iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Just back from a much-needed break from the cold, snow, and ice: a week in San Antonio and Corpus Christi, where it was warm and sunny EVERY SINGLE DAY. And also I lost at miniature golf (twice).

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Happy Tuesday, all, and it is PUBLICATION DAY for THE GREAT SHADOW: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy! Raise a glass, join my virtual publication party and post cheers! www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/susan-w... podcast.show/historically...

barnesandnoble.com

The Great Shadow: A Guest Post by Susan Wise Bauer - B&N Reads

History and storytelling illuminate the surprising ways that illness influenced human views and behaviors throughout time and continues to today. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Susan Wise ...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

"Ms. Bauer winsomely threads scenes and vignettes from contemporary life throughout her book, especially from our polarized landscape, still haunted as it is by the Covid-19 pandemic." Enjoy the reviews, and, if you're feeling like it, order a copy. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

wsj.com

‘The Great Shadow’ Review: Sickness and Civilization

Only four to five generations ago, most people, most of the time, died of infectious disease.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

And the Wall Street Journal says: "The Great Shadow' benefits from Ms. Bauer’s keen sense for the way the bodily experience of disease so readily takes on psychological and spiritual freight..."

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

The New York Post writes: "Our evolving theories about what makes us sick haven’t just changed medicine, Bauer argues.They’ve shaped civilization itself, influencing our religions, political systems, consumer habits, prejudices, and even our understanding of the universe." nypost.com/2026/01/17/w...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Two big events over the coming week--the pending icepocalypse and the publication date on Tuesday January 27, of my new book THE GREAT SHADOW: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy. I am distracting myself from the upcoming loss of power with the two newest reviews.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

I took a bit of a break from Substack over the holidays, but I'm back to work now. Come visit me there for my most recent post. open.substack.com/pub/susanwis...

open.substack.com

The Elephant in the Room

We're still blaming illness on immigrants

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I'll be keynoting in Charleston, WV at the end of the month. On 2/20, I'm presenting at William and Mary. And the audiobook of THE GREAT SHADOW is an Audible "Most Anticipated in 2026" selection! events.wm.edu/event/view/l... www.audible.com/pd/The-Great... wvhsn.betterworld.org/events/west-...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

January friend trip IN the books. Charleston was beautiful and I love these crazy women.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Finally made it to Chicago for tomorrow's American Historical Association panel. Headed out to find a burger before bed...and every joint in the city has the Packers-Bears wild card game on the screen and is stuffed with fans. I love Chicago. It's so purely its own particular thing.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Saturday, January 31, 2026 West Virginia Homeschool Connection Event 2026 Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Charleston, West Virginia wvhomeschoolnetwork.com/home-248744

wvhomeschoolnetwork.com

Saturday, January 31, 2026, from 9 AM - 5 PM EST at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Sunday, January 11, 2026 American Historical Society Annual Meeting Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago www.historians.org/events/annua... 11-12:30, What Historians Should Know about Classical Education Hilton Chicago, Williford B

historians.org

Annual Meeting - AHA

Join Us at the Annual Meeting Connect with Your Community Since 1884, the American Historical Association annual meeting has been the premier gathering for historians to come together to share researc...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Quick January speaking update! On 1/11, I’ll be chairing a panel discussion about classical education at the annual American Historical Society conference in Chicago. Guests welcome! And on 1/31, I’m keynoting the WVHC annual meeting in Charleston, West Virginia, as well as doing a workshop.

historians.org

Annual Meeting - AHA

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

(You might think that how the book actually sells, once people start reading it and recommending it to others, is more important, but in the weird world of bookselling, the orders placed before readers actually have access to the whole work are a huge deal.)

scientificamerican.com

Excerpt—The Great Shadow, by Susan Wise Bauer

In an exclusive excerpt of her new book The Great Shadow, historian Susan Wise Bauer explores how sickness is distinct from injury and has shaped the way we think about ourselves and our world

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Less than a month to go before publication date for my new book—it’s a slightly nerve-wracking time as we wait for final reviews and pre-order numbers.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Christmas. A completely relaxed holiday with presents and burgers (they were delicious!) and homemade Yule log and cookies. We all needed that.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

It is time to sign off social media, and cook, and play games, and watch old movies, and feed animals. So although I might pop back in with an update or two, I think it's now time to observe an older, deeper pattern of life, and step away until after Christmas.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

I have rarely regretted *not* saying something. As a person, that is. As a writer and business owner, I feel massive pressure to stay...visible. But, I resist. We're well into Advent, and I'm looking forward to Christmas.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Dear followers, the news has been dreadful over the past week; although I have observations I want to make about our world, and about classical education, and about history, and about all of the things I study and write about, I have simply felt that at the moment, silence is the wisest strategy.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

