Adam Arenson
@adamarenson.bsky.social
Writing and teaching history for a wider public. Black North American border-crossing after the Underground Railroad; Civil War and Reconstruction in the West; Mid-Century Modern art and architecture from Millard Sheets. Californian in NYC. adamarenson.com
Reposted by Adam Arenson
There are still a few spaces left in our 2026 online winter course, 𝗛-𝟵𝟱𝘃: 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀’ 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸, taught by noted bibliographer and historian Michael Winship from 26 January to 26 February.
Apply today!
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
#BookSky
Apply today!
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
#BookSky
December 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
There are still a few spaces left in our 2026 online winter course, 𝗛-𝟵𝟱𝘃: 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀’ 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸, taught by noted bibliographer and historian Michael Winship from 26 January to 26 February.
Apply today!
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
#BookSky
Apply today!
rarebookschool.org/courses/history/h95v
#BookSky
Making it harder on those with student loans, and discouraging future ones:
The Trump Administration Officially Ends SAVE Program and Weaponizes Student-Loan Debt Against Young People
This is debt as a weapon, used to destabilize, control, and economically break a generation before it can organize, build wealth, or resist.
open.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Making it harder on those with student loans, and discouraging future ones:
Reposted by Adam Arenson
All travelers from ESTA countries (yes the ones on visa waiver programs) will have to disclose 5 years of social media + huge amounts of personal data to enter the US now. All US academic associations should now meet outside the US if we want to meet our international colleagues.
December 10, 2025 at 4:27 AM
All travelers from ESTA countries (yes the ones on visa waiver programs) will have to disclose 5 years of social media + huge amounts of personal data to enter the US now. All US academic associations should now meet outside the US if we want to meet our international colleagues.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
I went through a literary agent for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, published earlier this year as a lead trade-list title by
@ucpress.bsky.social. Working with an agent has been great; it's essential for trade-list pubs. Don't underestimate the due diligence required! buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
@ucpress.bsky.social. Working with an agent has been great; it's essential for trade-list pubs. Don't underestimate the due diligence required! buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
How I got a literary agent
On what I did en route to getting offers of representation from three New York City literary agents.
buttondown.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:36 AM
I went through a literary agent for HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, published earlier this year as a lead trade-list title by
@ucpress.bsky.social. Working with an agent has been great; it's essential for trade-list pubs. Don't underestimate the due diligence required! buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
@ucpress.bsky.social. Working with an agent has been great; it's essential for trade-list pubs. Don't underestimate the due diligence required! buttondown.com/surekhadavie...
Reposted by Adam Arenson
“…these were fringe ideas earlier this century, but they are now associated with a movement that cuts across Europe known as the identitarian movement and which has increasingly informed party politics there and here….Well, years later, remigration has been operationalized.”
'Remigration,' once a fringe idea, becomes a mantra for the Trump administration
The recent shooting of two National Guardsmen in D.C. has revived calls from the Trump administration for "reverse migration," or "remigration." But those ideas trace back to European extremists.
www.npr.org
December 10, 2025 at 9:50 AM
“…these were fringe ideas earlier this century, but they are now associated with a movement that cuts across Europe known as the identitarian movement and which has increasingly informed party politics there and here….Well, years later, remigration has been operationalized.”
Reposted by Adam Arenson
Interesting new data from the Yale Youth Poll that asked 18-34 year-olds: "Who do you think each party is fighting for?"
GOP → rich, wealthy, billionaires, corporate, donors, Trump
Democrats → working class, rights, immigrants, middle class—but donors, corporate, rich also show up.
GOP → rich, wealthy, billionaires, corporate, donors, Trump
Democrats → working class, rights, immigrants, middle class—but donors, corporate, rich also show up.
December 9, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Interesting new data from the Yale Youth Poll that asked 18-34 year-olds: "Who do you think each party is fighting for?"
GOP → rich, wealthy, billionaires, corporate, donors, Trump
Democrats → working class, rights, immigrants, middle class—but donors, corporate, rich also show up.
GOP → rich, wealthy, billionaires, corporate, donors, Trump
Democrats → working class, rights, immigrants, middle class—but donors, corporate, rich also show up.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
I mean, in what sense will you be able to say the college “survived”?
December 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I mean, in what sense will you be able to say the college “survived”?
Reposted by Adam Arenson
For a couple of years now, I've been fascinated with what's happening at small liberal arts colleges, which are running out of money for reasons unrelated to Trump funding cuts. Businessweek let me go deep on the problems, and one college that's trying to blaze a new trail.
Why a College Fighting for Survival Is Slashing Econ and Physics Majors
At Albright in Pennsylvania, the new president is cutting programs, selling art and real estate, and vowing not to hire anyone with tenure. Is this the way forward for liberal arts colleges?
www.bloomberg.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
For a couple of years now, I've been fascinated with what's happening at small liberal arts colleges, which are running out of money for reasons unrelated to Trump funding cuts. Businessweek let me go deep on the problems, and one college that's trying to blaze a new trail.
