- Beastly Transformations — audio
as gluttonous as a pig, as angry as a lion, as quarrelsome as a dog
- Why Write Historical Fiction?
I wanted to understand a hidden part of my own family’s history.
- Devouring Dinosaurs — audio
If dinosaurs were alive today, would you be fleeing? Or feasting?
- A Postcard from Getaria
The birthplace of Cristóbal Balenciaga
- Christ, What a Monster! — audio
Something gendered was going on here.
- Monstrous Rayne — audio
On drought years and witch trials
- Over There, Again
The American Legion at home and abroad
- Aaahh!!! Fake Monsters — audio
exuberant life beyond our knowledge
- Welcome To This Class Part 2
Writing & Anger, Spring 2021
- Welcome To This Class Part 1
Writing & Anger, Spring 2021
- Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian? — audio
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster…
- To Invent Immortality — audio
Frankenstein yearns to live.
- Contingent Magazine Podcast Trailer
Stay tuned…
- Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian?
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster…
- Beastly Transformations
as gluttonous as a pig, as angry as a lion, as quarrelsome as a dog
- Monstrous Rayne
On drought years and witch trials
- 2025 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
- Aaahh!!! Fake Monsters
exuberant life beyond our knowledge
- Christ, What a Monster!
Something gendered was going on here.
- Devouring Dinosaurs
If dinosaurs were alive today, would you be fleeing? Or feasting?
- 2025 Journal Article List
A companion to our 2025 book list.
- 2025 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
- To Invent Immortality
Frankenstein yearns to live.
- What’s the Point?
Reflections on a year spent teaching history at the United States Military Academy
- A Postcard from the Festival of Monsters
At UC Santa Cruz, we take monsters seriously.
- You Can Study That?
What could be more satisfying than immersing yourself in the history of something you love?
- Dressed for Reform
Long before it was fashionable, Bloomer pioneered what would later be dubbed “respectability politics”
- Postcard from a Southerner in Harlem
A visit to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- The Search for Intelligence
the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats
- The Losses: Of Archives and Arthropods
Dead for centuries, the bees can help save their living descendants
- The Golden Ticket
Musk is making all the moves in this game
- The Shamrock and the Sham
though in an idyllic setting, I was poised above a mass grave.
- Good Queers and Bad Queers
myths fed back as stereotypes and strawmen to divine some boundary for acceptability
- The Losses: The History of Genomics Program
The archive my colleagues and I have built and maintained since 2012 is inaccessible.
- Newman’s Own Albania
Off-hand jokes from a piano bench
- On the Road to Allahabad
A destroyed car at the entrance is hardly a sign that the archive is near.
- Alison’s Contingent Story
People are genuinely curious about the past and excited to encounter it in unexpected ways.
- The Last Frontier
Antisemitism was as integral to this story as imperialism.
- Framing Resistance
Loiselle provides insight and inspiration for reimagining solidarity.
- Return to Para-con
Everyone wants answers.
- When Is History Advocacy?
Advocacy should not be a dirty word.
- Academic Bureaucrats and Sensitive Townspeople
I expected to side with the academics.
- Playing the Lottery
Despite calls for its elimination, the DV Lottery persists.
- What Does A Public History Consultant Do?
There are so many wonderful opportunities in this field. Sometimes, you create your own.
- Are You Making Money As A Consultant?
When I tell people I’m a consulting public historian, this is how they respond.
- How Rebecca Brenner Graham Does History
“I was fortunate to do graduate school during the height of academic blogging.”
- Food For Interplanetary Thought
“I do not understand why you take the trouble to consume this bulk material to sustain yourselves.”
- Madam Secretary
Even within an uncaring government bureaucracy, one person could make a difference.
- “HAVE QUOTES ABOUT SALIERI”
How someone already convinced of a conspiracy theory reads non-conspiratorial sources.
- We Haven’t Run Out Of History Quite Yet
In classic Trek fashion, the similarities were not subtle.
- The Final Frontier of Civil-Military Relations
The Federation’s structure creates tension between military and civilian leadership.
- Anxieties, Real and Imagined
Khan was a product of and advocate for selective breeding, the ultimate form of population control.
- Man’s Best Friend In Space
They’re cute and lovable, but there’s something just not quite right about them.
- The History Of The Future
Star Trek represents hope against hope.
