Dr. M.A. Davis
@mikedavis.bsky.social
Historian in WNC
working on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
read me in https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/wars-we-never-fought-9798765121535/
world's leading historian of https://archive.org/details/colliers-1951-10-27
listen to me at https://tinyurl.com/meonnprwow
working on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
read me in https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/wars-we-never-fought-9798765121535/
world's leading historian of https://archive.org/details/colliers-1951-10-27
listen to me at https://tinyurl.com/meonnprwow
Pinned
Dr. M.A. Davis
@mikedavis.bsky.social
· Jun 6
I do not think what that man says is true
citation needed on a death date on Wikipedia always seems vaguely ominous
November 29, 2025 at 9:48 PM
citation needed on a death date on Wikipedia always seems vaguely ominous
That’s right
Continuing my series that no one asked for: “People and history portrayed in ‘Death by Lightning’ that you should really know more about whether you want to or not.”
Today, I give you this piece from 2016, which argues that President Chester A. Arthur deserves a better historical reputation.
Today, I give you this piece from 2016, which argues that President Chester A. Arthur deserves a better historical reputation.
President Chester A. Arthur
Why the Twenty-First President Matters
werehistory.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:50 PM
That’s right
Reposted by Dr. M.A. Davis
Man this reminds me of the SAT essay I wrote that extolled Chester Arthur… and Rhaegar Targaryen as examples of courage.. I was a weird kid
Continuing my series that no one asked for: “People and history portrayed in ‘Death by Lightning’ that you should really know more about whether you want to or not.”
Today, I give you this piece from 2016, which argues that President Chester A. Arthur deserves a better historical reputation.
Today, I give you this piece from 2016, which argues that President Chester A. Arthur deserves a better historical reputation.
President Chester A. Arthur
Why the Twenty-First President Matters
werehistory.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Man this reminds me of the SAT essay I wrote that extolled Chester Arthur… and Rhaegar Targaryen as examples of courage.. I was a weird kid
The average liberal American circa 1997 or so would have loved to see Russia in NATO by now.
November 28, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The average liberal American circa 1997 or so would have loved to see Russia in NATO by now.
reading Ambrose Bierce and he still has It.
November 28, 2025 at 12:58 AM
reading Ambrose Bierce and he still has It.
If we as a country were going to do something about us shooting each other, I think we would’ve done it years ago.
November 27, 2025 at 1:09 AM
If we as a country were going to do something about us shooting each other, I think we would’ve done it years ago.
one doesn't always need to comment on the latest thing.
November 26, 2025 at 8:13 PM
one doesn't always need to comment on the latest thing.
Reposted by Dr. M.A. Davis
In 1582, a papal bull introduced the Gregorian calendar, still used today by most of the world. Because it’s 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, countries introducing it simply skipped a third of October, and if you scroll back far enough in the iPhone calendar app you can see it change
December 31, 2024 at 2:41 PM
In 1582, a papal bull introduced the Gregorian calendar, still used today by most of the world. Because it’s 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, countries introducing it simply skipped a third of October, and if you scroll back far enough in the iPhone calendar app you can see it change
a triumph for my #andygriffith editor!
Attention Trekkies and SF scholars!
Honored to be giving a keynote at this wonderful conference next year in Paris! #StarTrek
Honored to be giving a keynote at this wonderful conference next year in Paris! #StarTrek
November 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
a triumph for my #andygriffith editor!
the Polish-American lady has a name that sounds funny in English!
November 26, 2025 at 3:56 AM
the Polish-American lady has a name that sounds funny in English!
I think one reason we don’t talk all that much about cannibalism in the IJA is that it makes you sound super-racist!
November 26, 2025 at 12:49 AM
I think one reason we don’t talk all that much about cannibalism in the IJA is that it makes you sound super-racist!
on the menu tonight is eggnog snickerdoodles for Thursday festivities
November 25, 2025 at 8:57 PM
on the menu tonight is eggnog snickerdoodles for Thursday festivities
#previewofthewarwedonotwant content
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
#previewofthewarwedonotwant content
November 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
tying this back to my #FWOAN discussion, one of the fun bits with the founding of Jefferson (the Patriot Voortrek state in 1790s Texas) is that Benedict Arnold is among those who make the trip! never having met Peggy and having nearly died at Saratoga, he is loyal to the Patriot cause to the end.
amusingly, one of the better historic relationships to use as a basis for a wartime romance might be Benedict Arnold and Peggy Shippen!
November 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
tying this back to my #FWOAN discussion, one of the fun bits with the founding of Jefferson (the Patriot Voortrek state in 1790s Texas) is that Benedict Arnold is among those who make the trip! never having met Peggy and having nearly died at Saratoga, he is loyal to the Patriot cause to the end.
Okay, #skystorians, here's a literary question for you:
The most famous setting for the historical romance genre is Regency England (Georgette Heyer, etc).
My guess is that #2 is the Old West, with World War II coming up close behind as it moves more into mythology than memory.
