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Contingent Magazine

@contingent-mag.bsky.social

9.6K followers 22 following 759 posts

History is for everyone. Every way of doing history is worthwhile. Historians should be paid for their work. www.contingentmagazine.org

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 3h

We think we've picked a particularly cromulent theme for our 2026 December issue. Keep your eyes peeled for a CFP in the next few weeks.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Nick Hurley spent the 23-24 academic year teaching history at the USMA. Here's what it was like.

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What's the Point?

Reflections on a year spent teaching history at the United States Military Academy

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“Historians of science seek to understand bygone worldviews in their full complexity, however strange, sometimes laughable, or downright reprehensible those might be . . . It’s a vital tool for seeing modern science as part of—not liberated from—a still-unfolding story.“

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They Thought What?

Unpacking the history (and present) of science

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"When the war ended and labor unrest stoked fears of a Bolshevik-style revolution sparked by foreigners, American Legion branches enlisted their formations in support of defending 'Americanism' on the home front."

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Over There, Again

The American Legion at home and abroad

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"When the war ended and labor unrest stoked fears of a Bolshevik-style revolution sparked by foreigners, American Legion branches enlisted their formations in support of defending 'Americanism' on the home front."

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Over There, Again

The American Legion at home and abroad

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"The danger is not in practicing revisionist history—it’s in constructing individual and collective lives around historical frameworks too shaky to be looked at again."

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What Is Revisionist History?

What is revisionist history--and is it dangerous?

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"The danger is not in practicing revisionist history—it’s in constructing individual and collective lives around historical frameworks too shaky to be looked at again."

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What Is Revisionist History?

What is revisionist history--and is it dangerous?

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

“The ways of capital are mysterious . . . our relationship with the university has degraded from one of researchers, students, and professors, to captive clients of an educational real estate company.”

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Escape from New York (and from Columbia University)

This is the way the American century ends.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"[19th century historians] discouraged subjective thinking and instead encouraged a sterile, objective, truth-seeking approach. This attitude created a foundational state of the field based on their privileged realities."

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When Is History Advocacy?

Advocacy should not be a dirty word.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"Whether the void swallows us whole and leaves nothing behind, or spits out our damaged bodies and psyches, is of little concern to the academy. If our bones break when we are thrown against the white background, we are seen as simply making a necessary sacrifice."

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The White Background

The SHEAR controversy has only exposed structural problems within the wider historical profession.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

“In that moment, what hope did Edwin and his father feel? What shame? When Edwin drank down his sister, did he remember the girl she had been—the one we do not know—or only imagine a fiend?”

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Against the Grave

Mercy Brown's tale has always been one of consumption.

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dr. e. katherine @actualkatherine.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I'm partway through reading this now, and I definitely GASPED when I realized who this piece was about. Excited to finish

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dread & circuses ♥️🖤🤍💚 @likeapen.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

At long last! The first draft of this spilled out of me on a train last October, but I needed months of rewrites to get it to here. I'm incredibly proud of this. Thank you @erinbartram.bsky.social!!

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

"The historical record can only create a woman-shaped grave for Mercy Brown. She only gains a narrative after she dies." Our latest, from Genna Duplisea.

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Against the Grave

Mercy Brown's tale has always been one of consumption.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

"[Let's] consider one way the cliché is frequently used by white people in the United States: in conversations about the history of enslavement, especially ones about 'Founding Fathers' who enslaved people."

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Don't We Have To Judge People By The Standards Of Their Time?

Many who reach for this cliché want it to function as a shield against judgment altogether.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

"America is littered with bogus historical markers, especially those detailing the mythic activities of George Washington and other Founding Fathers. The question becomes, does the insidious logic of the white nation exist within those memorials today?"

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We, the Nation, Born Under This Tree

So much converges on the Washington Elm.

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Some articles about how historians do their work.

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The Star in the Stones

The scanned image looked sharper than the framed photograph at my grandmother’s house. And only now did I notice a strange detail.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Some articles about how historians do their work.

contingentmagazine.org

The Star in the Stones

The scanned image looked sharper than the framed photograph at my grandmother’s house. And only now did I notice a strange detail.

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Teucrian @teucrian.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Really great piece with a lot to say for high school educators. The conclusion: “to leave people with ways of thinking about the past that can actually hold up in the world” is something we should think about in our approaches in the classroom.

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

"If history is just what happened, why do you all make it so complicated?" Our latest, from Anna Snyder.

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Why Do Historians Complicate Things?

Myth-busting is not enough.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

“. . . it’s not just that most academic writing doesn’t earn you anything—most of the time, it costs you.”

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How Much Money Do Historians Make From Their Writing?

In general, academic writing doesn’t earn you anything, and most of the time, it costs you.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

"If history is just what happened, why do you all make it so complicated?" Our latest, from Anna Snyder.

contingentmagazine.org

Why Do Historians Complicate Things?

Myth-busting is not enough.