I’m on board with all of the objections in this article. But none of this is NEW. It’s been going on for decades. This default to smaller, simpler, more digestible sections of literature has been part of American education since at least the 1970s. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

nytimes.com

Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

us.macmillan.com/books/978125... bookshop.org/p/books/the-... www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-... www.indigo.ca/.../the-grea... www.amazon.com/Great-Shadow...

us.macmillan.com

The Great Shadow

"Allows readers to practically experience firsthand how humans have adapted to and dealt with disease throughout history...necessary and timely...engaging an...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

And the Audible version is now available for pre-order as well. Plenty of links below for your to explore--and thanks for following along. www.audible.com/pd/The-Great... www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?i... www.instagram.com/p/DRQBjt3khyl/ www.libraryjournal.com/review/the-g...

audible.com

The Great Shadow

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. "Allows readers to practically experience firsthand how humans have adapted to and dealt with disease throughout history...necessary and timely...engaging a...

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Thank you, Library Journal! Additional thanks to Shelf Awareness ("informative and lively"), Arlene and Company ("a five star read"), and Booklist ("especially fascinating") for their reviews.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

"Her research is impeccable, with hundreds of references listed in a notes section at the book’s end." VERDICT Both specialists and lay readers will be captivated by the narrative of Bauer’s necessary and timely work, which manages to be at once stark and sobering, yet engaging and entertaining."

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Time for a Great Shadow update! I'm thrilled that the book just got a starred review in Library Journal, which said in part: "Bauer’s storytelling style allows readers to practically experience firsthand how humans have adapted to and dealt with disease throughout history."

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Snow day album! It's still coming down and I'm feeling all festive and holiday-ish!

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Which she did. The TA has been put on administrative leave and Ms. Fulnecky is being praised by TPUSA, among other conservative Christian organizations, for her bravery. Higher education has its problems. This is not the way to address them.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

I can’t speak to Ms. Fulnecky’s motivations. But the *appearance* here is certainly that she chose a class in which the TA was transgender (something which doesn’t have anything to do with whether the rubric was properly applied) to make a point.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Then, doing a little fact checking, I found out that Ms. Fulnecky is a junior psychology major. A junior, taking a class in her major field, who turns in a completely inappropriate paper should absolutely expect to get a failing grade. She knows the expectations by year 3 of her college career.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

It seemed that the TA grading the paper was too inexperienced to react properly—to invite the student to office hours, explain the criteria again, and give her chance to rewrite and submit, with a letter grade taken off for lateness.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Coming into a class with all of your defenses firmly in place is not the best posture for learning; I’ve gotten my share of freshman essays that footnote the Bible instead of dealing with the text. And there would have been shared responsibility.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

It takes them at least a semester to realize that we, the professors, generally aren’t out to sabotage their faith. (I say generally as I can’t speak to all motivations, but in the English department at William & Mary, we were mostly just trying to teach them close reading and decent writing.)

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

IAfter nearly twenty years of teaching freshmen, I could 100% see this scenario unfolding. My take: the child headed off to the U of O having been thoroughly warned about the godlessness of a secular university and her responsibility to uphold Biblical truth. I’ve taught those kids.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

If you’ve been wandering around on any social media channelsou’ve probably seen the polemical posts about Samantha Fulnecky, the University of Oklahama student who got a 0 on her response essay because she turned in an opinion piece instead of an academic response with proper citation.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

This is a first for me. I analyzed a TikTok trend! Have a read and tell me what you think. open.substack.com/pub/susanwis...

open.substack.com

Potatoes in Your Socks

The MAHA agenda and its unexpected connection to ancient Greek philosophy

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Successful Thanksgiving weekend--the trees are trimmed, all the traditional Christmas decorations are out, and we're thoroughly into the holiday season!

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

We might change it up a bit next year, but for this year, it was the perfect transition from the old to the next.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

We watched What About Bob? and Zootopia and random episodes of Frasier. We fed all the livestock twice and put up the Christmas tree (to be decorated tomorrow at breakfast) and played more games. (I won Citadel, not that that's important.)

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Reporting back in! Thanksgiving Day was relaxed and joyful. We had cinnamon rolls at 11 and then basically ate small plates the rest of the day, mostly one or two things at a time. Everyone opened their Advent calendars. There were games. We kept the fire going all day.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

I’m setting all the food out at 11 AM. We’re going to spend the day in our great room with a fire, movies, and family games. Everyone can help themselves to whatever they want to eat whenever they want to eat it, They can join in games and movies as they choose. They don’t have to wear shoes.

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Susan Wise Bauer @sjwbauer.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

After Mom died, I fixed the same meal for all my people. We sat down and ate it. It took fifteen minutes and then everyone was done (after three full days of cooking). I retreated to the sofa and wept. It all felt false and awful and I couldn’t even say why. So here’s what we’re doing this year.

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