Patrick Wyman
@patrickwyman.bsky.social
Historian. Pods: Past Lives. Tides of History. Books: "The Verge." "Lost Worlds." pwymanusc at gmail. Enthusiast. https://linktr.ee/patrickwyman
New Past Lives: The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty. Over a little more than 200 years, more than 13,000 people were sacrificed at the Shang capital. Who were they, and where did they come from? pod.link/1852618120/e...
The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty
Listen to The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty from Past Lives wherever you get your podcasts!
pod.link
Next time someone tries to tell you that Roman slavery was different or better than other forms of slavery, tell them to listen to last week’s episode of @thisguysucked.com and/or buy Emma’s book.
New Past Lives: The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty. Over a little more than 200 years, more than 13,000 people were sacrificed at the Shang capital. Who were they, and where did they come from? pod.link/1852618120/e...
The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty
Listen to The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty from Past Lives wherever you get your podcasts!
pod.link
Not sure there's ever been a single text that sums up the mindset of a dedicated abuser better than this interview
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 23h ago🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper was one of the most self-destructive things I've ever witnessed on cable news. Here's the whole thing:
i'm late to the party but LFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!! THE SHANG!!!!!!!!!
Patrick Wyman@patrickwyman.bsky.social · 2w agoNew Past Lives: The Tomb of Fu Hao and the Rise of the Shang Dynasty. In a shadowy Bronze Age world of kings and nobles, Fu Hao was a queen, royal mother, general, priestess, and even executioner. She was buried with a treasury of jades, bronzes, and 16 human sacrifices. pod.link/1852618120/e...
Wrote about Nolan's Odyssey and what it tells about both the Bronze Age Collapse and our own age of wreckers and destroyers. Christopher Nolan's Collapsing Worlds: www.patreon.com/PastLivesMed...
Christopher Nolan's Collapsing Worlds | Past Lives
For Past Lives subscribers, an audio version of this episode will appear on the bonus feed this coming Thursday. Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey
patreon.com
Wrote about Nolan's Odyssey and what it tells about both the Bronze Age Collapse and our own age of wreckers and destroyers. Christopher Nolan's Collapsing Worlds: www.patreon.com/PastLivesMed...
Christopher Nolan's Collapsing Worlds | Past Lives
For Past Lives subscribers, an audio version of this episode will appear on the bonus feed this coming Thursday. Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey
patreon.com
Abraham Lincoln had that dawg in him. cc @peark.es @proptermalone.bsky.social @rickywlmsbong.bsky.social
Seva@seva.bsky.social · 5d agobiggest surprise from the Lincoln bio I'm reading. The dude just loved to get into fistfights. He's cornered by a gang after beating their leader and yells: “I’m the big buck of this lick!” And they back down! Who knew the great emancipator had a little WWE in him?
I've been bombarded with emails like this (some PR pitches, some book publicity offers) for months and it's made it almost impossible to separate genuine pitches that have value from scammy slop. I doubt I'm the only one who just auto-deletes now.
Maggie Harrison Dupré@mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 5d agoNEW: A PR firm used at least 15 fake personas — equipped with fake emails, fake websites, and in some cases, fake AI-generated faces — to send me dozens of pitch emails about its (very real) clients. Those clients told me they had no idea this was happening. futurism.com/artificial-i...
It's Mailbag Time on Past Lives! We talk about where Alexander the Great's soldiers kept their money, both Great and Mid Men of History, historical agency, and much more. Come hang out! Subscribe and I'll answer your history questions, too! www.patreon.com/PastLivesMed...
Bonus - Q&A | Past Lives
Bonus - Q&A by Past Lives on Patreon. Join Past Lives's community for exclusive content and updates.
patreon.com
Embrace American Gentry Thought www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
American Gentry
The jet-setting cosmopolitans of popular imagination exist, but they are far outnumbered by a less exalted and less discussed elite group, one that sits at the pinnacle of America’s local hierarchies.
theatlantic.com
Sarah Taber@sarahtaber.bsky.social · 6d agoMost rural areas have a ruling class. And they want cheap unfree workers & to pass their fiefdoms on tax-free forever. It ain't rocket science. The fact that we're scared to talk about THAT, ime, is what's costing us a lot of rural voters!
I got into a hollering argument about trans rights with a chud at my Olympic weightlifting gym a few years ago. A few weeks later, he dropped a full-blown N-bomb during a casual conversation. It's like clockwork.
ashley 🌹@clearlyashley.bsky.social · 7d agotrans rights frankly is a top 5, potentially top 3 issue for me despite not being trans and not having any trans family being bigoted against trans folks not only hurts my trans friends and every trans person but is so predictive of further bigotry
Blacksmith on a road construction crew or a yeoman apple farmer
Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 7d agoEnough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?
