Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 06/04/2026Signed up to run a 5K in a couple of weeks. Did a test run to see where I am. At 39, I’m not what I used to be, but I’m gonna do some training to get my time under 23:00. 020
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Book 2 of 2026! Highly recommend this one for anyone interested in the Mexican-American War. It’s a great blend of social history and military history. 010
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 12/01/2026Book 1 of 2026! This book focuses on the experiences of Black soldiers in U.S. Army service units during WWII. It's a great book if you're interested in the intersection of race, the military, and labor. 1122
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 29/10/2025I’ve sort of fallen behind with posting about books I’ve been reading, but I decided to get back to it. This is a great book about how politics and perceptions of the regular army shaped historical developments in both the South and West during the Civil War era. Highly recommend it! 030
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 21/10/2025Just in case it's not clear from the post or the headline, I'd like to point out they plan to accomplish this by diluting the voting power of Black people. Will potentially control 11 out of 14 seats in a swing state. 033
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/10/2025I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the headline for this article should’ve been some version of this. 020
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Conveniently for Microsoft, one of those required changes involves granting permission to analyze my content. Cloud storage has been super nice and convenient, but I might have to revert to just storing things on my physical machine and external storage devices again. 000
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 13/08/2025This is a mountain of materials they’ve demanded from these institutions. And the only reason they’re requiring these files is to analyze them with AI to cherry-pick phrases and words they don’t like. No one is going through this and reading it themselves. 1104
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 01/08/2025Been thinking about this book over the last couple of days. It offers great insight into REDMAP and redistricting processes in 2010, which was a major turning point in how we ended up with a lot of these ridiculous state and federal legislative districts that we have today. 110
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 24/07/2025Book 9 of 2025. Been on my list for a long time, but I finally got around to it. A heavy read, but it was really great. 140
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 11/07/2025Book 8 of 2025. This subject certainly isn’t my area of expertise, but I really enjoyed this book! Understanding these events as an ongoing settler colonial project rather than simply viewing them as a “conflict” was spot on and made complete sense to me. 010
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 03/07/2025Book 7 of 2025! Finished it a couple of weeks ago, but seemed kind of fitting to post it today. I think there’s definitely a broader lesson here about taking a nuanced view on how technology transforms warfare. 060
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 19/06/2025You can get a sense of how far some of these people are traveling in this letter from a Freedmen's Bureau agent in Houston. He lists 10 different counties from which Black Texans are traveling to communicate with him. /12 111
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 19/06/2025For example, a white unionist relayed information to the Texas Freedmen's Bureau HQ from a freedman named Ben that freedpeople in Madison County "absolutely required a bureau agent for their protection." /9 111
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 19/06/2025When one officer returned from touring counties north of Houston in November 1865, he reported that "in some parts. . .the negroes are not yet free." In this letter, he mentions that enslavers continued to whip Black people, hunt them with bloodhounds, and other atrocities. /7 111
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 19/06/2025The last line in Gordon Granger's order on June 19, 1865, reads: "[Black people] are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” /4 111
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 31/05/2025Book 6 of 2025: I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book before I read it, and it truly lived up to all the hype! 000
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 30/05/2025It helps to have a research plan, but sometimes you just happen to find cool and helpful stuff in the archives. My favorite find of the day was this WWII overlay. 130
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 26/05/2025To request the specific boxes you want, you're going to spend a lot of time filling out slips that look like these! You need to fill out one slip per box unless the box numbers are consecutive numbers from the same set of records. 110
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Some of the most important pics I take during my research visits are definitely pics of the finding aids. I was able to take my time, think about what records I wanted to see, and make a plan. It certainly helped with citations later as well. 120
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Unfortunately, the finding aids that you need (the ones with information about the number of boxes, ledgers, etc. that are in a particular entry for a record group and their catalog numbers) are mostly only available in binders and archive boxes onsite at the National Archives! 110
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 14/05/2025Book 5 of 2025! Great book on the intersection of immigration, slavery, law, and federal vs. state power in the U.S. throughout the 19th century 110
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 20/04/2025What could possibly go wrong? www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/u... 133
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Book 4 of 2025! It’s been on my list for quite some time, but I finally got around to it. Racial integration in the U.S. military was a contested and complex process rather than a moment, and this book is a good intro to that subject. 121
