Say what you will about Tennessee politics, it sure provides plenty of people who are a pleasure to vote against.
Sean T. Byrnes
@sby10.bsky.social
Historian, writer, former bartender. Author of The United States and the Ends of Empire, @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social. Bylines in Time, @newrepublic.com, @dissentmag.bsky.social, and @jacobinmag.bsky.social. https://www.seantbyrnes.com
Wrote about You Can See Everything, a film that is much sadder than I expected newrepublic.com/article/2167...
You Can See Everything Is Unexpectedly Heartbreaking
Without making excuses for the Theranos fraud, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary insists on Elizabeth Holmes’s humanity.
newrepublic.com
Hegel, Kojeve, Allan Bloom, Fukuyama himself—even some implicit Marx, Chakrabarty, and Latour. I tried to work it all in on this one, you guys. In case you missed it last week! Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination newrepublic.com/article/2135... via @newrepublic.com
Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination
As he looks back on a life in ideas, he is able to see the flaws in his system. But he cannot take seriously the type of politics that might address them.
newrepublic.com
'Fukuyama has produced a book emblematic of a “centrism” still proudly fighting the last brushfires of the twentieth century long after the wildfires of the twenty-first have swept by them...'
Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination
As he looks back on a life in ideas, he is able to see the flaws in his system. But he cannot take seriously the type of politics that might address them.
newrepublic.com
Though the International Criminal Court is relatively new (dating to 2002), the US’s tortured relationship to international courts is anything but—which means I get to keep recycling this piece from a couple of years ago. www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/lett...
Letting the World Scream
The U.S., Nicaragua, and the International Court of Justice in the 1980s.
historynewsnetwork.org
My latest for @newrepublic.com, grateful as always for the work of @lauramarsh.bsky.social! Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination newrepublic.com/article/2135... via @newrepublic.com
Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination
As he looks back on a life in ideas, he is able to see the flaws in his system. But he cannot take seriously the type of politics that might address them.
newrepublic.com
My latest for @newrepublic.com, grateful as always for the work of @lauramarsh.bsky.social! Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination newrepublic.com/article/2135... via @newrepublic.com
Francis Fukuyama’s Failures of Imagination
As he looks back on a life in ideas, he is able to see the flaws in his system. But he cannot take seriously the type of politics that might address them.
newrepublic.com
Ah, yes, the vigorous Republican defense of “Western Civilization” at work. Nashville Symphony Suspends 2026-27 Season. www.wkrn.com/news/local-n...
Nashville Symphony suspending 2026-2027 season due to ‘financial emergency’
Amid a financial emergency, the Nashville Symphony is suspending the 2026-2027 season, officials announced Monday.
wkrn.com
So my 1st book is about half off right now. Great time to snag a book labeled: “convincing... well written... and subtle,” by Reviews in Am. History, "fantastic" by @joestieb.bsky.social, "excellent," by @rickperlstein.bsky.social, & "important & incisive" by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social. a.co/d/0fGyfe1b
Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right
Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right [Byrnes, Sean] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right
a.co
So my 1st book is about half off right now. Great time to snag a book labeled: “convincing... well written... and subtle,” by Reviews in Am. History, "fantastic" by @joestieb.bsky.social, "excellent," by @rickperlstein.bsky.social, & "important & incisive" by @samuelmoyn.bsky.social. a.co/d/0fGyfe1b
Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right
Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right [Byrnes, Sean] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Disunited Nations: US Foreign Policy, Anti-Americanism, and the Rise of the New Right
a.co
FOIA is 60 years old! Can the legal right to know survive while the practical ability to exercise that right steadily erodes, and when the President claims White House records are his personal property? nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/foia/20...
Freedom of Information at 60
Washington, D.C., July 9, 2026 - Sixty years after President Lyndon B. Johnson reluctantly signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) into law, Americans enjoy a national transparency treasure in th...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
Happy 4th, or—as I like to call it—historian's marketing day! Was the 4th the end of empire, the start, both? Check out the book @samuelmoyn.bsky.social called “an epic and masterful survey” and Tim Shenk labeled “sweeping and incisive”. Review and exam copies available! @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social
Happy 4th, or—as I like to call it—historian's marketing day! Was the 4th the end of empire, the start, both? Check out the book @samuelmoyn.bsky.social called “an epic and masterful survey” and Tim Shenk labeled “sweeping and incisive”. Review and exam copies available! @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social
Reposting for the Fourth: What the American Revolution Owes the Rest of the World newrepublic.com/article/2027... via @newrepublic.com
What the American Revolution Owes the Rest of the World
Historian Richard Bell’s new book traces a global upheaval stretching from Philadelphia and London to Freetown and Madras.
