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Karl Ittmann

@kittmann.bsky.social
170 followers 107 following 179 posts

Historian of Britain and the British Empire. Author of Fuelling Empire: The British Imperial Oil Complex 1896-1945 published by Oxford University Press June 2025. Emeritus Professor of History, University of Houston.

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Ilhan Omar @ilhanmn.bsky.social · 13h
I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 12h
We're marking the centenary of the most fateful year in the history of the British labour movement. Two weeks today I'll be giving a talk for the Edinburgh Historical Association about the centenary of the general strike and the miners' lockout. Sign up🔽
eventbrite.co.uk
Edinburgh and the General Strike of 1926
History talk on the General Strike of 1926 framed within an Edinburgh context
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Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Tikkun Olam
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
"Whatever we call it, Bashford says, the eugenicists of a century ago “would undoubtedly be delighted at contemporary possibilities for reproductive selections.”" Good to see @danfalk.bsky.social digging into the ugly return of eugenic thinking. nautil.us/the-return-o...
nautil.us
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience: Eugenics is rearing its ugly head again in today’s crucible of politics and culture
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Migrant Futures Institute @migrantfutures.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Upcoming #Migration&Mobility Seminar from our friends @ihr.bsky.social on 'Race and the Rent Collector' exploring the changing relationship between housing and migration in modern Britain.
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Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Paxton’s support isn’t rooted in racism, it’s just an accident that every Paxton text I get is about being white.
YOUR NAME could be put on a terrorist watchlist in Texas...
...if you have white skin
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Chloë Mayoux @chloemayoux.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
👑
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 08/10/2026
NEW: America’s largest professional group of pediatricians has renewed its call for a nationwide ban on raw dairy products, warning of the serious health risks, particularly for children, as well as pregnant and immunocompromised people.
propublica.org
American Academy of Pediatrics Renews Call for Ban on Raw Milk
Citing the growing popularity of unpasteurized milk and the damage it can do to children, the nation’s largest professional group of pediatricians is seeking a nationwide ban on the sale and distribut...
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 08/10/2026
'[The] aim was not to deny or replace disabled people’s decision-making, but to recognise their legal capacity and provide the support they might need to exercise it themselves.' Paul van Trigt on the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Shared Personhood: Rethinking Human Rights through Cognitive Disability
Disabled people and their allies have transformed the liberal idea that the human person is autonomous. Paul van Trigt on the unintended consequences of Article 12 of the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
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Dave Mazella @davemazella.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Let's boost this again, shall we? @aaup.org
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Lesley A Hall @erinacean.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Back from limbo! the relaunch of Hosprec, the Hospital Records Database, with which I was involved for so many years www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/professional... 1/2
nationalarchives.gov.uk
Re-launching HOSPREC, the Hospital Records database
Researchers Giorgia Tolfo and Laura Robson-Mainwaring reflect on the usefulness of the Hospital Records database and how we are making it more accessible.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Registration link is now available for the 1st seminar of the 2026-27 season of the IHR's London Group of Historical Geographers. Join us to explore historical geographies of skill in the past. Free, hybrid in-person/online and open to the public. #Skystorians
history.ac.uk
Lines in pleasant places: the skill of butchery and the geography of the carcass
London Group of Historical Geographers
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Phantas McGoria @pamcg.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Guy who showed up expecting Irish modernism because the top billed other speakers are named Joyce and Beckett
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Chika Tonooka @chikatonooka.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Just set up Bluesky... because my book is now out in the US and as an e-book. (Coming to the UK on 1 December!) 30% discount code P329 at press.princeton.edu. @princetonupress.bsky.social
press.princeton.edu
Rival Civilisations
How British intellectuals of the twentieth century reckoned with the emergence of an Asian power
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 04/10/2026
the idea that rufo has, at any point in his public career, been a sincere advocate for “colorblind meritocracy” is brain dead
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Somehow not everyone is aware of fact alluded to below. So one more time: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett were all on GWBush 2000 'Florida Recount' team. (Which made GWB first prez in 112 yrs to 'win' after losing popular vote. Now they 'impartially' rule on our future.)
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
'Green' and 'class' politics are often viewed as mutually hostile to each other. My research explores how British miners, electricity workers and builders articulated a distinctive working-class environmental politics in the 1970s and 80s. You can read my new article here.
tandfonline.com
‘The true conservationists’: British trade union environmental politics in the late twentieth century
This article demonstrates British energy trade unionists engaged intently with environmental debates during the 1970s and 1980s. These findings challenge dominant interpretations of the emergence o...
