Mark Doyle
@markdoyle.bsky.social
Historian & writer. Britain, Ireland, empire, music. Latest book is on John Cale's Paris 1919 for 33 1/3. Next: histories of African people/music in Ireland. “Pipe-sucking radical”-Mail on Sunday. Views here are my own, not my employer's.
Pinned
Mark Doyle
@markdoyle.bsky.social
· Oct 19
This is an essay I wrote about music and grief and sunsets and water and grief and brothers and grief. It’d mean a hell of a lot if you set aside a little time to read it.
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
Sad news about about Tom Stoppard. I was Rosencrantz (or was it Guildenstern?) in high school but I've never seen the play done properly (the Roth/Oldman movie doesn't count). Must rectify that.
November 29, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Sad news about about Tom Stoppard. I was Rosencrantz (or was it Guildenstern?) in high school but I've never seen the play done properly (the Roth/Oldman movie doesn't count). Must rectify that.
If I had been trying to guess what Jad Abumrad would do next, I probably wouldn't have landed on 9-part podcast about Fela Kuti. Will be tucking in over the holidays.
Great podcast on the creator of Afrobeat, by one of the creators of Radiolab. We don’t hear enough about modern African history and culture.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...
Fela Kuti: Fear No Man
Society & Culture Podcast · Series · In a world that’s on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do?
Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed?
In Fela K...
podcasts.apple.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:56 PM
If I had been trying to guess what Jad Abumrad would do next, I probably wouldn't have landed on 9-part podcast about Fela Kuti. Will be tucking in over the holidays.
People who are like, "Fight fascism, read books!" forget that fascists have learned from and published a hell of a lot of books.
November 28, 2025 at 7:08 PM
People who are like, "Fight fascism, read books!" forget that fascists have learned from and published a hell of a lot of books.
Ugh, okay fine.
Look: it's on sale ($10.46 in paperback)!
Also: it fits in a stocking!
Also also: it demonstrates that Paris 1919 is, despite nearly all appearances, a great Christmas album!
www.bloomsbury.com/us/john-cale...
Look: it's on sale ($10.46 in paperback)!
Also: it fits in a stocking!
Also also: it demonstrates that Paris 1919 is, despite nearly all appearances, a great Christmas album!
www.bloomsbury.com/us/john-cale...
November 26, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Ugh, okay fine.
Look: it's on sale ($10.46 in paperback)!
Also: it fits in a stocking!
Also also: it demonstrates that Paris 1919 is, despite nearly all appearances, a great Christmas album!
www.bloomsbury.com/us/john-cale...
Look: it's on sale ($10.46 in paperback)!
Also: it fits in a stocking!
Also also: it demonstrates that Paris 1919 is, despite nearly all appearances, a great Christmas album!
www.bloomsbury.com/us/john-cale...
Prepping for Thanksgiving (baking a chocolate pie while listening to Cortez the Killer)
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Prepping for Thanksgiving (baking a chocolate pie while listening to Cortez the Killer)
Watched Return of the Pink Panther last night and the kids were laughing too hard to hear me say, "Did you know Roger Lewis literally calls this guy 'a shit' at least three times in the first half of his book about him?"
Okay, you've all convinced me to read Roger Lewis's biography of Peter Sellers, and now I want all biographies to be like this.
November 23, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Watched Return of the Pink Panther last night and the kids were laughing too hard to hear me say, "Did you know Roger Lewis literally calls this guy 'a shit' at least three times in the first half of his book about him?"
Overheard a guy in this coffeeshop saying that he decided on Thursday to fly to Brazil today in order to catch the Oasis concert in São Paolo tomorrow. I considered, but resisted, making a citizen's arrest.
November 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Overheard a guy in this coffeeshop saying that he decided on Thursday to fly to Brazil today in order to catch the Oasis concert in São Paolo tomorrow. I considered, but resisted, making a citizen's arrest.
Reposted by Mark Doyle
If you use Gmail, Google may be using your emails to train its AI. Here's how to turn it off:
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Gmail can read your emails and attachments to train its AI, unless you opt out
A new Gmail update may allow Google to use your private messages and attachments for AI training. Here's how to turn it off.
www.malwarebytes.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
If you use Gmail, Google may be using your emails to train its AI. Here's how to turn it off:
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Reposted by Mark Doyle
Just learned that this was listed as a "notable" by Best American Essays. This pleases me quite a lot.
This is an essay I wrote about music and grief and sunsets and water and grief and brothers and grief. It’d mean a hell of a lot if you set aside a little time to read it.
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
November 21, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Just learned that this was listed as a "notable" by Best American Essays. This pleases me quite a lot.
This is an outstanding new documentary about the AfD, particularly strong (and shocking) on the party's skill at mobilizing the youth vote via social media. I'll be showing it in my Resisting Fascism class. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontli...
The Rise of Germany's New Right | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site | Documentary Series
Watch FRONTLINE's documentary examining how far-right leaders in Germany have risen to the brink of power.
www.pbs.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
This is an outstanding new documentary about the AfD, particularly strong (and shocking) on the party's skill at mobilizing the youth vote via social media. I'll be showing it in my Resisting Fascism class. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontli...
Just learned that this was listed as a "notable" by Best American Essays. This pleases me quite a lot.
