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James Crossland

@jamescrossland.bsky.social
2.7K followers 939 following 2.1K posts

Professor of History. Writer of books. Host of "History's Devils" ⬇️ historysdevils.buzzsprout.com youtube.com/@historysdevils #history #spies, #extremism, fake news, weird stories, terrible people and things that are not real 🗃️ 📚

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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 27/09/2026
One of the things that links Farage and Trumpism is the complete disregard for the seriousness of government, and restraint Vs making everything content.
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 26/09/2026
Whatever you do, don't smoke an entire brisket at a job interview, it's a lot of equipment to bring in, it takes a really long time to do it right and those conference rooms have notoriously poor ventilation
Someone smoking a brisket and poking it with a meat thermometer to see what the internal temperature is
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Family Guy sketch that ended up on the cutting room floor presented as serious political discourse.
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Emory 🩶 @emory-f8.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Did you know? In the Victorian era, an American religious community believed humanity was living on the inside surface of the Earth? The Koreshan Unity, founded by Cyrus Teed, taught one of the strangest cosmological systems to emerge during the nineteenth century. #Victorian #history #cults
It shows a Koreshan Unity promotional poster for their cult's magazine. Featured is a sphere with two halves of another sphere opened.

WE LIVE INSIDE!
DROP IN AND SEE US.
General Offices of The Koreshan System
313-317 Englewood Avenue, CHICAGO.
PHONE NORMAL 382.
OUR LITERATURE
May be Obtained at Hall Sunday Evenings.
The Flaming Sword, A 16-page Weekly Publication.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The best thing about the Man City verdict is that both Gallaghers will spend this weekend crying.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I see what you're saying - we get them to join the army so our national defence isn't quite so laughable? In other words, migrants = good. Got it. Thanks Mail. Keep doing what your doing.
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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
And if you find this subject interesting and important, there's a book, hailed as a "masterpiece" by Rory Stewart, waiting for your attention: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/elem...
uk.bookshop.org
Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive it: The first comprehensive account of the geopolitics of climate change
'An extraordinary mastery of geopolitics, combining years on the ground in the most challenging places, a raw instinct for politics and a deep ethical concern for the world in the face of climate cata...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 24/09/2026
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter. (Published Jan. 2025)
propublica.org
A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias. This Is What He Found.
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends....
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CSTPV @cstpv.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For anyone interested in radicalisation and political violence @jamescrossland.bsky.social History's Devils podcast with CSTPV's Tim Wilson offers a fascinating look at Princip's path to 28 June 1914, the murky role of the Black Hand, and how one man's act became the trigger for continental war
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
More ironclad content, I say!
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Emory 🩶 @emory-f8.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Did you know? In the Victorian era, an anti-Salvation Army movement called the “Skeleton Army” marched beneath skull-and-crossbones banners and fought battles with the Salvation Army? During the 1880s, the Salvation Army was a much more confrontational presence than today. #Victorian #history
It shows an image of a skeleton holding a pitchfork beneath a banner reading "The Skeleton."
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
‼️ Happy to announce that "The Afterwar: Britain's Secret Battle Against Revolutionaries, Rioters and Russians after WWI" is now available to pre-order ‼️ 📚 Support indie booksellers by pre-ordering your copy before 27 Sept to get 20% off with @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social @eandtbooks.bsky.social
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Every minute spent arguing about where exactly the boundaries of concepts like Britishness and Englishness is time not spent defending the principle that everyone should feel free to define their own identity as they choose - no-one else - and so doing the haters’ work for them
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Elliott & Thompson @eandtbooks.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
📚 Introducing The Afterwar, the gripping new book from @jamescrossland.bsky.social! What if the end of WW1 wasn’t the beginning of peace… but the beginning of another kind of conflict? 🗓 Out 25 Feb. Pre-order your copy before the end of the week to get 20% off with @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social!
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Roger Luckhurst @theprofrog.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The first thing you see on the new Quick Student Guide on AI and Academic Integrity document is an option to ‘get an AI summary of this PDF’
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This week's HISTORY'S DEVILS is a big one - Gavrilo Princip. Tim Wilson from @cstpv.bsky.social joined me to discuss this 19 year-old "trigger" of the First World War Listen ⬇️ 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...
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Jessy Edwards @jessyedwards.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I have no doubt in my mind that Hell Gate editor @jawnita.bsky.social could beat this dude in a fight. hellgatenyc.com/bill-the-but...
hellgatenyc.com
I Could Totally Take This 19th Century Nativist in a Fight
Some thoughts on Bill the Butcher's embarrassing death lithograph.
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Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There’s a place in Clare which the English call Lisfarbegnagommaun. In Irish it is called Lios Fear Beag na gCamán, the ring fort of the tiny hurley-wielding men. Some say that mushrooms growing nearby made the little lads visible.
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I wouldn't consider myself a particular expert in national security, but it is absolutely obvious what the problem is and what needs to be done. The failure of the UK government to respond to disorder over a sustained period is egregious.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/technology/2... All good stuff, but i wish this was talked about more explicitly by politicians in the UK rather than waiting for a UN assembly
theguardian.com
New UK agency to fight ‘information warfare’ from likes of Russia, Burnham tells UN
PM aims to ‘stem poisonous tide’ of disinformation and deepfakes with National Centre for Information Defence
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This week's HISTORY'S DEVILS is a big one - Gavrilo Princip. Tim Wilson from @cstpv.bsky.social joined me to discuss this 19 year-old "trigger" of the First World War Listen ⬇️ 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is what happens when you chicken out from enforcing the rule of law.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Entrance to the Mersey Tunnel, 1934, painting by T. B. Forshaw (Museum of Liverpool).