- 2024 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
- How Lynne Calamia Does History
“People are drawn to personal stories and transformations.”
- 2024 Journal Article List
A companion to our 2024 book list.
- 2024 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
- The Treaty on the Severn River
Baltimore is Native American land — that’s the first thing I want you to know.
- All Is Perfect Quiet
Once again, the crematorium sits silent.
- What The New Right Learned In School
Essential reading for anyone interested in higher education or Republican politics, either today or in the past.
- Pilgrims In A Holyland
Local farmers have long been connected to a much larger capitalist system.
- The Shadow Of Chemical Valley
Sarnia has been growing and dying in cycles for a hundred years.
- A New Citizen in a New World
A reader would have to have blinders on to not draw parallels between the past and the present.
- How Julia Skinner Does History
I want to help people see themselves as a bridge between the past and the future.
- The Land Says A Lot More
I had never left my subdivision as a kid.
- Pieces That A Machine Can Comprehend
“How much code can a person stand?”
- How Christine Sloan Stoddard Does History
In one way or another, storytelling has been at the crux of what I’ve done all my life.
- A Place for Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer led the Italian Communist Party at the height of its power. A new exhibit at the Mattatoio grapples with his legacy.
- Harry Benjamin, the Maverick
Through his participation in the medical community, the theater community, and his connections to literary artists, Benjamin openly questioned how medical professionals and society at large defined and categorized gender.
- Deference and Doomposting
Ironically, Chevron deference — which the conservative Supreme Court scrapped last month — began as a conservative legal tool.
- Turpentine in Time
Each community had an overseer who supervised the operations and the commissary. He also enforced the law.
- Our Local Monster
Whose knowledge matters in a changing region?
- In Solidarity—And Sometimes, In Tandem
What is possible when white activists heed the call of the Black radical vanguard.
- The Problem of Plenty
There was nothing inevitable about the kind of gun country the U.S. is today.
- A Postcard From The First Annual Bucks County Para-Con
America is rapidly changing into a country where we worship strange gods.
- Bankrupt Authority
Advanced Placement: “a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education”
- Historians As Parents: Podcasting Through It
The thing that I thought would be easiest to drop became something of a lifeline for me.
- Historians As Parents: My Father’s Memory
Whatever I write and record could be important for my children and future generations.
- The Great Leg Show!
Hot pants served as a sartorial riposte to the fashion industry’s relentless campaign for the midi.
- In Their Own Voices
The New Bedford Sunday Standard-Times announced: “Indian Nuns Invade College”
- Nicole’s Contingent Story
Contingent is what I have always been.
- How Kate Carpenter Does History
“I was amazed to find that the book I wanted to read didn’t exist yet.”
- The Lone Gunmen Who Came in from the Fringe
The weirdo researchers were explaining fringe theories to a prime-time audience of millions.
- Caught on Camera
The X-Files plays on our fascination with the camera — and our fear of it.
- Towns Like Pulaski
Duane Barry is a symbol of collateral damage inflicted by powerful interests.
- This Has Something To Do With Computers, Doesn’t It? The Internet?
It seems strange to think of the 1990s as history; it was only 30 years ago, after all.
- Past Lives
Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?
- A Nice Trip To The Forest
With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.
- A Beautiful Mutation
This is all wrong. This is not how the story is supposed to end.
- 2023 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
- Blood on Our Hands
What did Truman and Oppenheimer actually say in that room?
- How Lauren Lassabe Shepherd Does History
For the next eight months, I’ll be an independent scholar with a side hustle as a fitness instructor.
- 2023 Journal Article List
A companion to our 2023 book list.
- 2023 Contingent Book List
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
- Beyond The Gates
As I descended into the basement I wondered if copal would ever have a chance to ascend.
- The Castle on the Hill
“We asked for Central High School but they think it is too good for us.”
- How Mary Klann Does History
Last year was the first academic year I only taught at one institution.
- Historians As Parents: Sex Education
Parenting is a humbling reminder that knowledge does not just magically appear.
- Historians As Parents: Playlist Challenges
In a cruel twist of fate, my children suffer from having a historian for a mother.
as gluttonous as a pig, as angry as a lion, as quarrelsome as a dog
I wanted to understand a hidden part of my own family’s history.
If dinosaurs were alive today, would you be fleeing? Or feasting?
The birthplace of Cristóbal Balenciaga
Something gendered was going on here.