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

If you're a donor to the magazine, check the bonus podcast feed to hear Oline Eaton read "Welcome to This Class." If you're not a donor, you can always read the text version on our website or donate today to gain access to all bonus articles and recordings.

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Welcome to This Class — audio

Writing & Anger, Spring 2021

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Bonus recording now available to donors, or read the original piece on our website. contingentmagazine.org/2026/06/26/w...

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Bonus recording now available to donors, or read the original piece on our website. contingentmagazine.org/2026/06/26/w...

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

If you're a donor to the magazine, check the bonus podcast feed to hear Oline Eaton read "Welcome to This Class." If you're not a donor, you can always read the text version on our website or donate today to gain access to all bonus articles and recordings.

contingentmagazine.org

Welcome to This Class — audio

Writing & Anger, Spring 2021

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Adrian Randall @anidealhusbando.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

“In Shakespeare’s case, that pushback took the form of people doubting how someone of his background (a glovemaker’s son who was grammar school educated at best) could have risen to such literary heights. Essentially, this conspiracy theory is rooted in classism.” There it is.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

We are in mailbag heaven at the magazine this year, and this is the latest and greatest. I would love to hear the conspiracy theories that you encounter when talking about your work with people outside the field. Do you take the same approaches as Lorna?

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Buzz Aldrin had one way of responding to conspiracy theorists. In our latest mailbag, @lornawallace.bsky.social offers some alternate approaches.

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How Do Academics Handle Conspiracy Theorists?

Factual evidence rarely changes minds.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Buzz Aldrin had one way of responding to conspiracy theorists. In our latest mailbag, @lornawallace.bsky.social offers some alternate approaches.

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How Do Academics Handle Conspiracy Theorists?

Factual evidence rarely changes minds.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

For some who use “revisionist history” as a pejorative, the idea that history involves inquiry and interpretation is the problem itself.

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What Is Revisionist History?

What is revisionist history--and is it dangerous?

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

“How did human rights and development—two distinct concepts with unique histories—come to be so intertwined in U.S. foreign policy?”

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From the American People

How did human rights and development come to be so intertwined in U.S. foreign policy?

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

"The conversations I had with music critics were also a healthy reminder that scholars working in university departments have no monopoly on popular music discourse, to say nothing of intellectual conversation more generally." Grant Wong with a postcard from PopCon (Randy Newman was not invited).

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A Postcard from PopCon

“What kinds of sounds are you studying?"

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

If you are a donor to the magazine, you can now hear Allison Horrocks read her essay “When John Brown’s Body is Wax” over on our bonus podcast feed.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

oh are we talking about Advanced Placement?

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Bankrupt Authority

Advanced Placement: "a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education"

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Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Assigning this piece for day 1 of my ancient magic course in the fall!

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

". . . turning a blind eye to science’s potential for harm tends to harm marginalized people the most."

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They Thought What?

Unpacking the history (and present) of science

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

". . . turning a blind eye to science’s potential for harm tends to harm marginalized people the most."

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They Thought What?

Unpacking the history (and present) of science

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

"Brushing off these practices as unscientific implies that 'true' science is, and always has been, unimpeachable. It denies us a chance to examine what flaws may fuel our own ways of thinking." A new mailbag from @wbarlowrobles.bsky.social

contingentmagazine.org

They Thought What?

Unpacking the history (and present) of science

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Alison Laurence @dinostalgia.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

An unforgettable opossum is waiting on the other side of this link... #histsci #envhist

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Remember that whole conversation about eugenics and "real science"? Well, this is for that.

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

This is excellent

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

"Brushing off these practices as unscientific implies that 'true' science is, and always has been, unimpeachable. It denies us a chance to examine what flaws may fuel our own ways of thinking." A new mailbag from @wbarlowrobles.bsky.social

contingentmagazine.org

They Thought What?

Unpacking the history (and present) of science

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

"A drought takes a perfect storm—then it causes one: an exact combination of violent climate conditions, causing an equal amount of violent cultural activity that embodies its own grief, rage, zeal, and horror, all at once."

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Monstrous Rayne

On drought years and witch trials

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

🐝🐝🐝🐝 contingentmagazine.org/2020/04/11/t...

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

🐝🐝🐝🐝 contingentmagazine.org/2020/04/11/t...

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

"In the show, the Forest Service ranger reflects the broad-minded optimism of this political moment and his implied role as a mediator distinct from timber interests."

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A Nice Trip To The Forest

With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

"In the show, the Forest Service ranger reflects the broad-minded optimism of this political moment and his implied role as a mediator distinct from timber interests."

contingentmagazine.org

A Nice Trip To The Forest

With so many crop dusters, somebody’s bound to see a UFO.

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Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

"Public forgetting, like public memorialization, can have a swift and easy outcome if the forces intent on causing the loss of memory have enough power and put enough effort into the project."

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I've Never Seen Anything

How could the Jedi Order vanish from public memory in less than a generation?