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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Annette Gordon-Reed famously established this a while ago. What the actual fuck is happening here? It seems like we keep having cases of historians having their work stolen.

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Reposted by Dr. Bradley J. Sommer

Larry Cebula @larrycebula.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yeah, the crowd denying this consisted of a handful of white Jefferson descendants and five weirdos on Twitter. This is not path-breaking new research, it is simply confirming what we already knew through historical analysis.

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Ultraviolet Catastrophe @southernviolet.northsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yup it was Annette Gordon-Reed wrote the book on it. Twice. Once in 1997, Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings. And The Hemingses of Monticello in 2008. There was also DNA done in 1998. The only people still arguing this are racists.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Capitulating and taking a job as an adjunct is so disheartening because it all but guarantees that I will never get a full-time job, especially in New England where every opening gets 100+ applications, all of which inevitably go to Ivy or Ivy+ grads. I'm 36 and my career is likely already over.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It’s depressing and shocking how quickly I resigned myself to only looking for adjunct jobs. I’ve subconsciously been telling myself that that’s the best there is/that I can do. I have the world’s most useless doctorate.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Between commuting for my one and only class this semester (someone please hire me), being primary parent to an infant, and getting us moved into our house, I have precisely zero time to write. Super jealous of the people who are independently wealthy enough to make a living writing.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Anyone ever pitched to Current Affairs or Dame? I’m looking to get some writing out there and I’m just curious what folks’ experiences have been.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Between having a baby and buying a house I’ve had NO time to write. No essays. No Substack. No books. I’m fully convinced that the only way senior academics and new writers are able to write is they’re independently wealthy or their spouse is doing ALL of the household labor. It’s truly impossible.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Doing some small projects at the new house before the carpet folks get here this week. My little helper is all tuckered out!

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Been sitting on this for a week or so, but I am thrilled to announce that my wife and I are now officially homeowners! Massachusetts North Shore here we come!

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

One of the few redeeming realities of Summer is the abundance of fresh watermelon. It almost rivals the in-season apples of Fall.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I’ve discovered that my daughter immediately calms down when I hold her and sing “Fields of Athenry. This is great because it accomplishes two important tasks: helping her calm down to eventually sleep, and teaching her to hate the English. #GodSaveIreland

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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 23/07/2026

#OtD 23 Jul 1967 one of the biggest rebellions in US history began in Detroit after a police raid on a bar in a poor, mostly Black area. Black and white residents fought back, looted goods and shot at officers. Afterwards, radical Black workers organised: workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e61-...

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Weird. Didn’t see thousands of Europeans walking from Manhattan to the Meadowlands. Not once. Huh.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Either A Line Made by Walking by Sara Baume or The Sea by John Banville.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

We’re starting sleep training over here, so excuse me while I hate every minute of this and try not to cave from my weakness.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

It is an insult, Ashley. Let this boot licker finally debunk the myth that all professors are leftists. Some of them, like Ashley, are moronic sycophants. I love how she is so concerned about left-leaning faculty “pushing politics” when her page is nothing but tepid Fox News fear mongering.

Screenshot of sociologist Ashley Rubin claiming that being called a cop is not an insult.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Thrilled beyond reason to announce that I am now officially a member of the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC). Let them say of me that “he was a union man!” Solidarity forever!

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Ok. He absolutely needs to drop out. Tonight. Don’t waste any time. Let another person hope in and use the next 120ish days to campaign as best they can. Collins is weak and terrible, as a person and a candidate, so there HAS to be someone else that can take over the race against her.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

No one is arguing ownership of history; it’s ownership of scholarship. There 100% are ethical principles around that. You can’t repeat someone’s work and call it your own.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the most popular and successful musical of the 21st century while consistently crediting Ron Chernow’s book as the influence. Stop acting like a throwaway note buried in a website is sufficient credit/CYA for the wholesale theft of someone’s work.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

At this rate, DSA is going to get more BIPOC candidates in Congress in one cycle than the Dems have in like the last decade. But yeah, socialism is racist. 🙄

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

We had our first date night (aka 4 hours without the baby) since our daughter’s birth 5 months ago and it’s crazy how much and how easily you miss your spouse while you’re busy being parents.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Burying one throwaway reference to Rachel on the book website (which no one will read) is sort of canceled out by her NUMEROUS public appearances where she claims sole research credit for the book. It also is clearly a cheap legal CYA.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Imagine simping for essentially a plagiarist despite the evidence being obvious simply because it’s inconvenient to you.

