Andrew Wehrman
@profwehrman.bsky.social
3.4K followers 1.1K following 430 posts
History professor at CMU and author of "The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution" Vaccination is patriotic. New book project(!) tentatively titled: Afterlife and Liberty: New York City’s Doctors’ Riot of 1788
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profwehrman.bsky.social
“Sir, nobody is buying these John Adams costumes!”

“Ok. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Call ‘em plus size Jeffersons.”
profwehrman.bsky.social
I’m currently reading through the wonderful essays in @theatlantic.com’s “The Unfinished Revolution.” The editors included this image of an inoculation certificate, but there’s no essay on the legacy of the Revolution on vaccination and public health. *ahem

(I did send in a pitch…so we’ll see?)
On page 130 of The Atlantic’s November issue on the American Revolution is an inoculation certificate from October 1776 for Nicholas and his four children. This certificate allowed them to leave the inoculation hospital and certified that they were no longer infectious. The caption notes that in early 1777 Washington would require the inoculation of the Army, but as my book The Contagion of Liberty shows men, women, and children were already demanding (and receiving) inoculation before Washington gave the order, pressuring him to act.
profwehrman.bsky.social
Soon to be a beast in APUSH (despite claiming he doesn’t like history)
profwehrman.bsky.social
My son said “Sure there might be a Shays’ Rebellion but how is that worse that what’s happening?”

Historians’ kids, man. It was amazing.
profwehrman.bsky.social
My kids are both in 8th grade US history this year. Learning about U.S. history during a government shutdown and presidential abuses has them rooting for AOC (Articles of Confederation) in 2028. “No executive branch and no federal budget!).

Where’s the NYTimes story about our anti-federalist youth?
Reposted by Andrew Wehrman
janecoaston.bsky.social
full episode on Doctor Doctor Willard Bliss or we riot
idthemike.xyz
I'm just a boy, standing here, begging Netflix to stop the "1800s-Early 1900s Based On True Events with Needle Drops!" thing. Enough.

Enough.

(Totally still watching it)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jop...
Death by Lightning | Official Trailer | Netflix
YouTube video by Netflix
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Andrew Wehrman
250yearsagonews.bsky.social
Oct. 9, 1775: “It clearly appears that [British] Administration is determined upon the most sanguinary & violent Measures,” Rhode Island’s delegates to the Continental Congress write home. “We ought to be prepared for the worst.”
A cartoon of 1775 showing the British ministry as would-robbers
Reposted by Andrew Wehrman
maryfissell.bsky.social
Hey bookshop.org has FREE Shipping today! catch my book at at a discount AND free shipping: bookshop.org/p/books/push...
profwehrman.bsky.social
My son turned his “Quaker Life Notes” from his 8th grade U.S. history class into “Quaker Otes” He gets an A in my book.
A history worksheet on the Quakers where my son blacked out letters to make it say “Quaker Otes” (Oats) instead of Quaker Life Notes”
profwehrman.bsky.social
Very near Gladstone. Riverside when I was very young, and then my parents moved to the Briarcliff area.
profwehrman.bsky.social
I know! Absolutely unacceptable and infuriating.
profwehrman.bsky.social
I agree with that! With the development of Northwest Arkansas and I-49, Kansas City is much more connected to Arkansas than it was 20-30 years ago. I think you can hear the southern accent in local TV commercials, and I don't remember that when I was a kid.
profwehrman.bsky.social
I think St. Louis feels more Midwestern (more like Chicago or Cincinnati) than Kansas City does. You hear more southern accents in KC, and it also has a more western cowboy focus. KC, however, certainly thinks of itself as the Midwest, though and can easily fit there.
profwehrman.bsky.social
I think you're right, but as someone who grew up in "north of the river" Kansas City and who has lived in Chicago, Ohio, and now Michigan. I think you can reasonably make the claim that KC is something other than Midwest. It's certainly an intersection between West/Great Plains, South, and Midwest.
profwehrman.bsky.social
It took me most of the weekend to track down one reference that I knew I had read but inexplicably did not save or put in my notes. All that is to say that writing on the new book has officially begun.
Reposted by Andrew Wehrman
johnfabianwitt.bsky.social
Political violence, post-pandemic one-party rule, vast economic inequality, and immigration backlash? The 2020s are the 1920s all over again--and that may show us a way out. Adapted from my book, to be published next week. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...
Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment
www.nytimes.com
profwehrman.bsky.social
My book, The Contagion of Liberty is coming out (in January) in paperback, and I got some preview copies of this cheaper, more flexible version with new blurbs on the cover!

For the 250th anniversary, it argues that American independence was only achieved through inoculation and public health.
The paperback version of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution.
profwehrman.bsky.social
The year before I got my current job at CMU, I was a finalist for a tenure-track U. S. history position at New College of Florida. It was an incredible, unusual place. It's such a shame how it has been intentionally damaged and dismantled.
willbunch.bsky.social
You'll be shocked to learn New College of Florida is on the brink of implosion just a couple of years after DeSantis engineered an extreme right-wing takeover

Fun fact: NCF's new overlords spend $134K per student (!!...the average at other FL publics is $10K) www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida
Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization.
www.insidehighered.com
profwehrman.bsky.social
Amazing! Headed straight for my vaccine files
profwehrman.bsky.social
We can afford the lunches, but it’s 1) really nice and so convenient just to send kids to school and to not worry about it, and 2) (more importantly) it’s wonderful to know that all the kids at their school have enough to eat and that there’s 0 stigma to kids getting a free lunch by giving it to all
Reposted by Andrew Wehrman
aetiology.bsky.social
Recall RFK's claim that doctors & scientists were "on his side" at his last hearing? Wanna prove him wrong?

I'll be ordering post cards soon, so if you're local to me, I can pass some along. I can also send them on your behalf (DM me your info for that).

Or do it yourself--info @ link below.
profwehrman.bsky.social
It's the most measles cases in the U.S. (by far) since 1992 and currently has a 12% hospitalization rate.
profwehrman.bsky.social
I hope you’re sending us some amazing future historians!