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Brian Sandberg

@bsandberg.bsky.social

55 followers 23 following 135 posts

Professor of History, Northern Illinois University Historian of early modern France, Italy, and the Mediterranean world who focuses on religious violence, civil conflict, and political culture. Writer, sailor, musician, blues and jazz fan

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Limits on Religious Identities in U.S. Military brian-sandberg.com/2026/06/06/l...

brian-sandberg.com

Limits on Religious Identities in U.S. Military

A new Pentagon policy issued by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth places sharp limits on the religious identities of U.S. military personnel and prioritizes Christian denominations for support by m…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Atelier Méditerranée sur "Oceanic Spaces and Global Microhistories" brian-sandberg.com/2026/06/05/o...

brian-sandberg.com

Oceanic Spaces and Global Microhistories

Atelier Méditerranée on Oceanic Spaces and Global Microhistories Iméra · Institut d’Etudes Avancées d’Aix Marseille Université Monday 8 June, 14 – 18h This workshop on Oceanic Spaces and Global Mic…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Revoking the Code Noir brian-sandberg.com/2026/05/28/r...

brian-sandberg.com

Revoking the Code Noir

Representatives of the French Republic are preparing to repeal the infamous Code Noir, a law which governed the system of slavery in the French empire during the seventeenth and eighteenth centurie…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Workshop on the Army of Flanders brian-sandberg.com/2026/05/23/w...

brian-sandberg.com

Workshop on the Army of Flanders

I enjoyed participating in the recent historical workshop on The Army of Flanders: Crossroads of Peoples, Crucible of Nations (1567–1706) at the War Heritage Institute in Bruxelles. Thanks to Mauri…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Atelier Méditerranée - régimes d'esclavage brian-sandberg.com/2026/05/10/a...

brian-sandberg.com

Atelier Méditerranée – régimes d’esclavage

Ce mardi 12 mai, vous êtes invité de nous joindre pour un Atelier Méditerranée sur Pluralité des régimes d’esclavage en Méditerranée à l’époque moderne. Cet atelier aura lieu le mardi 12 mai 2026 e…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux: Colloque brian-sandberg.com/2026/04/24/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux: Colloque

Vous êtes invités au colloque Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux pendant le Petit Âge Glaciaire, à l’Iméra · Institut d’Etudes Avancées d’Aix Marseille Université, 2 place Leverrie…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Salvaging the Voice of America brian-sandberg.com/2026/03/08/s...

brian-sandberg.com

Salvaging the Voice of America

A federal judge in the United States has invalidated the mass firings at the Voice of America that were carried out in 2025 by Kari Lake, a Trump administration appointee. “A federal judge on…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Constructing European Historical Narratives in PB brian-sandberg.com/2026/02/17/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Constructing European Historical Narratives in PB

Constructing European Historical Narratives in the Early Modern World (Toronto: Iter, 2025) is now out in paperback! I contributed a chapter on “Crusading Engagements: French Nobles’ Family Histori…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Histoire Contestée - Les usages du passé brian-sandberg.com/2026/02/10/h...

brian-sandberg.com

Histoire Contestée – Les usages du passé

Histoire Contestée : Les usages du passé et libertés académiques Pour cette première session collective du cycle de rencontres Ouvertures, Brian Sandberg, historien et Senior Fellow 2025-2026, prop…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Commemorating MLK Day in Troubled Times brian-sandberg.com/2026/01/19/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Commemorating MLK Day in Troubled Times

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Historians across the United States are commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr., today (19 January 2026) in troubled times. Historians are reinterpreting the Civil …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux brian-sandberg.com/2026/01/17/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux

Jérémie Foa and I are looking forward to the next session of our research seminar on Climate Change and Religious Conflict during the Little Ice Age. Lundi 19 janvier 2026 : Oury Goldman (Univ. Par…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Reframing Treaties Now Out in Hardback brian-sandberg.com/2025/12/22/r...

brian-sandberg.com

Reframing Treaties Now Out in Hardback

I am happy to report that the hardback edition of Reframing Treaties in the Late Medieval and Early Modern West is now out and available for library adoptions. I contributed an essay to this collec…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Climate Change and Religious Conflicts brian-sandberg.com/2025/10/16/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Climate Change and Religious Conflicts

I am looking forward to the first session of a new research seminar on Climate Change and Religious Conflicts (Changements Climatiques et Conflits Religieux)! This is a seminar that my colleague Jé…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

A Nation-Wide Assault on Higher Education brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/23/a...

brian-sandberg.com

A Nation-Wide Assault on Higher Education

Every university and college in the United States is facing a direct, multi-pronged assault from the Trump administration. Todd Wolfson, President of the American Association of University Professo…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Decline in International Students to U.S. Universities brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/14/d...

