Erik Linstrum
@eriklinstrum.bsky.social
Historian of Britain, empire, and decolonization at the University of Virginia. Author of AGE OF EMERGENCY: LIVING WITH VIOLENCE AT THE END OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Spending the 2024-25 year at The Huntington Library in California.
Christmas come early! My two picks for Books of the Year at History Today are out in print: Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain by Sam Wetherell and What Is Free Speech? by Fara Dabhoiwala
November 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Christmas come early! My two picks for Books of the Year at History Today are out in print: Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain by Sam Wetherell and What Is Free Speech? by Fara Dabhoiwala
How useful will AI be when it puts all reliable sources of information on the Web out of business?
October 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
How useful will AI be when it puts all reliable sources of information on the Web out of business?
Their vandalism has graduated from the metaphorical to the literal
October 20, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Their vandalism has graduated from the metaphorical to the literal
The key passage in Interim President Mahoney's letter to the Department of Education
October 17, 2025 at 8:57 PM
The key passage in Interim President Mahoney's letter to the Department of Education
UVA says NO to the "compact"
October 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
UVA says NO to the "compact"
If anything is broken with academia, it might be allowing rich donors to run the place
October 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
If anything is broken with academia, it might be allowing rich donors to run the place
Some thoughts I've shared with the Board of Visitors at UVA
October 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Some thoughts I've shared with the Board of Visitors at UVA
The president of our university has formed a committee to advise on collaborating with the Trump administration? Is it too much to ask who is on it? Or why we are only learning about it from the New York Times? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
October 2, 2025 at 11:05 PM
The president of our university has formed a committee to advise on collaborating with the Trump administration? Is it too much to ask who is on it? Or why we are only learning about it from the New York Times? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
UVA invited to join select group of collaborationist universities
October 2, 2025 at 2:32 AM
UVA invited to join select group of collaborationist universities
4-6 months is not a serious timeline for a presidential search. They’re rushing to announce a name before VA gets a new governor. The faculty lacks confidence in the board and the process. So does the legislature. What candidate would take the job under those circumstances?
August 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
4-6 months is not a serious timeline for a presidential search. They’re rushing to announce a name before VA gets a new governor. The faculty lacks confidence in the board and the process. So does the legislature. What candidate would take the job under those circumstances?
I wrote about Cecil Rhodes, Donald Trump, and the perils of imperialist biography for History Today www.historytoday.com/archive/revi...
August 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I wrote about Cecil Rhodes, Donald Trump, and the perils of imperialist biography for History Today www.historytoday.com/archive/revi...
On the search committee for a new president
at UVA: There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors. There are more money managers than humanities professors. There are, in fact, zero humanities professors (and only one from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences).
at UVA: There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors. There are more money managers than humanities professors. There are, in fact, zero humanities professors (and only one from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences).
August 2, 2025 at 7:44 PM
On the search committee for a new president
at UVA: There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors. There are more money managers than humanities professors. There are, in fact, zero humanities professors (and only one from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences).
at UVA: There are more Olympic swimmers than humanities professors. There are more money managers than humanities professors. There are, in fact, zero humanities professors (and only one from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences).
Seems clear that the Columbia capitulation crosses the red line of academic freedom, if what Rashid Khalidi says here is accurate (and I have no reason to think it is not)
August 1, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Seems clear that the Columbia capitulation crosses the red line of academic freedom, if what Rashid Khalidi says here is accurate (and I have no reason to think it is not)
So the deal appears to be: accept the imposition of a pro-Israel agenda on Middle Eastern studies in exchange for keeping the science $$$ flowing
July 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
So the deal appears to be: accept the imposition of a pro-Israel agenda on Middle Eastern studies in exchange for keeping the science $$$ flowing
There are so many shallow, cynical, and self-serving abuses of history today. This is a reminder that histories of the present can be different. Powerful and clear-eyed by Omer Bartov
July 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
There are so many shallow, cynical, and self-serving abuses of history today. This is a reminder that histories of the present can be different. Powerful and clear-eyed by Omer Bartov
Nine years after Ruling Minds came out, I keep hearing from artists and writers who are doing interesting things with the history of dream research in the empire. The latest is Kinnari Saraiya's exhibition In the Eye of a Dream at Brighton. So wish I could see it in person!
July 14, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Nine years after Ruling Minds came out, I keep hearing from artists and writers who are doing interesting things with the history of dream research in the empire. The latest is Kinnari Saraiya's exhibition In the Eye of a Dream at Brighton. So wish I could see it in person!
Further misadventures in research with AI: I'm trying to get Claude to create an index of proper names from my research notes. It's not going great
July 8, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Further misadventures in research with AI: I'm trying to get Claude to create an index of proper names from my research notes. It's not going great
Absolutely blown away by my early experiments with AI. This is going to change everything. Let's shut down the universities now
June 10, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Absolutely blown away by my early experiments with AI. This is going to change everything. Let's shut down the universities now
Seems like majoring in business or CS is maybe the worst decision you could make as an undergraduate right now
May 30, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Seems like majoring in business or CS is maybe the worst decision you could make as an undergraduate right now
Very cool lineup! Thanks @leftbookclub.bsky.social
December 14, 2024 at 6:37 PM
Very cool lineup! Thanks @leftbookclub.bsky.social
Roger Griffin arguing against "those naive enough to assume fascism died in 1945": "it is in fact like a super-virus which constantly evolves to accommodate changes in its habitat, producing a wide variety of new strains resistant to traditional prophylactics"
December 5, 2024 at 5:32 PM
Roger Griffin arguing against "those naive enough to assume fascism died in 1945": "it is in fact like a super-virus which constantly evolves to accommodate changes in its habitat, producing a wide variety of new strains resistant to traditional prophylactics"
Pleased (?) to report I have found a pub with a lavish tribute to David Livingstone
January 12, 2024 at 9:17 PM
Pleased (?) to report I have found a pub with a lavish tribute to David Livingstone
I don't want to jinx it but think I might have finally arrived at the ideal reading list for a modern British history survey. (Shorter readings not shown.)
December 11, 2023 at 5:54 PM
I don't want to jinx it but think I might have finally arrived at the ideal reading list for a modern British history survey. (Shorter readings not shown.)