newrepublic.com
🎉 Congratulations to SHAFR's June 2026 award winners! We're thrilled to recognize this year's recipients and can't wait to celebrate them alongside our January award winners at the SHAFR Annual Meeting in Columbus next week. tinyurl.com/39a2kzsk
June 2026 Awards
tinyurl.com
Don't forget, while the snazzy hardback of the United States and the Ends of Empire (below) is highly sought after, it's also available in a reasonably priced (and still snazzy) paperback edition, perfect for you, your friends, and your students this fall! Available all over!
Excited to share some advance reviews for The United States and the Ends of Empire from @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. Huge thanks to @samuelmoyn.bsky.social and Tim Shenk for their generous comments. Check them out below or via the link! www.bloomsbury.com/us/united-st...
Don't forget, while the snazzy hardback of the United States and the Ends of Empire (below) is highly sought after, it's also available in a reasonably priced (and still snazzy) paperback edition, perfect for you, your friends, and your students this fall! Available all over!
Really appreciated the opportunity to interview @professorsheyda.bsky.social about her award-winning book The Poverty of the World in the new issue of Federal History. Link below! shfg.wildapricot.org/page-18414
My latest for @newrepublic.com—much improved, as usual, by the work of the great @lauramarsh.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2089...
An Elegy for the Foreign Correspondent
Elisa Tamarkin retraces her father’s work in Vietnam, and untangles the relationship of American newspaper business to the American war machine.
newrepublic.com
The US and the Ends of Empire is now out in the US! Come for the kind blurbs from @samuelmoyn.bsky.social and Tim Shenk, stay for the (relevant?) discussion of American empire. Great for classrooms, zoom backdrops, and readers of all kinds—available everywhere. www.bloomsbury.com/us/united-st...
The United States and the Ends of Empire
Few topics are more important to understanding the origins of the modern world than decolonization, and few countries have played a more important role in that…
bloomsbury.com
The US and the Ends of Empire is now out in the US! Come for the kind blurbs from @samuelmoyn.bsky.social and Tim Shenk, stay for the (relevant?) discussion of American empire. Great for classrooms, zoom backdrops, and readers of all kinds—available everywhere. www.bloomsbury.com/us/united-st...
The United States and the Ends of Empire
Few topics are more important to understanding the origins of the modern world than decolonization, and few countries have played a more important role in that…
bloomsbury.com
My latest for @newrepublic.com—much improved, as usual, by the work of the great @lauramarsh.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2089...
An Elegy for the Foreign Correspondent
Elisa Tamarkin retraces her father’s work in Vietnam, and untangles the relationship of American newspaper business to the American war machine.
newrepublic.com
The United States and the Ends of Empire by Sean T. Byrnes offers a definitive, single‑volume account of how the United States shaped global decolonization and the post‑war world order—illuminating a central force behind the making of the modern world. https://bit.ly/3LouNrf
It’s a real book now, folks. The United States and the Ends of Empire, out in UK print and global e-pub Feb 19th, US print April 30th. Exam copy requests available from Bloomsbury, pre-order available all over. @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/us/united-st...
It’s a real book now, folks. The United States and the Ends of Empire, out in UK print and global e-pub Feb 19th, US print April 30th. Exam copy requests available from Bloomsbury, pre-order available all over. @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/us/united-st...
Thrilled to be back in @newrepublic.com with a review of Richard Bell's The American Revolution and the Fate of the World. Thanks as always to @lauramarsh.bsky.social for the superlative editing! newrepublic.com/article/2027...
What the American Revolution Owes the Rest of the World
Historian Richard Bell’s new book traces global upheaval stretching from Philadelphia and London to Freetown and Madras.
newrepublic.com
Thrilled to be back in @newrepublic.com with a review of Richard Bell's The American Revolution and the Fate of the World. Thanks as always to @lauramarsh.bsky.social for the superlative editing! newrepublic.com/article/2027...
What the American Revolution Owes the Rest of the World
Historian Richard Bell’s new book traces global upheaval stretching from Philadelphia and London to Freetown and Madras.
newrepublic.com
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