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 02/04/2025Book 3 of 2025! Absolutely loved the expanded definition of resistance and the various forms resistance has assumed for Black people throughout history. 220
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 16/03/2025Great article, but this is the part that really stuck out to me. These kinds of errors are going to continue and probably get worse. People who don’t have the resources or time to contest the error will likely just lose the benefits and be in awful shape. But that’s probably the point. 0114
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 26/02/2025To be honest, I should’ve canceled it a long time ago. 050
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 12/02/2025I kinda fell behind on reading, but here’s Book 2 of 2025! Rather than focusing solely on violence, it’s a great window into how patterns of cooperation and coexistence often structured life in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. 150
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 19/01/2025Book 1 of 2025! Over the next four years, most of us are going to be really tuned in to events at the national level, but this book is a useful reminder to pay attention to what’s happening at the local and state levels as well. 121
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 09/01/2025And this part shows how a city prosecutor and a sergeant from a sheriff’s department were part of the far-right group. 011
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 09/01/2025The entire article is worth reading, but this part specifically lays out how confident a far-right group was in their ties to law enforcement. www.propublica.org/article/ap3-... 100
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 12/12/2024Just raising prices because they can. Alternatives to cable are inching closer to the cost of cable, if not more. 041
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 08/12/2024This data shows that in 2022, racial/ethnic minorities comprised around 45 percent of the active duty component of the army. Ignoring how race impacts the lives of such a large proportion of the fighting force is just absolutely crazy. 1153
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 25/11/2024This is a great book that shows how people in power weaponize the idea of “efficiency” to drastically reshape the federal employment sector. Certainly worth a read now, given the current discourse about federal employees. 242
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 11/11/2024Veterans Day is certainly a great day to mention this book. We don’t really talk about the Korean War much, and we certainly don’t talk enough about Black Americans’ experiences in the Korean War. This book offers a lens into those experiences through the words of Black service members themselves. 161
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/11/2024Nas and the National Symphony Orchestra (this past July, Wolf Trap, Virginia) 010
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/11/2024Book 11 of 2024: Finally got around to reading this one a couple of months ago, and it feels especially relevant after this week. Certainly worth a read! 041
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/11/2024Book 10: This is a great introduction for anyone interested in how Black Americans’ transformative experiences during the First World War was an important part of the long struggle for civil rights in the U.S. 100
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 10/11/2024Alright, so I fell way behind with continuing to post these, but here’s book 9 of 2024 and a great addition to the history of emancipation and Reconstruction. 120
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 09/11/2024Been thinking about this book a lot over the last couple of days and the absolutely vile information ecosystems that are a huge problem and will probably only get worse. 1134
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 29/09/2024Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,141,200! Happy to reconnect with and hear from so many of the folks who left the other place. 010
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 28/06/2024Other than WaPo’s feeble attempt, not a word here about how the other candidate just lobbed BS the whole time. All CNN did was give him a platform for his nonsense. 000
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 15/05/2024Book 8 of 2024! Obviously a different context, but the discussion of white supremacy, disinformation campaigns, the overthrow of democratically-elected governments, and the suppression of dissent really hit home in a terrifying way. 110
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 02/05/2024Book 7 of 2024! Glad I finally got around to reading this one! Amazing work on the intersection of the domestic slave trade, sexual exploitation of enslaved women, and socially reproductive labor. It’s also a good example of how to do microhistory really well! Heavy stuff, but highly recommend! 120
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 03/04/2024Book 5 of 2024 and another fantastic read! Frankly, the discussion of vigilantes and the conflicts among local, state, and federal entities surrounding immigration in the U.S. made me think a lot about the ongoing craziness with Texas and SB4. 120
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 21/03/2024Book 4 of 2024! Enjoyed the examination of both U.S. and British bombing campaigns in Europe, along with analysis of the responses to and consequences of them. 100
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 23/02/2024Book 3 of 2024! Sort of fell behind with reading over the last month or so, but I liked this one a lot. Great insight into how the war shaped ideas about loyalty and political participation among junior officers and soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. 120
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 23/01/2024Book 2 of 2024! This one’s been on my ever-growing list of must-read books for a long time. Finally got around to reading it, and I loved it! Really shows that emancipation was a complex and uneven process that varied across time and space. 162
Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 13/01/2024Thank you, NFL! I’m sure many others are having the same conversations today 😂😂 021