Michael Waters

American Suburbs Have a Financial Secret Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.

American cities and towns regularly turn to private investors to raise funds for schools and basic infrastructure

and on the private bond market, the rich ones win and the poor inevitably lose

wrote about the long arc of municipal debt for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

I've read this book and can confirm it's fantastic. The gorgeous cover is only the beginning—you're not going to want to miss it.

Pre-order here:
bookshop.org/p/books/my-b...

the Japanese edition arrived! it's a family :)

thank you Hugh ❤️

BOMB Magazine | Michael Waters by Jack Lowery The untold history of 1930s trans athletes and today's gender politics.

Great interview between @michaelwaters.bsky.social and Jack Lowery! bombmagazine.org/articles/202...

The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world | Moustafa Bayoumi The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse

"No one knows what will come to replace the international system that is currently collapsing around us, but any political system that prioritizes punishing those who protest genocide rather than stopping the killing has clearly exhausted itself."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

a star!!

The Secretive Tech Company Working With the Trump Administration | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC WIRED reporter Caroline Haskins talks about President Trump's plan to employ the tech company Palantir to compile data on America citizens.

Hi btw!! I was on The Brian Lehrer show last week talking about Palantir — what it actually is, what it's working on, kicking me out of their conference booth/threatening to call the cops on me last week, etc. Here's a link to the segment:
www.wnyc.org/story/the-se...

tomorrow: I'm so excited to be in conversation with the great @paisleycurrah.com at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble! come join us at 7 pm!

stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...

Archivists Aren’t Ready for the ‘Very Online’ Era The challenge: how to catalog and derive meaning from so much digital clutter

I wrote for @theatlantic.com about how archivists are contending with our digital detritus — whether we'll be able to save emails, texts, Discord chats, etc, and what that means for how we tell history:

www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

this is tonight @ 7pm!! come pick up a paperback copy of The Other Olympians and enjoy my presentation on Sexually Active Popes

i'll be giving a brief oral presentation here tomorrow about the most batshit insane nineteenth century love triangle in history ive ever encountered. do come through if you have the time

cannot wait for this beautiful and inevitably horny event

in one week: to celebrate the paperback of The Other Olympians, @leahtigers.bsky.social, @hughryan.bsky.social, @sabs.bsky.social, and I are presenting on our research obsessions

hear about historical love affairs, sexually active popes, and much more

June 3 @ 7 pm! register here: lu.ma/lnnvrmoh

The biggest mistake I see in discussions of trans people's healthcare is the idea that hormones and the like are some special service just for us when really all kinds of people access the same health care for all kinds of reasons but they are *withheld* from us because we are trans

omg the saloon owner! this is going to be so good

Gay Research Outtakes: An Other Olympians Event · Luma The Gay Research Outtakes: An Other Olympians Event Not every great story makes it to print. What do writers do with the queer figure they became totally…

I can’t wait to 1) celebrate @michaelwaters.bsky.social’s THE OTHER OLYMPIANS, 2) share my obsession with Robert Bonner, a Black saloon owner in the early 1900s who had an intense few years in Brooklyn, and 3) hear the amazing research of @leahtigers.bsky.social & @sabs.bsky.social ! lu.ma/lnnvrmoh

thank you for reading! and love that your title is "name consultant" — definitely keep in touch if you notice any trends worth writing about!

the vibes will be good i promise

The Other Olympians is coming out in paperback on June 3, and to celebrate, @leahtigers.bsky.social, @hughryan.bsky.social, @sabs.bsky.social, and I are presenting on research obsessions that never made it to print

come for wine and light debauchery, and maybe even a photo-op

RSVP: lu.ma/lnnvrmoh

thank you for reading!!

thank you Caroline ❤️

Testing Grounds | Michael Waters Sex screenings are back in vogue in the realm of sports. The right won’t stop there.

“In the summer of 1936, Wilhelm Knoll, an influential sports doctor and a Nazi who wanted to purge ‘unsuitable elements’ from sports, began lobbying for sex screenings. This time, he channeled his panic solely onto gender nonconforming women.”

thank you for reading!!

thank you for sharing Julie ❤️

Testing Grounds | Michael Waters Sex screenings are back in vogue in the realm of sports. The right won’t stop there.

Hell of an essay on sex testing from @michaelwaters.bsky.social

in the early 1900s, American border officials deported anyone whose bodies didn’t conform to their strict definitions of male and female

intersex and gender nonconforming people were labeled economic risks who couldn't assimilate to the gendered labor system

thebaffler.com/latest/testi...

Testing Grounds | Michael Waters Sex screenings are back in vogue in the realm of sports. The right won’t stop there.

I wrote for @thebaffler.com about a century of right-wing fanaticism for bodily screenings, from immigration to prisons to sports — and why what we’re seeing today is different:

thebaffler.com/latest/testi...

truly had the time of my life losing the LA Times Book Prize

Why Are Trans People Such an Easy Political Target? The Answer Involves a Surprising Culprit. Making a whole group of people this vulnerable does not just happen overnight.

Why have trans people been so vulnerable to political attacks from the right (and scapegoating from the left)?

My take in @slate.com

slate.com/news-and-pol...