David Avrom Bell

Essay | Why Vaccines Work Best When We’re Young Parents concerned about vaccinating their babies deserve to know why doctors recommend it.

Why the idea of “vaccine choice” is based on a dangerous misconception of what parents can control (by my better half):

www.wsj.com/health/why-v...

The Power of Political Martyrdom In the days after the murder of Charlie Kirk, pictures of Horst Wessel started to circulate on social media.

The Power of Political Martyrdom

open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...

Opinion | The Myth of Faculty Indoctrination Charlie Kirk’s killing has reignited a right-wing canard.

A new piece of mine in the Chronicle. Yes, it's stating the obvious. Sadly, the obvious needs to be stated.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... (also available on my Substack w/out paywall: davidabell.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...).

The Myth of Faculty "Indoctrination" Of all the foolish things posted online by prominent people last week, perhaps the most foolish came from the veteran far-right journalist and agitator Dinesh D’Souza.

The Myth of Faculty "Indoctrination"
davidabell.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...

Macron's Fatal Misreading of History Next Monday, the French government is almost certain to fall, pushing France into a renewed political crisis.

France will be in the headlines this week, with a no-confidence vote Monday and a national day of action (“Bloquons tout”) Wednesday. Here’s my take on why President Macron’s leadership led to this. And please consider subscribing to my free newsletter.

open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...

Macron's Fatal Misreading of History Next Monday, the French government is almost certain to fall, pushing France into a renewed political crisis.

How Macron has been undone by his own self-serving reading of French history:
davidabell.substack.com/p/macrons-fa...

I Visit Israel Every Summer. I’ve Never Seen Hopelessness Like This. The slaughter of Palestinians continues. Most Israelis hate the war and their government. But a tiny right-wing faction controls all.

newrepublic.com/article/1995...

“A profoundly unpopular government is at war with its own people. It is corrupt, immoral, and taking Israel to a place of extremes, where there is might at the expense of morals; messianism at the expense of humanity and hope.” Extraordinary piece by @jo-ann.bsky.social in @newrepublic.com.

YouTube video by The Lallantop ये किताबें पढ़कर इतिहास के सारे बवाल समझ आ जाएंगे| Book Recommendations

thank u to @itihaasnaama.bsky.social for recommending my new book The Future That Was alongside these amazing authors @kalramnath.bsky.social @abalasub.bsky.social 🥰💕 youtube.com/shorts/S99MW...

We have another contender for Nuttiest Republican Office-Holder, and, folks, I think this one may be a winner.
x.com/shadowofezra...

A cover letter plus a research statement, a teaching statement, a diversity statement and a writing sample? Talk about overkill. I have run a lot of faculty searches and can say from experience that you don’t need all this.

Opinion | A.I. Is Not a 21st-Century Enlightenment

My newest piece for the @nytimes, on the similarities and differences between the AI revolution and the Enlightenment, and what the latter shows about the dangers of the former: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/o...

She is the close-minded one, of course. And simple-minded, as well.

From @davidavrombell.bsky.social substack. There's a price not just Columbia, or Harvard, pays for buckling - all Americans do when illegal means of enforcement are by them legitimized

Government by Extortion Six months in, the contours of Trump 2.0 are coming into sharper relief.

That’s his method. See here: “Government by Extortion”

open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...

Government by Extortion Six months in, the contours of Trump 2.0 are coming into sharper relief.

My take on Trump 2.0 at six months: neither fascism nor business-as-usual but government by extortion.

open.substack.com/pub/davidabe...

Alert: The Trump administration is quietly slashing new NIH grant awards, and it's not via the budget NIH’s sudden move to multiyear grant funding is forcing shocking cuts in the number of grants funded. This is an effective budget cut. It's bad, folks.

New, from an anonymous NIH insider: Trump is being pushed to spend more NIH money. The White House is ordering NIH to do multi-year budgets for awards. This budget trick means fewer awards, fewer labs funded, and lower paylines for researchers. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...

The ignorance shown by Vought here is breathtaking m, if not surprising.

Derangement Twenty-two years ago, the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer coined the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome” to describe what he saw as the left’s unthinking, hysterical hatred of President George...

"The universities have… in effect, declared war on millions of Americans." On the Manhattan Institute's appalling "Statement on Higher Education": davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement

Derangement Twenty-two years ago, the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer coined the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome” to describe what he saw as the left’s unthinking, hysterical hatred of President George...

On "university derangement syndrome":
davidabell.substack.com/p/derangement

What should Jewish New Yorkers make of Zohran Mamdani? | Beth Miller and Jo-Ann Mort Jo-Ann Mort and Beth Miller go head to head on Zohran Mamdani

Jo Ann Mort gets it right on Mamdani and the Middle East.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

YouTube video by Bruxelles Mobilité - Brussel Mobiliteit Les Pieds

Belgian engineers have discovered a powerful, transformative technology for transportation over short distances. Revolutionary.

youtu.be/EAkm773d7RQ?...

The problem is it’s a lot more than $400m. They have billions more in federal funding frozen, and if they can’t get that back the university will collapse. They are really between a rock and a hard place.

Houses Divided Five years ago, amidst the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd, three hundred of my Princeton colleagues signed a remarkable letter, addressed to the university’s top officials.

New newsletter:

davidabell.substack.com/p/houses-div...

Rank in order of importance:
* Trump bombing Iran
* Continuing horror in Gaza
* Gutting of US welfare state
* Destruction of American science
* Uncontrolled global warming
* Mamdani's college application
* Massively exploding federal deficits
* Massively expanding inequality

Shameful capitulation by Penn. Just gross.

I’m having a fun vacation so far have I missed anyth— oh, right.

On Academic Productivity Over the next few months, anxious professors in the United States will compile tenure and promotion dossiers.

New newsletter: On Academic Productivity:

davidabell.substack.com/p/on-academi...

Negotiation or Capitulation? How Columbia Got Off Trump’s Hot Seat.

@nytimes.com: Columbia University is NOT “off the hot seat.” Try reporting what is actually going on there with federal funding!

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/n...

archive.is/2025.06.18-2...

David A. Bell, historien américain : « Avec Donald Trump, le show est devenu dangereusement réel » TRIBUNE. Toute personne qui s’oppose à Donald Trump devient illégitime aux yeux du président des Etats-Unis, explique, dans une tribune au « Monde », l’historien américain, ce qui crée une situation d...

My op-ed about the perilous political situation in the US, in Le Monde: www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...