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Dave Mazella @davemazella.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If you wanted to spot the precise blind spot of higher ed journalism, it would be this: what is happening is not the usual ups & downs HE has always had, but an intentional DOGE-like destruction of a crucial infrastructure of lives & careers that serve literally millions of lives. @chronicle.com
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 01/10/2026
Why was a Māori sweet potato introduced to Nigeria - and what can it tell us about the nature of colonial rule? In the first of our posts for Black History Month, James Akpu explores the global history of the kūmara.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Botanical Imperialism and the Making of Cragg's Kūmara    
Why was a Māori sweet potato introduced to Nigeria - and what can it tell us about the nature of colonial rule? James Akpu explores the global history of the kūmara.
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Keri Leigh Merritt @kerileighmerritt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today is book release day!!! So thrilled that An Inconvenient Woman is finally out after years of research & writing. Thanks to everyone who has ordered or told their library to order - I truly appreciate you!♥️♥️♥️ @stmartinspress.bsky.social us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
us.macmillan.com
An Inconvenient Woman
A revelatory and immersive biography of a white Southern woman who was a key figure in the early civil rights movement, devoting her life to ending segregati...
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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“I appreciate Dr. Cruz’s provocation, but remain unpersuaded that writing is overvalued in higher education, particularly in graduate and professional schools” danieldrezner.substack.com/p/im-a-colle...
danieldrezner.substack.com
I’m a College Professor. Writing is Pretty Damn Important.
It’s hardly the only thing -- but it’s a very important thing!
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Lesley A Hall @erinacean.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is no one The Greatest, there is the best for the particular moment.
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Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My department is hiring an Assistant/Associate Professor of Public History! I am on the committee so please let me know if you have questions and please feel free to share! Job ID 303951. campus.kennesaw.edu/faculty-staf...
campus.kennesaw.edu
Careers - Human Resources
find your next great career opportunity by finding jobs through the Department of Human Resources at Kennesaw State University!
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
nobody genuinely believes that grasping complex arguments or learning to put words in order to express thoughts skilfully is no longer important in a general sense. but *many* people believe that it's no longer important that other people's children be able to do so, especially if it costs anything
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Alice Reid @amrcampop.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Interested in a PhD in historical demography/population studies at @camunicampop.bsky.social, @camunigeography.bsky.social, Cambridge University? We have 3 suggested topics (see thread): contact me to discuss, or to suggest your own idea. Apply by early December for funded places.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
'An exhibition highlighting how news of the atrocity reached Britain much earlier than is commonly understood will tour the country after being viewed privately by MPs at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate at Westminster in September.'
theguardian.com
Britain knew about the Holocaust as it happened. A new exhibition reckons with that truth
Research draws upon reporting and witness testimony, while a permanent memorial is planned for London
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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Listening to academic administrators talk about the loss of trust in academia, the need to listen to what the public want us to focus on—without any recognition that this crisis is in large part manufactured by bad faith actors.
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Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Why is the answer to employers wanting more work ready graduates always that universities should provide more workplace training, rather than employers providing more training in the workplace?
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Lembas Eater @waybread.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The problem with education is that it's a solved problem. Students need small classes, individual attention, lots of writing, lots of feedback, access to a well-stocked library, time to think, and time to talk with their peers. We just don't like the answer, so we keep trying to do other stuff.
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Lesley A Hall @erinacean.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My review of Rebecca Jennings, Lesbian Intimacies and Family Life: Desire, Domesticity and Kinship in Britain and Australia for H-Albion is finally available online www.h-net.org/reviews/show...
h-net.org
H-Net Reviews
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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
'History is a Human Craft'. In piece about ethics, our classrooms and AI, I suppose I've put up my barricades and drawn my lines. I suggest 8 'considerations' before we do any teaching with AI. This is part of a new @royalhistsoc.org short series on 'AI and History Teaching' in Transactions.
blog.royalhistsoc.org
History is a human craft | Historical Transactions
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TheNACBS @thenacbs.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
📢NACBS-Folger Institute Fellowship 📌Applications due Jan 15 The NACBS-Huntington Library Fellowship aids dissertation research in British Studies using the collection of the library. More info here: www.nacbs.org/fellowships/...
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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My old boss has asked me to give his new book a social media bump, because he has wisely chosen never to set up his own account! So I’m happy to announce that ‘Britain’s Slave Traders: A Hidden History’ is available today in all good bookshops! www.penguin.co.uk/books/460026...
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Chris Solari @chrissolari.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
MSU officially rules LB Brady Pretzlaff out for Saturday's game with Nebraska. First availability report of the season here.