/1
The most famous setting for the historical romance genre is Regency England (Georgette Heyer, etc).
My guess is that #2 is the Old West, with World War II coming up close behind as it moves more into mythology than memory.
/1
November 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Okay, #skystorians, here's a literary question for you:
The most famous setting for the historical romance genre is Regency England (Georgette Heyer, etc).
My guess is that #2 is the Old West, with World War II coming up close behind as it moves more into mythology than memory.
/1
The most famous setting for the historical romance genre is Regency England (Georgette Heyer, etc).
My guess is that #2 is the Old West, with World War II coming up close behind as it moves more into mythology than memory.
/1
Which Doctor Who actor would have made the best James Bond?
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Which Doctor Who actor would have made the best James Bond?
The governor of Illinois has typical opinions about a very popular IP, does he?
November 25, 2025 at 12:15 AM
The governor of Illinois has typical opinions about a very popular IP, does he?
Durham, NC TV listings, August 27, 1983. I know what I'm watching at 5. And 6. And 7!
November 24, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Durham, NC TV listings, August 27, 1983. I know what I'm watching at 5. And 6. And 7!
still chewing on it, because why not -
it's interesting (IMO) the things Sobel takes for granted as bound to happen whatever the political situation is in North America.
it's interesting (IMO) the things Sobel takes for granted as bound to happen whatever the political situation is in North America.
with the American Revolution in the news, I just wanted to mention that pioneering work of fictional nonfiction - Robert Sobel's 1973 FOR WANT OF A NAIL. A textbook from an alternate world, a parody of historiography, an homage to a student who died in Vietnam. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Wan...
For Want of a Nail (novel) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:18 PM
still chewing on it, because why not -
it's interesting (IMO) the things Sobel takes for granted as bound to happen whatever the political situation is in North America.
it's interesting (IMO) the things Sobel takes for granted as bound to happen whatever the political situation is in North America.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wood_... the Presidential great-grandson and namesake who became a high-ranking Mountie during the Yukon Gold Rush; dying in 1915 in Asheville after ruining his health in the North. Son of a Confederate refugee who settled in Halifax after the ACW.
WOOD, ZACHARY TAYLOR – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
WOOD, ZACHARY TAYLOR, office holder, militia officer, and RNWMP policeman; b. 11 Nov. 1860 in Annapolis, Md, son of John Taylor Wood* and Lola Mackubin; m. 9 April 1888 F...
www.biographi.ca
November 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wood_... the Presidential great-grandson and namesake who became a high-ranking Mountie during the Yukon Gold Rush; dying in 1915 in Asheville after ruining his health in the North. Son of a Confederate refugee who settled in Halifax after the ACW.
ah jeez Canada is getting a Kate Beaton stamp. I'm not one to say "that other country is ahead of mine" but you can't deny it when it's true
November 24, 2025 at 1:24 PM
ah jeez Canada is getting a Kate Beaton stamp. I'm not one to say "that other country is ahead of mine" but you can't deny it when it's true
www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-hist... I wrote this for Christmas a couple of years ago, an article that I always think of as my "Santa Claus is real. And he's AMERICAN." piece.
Perspective | Today’s Santa Claus is rooted in American mythology
The jolly old elf we know today is a product of the early American republic.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:19 PM
www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-hist... I wrote this for Christmas a couple of years ago, an article that I always think of as my "Santa Claus is real. And he's AMERICAN." piece.
oh - one charm of the book comes at the end, where Sobel takes the form of a "Reviewer 2", a Mexican historian who politely but firmly takes Sobel to task as a compiler of secondary sources rather than a real historian, one completely unable to keep his own biases off the page.
with the American Revolution in the news, I just wanted to mention that pioneering work of fictional nonfiction - Robert Sobel's 1973 FOR WANT OF A NAIL. A textbook from an alternate world, a parody of historiography, an homage to a student who died in Vietnam. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Wan...
For Want of a Nail (novel) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 23, 2025 at 10:25 PM
oh - one charm of the book comes at the end, where Sobel takes the form of a "Reviewer 2", a Mexican historian who politely but firmly takes Sobel to task as a compiler of secondary sources rather than a real historian, one completely unable to keep his own biases off the page.
John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Treat Paine, and Roger Sherman were executed by the British, as were Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry. George Washington spent the rest of his life in prison.
you could see the message of the book as quite anti-American I suppose -
taking in parts of the US made the CNA a bigger, more diverse, but worse Canada, and made the USM a bigger, richer, but meaner Mexico.
Makes you think.
taking in parts of the US made the CNA a bigger, more diverse, but worse Canada, and made the USM a bigger, richer, but meaner Mexico.
Makes you think.
with the American Revolution in the news, I just wanted to mention that pioneering work of fictional nonfiction - Robert Sobel's 1973 FOR WANT OF A NAIL. A textbook from an alternate world, a parody of historiography, an homage to a student who died in Vietnam. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Wan...
November 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Treat Paine, and Roger Sherman were executed by the British, as were Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry. George Washington spent the rest of his life in prison.