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Charles Petersen

@cpetersen.bsky.social
2.1K followers 430 following 14 posts

Editor @nplusonemag; published in @nybooks etc. Writing a book about meritocracy and Silicon Valley.

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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I'm looking forward to adding more perspectives to this and other stories in the coming years as I expand the "Hidden Silicon Valley" project, which we're launching with the David Bacon interview. This is just the start. searchworks.stanford.edu/view/in00001...
searchworks.stanford.edu
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I knew about this in the abstract but this made very concrete for me how much the late 20th century immigration wave has another resemblance with the European immigration wave of 1880-1920 — it brought a whole new generation of leftists, with new worldviews and tactics, to the US
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Another revelation for me in particular with this interview was the scale and effects of the Filipino left and the Latin American left on US organizing from the 1970s onward.
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Also, the stakes of organizing, and the madhouse of driving to work at a 10,000 person factory with a car that keeps breaking down, while management is looking for ways to fire you. It's a very different picture of Silicon Valley. I believe the TV rights are still available.
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I've read a lot about working conditions in Silicon Valley manufacturing plants, and there are many more interviews to be done. But I've never met anyone with a memory like David's — he conveys the feel of actual day-to-day work in the Valley like no one else. The smells!
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
David was the youngest arestee in the Free Speech Movement; he co-organized the First European International Pop Festival; he was a pharmacist for the Black Panther's Oakland free clinic; he joined the UFW, was redbaited out; then moved to Silicon Valley to become a salt in 1978.
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It took thirteen interviews and a year of work; the full transcript runs to nearly 500 pages. Twitter fan favorite Tim Barker makes a cameo, as does basically the entire history of the US left in the past 70 years. The result is finally online today. purl.stanford.edu/yh487px6175
purl.stanford.edu
Interview with David Bacon, 2025
Transcript of oral history interview conducted with David Bacon by Charles Petersen and Tim Barker over several sessions in 2025. This oral history should be viewed as a companion to the David Baco...
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A few years ago I was reading a lost 1988 dissertation on the immigrant women who actually made the chips in Silicon Valley, when I saw one organizer, David Bacon, described by a manager as "a one-man son-of-a-bitch trouble maker." I knew then that I had to interview this guy.🧵
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Perhaps useful: we have a new shared Zotero guide to our collections and general Silicon Valley bibliography. Anyone can access online. Let me know if you want to be added to the Zotero group so you can access directly in the app. www.zotero.org/groups/61291...
zotero.org
Zotero | Your personal research assistant
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The next deadline for the Silicon Valley Archives travel fellowship is September 1. Apply! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
networks.h-net.org
The Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University Libraries Announces New Travel Fellowships | H-Net
The Travel Fellowship Program is a pilot program supported by the Silicon Valley Archives to encourage awareness of the rich collections gathered by Stanford University Libraries over the past forty years in the history of Silicon Valley and to facilitate their use.This pilot program will accept applications twice a year and will initially run for academic years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027. The application deadlines are as follows:October 1, 2025March 1, 2026September 1, 2026
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
What if every college in crisis turned itself into Deep Springs instead of trying austerity followed by closure (or else, like the New School, neoliberal transmogrification). lareviewofbooks.org/article/micr...
lareviewofbooks.org
An Alternative Future for Struggling Colleges | Los Angeles Review of Books
As many liberal arts institutions face crisis and potential closure, a new ecosystem of microcolleges is emerging.
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Available on all your favorite podcast platforms. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... open.spotify.com/episode/6uvG... pocketcasts.com/podcast/hist...
podcasts.apple.com
Historians on Two Wheels
Sports Podcast · Updated Semiweekly · Cycling fans who happen to be historians talking about the Tour de France and much else besides
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I finally did it: I made a podcast. The Tour de France starts tomorrow. As the most historical of sports, what you need is three historians (myself, @stschrader1.bsky.social, @theotherjude.bsky.social) chatting about why 2026 is the year to get into cycling. www.patreon.com/historianson...
patreon.com
Historians on Two Wheels, Episode 1 | Charles Petersen
Tour de France 2026
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Charles Petersen @cpetersen.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The next deadline for the Silicon Valley Archives's travel fellowship program is March 1, 2026. Apply! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...
networks.h-net.org
Fellowships: The Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University Libraries Announces New Travel Fellowships (Next Deadline 01 October) | H-Net
The Travel Fellowship Program is a pilot program supported by the Silicon Valley Archives to encourage awareness of the rich collections gathered by Stanford University Libraries over the past forty y...
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