Jason A. Higgins, Ph.D

Jason A. Higgins, Ph.D

@jasonhiggins.bsky.social

Author of Prisoners after War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration (OHA Best Book Award 2025), Historian. Editor. Digital Scholarship Coordinator, Virginia Tech Press; Assistant Professor. My views don’t reflect my employer. https://shorturl.at/HpPO7

5,164 Followers 1,848 Following 320 Posts Joined Dec 2023
6 hours ago

And journal editors should never invite comment again from someone who submits an AI-generated peer review.

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15 hours ago
The War within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home book on a shelf of Vietnam War books. Pp

Added a new title to the reading list by journalist Wil Haygood. It joins a very short but excellent list of books on African American experiences during the Vietnam War.

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1 day ago
Preview
World War Zoos A new and heartbreaking history of World War II as told through the shocking experiences of zoos across the globe.   As Europe lurched into war in 1939, zookeepers started killing their animals. On S...

I am humbled to announce that "World War Zoos" won the 2026 Distinguished Book Award from the Society of Military History. Thanks to everyone who believed in the book! share.google/G2gxOFSy2ZcF...

@elisecapron.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social @tmennel.bsky.social

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3 days ago
YouTube

Rest in peace, Country Joe McDonald. youtu.be/CXuSQcyuPU8?...

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1 week ago

$$ is always a concern. Hope you can make it.

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1 week ago

I hope so! Are you going to be there?

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1 week ago

I’ve been revising a digital humanities publication after some helpful and engaged peer-reviewers’ feedback. This has been an ongoing student-involved, community centered-oral history project that we started during my first year at Virginia Tech. I plan to share it at the NCPH/AASLH conference.

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1 week ago

Reading “Until the Last Gun is Silent” by Matthew Delmont and let me tell you it’s a good time to be reading a book about the overlap between the anti-war and civil rights movements.

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1 week ago
Duke University - Chafe Postdoctoral Fellowship in Oral History and Social Justice | H-Net

Job opening for a 2-year Postdoc in #OralHistory and Social Justice at Duke University: networks.h-net.org/jobs/69830/d...

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1 week ago

Thanks, Gabriel! I hope you are well!

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1 week ago

Thank you! And genuinely, I am delighted to know that anyone will read my book!

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1 week ago
Me signing books at an event at the University of Chicago, hosted by the Office of Military-Affiliated Communities, which purchased 200 copies of the book and gave them to attendees, students, and veterans in Cook County Jail, and Veterans Treatment Courts. This was the highlight!

To sum up, it takes time to see the “impact” of a scholarly book. Keep grinding. Keep writing. Pay it forward: write book reviews, leave Amazon reviews, email authors, invite them to talk with your students, cite your sources. And most authors would be delighted to know that anyone reads our books!

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1 week ago

It would be impossible to calculate how many hours of research, interviewing, writing, editing, the miles driven, the number of supporters, mentors, and friends who supported me in the publication of this book. I am most grateful that 60 veterans shared their stories with me.

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1 week ago
Oral History Association Book Award Ceremony: image shows me and Troy Reeves. I am wearing a Jimi Hendrix shirt, blazer, black jeans, and Vans. Giant poster of book cover in VT University Libraries

National book awards: 1 winner, 1 finalist, 3 decisions pending, 2 “ghosted”
Podcasts: 5
Author talks: 8
Guest lectures: 6
Giant poster: 1

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1 week ago
Screenshot of Amazon metrics

Today’s (evil corporation) Amazon Best Seller Ranking: #186,440 in Books, #98 in Social Services & Welfare, #145 in United States Military Veterans History, #275 in Vietnam War History.

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1 week ago
Image from the UPLOpen site with trends of downloads over time, and which nations are reading the book.

Book reviews: 8, including featured stories in national news or magazines, (Jacobin, Inquest, The War Horse)
Downloads and online reads: 879 downloads, 443 online reads in 40 countries so far!

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1 week ago
QR code to the open-access edition

I had heard that an author is their own best publicist, but I didn’t really understand it at the time. I still feel weird about self-promoting. But now I understand that if you want people to read your book, you must be proactive.

PS: It's open-access and free: here:https://uplopen.com/books/m/356

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1 week ago
Prisoners after War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Jason A. Higgins book cover, shows the shadow of a person behind bars.

Today marks the second-year publication anniversary of Prisoners after War. I had no clue how anti-climactic publishing a book would be, so I thought I would put together a thread about the trickling effects of book publishing. Maybe it’ll be interesting to first-time authors.

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2 weeks ago
Preview
Awards Nursing Clio Prize for Best Journal Article The Nursing Clio Prize for Best Journal Article is awarded annually for the best peer-reviewed academic journal article on the intersection of gender and…

Did you know that Nursing Clio has an article prize? It's awarded annually for the best peer-reviewed academic journal article on the intersection of gender & medical histories in English. The author(s) of the winning article will receive $300 and a featured interview on the blog about the article.

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2 weeks ago

This looks fantastic, Selena! Congratulations!

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2 weeks ago

Thrilled to finally be sharing my Densho blog post on disabled Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII. #DisabilitySky #skystorians Glad it made it in time for #DayOfRemembrance #EO9066 #AcademicSky

densho.org/catalyst/ask...

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2 weeks ago

Agreed. I won’t be watching. It’s too hard on the soul, for lack of a better word.

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2 weeks ago
Preview
Sonya Bonczek Gives Us the Scoop on Book Publicity Podcast Episode · Drafting the Past · February 24 · 53m

a great listen @sonyabonczek.bsky.social @uncpress.bsky.social @katecarp.bsky.social @draftingthepast.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

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2 weeks ago

I literally wrote about this for @nursingclio.bsky.social! The draft included a section on hazing and the military in the 1990s, which conservatives opined was essential to being made into a man. (I originally bragged about my blood wings and E5 party.)
nursingclio.org/2025/06/04/n...

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2 weeks ago
Preview
OSU history professor teaches American studies in Vietnam - Oklahoma State University When Dr. John Kinder, professor of history and American studies at Oklahoma State University, traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, this past December, he wasn’t just delivering a guest lecture. He was partic...

Thanks to Sarah Griswold for this story about my recent trip to Vietnam.

@okstate.edu #AmericanStudies

news.okstate.edu/articles/art...

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3 weeks ago

Bastards.

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...

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3 weeks ago
A book: Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy by Judith Resnik.

So glad to see Judith Resnik's crucial new book.

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3 weeks ago
Preview
During Black History Month, Monticello reflects on America’s founding Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello commemorated Black History Month with a series of events centered around sharing the history of Monticello's enslaved community.

“Jefferson’s life and legacies cannot be fully understood without understanding American chattel slavery, nor can it be understood without understanding the lives of the hundreds of enslaved individuals that lived and labored at Monticello,” ~Andrew Davenport www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2026...

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3 weeks ago
YouTube
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause | Official Trailer | American Masters | PBS YouTube video by American Masters PBS

Coming this May. A documentary about WEB Du Bois - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMs...

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3 weeks ago
Preview
#ScholarSunday Thread 263 (2/15/26) – Black and White and Read All Over Celebrating Presidents in 2026? Fraught as hell, but what’s not is celebrating all the great public scholarship in my 263rd #ScholarSunday thread of writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books. Add mor...

+ Please share the thread widely to get all this great public scholarship to all the folks, & enjoy, all!

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

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