wrote a piece for our new issue on the phantasmic visual output of the Trump administration. In honor of AI-Jesusgate, we're sharing it with you today.
www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-rig...
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Into the Right-Wing Dreamworld
DHS’s Regime of Images
https://www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-right-wing-dreamworld/
29 days ago
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Erik Baker
Mark Coleman
29 days ago
Cowboy hats and penguin poop: Trump’s meme agitprop
www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-rig...
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Into the Right-Wing Dreamworld
DHS’s Regime of Images
https://www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-right-wing-dreamworld/
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Erik Baker
matthew ellis
29 days ago
If you haven't yet, drop everything you're doing and read
@mitchtherieau.bsky.social
's instant classic on the "dream logic" of the right wing aesthetic imaginary
www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-rig...
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Into the Right-Wing Dreamworld
DHS’s Regime of Images
https://www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-right-wing-dreamworld/
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The Drift's senior slop correspondent
@mitchtherieau.bsky.social
wrote a piece for our new issue on the phantasmic visual output of the Trump administration. In honor of AI-Jesusgate, we're sharing it with you today.
www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-rig...
loading . . .
Into the Right-Wing Dreamworld
DHS’s Regime of Images
https://www.thedriftmag.com/into-the-right-wing-dreamworld/
29 days ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
Jake Grumbach
about 1 month ago
via
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
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We have some new fiction for you in these trying times - a stunning story by Julia Kornberg
www.thedriftmag.com/the-blonde/
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The Blonde
Fiction
https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-blonde/
about 1 month ago
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I cannot believe I am scheduled to teach Dr. Strangelove tomorrow
about 1 month ago
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I think it's a mistake to say that Trump has threatened nuclear use when he did not do so explicitly. The US can easily destroy a whole country with conventional weapons and doing so should not be allowed to count as backing away from the brink.
about 1 month ago
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For the local paper I penned a quick write-up of a great book by a great writer and human.
www.cambridgeday.com/2026/03/31/u...
about 1 month ago
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Our first preview piece from our forthcoming issue is a groundbreaking retheorization of welfare fraud by Maia Silber
www.thedriftmag.com/fraud-with-b...
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Fraud with Benefits
How Breaking the Rules Makes Welfare Work
https://www.thedriftmag.com/fraud-with-benefits/
about 1 month ago
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The two best guitar rock bands of the last 15 years were called Screaming Females and The Men... really makes you think
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 1 month ago
In the March installment of our advice column, Sophie Haigney responds to a questioner’s “desire for an artistic and intellectual life that transcends the cold machinery of money.”
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/can-i-make...
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Can I make a living from my art without killing the romance?
The Drift's advice column #3
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/can-i-make-a-living-from-my-art-without
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March installment of Sophie’s advice column just in the nick of time!
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/can-i-make...
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Can I make a living from my art without killing the romance?
The Drift's advice column #3
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/can-i-make-a-living-from-my-art-without
about 1 month ago
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There's no direct evidence for the historical existence of "Abraham Lincoln." Scholars now typically view him as a confabulation from various oral traditions about a mysterious hyper-eloquent giant
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 2 months ago
Congratulations to The Drift’s Senior Editor
@erikmbaker.bsky.social
! His book, “Make Your Own Job,” just won the 2026 Merle Curti Intellectual History Award from the Organization of American Historians.
www.oah.org/2026/03/26/o...
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I am extremely excited to share that my book Make Your Own Job received the 2026 Merle Curti Award in Intellectual History from the Organization of American Historians. It is a real honor.
www.oah.org/2026/03/26/o...
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https://www.oah.org/2026/03/26/oah-celebrates-2026-award-winners/
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 2 months ago
In 2024,
@laurenleblanc.bsky.social
wrote a Mention for The Drift on Nancy Lemann’s long-out-of-print book “The Ritz of the Bayou,” which helped lead to its republication on April 7. She spoke with Lemann for our newsletter today.
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/a-spark-so...
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"A spark so divine is not easily extinguished"
A Q&A with Nancy Lemann
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/a-spark-so-divine-is-not-easily-extinguished
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 2 months ago
Today in the newsletter, associate editor Max Norman revisits David Schurman Wallace’s examination of the afterlives of John Ashbery and the role of social media in shaping encounters with poetry today.
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-anxiet...
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The anxiety of influencers
Why read John Ashbery?
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-anxiety-of-influencers
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 2 months ago
“The precedent that Obama’s militarism solidified has only become more and more malignant as Trump has moved through his presidency,” writes
@seamus-malekafzali.com
in a new piece on the aerial forever wars.
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-legacy...
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The legacy of Obama's drone wars
Who paved the road to Trump's war?
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-legacy-of-obamas-drone-wars
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Can always count on
@seamus-malekafzali.com
to say what needs to be said
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-legacy...
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The legacy of Obama's drone wars
Who paved the road to Trump's war?
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/the-legacy-of-obamas-drone-wars
about 2 months ago
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I love all Mentions equally but this one touched a special nerve
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
about 2 months ago
An overly cheery exclamation point, a million-dollar wine cellar, winning the war with yourself, and more – read Mentions from Ben Gottlieb,
@amkdurie.bsky.social
, Will Dukes, Sam Ross, Olivia Noble, Jake Indursky, and Charlie Cockburn
www.thedriftmag.com/mentions/
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Mentions
Extremely abbreviated reviews
https://www.thedriftmag.com/mentions/
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Today in the newsletter, a sharp dispatch from across the pond by Oliver Eagleton on the prospects of the electoral left in the UK
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/are-the-gr...
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Are the Greens for real?
A dispatch on UK politics by Oliver Eagleton
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/are-the-greens-for-real
2 months ago
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You can now submit questions for our new advice column anonymously through this form!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
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Questions for The Drift Advice Columnist
Hello! I'm Sophie Haigney, and I recently started writing an advice column for The Drift. You can read my first two columns here, and here. If you want to ask a question anonymously, you can submit it...
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFI34EsFQurwWi-p6IvqbwS8PsMSmJUMHLRl6NuD6tj_nbZw/viewform
2 months ago
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reposted by
Erik Baker
The Drift
2 months ago
“I feel excited about the possibilities presented by the feeling that there isn’t much left to lose,” says “Down Time” author Andrew Martin in conversation with Drift co-editor Rebecca Panovka.
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/bad-for-pe...
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Bad for people, great for fiction
A Q&A with Andrew Martin
https://newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/bad-for-people-great-for-fiction
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