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Instead of using The Force to hit his torpedoes on the Death Star, Luke should have taken out headphones in his cockpit, and listened to the Mos Eisley cantina band to keep focus.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A big part of the reason we're in this current mess is because too many people only pay lip service to the idea of "remembering" WW2.
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Braden Serkas @portmanteauface.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
James Dean was in three movies. Three. None of them were great. You guys can try to build your legacies through a lifetime of meaningful achievements if you want. I’m going to continue focusing on what really matters: looking awesome
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lots of talk of growth ahead of the Budget, as if it were a baroque puzzle. Our problem is basic. It's that we no longer support the things which facilitate growth: Europe, immigration, higher education, tax simplification, policy stability. These are all choices and could stop making them anytime.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
An arch worth caring about
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/09/2026
"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational triumphal arch!"
Palpatine from Star Wars
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 20/09/2026
Instagram appears to be showing me headlines from 1642.
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Alan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ridicule *is* a powerful tactic against authoritarianism. Caudillos like DJT can stand many things but being laughed at is not one of them.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 20/09/2026
I can't get over how visibly insane he is these days. This is like reading a note from your great aunt who insists she used to be married to Winston Churchill.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Evening.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 18/09/2026
It is incredibly important that political violence does not succeed. The far-right mob that shut down Portsmouth wanted this outcome. If the state wishes to avoid more of these actions, it needs to make sure this RNLI branch reopens *immediately*, or as close to that as humanly possible.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This person needs every electronic device in her posession to be smashed with a hammer and a thorough psych evaluation.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Is the ghost of Roy Cohn the Great and Powerful Oz?
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"The reality is that Russia believes it's been at war with Nato since 2014. Not a conventional war, but a war designed to undermine the integrity of target states or alliances." Boom. And no, we're not ready in any way, shape or form. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article....
bbc.co.uk
War may be coming. Are we psychologically ready?
The military and government say the risk of conflict is growing, but we may not be mentally ready for it
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
When you're so disconnected from reality that you don't even pretend to care anymore. In years to come, Farage will be studied as an example of what happens when public figures spend too much time online.
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Ned Raggett @nedraggett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Okay so @defector.com has had an odd glitch since the site redesign a couple of weeks back where the wrong photo and headline are often put together on the main page and I was going to ask them about fixing it but this just happened and as far as I'm concerned they have to leave it as is.
Screenshot for a Defector podcast episode with the headline "Consider the Emotional Lives of Scallops" only the accompanying photo is a white gormless stubbled red-headed UK singer of recent notoriety giving a flat smile to the camera while wearing a washed out peach top as beige as he is against a flat background. So, actually, probably a scallop anyway.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 17/09/2026
I think you can make judgements about not using your resources to change this, but yeah, there are a lot of people with limited interest in the complexities of the world around them and sometimes they get rich and famous. And writing bland pop is definitely likely to overlap with that.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
‼️ This week, I'm joined by @nicmorton.bsky.social to discuss Raynald de Châtillon, the most notorious Crusader and nemesis of Saladin! Listen here ⬇️ ⚔️ 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...
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Emory 🩶 @emory-f8.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Did you know? In the Victorian era, your neighbors could punish you for bad behavior by gathering outside your house and making as much unbearable noise as humanly possible? Known as “rough music,” this old form of community punishment was popular in the UK and US. #Victorian #history
It shows an illustration of a community playing rough music outside a person's house.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of James Joyce’s prose that is creating barriers to monitoring and oversight" Solution - all AI monitors to train by watching Deadwood. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language and tech bro jargon
Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of James Joyce’s prose that is creating barriers to monitoring and oversight
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
But, he looks like such a "friendly, not in any way suppressing impotent rage behind a heartless stare" kinda guy?
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Llanberis Pass, Eryri/Snowdonia, north Wales, photo by Jessica Wright, Californian travel blogger.
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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 14/09/2026
🧵 Peter Keeley, a former MI5 agent who spent 15 years undercover in the IRA, now works for Stephen Lennon AKA Tommy Robinson. He’s supplying covertly-procured information while being supported by the British taxpayer. hopenothate.org.uk/lennons-secr...
hopenothate.org.uk
Lennon's Secret Agent
A former MI5 agent who operated as an IRA bomb maker is now working for Stephen Lennon. Despite still being supported by the British taxpayer, Peter Keeley appears to have broken the law by supplying ...
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Jonathan Boff @jfb1066.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I have the great honour of delivering this. Please do come. www.bcmh.org.uk/richard-holm...
bcmh.org.uk
Richard Holmes Lecture 2026 | British Commission for Military History
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Emory 🩶 @emory-f8.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Did you know? In the Victorian era, a woman ran for President of the United States nearly half a century before American women gained the right to vote? Victoria Woodhull became the first woman recognized as a candidate for president of the United States. #Victorian #history #feminism #women
It shows a photograph of Victoria Woodhull.
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
‼️ Does evil thrive when the good do nothing? (Or, very little!) This week, myself and Roger Moorhouse discuss the failure of Claus von Stauffenberg's plot against Hitler, and question the effectiness of the German Opposition. Listen here ⬇️ 🎧 🗃 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...
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