This is an essay I wrote about music and grief and sunsets and water and grief and brothers and grief. It’d mean a hell of a lot if you set aside a little time to read it.
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
November 21, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Just learned that this was listed as a "notable" by Best American Essays. This pleases me quite a lot.
Reposted by Mark Doyle
Can't wait to get mine. Nice early Christmas present for some folk on here, who know who they are 💘💘💘💘💘
November 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Can't wait to get mine. Nice early Christmas present for some folk on here, who know who they are 💘💘💘💘💘
Reposted by Mark Doyle
Our list of 50 notable works of fiction from 2025. Gift link: wapo.st/4849FNZ (10 best books will arrive in the a.m.)
50 notable works of fiction from 2025
Highlights among the year’s novels and short-story collections, as selected by the staff of The Washington Post’s Book World.
wapo.st
November 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Our list of 50 notable works of fiction from 2025. Gift link: wapo.st/4849FNZ (10 best books will arrive in the a.m.)
Okay, you've all convinced me to read Roger Lewis's biography of Peter Sellers, and now I want all biographies to be like this.
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Okay, you've all convinced me to read Roger Lewis's biography of Peter Sellers, and now I want all biographies to be like this.
Reposted by Mark Doyle
‘By 1790, one in eight Liverpool households were dependent on the slave trade.’
John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan · No Illusions: Syntax of Slavery
Slavery was accepted across most of the early modern world. No one wanted to be a slave, except when the alternative was...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
‘By 1790, one in eight Liverpool households were dependent on the slave trade.’
John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Kerrigan on Liverpool, the Atlantic slave trade and m. nourbeSe philip’s long poem 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘨!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Mark Doyle
Video game w Sebald walking and reciting from his books and fighting villains along the way
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Video game w Sebald walking and reciting from his books and fighting villains along the way
Jason Guriel is a very good on this. www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-rel...
November 18, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Jason Guriel is a very good on this. www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-rel...
Shopping for a new vacuum cleaner, thinking about the people for whom "sleek and stylish" is a core consideration when shopping for vacuum cleaners.
November 16, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Shopping for a new vacuum cleaner, thinking about the people for whom "sleek and stylish" is a core consideration when shopping for vacuum cleaners.
I've just read one of the books from Philip Roth's short-lived (1976-83) series "Writers from the Other Europe" and now I need to collect them all. Mine was A Dreambook for Our Time by Konwicki. Stunning.
Great overview of the series by @neglectedbooks.com here. neglectedbooks.com?p=7808
Great overview of the series by @neglectedbooks.com here. neglectedbooks.com?p=7808
November 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I've just read one of the books from Philip Roth's short-lived (1976-83) series "Writers from the Other Europe" and now I need to collect them all. Mine was A Dreambook for Our Time by Konwicki. Stunning.
Great overview of the series by @neglectedbooks.com here. neglectedbooks.com?p=7808
Great overview of the series by @neglectedbooks.com here. neglectedbooks.com?p=7808
Reposted by Mark Doyle
"Of course, it doesn’t feel right to want IT to HAPPEN. And it’s obviously not okay to try to make IT HAPPEN. That’s not what this is ABOUT, just to make things CLEAR LEGALLY as far as VARIOUS AGENCIES are concerned."
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/whe...
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/whe...
When It Happens
It’s been so long, you sometimes forget that eventually, IT will HAPPEN. It’s impossible to say when IT will HAPPEN. But it can’t be too long until...
www.mcsweeneys.net
November 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
"Of course, it doesn’t feel right to want IT to HAPPEN. And it’s obviously not okay to try to make IT HAPPEN. That’s not what this is ABOUT, just to make things CLEAR LEGALLY as far as VARIOUS AGENCIES are concerned."
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/whe...
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/whe...
Pleased to report that ChatGPT did an excellent job answering my essay prompts this semester.
November 13, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Pleased to report that ChatGPT did an excellent job answering my essay prompts this semester.
Funny, I always imagined the lords of humanity sending emails that were properly capitalized and punctuated.
November 13, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Funny, I always imagined the lords of humanity sending emails that were properly capitalized and punctuated.
Read Epstein's emails? Buddy, I don't even read my own.
November 12, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Read Epstein's emails? Buddy, I don't even read my own.
Is there a word for the panic that sets in when you finish one book and don't know what to read next? It's a sort of fugue state of dashing from bookshelf to bookstack to desk to table, picking up and discarding and reconsidering, writhing, soul-searching, self-doubting... the worst.
November 9, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Is there a word for the panic that sets in when you finish one book and don't know what to read next? It's a sort of fugue state of dashing from bookshelf to bookstack to desk to table, picking up and discarding and reconsidering, writhing, soul-searching, self-doubting... the worst.
Reposted by Mark Doyle
Dylan Marlais Thomas died on this day in 1953 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, NYC. He was just 39 years old.
Read some of his poems today. Treat yourself to A Child's Christmas in Wales.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dylan-...
Read some of his poems today. Treat yourself to A Child's Christmas in Wales.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dylan-...
November 9, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Dylan Marlais Thomas died on this day in 1953 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, NYC. He was just 39 years old.
Read some of his poems today. Treat yourself to A Child's Christmas in Wales.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dylan-...
Read some of his poems today. Treat yourself to A Child's Christmas in Wales.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dylan-...