Sharon Ann Murphy
@sharonannmurphy.bsky.social
Financial historian. Mom. Soccer player. Spouse. Wahoo. Mets fan. Archive rat. Avid reader. Wino. Jersey girl. Runner. World traveler. A wee bit batty.
I'm extremely honored (and quite a bit stunned) to announce that I made this list. www.gf.org/stories/anno...
Announcing the 2026 Guggenheim Fellows — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists
Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has given Fellowships to exceptional artists, writers, scholars, and scientists, empowering them to pursue meaningful work under the freest possible conditions.
gf.org
I spent October traveling to schools throughout the South talking to students about American history. What I found were young people who understand we can tell a story that includes both the positive and the negative. As one 8th grader in Memphis said, “Doesn’t seem that hard, just say both things.”
Tell Students the Truth About American History
We owe it to Americans of all ages to be honest about the country’s past, including its contradictions.
theatlantic.com
We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books. 👇 drb.ie/move-over-fo...
Move over for AI - DRB
Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...
drb.ie
Luckily, Sinclair has a helpful database of all their stations, so you can see if they're operating in your area and respond accordingly. sbgi.net/tv-stations/
The Weeping Somnambulist@pigeon75.bsky.social · 11mo ago
Come join me for a virtual book talk at the American Antiquarian Society next Tuesday 9/23 at 7pm. Book talk will be followed by Q&A with Mark Peterson and the audience. www.americanantiquarian.org/node/13335
Banking on Slavery: Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States | American Antiquarian Society
americanantiquarian.org
My new book, Mending the Nation: Reclaiming "We the People" in a Populist Age, is now available for pre-order! In a time of cynicism and despair, Mending the Nation uses lessons from the past to chart a new way forward. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700640638/
Mending the Nation
A bold message of political hope in a time of cynicism and despair, Mending the Nation uses lessons from the past to chart a new way forward.The United State...
kansaspress.ku.edu
AI update (especially relevant for JHUP authors): I just zoomed with the rep from JHUP & she capitulated. She will remove my books from the LLM license w/o me signing their ridiculous statement.
Fave US history myth that needs to die sudden & quick death, GO: myth: self-made man; ppl pulling selves up by own bootstraps; meritocracy reality: behind every US success story is tangled web of opportunity from family wealth/connections, community support, govt-supported educ. & infrastructure...
Gautham Rao (pronounced: Knicks in 5)@gauthamrao.bsky.social · last yr.Favorite US history myth that needs to die a sudden and quick death, GO: Myth: Plantations were genteel spaces. Reality: Coercion defined their every inch. Negotiation and resistance was the norm.
The volume of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the way most Canadians visit—dropped by 37% last month compared to July 2024, according to new data from Statistics Canada, following a 33% drop in June. There was also a 26% decline in air travelers from Canada year-over-year.
Canada’s Travel Boycott Grows: Car Travel To U.S. Drops 37%
Steep year-over-year drop in car and air travel solidifies steep economic losses for U.S. tourism this year.
forbes.com
Thoughts from an American traveling in Europe in 2025: I have spent time abroad (mostly in Europe) almost every year for 30 years, and almost always in the summer. I just returned from 2 weeks in Southern France. Some observations...
Exactly right. They simply want the end product — whether it’s an actual production of art or music or the end result of hard work like a PhD — without doing the work. It’s cheat codes all the way down.
Dr. Johnathan Flowers, Bisexual of the Blade (Alt-text or DIE)@shengokai.blacksky.app · last yr.Something that I have been thinking about with attribution of "PhD level intelligence" or "PhD level expertise" to a machine is that it reflects an increasing trend among these AI bros and their sycophants to want the products of highly skilled training without actually doing any of the work.
The CHIPS Act set off a manufacturing boom, creating jobs and ensuring the technologies of the future are made here at home. By rolling back this law, Trump is weakening American leadership and letting our adversaries get ahead.
Trump’s Call to Scrap ‘Horrible’ Chip Program Spreads Panic
nytimes.com
There is just no precedent in recent world history of an advanced industrialized country sabotaging its own scientific establishment, and destroying the base of scientific knowledge necessary for basic policymaking. An avowedly, actively anti-knowledge regime.
Dave Vetter@davidrvetter.bsky.social · last yr.Head of NASA Sean Duffy intends to destroy a satellite that collects key data on carbon dioxide and plant health, by causing it to burn up in the atmosphere. The U.S. Dept of Agriculture and private agriculture firms use the data to forecast crop yield, drought conditions and more.
This is why Donald is crying about Elizabeth Warren.
emptywheel@emptywheel.bsky.social · last yr.Elizabeth Warren went to CNBC today and destroyed Donald Trump on the economy. Trump is trying to bury this appearance with a tantrum on his failing media site. Make sure this goes viral instead. www.cnbc.com/video/2025/0...
Over the course of their career history majors out earn engineers and comp sci.
Anna Kornbluh@annakornbluh.bsky.social · last yr.“American Academy of Arts&Sciences reports 96.3% of humanities grads age 23-32 fully employed. Earnings in humanitiess comparable to social/life sciences, job satisfaction levels too. A serious mismatch bw actual employment for hum grads +general perception." www.mellon.org/voices/human...
My personal fave from Tom Lehrer--for the Catholic crowd. youtu.be/pvhYqeGp_Do?...
Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag - fabulous version - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967
YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
youtu.be
“Univ. of Illinois report shows that a large humanities department like English produces substantial net profit; units like engineering and agriculture run at a loss. The widely respected Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity shows the same pattern.” /7 thi.ucsc.edu/the-humaniti...
The Humanities Really Do Produce a Profit – The Humanities Institute
thi.ucsc.edu
Just received an email from publisher of one of my books trying to strongarm me into granting permission for it to be licensed for AI LLM use. My knee-jerk is "hell no." They want me to sign this disclaimer (copied in comments). Should I not be pissed at publisher for caving like this?
@entandsoc.bsky.social is delighted to announce that Prof. Ai Hisano has been chosen as incoming Editor-in-Chief. This is a truly exciting appointment that promises a bright new phase in the journal's history. More about Ai and her fascinating work can be found here: www.aihisano.com
Ai Hisano | Historian
aihisano.com
As I always say: there are plenty of people who want to study history, but from high school forward, they are told not to. And the same as true with the other liberal arts. We’re lucky that any students refuse to listen.
Jeff (Hot Type) Jarvis@jeffjarvis.bsky.social · last yr."The tragedy of the contemporary academy is that even when traditional liberal learning clearly wins with students and donors, it loses with those in power." Students Want the Liberal Arts. Administrators, Not So Much. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
Parents insist their kids go to college to get business degrees. Administrators respond by defunding the humanities and social sciences, while hiring business profs at ~2X what historians get paid. Meanwhile, businesses say over and over that they want to hire humanities and social science majors.
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · last yr.Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.
NEW: Bishop Rojas of San Bernardino has dispensed his Diocese from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass due to ongoing ICE raids.
"In total, the [UVA Board of Visitors] members have donated over $4.8 million to Republican campaigns and candidates, approximately $10,000 to Democratic campaigns and candidates and approximately $39,000 to causes categorized as “other.”"
Matthew Kirschenbaum@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · last yr.Framing this around “viewpoint diversity” and the supposed expediency of tracking professors’ political donations is absolutely brilliant. www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...