On drought years and witch trials
The American Legion at home and abroad
exuberant life beyond our knowledge
Writing & Anger, Spring 2021
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster…
Frankenstein yearns to live.
Stay tuned…
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
A companion to our 2025 book list.
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
Reflections on a year spent teaching history at the United States Military Academy
At UC Santa Cruz, we take monsters seriously.
What could be more satisfying than immersing yourself in the history of something you love?
Long before it was fashionable, Bloomer pioneered what would later be dubbed “respectability politics”
A visit to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats
Dead for centuries, the bees can help save their living descendants
Musk is making all the moves in this game
though in an idyllic setting, I was poised above a mass grave.
myths fed back as stereotypes and strawmen to divine some boundary for acceptability
The archive my colleagues and I have built and maintained since 2012 is inaccessible.
Off-hand jokes from a piano bench
A destroyed car at the entrance is hardly a sign that the archive is near.
People are genuinely curious about the past and excited to encounter it in unexpected ways.
Antisemitism was as integral to this story as imperialism.
Loiselle provides insight and inspiration for reimagining solidarity.
Everyone wants answers.
Advocacy should not be a dirty word.
I expected to side with the academics.
Despite calls for its elimination, the DV Lottery persists.
There are so many wonderful opportunities in this field. Sometimes, you create your own.
“I was fortunate to do graduate school during the height of academic blogging.”
“I do not understand why you take the trouble to consume this bulk material to sustain yourselves.”
Even within an uncaring government bureaucracy, one person could make a difference.
How someone already convinced of a conspiracy theory reads non-conspiratorial sources.
In classic Trek fashion, the similarities were not subtle.
The Federation’s structure creates tension between military and civilian leadership.
Khan was a product of and advocate for selective breeding, the ultimate form of population control.
They’re cute and lovable, but there’s something just not quite right about them.
Star Trek represents hope against hope.
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
“People are drawn to personal stories and transformations.”
A companion to our 2024 book list.
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
Baltimore is Native American land — that’s the first thing I want you to know.
Once again, the crematorium sits silent.
Essential reading for anyone interested in higher education or Republican politics, either today or in the past.
Local farmers have long been connected to a much larger capitalist system.
Sarnia has been growing and dying in cycles for a hundred years.
A reader would have to have blinders on to not draw parallels between the past and the present.
I want to help people see themselves as a bridge between the past and the future.
I had never left my subdivision as a kid.
“How much code can a person stand?”
In one way or another, storytelling has been at the crux of what I’ve done all my life.
Enrico Berlinguer led the Italian Communist Party at the height of its power. A new exhibit at the Mattatoio grapples with his legacy.
Through his participation in the medical community, the theater community, and his connections to literary artists, Benjamin openly questioned how medical professionals and society at large defined and categorized gender.
Ironically, Chevron deference — which the conservative Supreme Court scrapped last month — began as a conservative legal tool.
Each community had an overseer who supervised the operations and the commissary. He also enforced the law.
Whose knowledge matters in a changing region?
What is possible when white activists heed the call of the Black radical vanguard.
There was nothing inevitable about the kind of gun country the U.S. is today.
America is rapidly changing into a country where we worship strange gods.
Advanced Placement: “a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education”
The thing that I thought would be easiest to drop became something of a lifeline for me.
Hot pants served as a sartorial riposte to the fashion industry’s relentless campaign for the midi.
The New Bedford Sunday Standard-Times announced: “Indian Nuns Invade College”
Contingent is what I have always been.
“I was amazed to find that the book I wanted to read didn’t exist yet.”
The weirdo researchers were explaining fringe theories to a prime-time audience of millions.
The X-Files plays on our fascination with the camera — and our fear of it.
Duane Barry is a symbol of collateral damage inflicted by powerful interests.
It seems strange to think of the 1990s as history; it was only 30 years ago, after all.
Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?
With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.
This is all wrong. This is not how the story is supposed to end.
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
What did Truman and Oppenheimer actually say in that room?
For the next eight months, I’ll be an independent scholar with a side hustle as a fitness instructor.
A companion to our 2023 book list.
When you’re shopping for books this season, consider a contingent scholar.
As I descended into the basement I wondered if copal would ever have a chance to ascend.
“We asked for Central High School but they think it is too good for us.”
Last year was the first academic year I only taught at one institution.