Jason Heppler
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jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler
@jasonheppler.org
4.3K followers 880 following 1.3K posts

Historian of the North American West | Writes from a farmstead on the tall grass prairies of central Nebraska | Books and more: jasonheppler.org | Views own | ⚓

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History 21%
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jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · Sep 18
I’m joining the starter pack train: here’s a bunch of historians of the American West here on Bluesky!

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Richard Waite, Jason A. Heppler

jcsalterego.bsky.social
Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 8h
welcome to bluesky. if the word "mapquest" means anything to you and/or you used it as a verb, you're in the right place

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 13h
I'll be eagerly picking up a copy, congrats!

Reposted by Steven High, Jason A. Heppler

coryhaala.bsky.social
Cory Haala @coryhaala.bsky.social · 13h
And just like that, it's real.

When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.

Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland
www.press.uillinois.edu

Reposted by Jason A. Heppler, Nathan P. Kalmoe

datasociety.bsky.social
Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 15h
Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile, but an analysis of permit filings by @restofworld.org shows only a small number of potential positions — and most are not skilled IT jobs, but those in security and cleaning. restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...
Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise
Chile and tech giants promise economy-wide impact but permits show fewer onsite jobs after construction.
restofworld.org

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 1d
Not bad for a first attempt.
A block of wood in the process of being carved sits on a cutting mat surrounded by wood shavings, with carving tools nearby. A small, unfinished wooden snowman sculpture with twig arms stands on a cutting mat amidst wood shavings, with a carving tool nearby.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 2d
Spending a drizzly morning on some planning before heading out to work on farmstead tasks.
A manual and a vintage service guide rest on a countertop beside a ceramic mug.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 3d
ah the midwest “interesting”

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 4d
Currently reading: Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place by Brooks Lamb 📚

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 4d
Hello.
A young chicken stands on wood shavings in front of a water dispenser inside a coop.

Reposted by Jason A. Heppler, Karin Wulf

larryglickman.bsky.social
Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 4d
I wish Douthat had followed up and asked Andrews what "areas of inquiry" have been "ruled out of bounds in history" because they are "too controversial" and lead historians away from "truth seeking."
Andrews: Well, no. Let me maybe reframe it in a way that will make a point that seems very obvious to me, clear to the people at this table. If there are more female historians than male historians, that will have some effects on what gets studied in history. You will have more social history and feminist history, and a lot less military history and economic history. Now, I’m willing to say that that’s sort of fine, and that maybe the old male-dominated history profession did not do enough social history. And we can all probably agree that the correct balance for the history profession is a little bit of each. That’s kind of a neutral result of feminization. On the other hand, the fact that certain areas of inquiry are ruled out of bounds in history or in psychology now because they are too controversial, that — which is what wokeness is — seems like a genuine problem. That’s not just that feminization has caused some changes, and some of them are good and some of them are bad, and we all need to learn how to live with the world being different now — that’s a bad thing, because it involves history or psychology not doing what it is supposed to do, which is pursue the truth.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 5d
Finished reading: American Zion: A New History of Mormonism by Benjamin E. Park 📚

Reposted by Jason A. Heppler

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 5d
In a list of the most important technologies that have shaped the American West, barbed wire would be near the top. It's great for the livestock industry, but can harm wildlife.
Barbed wire fences dot the West. There’s a growing movement to take them down -- for wildlife
Every two and a half miles of barbed wire is responsible for killing one deer, elk or pronghorn a year, one study estimated.
n.pr

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 5d
The coffee is especially good today.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 6d
“See, the truck nobody else wanted had been my office. I’d built a portable desk inside it. My truck desk, I called it. A couple of planks screwed together, our union sticker slapped on, the whole deal sealed with shellac.”
My Truck Desk by Bud Smith
October 29, 2025 – “Now that I had my Truck Desk, that vehicle was my very own rolling cubicle.”
www.theparisreview.org

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 7d
Really excited to see our new issue of Current Research in Digital History with articles on topic models, event extraction modeling, network visualizations, maps, visualizing art, and computational analysis on congressional roll call votes.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Colin F. Camerer, Charles West , and 4 more

esqueer.net
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 10d
Cuomo keeps embarrassing himself with AI slop ads.

Reposted by Jason A. Heppler

masbenmaas.bsky.social
Ben Maas @masbenmaas.bsky.social · 10d
"Certain chemicals used on farms, including pesticides and herbicides, have been linked to increased cancer rates. There’s also some evidence that nitrates, which can seep into drinking water from crop fields, are linked to some forms of cancer."

minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...
Report: Cancer rates rising among young people in the Corn Belt • Minnesota Reformer
The six states that lead in corn production — Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas — have seen higher rates of cancer among young people than other states over the past decade, acco...
minnesotareformer.com

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 12d
That’s not what those are for, ladies.
Chickens roosting in the ceiling rafters.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 12d
huh I guess the Latinos I touch on in my book organizing a voter registration drive in San Jose to improve their neighborhood‘s conditions shoulda stayed home

*checks notes* wait no I’m sorry their voter drive helped. Weird.

Reposted by James Grimmelmann, Jason A. Heppler

rosenthorne.bsky.social
Rosen Thorne @rosenthorne.bsky.social · 13d
We gotta normalize responding to bullshit with "dude who fucking cares"

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 13d
An impending wind storm and drop in temperatures means we christen the new chicken coop tonight. Still some work to wrap up, but close enough to keep everybody safe and warm.

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 13d
I made a similar point last week at our generative AI roundtable. LLMs cannot know History or our sources because it mimics them back. Our sources are unreliable narrators and these systems cannot handle ambiguity—feed it that ambiguity, we get ambiguity back.
astrokatie.com Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · Jun 19
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Dorothy Bishop, John R. Hutchinson , and 15 more

noethematt.bsky.social
Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 13d
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 14d
I’m bearish on generative AI and it’s role in historical research, but stuff like this is genuinely interesting.
The leading AI models are now good historians
... in specific domains. Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
resobscura.substack.com

Reposted by Libby Robin, Jason A. Heppler

dollyjorgensen.bsky.social
Dolly Jørgensen @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social · 15d
There are now 183 videos of our Greenhouse #envhum book talks available to view via our Vimeo showcase. This includes our most recent talks.

You can also listen to the audio-only podcast, which is slightly behind with 154 episodes available: newnatures.org/greenhouse/f...
Greenhouse Environmental Humanities Book Talks
Book talks with authors of recent books in environmental humanities, with the authors in discussion with Dolly Jørgensen and Finn Arne Jørgensen, University of Stavanger, Norway. The book talks are he...
vimeo.com

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 17d
I got to do a reprise of my "generative AI isn't great for History" conference presentation last week to a group of undergraduates this week.

Reposted by Cathy N. Davidson, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Jason A. Heppler , and 1 more

abeba.bsky.social
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 17d
built on theft and at massive environmental cost and most importantly, numerous studies keep demonstrating that genAI tools often work a little better than by chance. how is it that we can’t expunge these slop machines out of our institutions and communities

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Jason A. Heppler

rmayemsinger.bsky.social
Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 18d
No words.
shocking aerial view of White House before and after east wing demolition.

Reposted by Jason A. Heppler

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 18d
The Trump administration has finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation's most sensitive wilderness areas. n.pr/42WZfy6
Trump administration finalizes plan to open pristine Alaska wildlife refuge to oil and gas drilling
The Trump administration has finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation's most sensitive wilderness areas.
n.pr

jasonheppler.org
Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 18d
Soon.