Join us this Wednesday in Manhattan!
Whitney Nell Stewart and her award-winning book This is our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations.
This hybrid program will be at the American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York City, and on Zoom. Light refreshments will be served.
Whitney Nell Stewart and her award-winning book This is our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations.
This hybrid program will be at the American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York City, and on Zoom. Light refreshments will be served.
December 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Join us this Wednesday in Manhattan!
Whitney Nell Stewart and her award-winning book This is our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations.
This hybrid program will be at the American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York City, and on Zoom. Light refreshments will be served.
Whitney Nell Stewart and her award-winning book This is our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations.
This hybrid program will be at the American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York City, and on Zoom. Light refreshments will be served.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
All over my FB people talking about their bad experiences with shingles vax and dissuading each other from getting it! We need to give people real info on how to mitigate the symtoms caused by vaccines because vaccines are always better than meeting a virus unprepared. Yet drs aren't coaching ppl
December 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
All over my FB people talking about their bad experiences with shingles vax and dissuading each other from getting it! We need to give people real info on how to mitigate the symtoms caused by vaccines because vaccines are always better than meeting a virus unprepared. Yet drs aren't coaching ppl
Reposted by Adam Arenson
PSA: if anyone in your life is trying to dissuade you from getting the shingles shot, you should probably assume that person hates you, and wants you to suffer. There is literally no other explanation.
Shingles hurts worse than childbirth. Worse than knee surgery. Worst pain of my life.
Shingles hurts worse than childbirth. Worse than knee surgery. Worst pain of my life.
I am baffled by this because I have had so many friends with shingles and NONE of them made it sound fun. Not one. A vaccine that made me absolutely miserable for 48 hours would still be a huge improvement over the mildest case of shingles I've heard of. (Also it made me tired for 1 day.)
All over my FB people talking about their bad experiences with shingles vax and dissuading each other from getting it! We need to give people real info on how to mitigate the symtoms caused by vaccines because vaccines are always better than meeting a virus unprepared. Yet drs aren't coaching ppl
December 9, 2025 at 3:07 AM
PSA: if anyone in your life is trying to dissuade you from getting the shingles shot, you should probably assume that person hates you, and wants you to suffer. There is literally no other explanation.
Shingles hurts worse than childbirth. Worse than knee surgery. Worst pain of my life.
Shingles hurts worse than childbirth. Worse than knee surgery. Worst pain of my life.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
“These political parties, they’re like shipwrecks: metal structures, they’re dead. Street protests, youth politics come into them like shoaling fish, to turn them into living reefs.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
We asked activists from authoritarian regimes what they wish they’d known sooner. Here’s what they said
Activists from Hungary, El Salvador and Turkey offer advice to the US about what they’ve learned about authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM
“These political parties, they’re like shipwrecks: metal structures, they’re dead. Street protests, youth politics come into them like shoaling fish, to turn them into living reefs.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Adam Arenson
I can’t believe how much of the Trump era is about solving problems that *don’t* exist while making all the problems that *do* exist, worse.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
Duffy on what he's doing to improve the airport experience for travelers: "Maybe I want a workout area where people might get some blood flowing doing some pull ups or step ups in the airport."
December 9, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I can’t believe how much of the Trump era is about solving problems that *don’t* exist while making all the problems that *do* exist, worse.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
There is no one who thinks the biggest problem with air travel right now is not having an area to do pull-ups.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
New cut-&-paste legislation for lawmakers to propose across the US targets non-STEM faculty research & teaching for additional scrutiny & higher teaching loads, unless they teach courses in Western Civ & ‘Amercanism,’ which then they could go up for tenure without having research reviewed.
A New Blueprint for Conservative Lawmakers Aims to Curb ‘Unserious’ Research
The latest model legislation from a trio of right-wing groups targets faculty in non-STEM fields and would also increase teaching loads.
www.chronicle.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:17 AM
New cut-&-paste legislation for lawmakers to propose across the US targets non-STEM faculty research & teaching for additional scrutiny & higher teaching loads, unless they teach courses in Western Civ & ‘Amercanism,’ which then they could go up for tenure without having research reviewed.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
The Department of Education shared data today on IHEs where, 4 years after earning a credential, graduates earned less than peers with only a high school diploma.
What ED didn't shout out was just how many of those institutions are for-profits. So I got the data. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...
What ED didn't shout out was just how many of those institutions are for-profits. So I got the data. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...
