Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I just sent a message to my very influential Am Lit teacher to tell her how important she was, but I’m afraid I may have waited too long… :(
Prof. of History, Binghamton University. Author, Thirteen Clocks & Heart of American Darkness. Go Vols, Go Steelers.
923 followers 217 following 254 posts
view profile on Bluesky Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I just sent a message to my very influential Am Lit teacher to tell her how important she was, but I’m afraid I may have waited too long… :(
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
At my wife’s school, they brought in some OpenAI exec to come proselytize to faculty. Among her comments — AI isn’t bad for the environment. After she left they had a student panel comment. Students said: we hate it, please ban it.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Co-sign the ruler. Very helpful.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Management, not labor.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Several of his books remain essential reading.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Just recreate the CCC and be done with it.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
How do you depose a king? Asking for a friend.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
: The Hunt for Cotton Mather
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Tom Clancy’s The New England Mind
Alec Zuercher Reichardt (@aleczreichardt.bsky.social) reposted
A day late to bluesky, but yesterday was the official pub day for 'Roads to Power, Roads to Crisis' with @pennpress.bsky.social Interested in infrastructure, war, revolution and the rise (and fall) of the British Empire in North America? Get your own copy from www.pennpress.org/978151282828...
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
If only
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
My honors class is running the 8 weeks before independence in real time. We are spending 30% of class time reading 1776 newspapers. If only I could serve lager in this tavern…
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I terrified the cat
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Ooh, I’ll get on that. I’m on a 1865 bender. Giesburg next.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I’d love to agree with this, but I just finished Janney’s excellent , and I left it feeling pretty frustrated with USG. Way too much negotiation & respect & not nearly enough holding traitors accountable. Fostered the defiance & nonsense that is growing yet again. Come on USG.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Two words: course. packets. Those were the days.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Love it
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
What books in war & society class?
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
A lovely man. It was a privilege to be a teaching assistant for him. At the end of term he gave a workshop on how to sit-in.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Great ending but felt Klopp-y to me. So open at back.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
The runner up name for West Virginia was “Loyal Virginia.” What an opportunity lost.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Light Zeppelin
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
With a little help from my friends
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Book submitted! Look for _Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence_ out from Norton next June!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
You’re going to want to read this.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Gil and Ron up front. :)
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Beatrice Burton did 2 of mine on race. You can dm me for her email.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Summer grades due in 4 days, book due in 6, fall semester starts in 10. So, yes, of course my yard & patio look the best they have looked all summer.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Cool!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Another banger coming out!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Big co-sign
Adam "Ask Me about the Scopes Trial" Laats (@adamlaats.bsky.social) reposted
Thanks to Cassie & @mhs1791.bsky.social for asking about the children that created America's public schools. If you'd like to take 25% off your copy of the book version, use code HSUM25:
Emily Conroy-Krutz (@econroykrutz.bsky.social) reposted
Just got home from a few weeks away and I found the very best mail waiting for me. Congratulations again @jlepler.bsky.social
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
How is it possible that this is your first review for WMQ?!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Look at those cute kids
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
They were just all cartoons when I was 13.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I distinctly remember being 13 (86) & having a conversation about Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, and Donald Trump. They were the same guy.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Co-sign
Annette Gordon-Reed (@agordonreed.bsky.social) reposted
Jefferson on Race A Reader Edited by Annette Gordon-Reed Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford Copyright © 2026 by Princeton University Press
Frank Cogliano (@frankcogliano.bsky.social) reposted
Honored to be on this list with some fine historians (and friends!). www.mountvernon.org/about/news/n...
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Congrats!!!!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Fun to help out on this one. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-...
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Congrats!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
"First from the Right: Massive Resistance and the Image of Thomas Jefferson in the 1950s." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 112.1 (2004): 2-35.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I wrote my MA thesis on this. Segregationists were early to wrap themselves in Jefferson.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks for reading!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Booooo.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh no
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
My mom lives in Gtown & I’m going in 2 weeks. I’ll have to find it! Hopefully not washed away.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Happy to
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Blackstone is one of my “rogues” in the new book. (Re: his codification of Parliamentary supremacy in Commentaries). Jefferson really does worry about his “tory hue”
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s been 118 years since a thorough exam of grievances, which is unbelievable.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Just finished book draft on grievances. It was an interesting year to do that.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Nice! Congrats!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Jack saying “the Constitution has failed” is 😳
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
This is going to be excellent. Great things are worth waiting for.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I found it takes a little patience & then bam it hooks you good. High favorite.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
It is the first book length treatment of the grievances in 100 years.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Book is drafted! Contract signed! Look for out from W.W. Norton next year!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks for reading!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Just got contract for more Declaration content from me, 2026. I can’t quit you, Jefferson.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Thanks!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
😍
Frank Cogliano (@frankcogliano.bsky.social) reposted
Coming your way next May. The title's a placeholder. Writing with Peter has been a joy. (We laughed a lot more than the subject matter warrants.)
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Congrats, Andrew!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
!!!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Holy moly!
Steve Sarson (@stevesarson.bsky.social) reposted
The Course of Human Events: The Declaration of Independence and the Historical Origins of the United States is available for preorder (to be shipped in November) from @uvapress.bsky.social www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10151/...
Frank Cogliano (@frankcogliano.bsky.social) reposted
Honored to edit this. An international cast of more than twenty leading historians offer their reflections on what the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence means to them. Coming your way in the spring of 2026!
Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) reposted
This is how those of us of a certain age first learned about April 19, 1775. Still inspires. youtu.be/Y6ikO6LMxF4?...
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Come to OAH Philly next year for lots of reasons (like an AGR prez address) but here’s another one!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I was thrilled everyone on this list immediately said yes. Going to be outstanding.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Funeral March?
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Karen Cox, Nick Guyatt too
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
They only have electronic versions of mine, which is how I figured I survived.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh terrible
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
So the break didn’t help? Ugh.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Can’t watch. How bad is it?
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
My dad would say: I ain’t mad at nooooooobody.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Very nicely done
Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) reposted
Just try stuff!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Catharsis, Corey Booker. Thank you for saying these things out loud. So many of us needed someone to say these things on our behalf.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Terrible. Lovely man & tremendous historian
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
This is going to be so so good, folks. Already a smashing dissertation, can’t wait for the book.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Yay!!!!!!!!! Thrilled for you!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Promise. Cooperstown. Rev Backlash. Battle Cry. Women of the Republic. Foner. I mean, come on.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
My first would never have been possible without NEH postdoc.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Back in 2017 when Trump 1 wanted to zero out NEH I spent half an hour in my office looking for books that got NEH support. These books. These titles. Another 30 minutes & I could’ve reached the ceiling. Now they’ve actually done it.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Every Congressional district by rule
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social)
Very sad news. Fantastic historian and a lovely person. Went out of his way to say kind things about and to me early on. People in Rev remains on my grad syllabus for the fall.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Is that still allowed?
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I end survey with GA & 2nd inaugural & has always made me tear up in class. This year there could be ugly crying.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh no!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Congrats!!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Is the story just below about RFK firing 20,000?
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
I once had a student who was forced to memorize it & was SO PISSED when I told her Wirt basically made it up.
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh I love this!
Rob Parkinson (@rparkinson.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah, stepping up my timeline on this Declaration grievances book because we suddenly have a king now. Let’s get that contract signed.