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Texas AFL-CIO @texasaflcio.org · 22/09/2026
“He’s not for labor. He’s just for the rich.” While ignoring Texans’ needs, Greg Abbott has accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from billionaires. We need elected officials that protect working Texans, not out-of-state billionaires that keep rigging the system against us.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 23/09/2026
OTD in 2019, Thomas Cook travel agency declared insolvency. In this piece from the archive, Alan McNee considers how the rise of Thomas Cook was perhaps the greatest force for popularising and democratising travel in the 19th century.
historyworkshop.org.uk
We're All Going On A Summer Holiday: The Rise of Thomas Cook
After the recent dramatic collapse of the tour provider Thomas Cook, Alan McNee explores how the firm was perhaps the nineteenth century’s greatest force for popularizing and democratizing travel.
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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
John M MacKenzie, the founding editor of the Manchester University Press Studies in Inperialism series that i have the honour of co-editing, has sadly passed away. Our tributes here: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2026/09...
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Celebrating the life and contribution of John M MacKenzie - Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press remembers Professor John M. MacKenzie, founding editor of Studies in Imperialism, with tributes from colleagues reflecting on his scholarship, generosity and lasting legacy...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Simon Layton Book Launch – Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World c.1780-1850. Royal Asiatic Society Thursday 24 September 6-8pm. Free and open to the public. #Skystorians
royalasiaticsociety.org
Simon Layton Book Launch – Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World c.1780-1850
24 September (Thursday)
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Team Talarico @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW AD: Ken Paxton loves to make false claims about James Talarico’s record on China. But he’s been hiding his own. Paxton took an all-expenses-paid trip to China to meet with Communist Party leaders — then took massive donations from China-linked real estate developers.
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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Nearly 4 million records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable www.theguardian.com/news/2026/se...
theguardian.com
Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online
Exclusive: Collection’s 300,000 pages record lives of enslaved people in countries including the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Mauritius, South Africa and Trinidad
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 22/09/2026
'Our political engagement involved questioning what we knew, understanding our circumstances within wider structures of power, and participating in their transformation'. In this essay, Shahrzad Mojab reflects on her political education in 1970s Iranian student politics.
historyworkshop.org.uk
Revolutionary Learning
Transforming the world around us begins with learning to see and inhabit it differently. Shahrzad Mojab reflects on her political education in the 1970s Iranian student movement in the United States.
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Abigail Swingen @abigailswingen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Working on a book, article, or dissertation on #18thc British world? The Lewis Walpole Library offers 4-week visiting fellowships and 2-week travel grants for scholars. The deadline for applications is November 2. 🗃️ More info: walpole.library.yale.edu/fellowships/...
walpole.library.yale.edu
Visiting Fellowships and Travel Grants | Lewis Walpole Library
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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Moments on Moscow streets 101 years ago Henry Sara's photos capture the Soviet Union in a period of uncertainty, 8 years after the revolution and a year after Lenin's death These images and more are online at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Moscow street scene taken in 1925. The driver of a horse-drawn cab or cart is caught staring back at the camera.Photograph of children on a street corner in Moscow, taken in 1925. One is wearing a Red Army hat and lighting a cigarette.
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
There’s more to be said about the relationship between Pinker-style stardom and the state of academia. Not because academia is Woke, but because star systems loosen rigor at the top while solid scholarship becomes a dead end lower down. Shoddy celebrities and broke PhDs proceed from the same machine
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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Miss Varley kicks off ⚽ In 1913/4 textile workers at Chipping Norton's Bliss Tweed Mill embarked on an 8 month strike over union recognition Workers' Union organiser Joan Varley was a key figure in the dispute (and had a knack for a photo opportunity) More images at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...
Printed photo of a woman in a tailored jacket, long skirt and hat standing in the centre circle of a football pitch. She is resting one boot on the ball. A man in a suit and several men dressed in football kit can be seen in the background. Caption: 'Chipping Norton v. Witney Workers' Union, at Witney, 1914. Miss Varley kicking off.'
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Rick Herrera @herreramilhist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Historians & Harry Bosch: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.” screenrant.com/harry-bosch-...
screenrant.com
31 Years Ago, Harry Bosch’s Best Quote Defined Michael Connelly's Book Franchise
This quote is the foundation of Bosch.
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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Texans are angry at the Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas operations, for shutting them out of public comment and serving the industry instead of the public. This @saulelbein.bsky.social story forcefully shows why it's so important to elect @jon-rosenthaltx.bsky.social to the RRC.
expressnews.com
Texas' oil and gas regulator cuts out the public from its meetings
Last month the Railroad Commission of Texas — which oversees oil and gas, not railroads — ended guaranteed public comment at its monthly open meetings.
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Enjoyed discussing the value of studying energy history as labour history at Bristol University with Mattin Biglari, a historian of Iranian oil workers, and @linda83ross.bsky.social, a nuclear society and culture scholar. Thanks to the Telling (Other) Energy Stories conference for having us!
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