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Reposted by Dr. Bradley J. Sommer

Sarah Wall-Randell (aka swallowsong) @sarahwalrus.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Lin-Manuel Miranda gave Ron Chernow 1% of the profits for *Hamilton,* and he (LMM) also went to the archives to look at primary documents…guided by Chernow’s book, as he properly acknowledged.

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Gautham Rao (pronounced: Knicks in 5) @gauthamrao.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

For years I taught @rachelcleves.bsky.social book as a model of the historian's craft. If you haven't read it, you should. If you've read it, and have the chance to speak out about Walden failing to give Rachel credit for her research and work, please do so. www.strandbooks.com/charity-and-...

strandbooks.com

Buy Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America Paperback by Cleves, Rechel Hope Online

Order the Paperback edition of "Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America" by Cleves, Rechel Hope, published by Oxford University Press. Fast shipping from Strand Books.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Why buy the stolen graphic novel when you can buy the original version from the actual scholar? Buy Rachel’s book!

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

My daughter likes it when I sing Irish folk tunes and 90s country music. Kid’s got class I tell ya.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Capitalism is a fucking cancer and is destroying our ability to live on this planet.

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Reposted by Dr. Bradley J. Sommer

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The famous "Wedges" paper was used repeatedly to shut us up when we argued against the continued use of fossil fuels, and, esp, against carbon capture and storage and the mass use of bioenergy. "But these eminent scientists say ..." Now we learn BP co-authored it. www.propublica.org/article/wedg...

propublica.org

How BP Execs Influenced a Climate Study That Shaped a Generation of Global Policy

BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.

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Reposted by Dr. Bradley J. Sommer

Rachel Hope Cleves @rachelcleves.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

An open letter, to readers, about Charity and Sylvia. I am very pained to feel the need to write this. #queerhistory #pride

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

It feels like this is the inevitable culmination of "hidden histories" and "untold stories" combined with "we can't footnote your work, that would be awkward for the reader." But at its core, it's just the result of an utter lack of respect for the labor and expertise of an entire field.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Not the first time someone has used the work of historians and passed it off as their own (Kim Kelly) and it sadly won’t be the last. Our work routinely gets this treatment from unscrupulous authors and journalists looking to make names for themselves. This really sucks for Rachel, like, a lot.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

In case anyone is wondering what the job market is like, I’ve been reduced to cold emailing department heads begging even just to be added to their adjunct pools.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Missing from all of the “Boomers leaving their children tons of worthless shit” discourse is that these people spent thousands of dollars of useless fake gold coins, Beanie Babies, and porcelain dolls and then have the gall to criticize Millennials for being bad with money.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

James Carville only respects the will of Black and Brown voters when they vote for the candidate he likes. Short of that, he gets mad at them for not being the little pawns on his grand chessboard. People like him have been holding the door open for fascism for far too long.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Manuscript has officially been submitted. Fingers crossed that I can get a book deal by the end of the summer. This is way too stressful. Writing books is hard.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

If FOX and FIFA can have multiple World Cup games throughout the day every day, then there is no reason the NCAA and ESPN can’t figure out a schedule for bowl season that’s similar. Stop having 1 game 3x a week and then so many on Saturday that you can’t watch them all.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I am so fucking tired of the media saying “identity politics” when they really mean “70% of Americans just want rights, healthcare, and homes while the other 30% think the other 70% should be publicly executed or enslaved.” Like, stop framing this as some “both sides” debate.

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Dr. Bradley J. Sommer @drhistorybrad.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Every new fiction profile in the Boston Globe is either some established author’s 12th book or if it is a debut it’s of some prestigious MFA graduates thinly-veiled autobiographic 1st person exploration of being 22-30 and dating in London or New York. It’s predictable and boring.

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