"History involves sorting and organizing hundreds of thousands of facts" I remain astounded by how loud and wrong people are about what history actually is.
Timothy J Lombardo
@timothyjlombardo.bsky.social
Historian. Professional and personal interests in cities, politics, labor, punk rock, beer, higher ed, and all things Philadelphia. Author, Blue-Collar Conservatism (https://tinyurl.com/4kspr3ds) Other projects in the works, probably
Course prep/syllabus writing for my American Urban History course is getting exciting!
Yes, but also, when I was 17 I spent the summer in a hospital bed after a bad accident (long story). To pass the pre-internet time I quizzed myself on Trivial Pursuit cards. It was time well spent, but no one would play the game with me after I had "studied" the questions. I guess they had a point
S. Kramer@libraryephemera.bsky.social · 6d agoWere you a child who read The World Book Encyclopedia for fun?
It was a student journalist in college radio at Sacramento State that broke the story that Reagan had paid no income taxes...
I’ve been rereading coverage of Peter Brimelow from 1995 and it is shockingly racist (and he was pulling from the same camp of the saints playbook)—and he too frequently got a pass, which tells us something about the invisibility of antiblackness to largely white institutions
Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · last wk.Great piece from @jamellebouie.net on the most prominent white supremacist influencer in the world, who is also the richest man in the world www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/o...
I think a lot about how almost everything nativists say about Muslims and Latinos today, nativists said about Catholics and Italians a century ago. Every time I hear paranoia about "Sharia Law" coming to the US I think of these KKK cartoons from the 1920s
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 7d agoJust want to drop this bit of nativist paranoia about Italians here. Check out the labels.
If you're upset about Wilson's analysis of Nolan's interpretation of the Odyssey, you're going to hate my academic unpacking of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526163271/
Manchester University Press - Diagnosing history
Diagnosing history - Browse and buy the eBook edition of Diagnosing history by Katherine Byrne
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
While many US historians and ordinary folks have been fixated on the semiquincentennial this year, the upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11 may very well be the more significant milestone—at least when it comes to understanding our present national crises. The past quarter-century has been 🗃️ 1/
I'm a humanities scholar and I do think the public hates me, but that has less to do with my work as a historian or professor and more to do with my general vibe
Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa@benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 3w agoFor the record, I'm a humanities scholar and I don't think the public hates us. I actually don't think they care about us much one way or the other.
Gift link to Bryant Simon’s piece for made by history @inquirer.com share.inquirer.com/yb7YOJ
Philly’s public toilets are important in lots of ways. We need more of them.
Philadelphia is a better place for everyone when facilities are available to all.
share.inquirer.com
If you have taught online courses at all in the last couple years this is the least surprising chart you will ever see
Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 4w agoabsolutely insane story, and yeah, just looking at this chart... with the exception of maybe two people, this entire class was cheating like motherfuckers
I Fact-Checked Trump’s Anti-Woke Report on the American History Museum newrepublic.com/article/2128... via @newrepublic.com
I Fact-Checked Trump’s Anti-Woke Report on the American History Museum
The document is notably short on evidence—and at odds with what I witnessed during a visit to the museum this week.
newrepublic.com
Jeff Cowie goes big in calling for structural changes to build democracy. In the process, he reminds us of some painful history, including how tantalizingly close we came to getting rid of the Electoral College in 1969, when the House voted 338-70 to do so. democracyjournal.org/magazine/81/...
What Real Democracy Might Look Like
Any post-MAGA renewal of democracy starts with a federal right to vote. But it hardly ends there.
democracyjournal.org
The sigh I let out at digging up this piece to repost, two years after I wrote it. time.com/7006684/trum...
Trump's Asylum Rhetoric is Rooted in the Mariel Boatlift
By suggesting that those seeking asylum in the U.S. are dangerous, Trump echoes the often false narratives around the 1980s Mariel boatlift.
time.com
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.Trump: "Some countries had no mental institutions. The mental institutions were taken -- all of those people were taken to our southern border and allowed to just walk freely into our country under Sleepy Joe Biden."
To counter the feeling that entering the US as a refugee casts you as downtrodden, please accept this gift bag that affirms that your whiteness assures you higher status
Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · last mo."They will also receive a packet of literature that provides a sanitized, Trump-approved view of American and South African history, one that criticizes racial equity and civil rights laws and promotes claims of discrimination against white people." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/u...
An interesting and encouraging piece. But it’s astonishing that professional political commentators still present Clinton’s “Sister Souljah” moment as an example of “tacking” to the “center,” rather than an appeal to the politics of white grievance. 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/o...
We had those at the height of Jim Crow too. drawingmatter.org/w-e-b-du-boi...
W. E. B. Du Bois’ visionary infographics
In 1900 W.E.B. Du Bois travelled to the Exposition Universelle in Paris to present the ‘American Negro’, an exhibition that sought ‘to give, in as systematic and compact a form as possible, the histor...
drawingmatter.org
Denny Carter@dennycarter.bsky.social · 2mo agoI guess one difference between Jim Crow then and Jim Crow now is that we have cool graphics to show how it's done.
As a historian, I approve this message
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 2mo agoRelatedly, Trump and MAGA fully grasp that their longer term success will depend on our willingness to move on from everything they've done to our country, and directly to us. Musk as well. There cannot be any forgetting. www.offmessage.net/p/detrumpifi...
“How well the Cry for Liberty, and the reverse Disposition for the exercise of oppressive Power over others agree, I humbly think it does not require the Penetration of a Philosopher to determine,” Phillis Wheatley wrote archly, a few months after being emancipated from slavery.
The Spirit of ’76
What is living and what is dead in our memory of the American Revolution.
bostonreview.net
So, the Penn 40% off sale is extended through Monday! A lot of great books on there, including the ones in the thread I'm quoting.
Mauricio Castro@castrohistorian.bsky.social · 2mo agoPenn has a 40% sale going on. If you want to know more about how Cold War Cuban refugee policy changed South Florida and influenced American politics and about the decades-long push for U.S. military intervention in Cuba, my book is not a bad place to start. www.pennpress.org/978151282572...