J L Tomlin

Such a great time at Ft. Ticonderoga for the annual war college presenting our work @tlecaque.bsky.social, and fantastic seeing you awarded an inaugural fellowship :)

Let's do it again next year

Trump Installs Top Justice Dept. Official at Library of Congress, Prompting a Standoff

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/u...

Ditto buddy :)

I see people musing that the vibe here has changed, and I would urge people to remember that there's a lot of anxiety about the change of administration in two weeks and that's going to leak into a lot of other places in one's life. Be as gracious as you can with yourself and others.

Religious Leaders Experiment with A.I. in Sermons Modern religious leaders are experimenting with A.I. just as earlier generations examined radio, television and the internet.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/t...

There are two principle things I think about AI. One is the pollution factor. We already live in a world of information mess; the pollution of the scholarly record has implications for every field. This 💯thread (thank you @altmetric.com) offers an excellent history of AI generated "papers." 1/

Did you notice that your incoming monarch is suing a pollster for releasing numbers? For publishing numbers...

Have you already forgotten about "truthful hyperbole"?

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for sharing this terrific postdoc @jcblibrary.bsky.social! I'm testing your generosity here but would love to also share that we have TWO additional senior research fellowships for BROWN2026. Details at apply.interfolio.com/159128 and see number 2 below for terms... 1/

American Christianity Is Due for a Revival — The Atlantic Our society is secularizing, and Christianity seems to be in long-term decline. But renewal is possible.

@tlecaque.bsky.social and I covered this two years ago here: www.damemagazine.com/2022/09/12/t... but someone else agrees now here:
apple.news/AJyQFO0sXQ4K...

Thank you so much for the guidance! I'm scouring Penn resources this academic year so that's very helpful!

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon pick, sparks alarm over far-right extremism Experts concerned over the Fox & Friends host, his Christian nationalist ideology and militant language

Check out my friend and coauthor @tlecaque.bsky.social in the guardian on Christian Nationalism in the incoming Trump Admin. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon pick, sparks alarm over far-right extremism www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Welcome, new friends, from the land of the Musky Men. I'm a historian, a professor, a secular humanist (yes this still exists), and a grilled cheese enthusiast; though probably in reverse order by importance. I read and write about the relationship between religion and politics in American life.

You're only person I've met with whom half or more of our conversations end up getting published in some form.

This, of course, necessarily omits the successful invasion of/immigration to England in 1688 @weegiegraeme.bsky.social

www.kent.ac.uk/news/34743

Why would humans need anthropology?

Ignorance and democracy: Capitalism's long war against higher education - Salon.com

NEHA is excited for our Spring conference. Please plan to join us at Saint Anselm College on April 13, 2024! www.newenglandhistorians.org/conferences/

British Library starts restoring services online after hack But a full resumption will be "a gradual process", the chief executive of the UK's largest library says.

British Library News (1):

BBC: British Library starts restoring services online after hack

www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta...

"A historian must consider FIRST what words and ideas meant to the people who lived them" rather than what they are presumed to mean today. That simple, empirical perspective is so commonly lacking in our discourse (academic and public). Dr. Pocock will be missed. apple.news/A_Kocfc1GRNi...

A tan background with AHA24 in teal with an orange border. The Politicization of History Education at the State Level: Legislation and Standards, January 4 at 8 PM, Parc 55, Cyril Magnin I&II

Join us at #AHA24 for a plenary on The Politicization of History Education at the State Level: Legislation and Standards, with chair Amna Khalid and panelists Daina Ramey Berry, Julia Akinyi Brookins, Nathan D. Connolly, Wesley Hedgepeth, and Jonathan Zimmerman. 🗃️ aha.confex.com/aha/2024/mee...

Schism is always talked about as institutional crisis reflecting social decay, and these fears-over and over in American society- are always poor covers for the fear of lost authority, not piety.

www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/u...

Wishing Christopher Hitchens, one of the best English essayists of the 20th century, had lived to write the obituary for Kissinger. Would have loved every syllable of that epic, dismboweling, viciously precise denunciation. Which Kissinger deserves.

Check out my Interview with Jack Miller Center on my research and teaching. jackmillercenter.org/blog-tomlin/

Commonplace Call for Submissions - Commonplace Article reviews are ongoing.

Do you have a new book on any aspect of American history before 1900 coming out soon? Do you want to promote your work and find something to do with those great 2000-3000 words you had to cut from the manuscript? Why not write a piece for Commonplace that does both? Contact me to discuss. 🗃️

Wait! I should alert *all* the historians in these blue skies.

<bat signal>
ahem
<little archive box signal 🗃️>
bsky.app/profile/onsl...