Tom Cutterham
@tomcutterham.bsky.social
Historian of class and capital in the American Revolution. *Empire Ablaze* out in summer 2026. Previously, *Gentlemen Revolutionaries* https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172668/gentlemen-revolutionaries
Maybe it's just that time in the teaching term, but I'm really feeling all of this (from Steven Mintz's very prolific substack). substack.com/home/post/p-...
November 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Maybe it's just that time in the teaching term, but I'm really feeling all of this (from Steven Mintz's very prolific substack). substack.com/home/post/p-...
Not my place, not my period, but I'm looking forward to some "intimate history" in the present tense, in my colleague @tricksterprince.bsky.social's new book.
October 29, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Not my place, not my period, but I'm looking forward to some "intimate history" in the present tense, in my colleague @tricksterprince.bsky.social's new book.
What it feels like to work in "one of an elite group of School's" these days... 😑
October 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
What it feels like to work in "one of an elite group of School's" these days... 😑
Can student journalism survive and thrive?
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
October 21, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Can student journalism survive and thrive?
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
In 1776, a Scottish housepainter called James Aitken set out on a secret mission to destroy the British navy and win the War of Independence for the United States. His story is the core of my book, EMPIRE ABLAZE: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class, out next summer with Verso!
October 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
In 1776, a Scottish housepainter called James Aitken set out on a secret mission to destroy the British navy and win the War of Independence for the United States. His story is the core of my book, EMPIRE ABLAZE: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class, out next summer with Verso!
Can I just ask what exactly is up with these Early American Studies spines, @easmisc.bsky.social? My delicate aesthetic sensibilities are shook.
August 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Can I just ask what exactly is up with these Early American Studies spines, @easmisc.bsky.social? My delicate aesthetic sensibilities are shook.
For the catalogue of claims that aged poorly:
August 13, 2025 at 1:53 PM
For the catalogue of claims that aged poorly:
My institution's VC today: "I was honoured to attend the annual awards ceremony of the Royal Academy of Engineering as a guest of Rolls-Royce..."
Also today:
Also today:
July 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
My institution's VC today: "I was honoured to attend the annual awards ceremony of the Royal Academy of Engineering as a guest of Rolls-Royce..."
Also today:
Also today:
Stumbled across this neat summary of how most scholars seem to have read and applied The Making of the English Working Class: as a negative argument about the non-existence of a working class in the earlier eighteenth century.
July 2, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Stumbled across this neat summary of how most scholars seem to have read and applied The Making of the English Working Class: as a negative argument about the non-existence of a working class in the earlier eighteenth century.
Wonderful to celebrate eighteenth-century studies at @unibirmingham.bsky.social last week, with colleagues and friends of BECC both new and old. Thanks to everyone who took part!
July 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Wonderful to celebrate eighteenth-century studies at @unibirmingham.bsky.social last week, with colleagues and friends of BECC both new and old. Thanks to everyone who took part!
Stop trying to make SHAPE happen. In principle an arts and humanities equivalent to STEM is fine, but the "for people and the economy" just reeks so much of desperation and moral bankruptcy.
June 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Stop trying to make SHAPE happen. In principle an arts and humanities equivalent to STEM is fine, but the "for people and the economy" just reeks so much of desperation and moral bankruptcy.
Good morning to everyone except this guy who thinks cycle lanes are carparks.
June 1, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Good morning to everyone except this guy who thinks cycle lanes are carparks.
Enjoying a bit of half-term public history (Tudor propaganda) at Warwick Castle!
May 30, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Enjoying a bit of half-term public history (Tudor propaganda) at Warwick Castle!
Art, history, theory, comic. Love this from @willpooley.bsky.social, Oliver Gruner, and Louis Netter. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
May 23, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Art, history, theory, comic. Love this from @willpooley.bsky.social, Oliver Gruner, and Louis Netter. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Birmingham Eighteenth Century Centre is holding a small conference to mark our twentieth anniversary. It's on the 26 and 27 June, and Linda Colley will be there (as will brilliant Birmingham colleagues like Karen Harvey, Kate Smith, and Hiroki Shin). Join us! blog.bham.ac.uk/18c/2025/05/...
May 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The Birmingham Eighteenth Century Centre is holding a small conference to mark our twentieth anniversary. It's on the 26 and 27 June, and Linda Colley will be there (as will brilliant Birmingham colleagues like Karen Harvey, Kate Smith, and Hiroki Shin). Join us! blog.bham.ac.uk/18c/2025/05/...
The University of Birmingham's student newspaper is once again asking for donations to keep afloat. Just a little microcosm of the ongoing collapse of UK higher education... www.justgiving.com/campaign/red...
May 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The University of Birmingham's student newspaper is once again asking for donations to keep afloat. Just a little microcosm of the ongoing collapse of UK higher education... www.justgiving.com/campaign/red...
My mental image when anyone starts talking about "motoring" or being a "motorist":
March 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM
My mental image when anyone starts talking about "motoring" or being a "motorist":
I do like the cute illustration, though...
March 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I do like the cute illustration, though...
This Will Hutton paragraph is like carefully-designed torture for historians of the eighteenth-century United States.
March 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This Will Hutton paragraph is like carefully-designed torture for historians of the eighteenth-century United States.
Loved this utter rout in the (last but one) @lrb.co.uk, by @tomlukejohnson.bsky.social. "Uncles deserve better" indeed!
March 8, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Loved this utter rout in the (last but one) @lrb.co.uk, by @tomlukejohnson.bsky.social. "Uncles deserve better" indeed!
There is a world where "university" is still the winning card.
February 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
There is a world where "university" is still the winning card.
I'm sure the book's great too but I LOVE this cover. @uvapress.bsky.social knocking it out of the park!
February 18, 2025 at 12:58 PM
I'm sure the book's great too but I LOVE this cover. @uvapress.bsky.social knocking it out of the park!
This (from @janerockhouse.bsky.social's excellent substack) is about Birmingham city council, but frankly it could be any institution in the UK, especially universities. Accountability? Nah. The people responsible for out, and they've all got jolly good pensions too.
February 12, 2025 at 7:44 PM
This (from @janerockhouse.bsky.social's excellent substack) is about Birmingham city council, but frankly it could be any institution in the UK, especially universities. Accountability? Nah. The people responsible for out, and they've all got jolly good pensions too.
I did the same last week: posted my ballot, voted for @ucucommons.bsky.social candidates. Then forgot to post my postbox pic, so here it is!
February 12, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I did the same last week: posted my ballot, voted for @ucucommons.bsky.social candidates. Then forgot to post my postbox pic, so here it is!