Sarah King

Never mind jobs you had, tell me five classes you took at university.

1. 20th Century Russia
2. Canadian Politics
3. US Foreign Policy
4. American Film since 1970
5. Religion and Politics in Europe

Call for Contributors: 2026 Anniversaries in Historical Context Clio and the Contemporary welcomes pitches from contributors looking to mark historically significant anniversaries or to draw attention to forgotten events. In 2026, we remember 1976, 1926, 1876, …

We welcome pitches from #skystorians looking to mark historically significant anniversaries or to draw attention to forgotten events. The past is present.
clioandthecontemporary.com/call-for-con...

Before Norman and After Norman: The Impact of All in the Family on American Television Fifty-five years ago this month, All in the Family debuted, launching a transformation of the American sitcom.

This month marks 55 years since the premiere of All in the Family. Historian @oscarwinberg.bsky.social, author of Archie Bunker for President: How One Television Show Remade American Politics (2025) explains the show's transformative impact on American television. 🗃️

“I Was Called, Too:” The Life and Work of Coretta Scott King In honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, it is both appropriate—and overdue—to discuss the significance of Coretta Scott King. When Coretta declared, “I was called, too,” she insisted we r…

When honoring Dr. King's legacy, we must discuss the significance of Coretta Scott King, Dr. Kris Burrell argues. When Coretta declared, “I was called, too,” she insisted we remember her not as a shadow of her husband, but as an equal. 🗃️

clioandthecontemporary.com/2026/01/19/i...

I am happy to pay federal taxes to provide

1. health care and food for those in need
2. education for all
3. access to national parks
4. funding for humanities and science research
5. cultural institutions that are open to all
6. early warning systems for natural disasters

#ScholarSunday Thread 231 Published on June 29, 2025

What can we do against such reckless hate? Enjoy & share widely the solidarity with all the amazing work in my 231st #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books from the last week. 🗃️

americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...

Another point: Many know the Dred Scott decision but aren't as familiar with the aftermath and how states, courts, and politicians responded. 5 examples:

1) Many Northern/Midwest states just ignored the decision.
2) Maine’s high court said Black Americans could vote in state/federal elections. /1

Zohran Mamdani Says He’s a Democratic Socialist. What Does That Mean?

Most of the ideas mentioned in this article—higher minimum wage, free tuition at public colleges, higher taxes on the rich—are not only popular now but were realities in the past, including in NYC, during the booming postwar years, when America was “great.”/1
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/u...

The American people were lied to about Vietnam, with tragic consequences.

The American people were lied to about Iraq, with tragic consequences.

The American people are being lied to again today. We cannot allow history to repeat itself.

LLM use in research and writing doesn't just mean students aren't doing the work, it means they literally abandon the very skills development and knowledge acquisition necessary for any intellectual job, let alone to know whether or when LLMs are giving them bullshit or useful info. 2/n

New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays.

Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.

arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

Jon Stewart tackles the GOP's refusal to address gun violence unless it's carried out by a non-citizen

This is imp for many of us who teach abt the history of race & racism in the U.S. under state-level bans & increasing duress. Carefully employing primary sources & projects gives us the opportunity to cover this material w/o violating the law.

Thread includes primary docs on African American hist.

At least 15 people, including an American citizen, were killed and 114 were injured in a massive overnight attack on Kyiv, marking the deadliest strike on the Ukrainian capital this year. wapo.st/4408pJO

A.I. Is Poised to Rewrite History. Literally.

Lots of commentary on this piece already, all of which I agree with.

For historians, research is a fundamental part of writing.

To farm it out to AI changes the nature of this intellectual process in fundamental ways.

And as Stacy Schiff points out, it also takes all the fun out of it.

Any interest in writing a response for @cliocontemporary.bsky.social ?

🧵 To make this more concrete: don't assume Trump himself knows what he is going to do next in in the Israel-Iran conflict. He definitely doesn't want to get the US involved in a major war in the Middle East (that much he's been clear on). But he loves to bomb and look tough. 1/

Using generative AI to create and assess assignments is malpractice. I don’t see any other way to frame it.

If you hate teaching that much, get out of the profession.

Some thoughts about the military parade in my hometown of Washington DC today -- specifically, the route. Military parades in DC are quite rare. But when they happen, they have always begun, symbolically and geographically, at the Capitol and moved outward. 1/

Brian Wilson was the most musically inventive voice in all of pop, with an otherworldly ear for harmony. He was also the visionary leader of America’s greatest band, The Beach Boys. If there’d been no Beach Boys, there would have been no “Racing In The Street.”

RIP Brian Wilson. What immense talent. Grateful I got to see you in concert.

@aehunt.bsky.social’s book on Vietnam Veterans Against the War is excellent (and the VW has obvious parallels in terms of the wars’ international unpopularity and horrific tactics).

Political scientists / historians / military sociologists: what are the best papers on the impact of veterans returning home from foreign wars? This is in the context of Russian troops, but I am interested in the broader literature and what it might have to teach us.

Protests are significant in part because they challenge current policies and laws. Nonviolent and even patriotic protests may gain the most sympathy, but even these protests have often defied orders, broken laws, and offended norms.

Sit-ins broke local laws and store rules. Civil rights activists in Birmingham, including MLK, ignored injunctions against marching and were arrested as a result. Draftees who refused induction during the Vietnam War violated the Selective Service Act.

This seems like a good time to remember that many historical protests that today we consider morally justified were not sanctioned/not legal at the time—including many, many protests in which protesters were committed to non-violence.

#ScholarSunday Thread 228 Published on June 8, 2025

Here it is, my 228th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Please add more below, share widely, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

americanstudier.substack.com/p/scholarsun...

My Canadian university, Queen's, is offering TWENTY 4-year funded PhDs (40k CAD/yr) for a student of ANY citizenship who has been accepted at a top 100 US university but have had offer rescinded OR are reconsidering offer due to US policy.
Details found here👇

www.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc...

Yes, this is so stupid, and yes, we’re allowed to laugh at it. Also, I’ll take anything that diverts or slows the onslaught of flooding the zone.