FAFSA Reveals Earnings Data for Colleges and Graduates
The Department of Education's new FAFSA changes highlight the alarming number of for-profit institutions where graduates earn less than high school completers.
jamessmurphy.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:42 AM
The Department of Education shared data today on IHEs where, 4 years after earning a credential, graduates earned less than peers with only a high school diploma.
What ED didn't shout out was just how many of those institutions are for-profits. So I got the data. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...
What ED didn't shout out was just how many of those institutions are for-profits. So I got the data. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...
Reposted by Adam Arenson
“It’s really exciting to me that air quality improved throughout the entiremetro area,” said Fraser. “This tells us that congestion pricing didn’t simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic. Instead, folks are likely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether”
NYC’s congestion pricing cleaned the air. This is also what happened when EZ-Pass was put in place in NJ.
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 2:09 AM
“It’s really exciting to me that air quality improved throughout the entiremetro area,” said Fraser. “This tells us that congestion pricing didn’t simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic. Instead, folks are likely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether”
Reposted by Adam Arenson
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
The President of the United States unilaterally levied a tax on all of us and is redistributing our taxes to a core segment of his supporters.
Trump: "I'm delighted to announce this afternoon that the US will be taking a small portion of the hundreds of billions of dollars we receive in tariffs ... and we're going to be giving and providing it to the farmers in economic assistance. We love our farmers. The farmers like me ... $12 billion"
December 8, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The President of the United States unilaterally levied a tax on all of us and is redistributing our taxes to a core segment of his supporters.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
“The University of Chicago plans to reduce the number of internally funded doctoral students by 30% by the 2030-31 academic year. Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences will admit fewer than half of its usual number of students across the next two admissions cycles.“
Has the Graduate-School Collapse Begun?
The Trump administration’s policies, and institutional budget cuts, are straining the delivery of master’s and doctoral degrees.
www.chronicle.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:44 AM
“The University of Chicago plans to reduce the number of internally funded doctoral students by 30% by the 2030-31 academic year. Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences will admit fewer than half of its usual number of students across the next two admissions cycles.“
Reposted by Adam Arenson
By the end of the ratification debates, everyone understood that the 14th Amendment would grant birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants. The only live question was whether that was a *good* thing. Some senators argued it wasn’t. But they lost! applyliberally.substack.com/p/birthright...
December 7, 2025 at 7:26 PM
By the end of the ratification debates, everyone understood that the 14th Amendment would grant birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants. The only live question was whether that was a *good* thing. Some senators argued it wasn’t. But they lost! applyliberally.substack.com/p/birthright...
Such an important perspective on the realities vs myths of Jewish history, inside and outside the Holy Land:
Embracing Exile - Dr. David Kraemer in Conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous
Podcast Episode · IKAR Podcasts · 12/07/2025 · 59m
podcasts.apple.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Such an important perspective on the realities vs myths of Jewish history, inside and outside the Holy Land:
Reposted by Adam Arenson
This is where originalism is really spiritually aligned with straussianism—you, the clever contemporary scholar, are capable of uncovering the true hidden meaning that for centuries has eluded all those other chumps
It’s also plainly absurd that someone just happened to discover the true meaning of the common law that just evaded everyone else for 800 years in a few weeks of work. I don’t even know what to do with that.
the idea that a handful of conservative legal scholars have an understanding that should supersede a settlement affirmed my generations of american is astoundingly arrogant, and the idea that trump — or any president — can unilaterally overturn that settlement is just despotism
December 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM
This is where originalism is really spiritually aligned with straussianism—you, the clever contemporary scholar, are capable of uncovering the true hidden meaning that for centuries has eluded all those other chumps
Reposted by Adam Arenson
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Finland has emerged as a global leader in countering “fake news”. Here's how they've done it
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
newhumanist.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Reposted by Adam Arenson
In the era of slavery, free black people had to carry their "free papers" with them so they could prove to the authorities that they were free, or else they would be thrown in jail and sold.
BASH: If ICE says it doesn't arrest US citizens, why do we keep seeing incidents of them aggressively pursuing citizens?
HOMAN: I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claims to be a US citizen. It happens all the time.
HOMAN: I can't tell you how many times an illegal alien claims to be a US citizen. It happens all the time.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
In the era of slavery, free black people had to carry their "free papers" with them so they could prove to the authorities that they were free, or else they would be thrown in jail and sold.
Reposted by Adam Arenson
We should never go back to a system that made collective judgments about the worthiness of specific nationalities to immigrate to the United States — particularly not based on an incident involving a single person.
Well said @amandafrost.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...
Well said @amandafrost.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...
Opinion | This Is the Kind of Bigotry We Rejected Decades Ago
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
We should never go back to a system that made collective judgments about the worthiness of specific nationalities to immigrate to the United States — particularly not based on an incident involving a single person.
Well said @amandafrost.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...
Well said @amandafrost.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/o...