New episode out now! #EnchantedPodcast #witchsky #history #medievalsky #medievalists #midwinter #yule

Not sure if any single part of academia felt more like a weird cheat code than Interlibrary Loan. Like, I just say a book I want, basically any book, and this crack team of experts just *get it*????

GUILDENSTERN: There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said-no. But somehow we missed it. (He looks round and sees he is alone.) Rosen--? Guil--? (He gathers himself.) Well, we'll know better next time. Now you see me, now you- (And disappears.) Thank you, #TomStoppard 😢

You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵

This (U.S.) Thanksgiving, I’m very thankful for you all. Sharing the magical and strange histories that live in my head rent free is such a joy. Thank you so much for listening, and stay enchanted! #EnchantedPodcast #history #magic #witchcraft #Thanksgiving

We interrupt Thanksgiving for this Very Important Story. 🐱

Just caught “A Song for Me” by @btravis459.bsky.social on YouTube, and it was exactly the chill vibes I needed in the midst of *gestures widely*. I’m late to the party, but thanks, B!

In stead of sending a link to old threads every time someone uses the term "Dark Ages", I decided to put it all in an article. Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”. Read it here: fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/25/w... or: fakehistoryhunter.substack.com/p/why-most-h...

Poetrye, theatre, storyes, daunse, art, scholarlye researche about literature, historye, and language -- all of these thinges mattir more now, not less.

Ever heard of the medieval French convent where nuns couldn’t stop… meowing? 🐱 In this limited-time minisode, we dive into one of history’s strangest cases. Was it mass hysteria, or something deeper? #EnchantedPodcast #HistoryPodcast #MedievalWomen #MedievalHistory #WitchSky #FeminineRebellion

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.

Pls. repost and share: #OA #OER free scholar-produced resource for teachinge and readinge *The Canterbury Tales* at the Universitye level: THE OPEN ACCESS COMPANION TO THE CANTERBURY TALES opencanterburytales.lsusites.org

A coat of arms has to be impressive, full of symbolism, it's important, it represents an powerful family or person, so you have to think long and hard about its design and take it very seriously. Or just put some underpants on it. Like Lord Jan van Abbenbroeck did;

New episode just in time for spooky season. 🎃

The top 10% now hold 67.4% of all the wealth in the US. The bottom 50% hold 2.5%.

(solemnly) You've had mail.

the political policy cure for “male loneliness” is - more time to hang with the fellas (4 day work week) - more money to spend with the fellas (higher wages) - more things to do with the fellas (taxing the rich and building 3rd spaces)

This piece does an excellent job of articulating a whole list of things I’ve observed in my classes in particular and felt shifting in The Discourse(TM) in general. I may ask my students in History of Classical Greece & Rome to read and discuss it… if they’re able.

if you’re an isolated, angsty, strange young man, please know that you can become a Kierkegaard scholar instead of joining fringe online communities

This is some great news!

Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.

I know people don't think through the implications of valorizing a period of history, or even condemning one, but if you want to talk about the period from 500-1500 as a "Dark Ages" you're implicitly saying both the Roman Empire and Early Modernity are... good. And that's fucked up.

"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.

I'll say it a thousand times -- any account of the past that only celebrates the good parts of a nation without reckoning with the bad is not what we call "history" It is propaganda, pure and simple.

maybe there's still some good left in this world after all

With yesterday's disheartening Colbert news and today's deeply cruel gutting of our beloved PBS & NPR, maybe consider killing your Paramount+ subscription in favor of PBS Passport? www.pbs.org/passport/lea...

Stephen Colbert has the opportunity to do the funniest thing

The terminally online mind cannot comprehend this

Unusual 1580s manuscript on cheese surfaced at an auction. It’s been transcribed 📜 www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-...

This is gorgeously designed (graphically and intellectually)!

Last night was the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride to warn the Minutemen of approaching British troops. I want to take a moment to share an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence's grievances against King George III. Remind you of anyone?

1/ The rightwing likes to claim it's opposed to higher education because it's "elitist." But the fact that 47's admin is intent on gutting not only DEI programs but also federally funded Pell Grant & student loan programs shows that it's not really aimed at “elitism." No pay wall.

The public library is one of the most powerful ideas ever. Walk in with nothing—walk out with a world of knowledge. That kind of freedom is priceless. On Right to Read Day, let’s remind everyone that libraries are worth fighting for. #NationalLibraryWeek #BookSky 💙📚 #TLSky

The NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER added the EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC to a PRINCIPALS COMMITTEE TEXT CHAIN set up for the DEFENSE SECRETARY about PLANNED MILITARY STRIKES. Here's a thread of involved parties talking about the need for secure communications (when Dems are involved):

Post a warning.

I have at least one publication in here. Class action lawsuit, anyone?

All of this.

The AHA and the OAH have released a joint statement condemning recent efforts to censor historical content on federal government websites, at many public museums, and across a wide swath of government resources that include essential data. 🗃️

This is criminal. A Fulbright grant let me spend a year doing research abroad for my doctoral dissertation, which I never could have afforded to do otherwise. We should be investing in Americas brightest, not leaving them in the lurch.

I found some gentle guidance for re-finding our centre of gravity and keeping our balance in these relentlessly unbalanced times at #TheImperfectionist by @oliverburkeman.com. ckarchive.com/b/4zuvhehpp2...

Tariff wars and robber barons, white supremacy and Comstockery, sewage in the water and measles on the march. Truly, he has Made America Gilded Again.

“The SAVE Act, which purports to fend off the phantasmal threat of voter fraud, would throw millions of women off the voting rolls.” newrepublic.com/article/1914...

Posters! "Faculty and students majoring in liberal arts fields have consistently had to fight back against the idea that these majors are career dead-ends, or, worse. ... [If] you care about the humanities, you need to push back." humanitiesworks.org/posters/

I need to tell you about Internet Archive Scholar, which is a fulltext search index with over 35 million research articles & other scholarly documents preserved in the Internet Archive -- and has the most synthwave logo ever scholar.archive.org

Umberto Eco put together a now-famous list of 14 attributes of fascistic states. I'm going to discuss each of them in hopes this helps ppl understand that fascism is not just a buzzword. We're going to go through these by theme, so strap in. 🧵

“The thing that I can’t get over is that the actual richest man in the world directed my fucking firing. I make $50k a year and work to keep drinking water safe. The richest man in the world decided that was an expense too great for the American taxpayer.”

On my desk: