Can't quite believe this has finally arrived - thanks again to all the brilliant contributors, and the editorial and production folks who made it happen. Will paste the 30% off code below in case you'd like a copy

A sentiment I can get behind

Thomas Jefferson envisioned America as a lily white republic that rigorously excluded Black people. Join us next week - online or in person - for a frank discussion of race and racism at the founding of The United States. events.leapevents.com/tickets/anne...

Annette Gordon-Reed with Brent Staples: Jefferson on Race

Annette Gordon-Reed with Brent Staples: Jefferson on Race in New York - Checkout. The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian examines Thomas Jefferson’s complicated and often contradictory views on race and...

events.leapevents.com

Filled with the spirit of America 250 I wrote about two new general histories of the United States, though I think I can only recommend one of them alas

Academic departments deserve to be saved, supported, resourced, allowed to grow even if they're not "best in the country," "first in the REF," "top-ranked," "at a Russell Group uni," or whatever other austerity-brained nonsense senior managers have been using to flimflam you out of solidarity

If you're anywhere near Cambridge on May 29th, come see Jamelle Bouie, Martha Jones, Heather Thompson & other starry speakers reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Tickets are *free* but nearly gone so hit the link below asap www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/story/the-un...

The United States of America at 250

Reflections on the past, present, and future of independence. 29 May 2026, 12.30pm to 5.30pm, Ray Dolby Centre, Cambridge

philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

It's so cold in the UK this week that it feels like February, and our supposedly left-wing government is disintegrating in slow motion, so I humbly offer this photo of my cat in a plant pot as a tiny distraction from the gloom

Historians who've published in the past 2-3 years - did you get a wave of requests for 'modest contributions' from book clubs, influencers, & 'strategists' desperate to platform your "groundbreaking" book? Has never happened to me before and I fear this is yet another malign effect of Chat-GPT

I'm not saying this is a parody, but if it *were* a parody it would be very funny paw.princeton.edu/article/atte...

The Attentionauts

D. Graham Burnett ’93, Alyssa Loh ’12, and Peter Schmidt ’20 are leading a movement to resist ‘attention fracking’

paw.princeton.edu

Sending congrats to my brilliant colleagues on the new Oxford Illustrated History of the United States for their *starred review* in Library Journal, cannot wait for the book to hit the shelves next month

Cambridge friends who insist on working on bank holidays: Christa Dierksheide and I will be talking *today* at 4pm in the Sibilla Room at Jesus College about our new book Jefferson's Wolf! We've roped in the lovely Patrick Griffin to ask the questions and Heffers to sell some books. Come if you can!

I got my permanent job at a university in 2008 (after 8 years hourly-paid) and now face redundancy. My salary has declined in real terms for my entire career. The graph for senior management pay in a broken sector looks very, very different. This is not an accident.

Toby Nangle@tobyn.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The pay premium of the median teacher, or university lecturer, has also fallen

Has there ever been a more corrupt and reviled sporting event than the 2026 World Cup? I had not imagined I’d be nostalgic for Qatar and Russia and yet…

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3mo ago

From @theathleticfc.bsky.social: An envoy to President Trump claims he has asked the U.S. president and FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, to replace Iran with Italy at this summer’s World Cup. nyti.ms/4u4A9bE

Why didn’t we think of this earlier?!!

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...

America Is Anxious About Its 250th Birthday. So Are Historians.

nytimes.com

If you're in Philadelphia for the OAH conference, come see the contributors to the new Oxford Illustrated History of the United States talking about the book tomorrow morning in the *coveted* 8.45am slot in the storied Salon K of the Marriott!

Return of Mandelson scandal leaves Labour MPs in despair ft.trib.al/fuCwmHN

Return of Mandelson scandal leaves Labour MPs in despair

Vetting failure highlights dysfunction in Keir Starmer’s government

ft.trib.al

Maybe the most British news headline I've ever seen

Liv Mariah Yarrow (pronounced 'leave')@profyarrow.bsky.social · 4mo ago

No paywall copy of the article in the Times about unwanted sexual advances by Simon Goldhill at Cambridge. Thank god students in 21st century report this shit and the universities take it seriously archive.ph/2026.04.09-1...

@branchuk.bsky.social announces a search for new co-editors of its journal, American 19th C History @anchistjournal.bsky.social. Apps to include c.v. and a 1-2 page cover letter, sent to ANCH co-editor, and incoming BrANCH Chair, David Doddington (doddingtond@cardiff.ac.uk) by 01.05.26. Pls share!

The fact that staff have to be *told* not to do this is really incredible www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

White House staff warned not to place bets on prediction markets

The platforms have grown in popularity, with some users making bets on global events.

bbc.co.uk

Have spent too long away from Bluesky but am hoping to catch up with many of you guys in Philadelphia for the OAH next week, assuming (a) I can get into the US and (b) there is any jet fuel left here in the UK

Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...

For Americans struggling to understand how Keir Starmer is on the brink of resigning, this piece by @owenjones.bsky.social offers a concise and bleak summary of how we got here www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The left warned that Starmerism would end like this. Now all of Britain faces the fallout | Owen Jones

Peter Mandelson helped Morgan McSweeney privilege Labour’s reactionary forces to sustain the PM, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

theguardian.com

The Times belatedly covers the huge Mandelson-Starmer scandal in the UK, but omits the crucial fact that 18 months before Starmer made Mandelson US ambassador the FT reported that he'd stayed in Epstein's NYC mansion *while Epstein was in prison for child sex abuse* www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/w...

Starmer Faces Storm of Criticism Over Ties Between Ex-Ambassador and Epstein

nytimes.com

Frost making the point that the entire cabinet backed Mandelsons appointment as ambassador Starmer is going to be the fall guy for this (& lots more), but everyone at the top of Labour is implicated, including people who might have resigned in the meantime!

Probably no bandwidth in the US media right now for international news, even before we factor in the mass firing of journalists, but the latest Epstein document dump really might bring down the UK prime minister before the week is out

"Keir Starmer's government will last for six more weeks!"

Given Epstein's sordid relationship with Trump, it seems incredible to think that this scandal may bring down the UK government before the US government www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Dark mood among Labour MPs as Keir Starmer tries to contain Mandelson scandal

The chaos of the parliamentary debate about the former Labour minister is just one sign of how quickly the mood in the party has soured this week.

bbc.co.uk

Even in the 'unipolar' years of the 1990s, US presidents were exasperated by their inability to control the United Nations; the idea of replacing the unruly Security Council with a pliant 'Board of Peace' is really a sign of US decline in the world, not of Trump's strength