brian-sandberg.com

Decline in International Students to U.S. Universities

The Trump administration’s limits on visa programs, suspension of student visas, and harassment of international students have already significantly reduced the number of international studen…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Effacing History at the Smithsonian brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/13/e...

brian-sandberg.com

Effacing History at the Smithsonian

President Trump has launched a coordinated effort to efface the historical record of the United States in the national museums of the Smithsonian Institution. “The Trump administration said o…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Trump Orders a Politicized Rewriting of History brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/12/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Orders a Politicized Rewriting of History

President Trump has ordered a politicized rewriting of history at the national museums of the Smithsonian Institution. Trump’s order initiates a new offensive in the ongoing War on History, w…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Constructing European Historical Narratives brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/11/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Constructing European Historical Narratives

Constructing European Historical Narratives in the Early Modern World, edited by Hilary J. Bernstein, Fabien Montcher, and Megan Armstrong, is being published by Iter Press and will be released in …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

On Historical Advocacy and the Supreme Court brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/07/o...

brian-sandberg.com

On Historical Advocacy and the Supreme Court

“As the Supreme Court’s decisions increasingly turn on their understanding of the distant past, the number of supporting briefs from historians has exploded and their influence has grown,&#82…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Trump Aims to Decrease International Students in U.S. brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/04/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Aims to Decrease International Students in U.S.

The Trump administration’s war on higher education is targeting the entire American research university model of excellence, which is based on open recruitment and democratic access to higher…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Trump's War on Education Hits Community Colleges brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/04/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump’s War on Education Hits Community Colleges

The Trump administration’s war on higher education is hitting state universities and community colleges across the nation. On the impacts of the Trump administration’s attacks on commun…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Reframing Treaties Published brian-sandberg.com/2025/08/04/r...

brian-sandberg.com

Reframing Treaties Published

Reframing Treaties in the Late Medieval and Early Modern West, edited by Isabella Lazzarini, Luciano Piffanelli, and Diego Pirillo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025) has been published. I cont…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Academic Presses Making Deals with AI Companies brian-sandberg.com/2025/07/30/a...

brian-sandberg.com

Academic Presses Making Deals with AI Companies

I am alarmed to discover that Johns Hopkins University Press, one of the leading academic presses in the world is making deals with AI companies to license their titles to “train” LLMs.…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

George Orwell's '1984' and Modern America brian-sandberg.com/2025/07/28/g...

brian-sandberg.com

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Modern America

Charlie English has published an essay in The New York Times on the role that George Orwell’s 1984 played in the Cold War, drawing comparisons to the book being banned in the United States in…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Summer Interns Lose Positions in Trump Cuts brian-sandberg.com/2025/07/15/s...

brian-sandberg.com

Summer Interns Lose Positions in Trump Cuts

The massive layoffs and disruptions in federal agencies carried out by Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE team and the broader Trump administration have eliminated thousands of summer internships pos…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

"Israel is Committing Genocide" - Historian Omar Bartov brian-sandberg.com/2025/07/15/i...

brian-sandberg.com

“Israel is Committing Genocide” – Historian Omar Bartov

Historian Omar Bartov, one of the leading specialists on the history of genocides, demonstrates that Israel is indeed carrying out a genocidal military campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. &#8220…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Trump Blocks International Students Going to Harvard brian-sandberg.com/2025/05/22/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Blocks International Students Going to Harvard

The Trump administration is launching a new attack on Harvard University, one of the premier private academic institutions in the United States. The New York Times reports that “The Trump adm…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

"A Gross Usurpation of Power" by Trump Administration brian-sandberg.com/2025/05/20/a...

brian-sandberg.com

“A Gross Usurpation of Power” by Trump Administration

The Trump administration’s recent takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and firing of its leaders and staff members were unlawful acts. In March 2025, members of Elon Musk’s so…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Taxing Endowments Will Shift Tuition Costs to Students brian-sandberg.com/2025/05/20/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Taxing Endowments Will Shift Tuition Costs to Students

The Trump administration plans to tax endowments at many private universities. This policy would shift the cost of tuition on students and their families, depriving many students of access to a uni…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Mellon Foundation Assists Humanities Councils brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/30/m...

brian-sandberg.com

Mellon Foundation Assists Humanities Councils

The Mellon Foundation has thrown a lifeline to state humanities councils, which were stripped of their federal grant funding by the Trump administration recently as part of its dismantling of the N…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Trump Admin Diverts NEH Funds to Sculpture Garden brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/28/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Admin Diverts NEH Funds to Sculpture Garden

The Trump administration has gutted the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), laying off staff members and cancelling current grants awards to humanities researchers and institutions across …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Trump Administration Aims to Manipulate History brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/24/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Administration Aims to Manipulate History

President Trump and his administration are attempting to manipulate the historical record of the United States and control historical interpretations of its past. President Trump issued an executiv…

Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Coercing Universities and Building a Mafia State brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/21/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Coercing Universities and Building a Mafia State

The Trump administration is blatantly coercing universities, especially targeting elite private universities such as Columbia University, Harvard University, and Yale University, and threatening to…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Stand with the Fulbright Program brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/21/s...

brian-sandberg.com

Stand with the Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Association has issued a statement calling on alumni of the Fulbright Program and concerned citizens to stand with the Fulbright Program, which is currently threatened by the Trump ad…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

The American Revolution Began 250 Years Ago brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/20/t...

brian-sandberg.com

The American Revolution Began 250 Years Ago

Today is the 250th anniversary of the first shots of the American Revolution at the battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775. The 250th anniversary celebrations of the War of American Inde…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Research Model of the United States is Threatened brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/16/r...

brian-sandberg.com

Research Model of the United States is Threatened

The entire research model of the United States is threatened with destruction. “Around the time of World War II, the U.S. government started funding universities for the purpose of aiding the…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

A Whistleblower Exposes DOGE's Unlawful Hacking brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/16/a...

brian-sandberg.com

A Whistleblower Exposes DOGE’s Unlawful Hacking

A federal worker who works in Information Technology (IT) at the National Labor Relations Board has made a whistleblower complaint to the U.S. Congress, exposing unlawful hacking and data exfiltrat…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Harvard University Resists Trump Administration brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/14/h...

brian-sandberg.com

Harvard University Resists Trump Administration

Universities are beginning to push back on the Trump administration’s war on research and higher education. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), American Civil Liberties …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Trump Officials Remove Books from Libraries brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/14/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Officials Remove Books from Libraries

The Trump administration continues its war on knowledge by removing books from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered staff to remove 381 books fro…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Resisting the Trumpist War on Knowledge brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/14/r...

brian-sandberg.com

Resisting the Trumpist War on Knowledge

M. Gessen has published a new essay on the Trump administration’s war on universities and knowledge itself. “Almost three months into the Trump administration’s war on universities, and…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Christian Nationalist Agenda of Trump Administration brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/14/c...

brian-sandberg.com

Christian Nationalist Agenda of Trump Administration

Trump officials in the U.S. Department of State are calling for employees to report incidents of supposed “anti-Christian bias.” The pressure campaign seems intended to intimidate non-C…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Many International Students' Visas Revoked in Illinois brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/14/m...

brian-sandberg.com

Many International Students’ Visas Revoked in Illinois

International students at state universities in Illinois and across the nation are being improperly and unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration for visa revocation. Last week, the Trump adm…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

NEH Funds to be Diverted to Trump Pet Project brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/11/n...

brian-sandberg.com

NEH Funds to be Diverted to Trump Pet Project

Last week, hundreds of active grants that were already awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) after rigorous peer review were unlawfully cancelled by Trump administration offici…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

On Presidential Abuse of Powers on Tariffs brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/11/o...

brian-sandberg.com

On Presidential Abuse of Powers on Tariffs

President Trump is abusing powers that he doesn’t even have. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States indicates that the U.S. Congress—not the President—has the power to …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

International Students at NIU are Stripped of Visas brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/11/i...

brian-sandberg.com

International Students at NIU are Stripped of Visas

I am dismayed to report that the Trump administration is now attacking international students at Northern Illinois University. The Northern Star reports that “Five international students have…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Hands Off! Protests across the Nation brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/09/h...

brian-sandberg.com

Hands Off! Protests across the Nation

Hands Off! rallies were held in cities and towns across the United States this past weekend. Protesters demonstrated against the Trump administration’s policies and the massive cuts inflicted…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Misreading the History of Tariffs brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/07/m...

brian-sandberg.com

Misreading the History of Tariffs

The Trump administration has clearly made a massive mistake in calculating its so-called “reciprocal” tariff rates, seriously damaging global economic systems in the process. President …

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

National Endowment for the Humanities Dismantled brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/07/n...

brian-sandberg.com

National Endowment for the Humanities Dismantled

On Thursday night, the Trump administration placed 80 percent of National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) staff members on administrative leave and blocked its grants to state humanities council…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Trump Administration Erases Data, Alters Historical Record brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/07/t...

brian-sandberg.com

Trump Administration Erases Data, Alters Historical Record

“Soon after the new administration arrived, things began to go missing from the White House website,” according to The New York Times. “They weren’t just the partisan policy platf…

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Brian Sandberg @bsandberg.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Historians Address the Attacks on Education in the U.S. brian-sandberg.com/2025/04/05/h...

brian-sandberg.com

Historians Address the Attacks on Education in the U.S.

The Organization of American Historians (OAH) is meeting in Chicago this week and many historians have been addressing the Trump administration’s attacks on education in the United States. Th…

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