My daughter is 7 and she's already got that razor-sharp edge. We were in an airport and I had my passport out; she looked at the picture (from 2022) and said, "Daddy, you looked so good!" (pause). "What happened?"
alix e. harrow@alixeharrow.bsky.social · 6d agobought candy at the pool for a 13yo and she tried to give me cash. i was like nahh it's nbd, and she goes "girl i have seen your car." 13yo girls remain undefeated. you think you're talking to a child but you're actually talking to whatever gods used to send to punish mortals for their hubris
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Bayonets Gettysburg
ALT: Bayonets Gettysburg
static.klipy.com
Ben Schwartz@benschwartz.bsky.social · 7d agoFilm you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Saw the Odyssey. Thoughts: 1) Loved it as a movie. 2) Loved it as an image of the late Bronze Age world. 3) Best final act I've seen in a long while. 4) Bernthal, Zendaya, Hathaway, and Leguizamo were amazing. Just give Hathaway the Oscar now. 5) Not the best Odyssey adaptation, still O Brother.
Saw the Odyssey. Thoughts: 1) Loved it as a movie. 2) Loved it as an image of the late Bronze Age world. 3) Best final act I've seen in a long while. 4) Bernthal, Zendaya, Hathaway, and Leguizamo were amazing. Just give Hathaway the Oscar now. 5) Not the best Odyssey adaptation, still O Brother.
*Trojan historian watching as the Achaeans break down the gates* Wow, my civilization is undergoing a complex transformation from a heavily centralized and stratified administrative society to a more socially-fragmented modality of living in which material culture is dispersed amidst smaller sites.
Honestly, a real problem with a lot of 'collapse' revisionism for both LBAC and the later Roman Empire. You get a lot of fancy academic rhetorical footwork and sure, there are things of value in the periods that followed, but, like, aggregate population declines are generally not fun.
Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · last wk.*Trojan historian watching as the Achaeans break down the gates* Wow, my civilization is undergoing a complex transformation from a heavily centralized and stratified administrative society to a more socially-fragmented modality of living in which material culture is dispersed amidst smaller sites.
Broadly, my books are organized by subject, but my daughter and I lost count recently somewhere north of 1,000 and the subject-matter boundaries are pretty porous. Nobody else is finding a specific title in my office without my help.
Immigrant Punk@porcupunk.eurosky.social · last wk.Enough of the horrors and doom scrolling. Let's talk about something fun. How do you arrange your books?
kids, i have something exciting to tell you. I just financed a cybertruck through x the everything app. also your mom left
One of the great joys in reading academic work is when you come across a book that is just a comprehensive guide to whatever's in the title. Give me everything you have on Bog Bodies, from antiquarian accounts to ancient DNA studies, stat
Even when a Nolan movie doesn’t resonate with me (I usually like them but don’t love them), I appreciate them for giving straight men an opportunity to openly weep
Some certified bangers coming up on Past Lives: July 29: Interview with Prof. James Romm on Greek wisdom for the modern age (very dad-coded!) Aug. 5: The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty Aug. 12: Bog Bodies! Aug. 19: Tollund Man Aug. 26: Interview with Prof. Peter Mancall on Colonial America
Got my Odyssey ticket for tomorrow night and I can't remember the last time I was this excited to go to the movies. Also, I can't remember the last time I went to the movies, so there's that.
Some certified bangers coming up on Past Lives: July 29: Interview with Prof. James Romm on Greek wisdom for the modern age (very dad-coded!) Aug. 5: The Human Sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty Aug. 12: Bog Bodies! Aug. 19: Tollund Man Aug. 26: Interview with Prof. Peter Mancall on Colonial America
One thing I will share about Odyssey discourse is that OMFG ALL OF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THE ANCIENT WORLD HOLY SHIIII YES YES HARDER DADDY THIS IS AMAZING
Sickos Haha Yes
Alt: Sickos Haha Yes meme
static.klipy.com
"Hardest Place" is one of the best books I've read in the last decade, and if you're at all interested in American misadventures overseas in the last couple of decades, it's THE thing to read.
Wesley Morgan@wesleymorgan.bsky.social · last yr.My Afghanistan war book THE HARDEST PLACE is approaching its four-year anniversary. Since I’ve mostly migrated from Twitter to Bluesky, over the next few months I’m going to recreate here a long thread of photos that many readers have enjoyed scrolling through as an accompaniment to the book.
