Shirley Samuels
LightNews LightNews
banner
shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels
@shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
400 followers 350 following 46 posts

Writer, teacher, friend, mother, sister.

October 28: “Haunted by the Civil War” (PUP, 2025)

Now writing: “Women & Democracy in the C19 U. S.” (Edinburgh UP)

Also (for now) a humanities chair

https://english.cornell.edu/shirley-samuels .. more

Videos

Shirley Samuels is an American academic. She is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies. Currently Picket Family Chair of the Literatures in English Department, she was formerly director of American Studies at Cornell University and is known for her work on American literature and culture. .. more

Political science 25%
Art 16%
Posts Replies Media Videos

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · 19d
It’s currently 25% off a pretty reasonable sticker price on Amazon. About $25?

Let me know if that is still too much for you. I want to be in conversation about this kind of haunting.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · 19d
Happy to read this first review—

#haunted

emergingcivilwar.com/2026/01/15/b...
Book Review: Haunted by the Civil War: Cultural Testimony in the Nineteenth-Century United States - Emerging Civil War
Haunted by the Civil War: Cultural Testimony in the Nineteenth-Century United States. By Shirley Samuels. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2025. Hardcover, 232 pp. $32.00. Reviewed by Robin Frie...
emergingcivilwar.com

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Jan 2
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
January 1, 2026
On January 1, 1892, seventeen-year-old Annie Moore walked down the gangway from the steamship Nevada with her two brothers Anthony, eleven, and Philip, nine, and into history as the first person proce...
open.substack.com

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Dec 20
I’m mostly lurking. But also always looking to make contact. Warm thoughts.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Dec 20
It was far too short but an excellent set of responses from people like Michael Jonik, Russ Castronovo, and Cecile Roudeau. Very grateful.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Dec 4
Happy (late) birthday!

Reposted by Shirley Samuels

americanstudier.bsky.social
Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · Nov 26
Happy Sojourner Truth Day & Sarah Grimke Day! Ain't that America?

memorydaycalendar.blogspot.com/p/november-n...
November Nominees
November 1: Parker David Robbins , the North Carolinian and US Colored Troops Civil War veteran who went on to an inspiring career as a po...
memorydaycalendar.blogspot.com

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Nov 21
Headed to Paris in a couple of weeks to talk about #Hauntedbook

How about you?

branca-2025.weebly.com
2025 BrANCA SYMPOSIUM
Lise Chenal (Université Paris Cité) Thomas Constantinesco (Sorbonne Université) Anna Diamantouli (American College of Greece) Erin Forbes (University of Bristol) Edouard Marsoin (Université Paris...
branca-2025.weebly.com

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Nov 3
Friends helped me eat ghosts. Thank you! #haunted #cake/book #diadelosmuertos

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 28
Today is publication day!

news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
Civil War still haunts American attitudes toward democracy | Cornell Chronicle
A new book by Shirley Samuels examines the story behind today’s divided America in literature and art created during and soon after the Civil War.
news.cornell.edu

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 17
OTOH I am haunted by the war so maybe autocorrect is making a point?

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 16
Thank you to @jsench.bsky.social for making it real. #haunted #halloween
jsench.bsky.social Jonathan @jsench.bsky.social · Oct 16
Happy pub day to @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social who’s Haunted by the Civil War from @princetonupress.bsky.social just dropped!
A book leaning on a pillow and chair, the title is Haunted by the Civil War: Cultural Testimony in the Nineteenth Century United States. The colors of the book color are tones of brown and orange, and are complemented by the same tones in the chair and pillow.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 16
Unboxing done.

#hauntedbook #halloween

Reposted by Shirley Samuels

jsench.bsky.social
Jonathan @jsench.bsky.social · Oct 16
Happy pub day to @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social who’s Haunted by the Civil War from @princetonupress.bsky.social just dropped!
A book leaning on a pillow and chair, the title is Haunted by the Civil War: Cultural Testimony in the Nineteenth Century United States. The colors of the book color are tones of brown and orange, and are complemented by the same tones in the chair and pillow.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 5
I got my advance copy. They did a nice job with it and it’s making me happy!

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 5
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Haunted by the Civil War
How the legacy of the Civil War—as presented by writers, poets, and artists of the time—has shaped American visions of democracy
press.princeton.edu

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Oct 5
Welcome to J19 journal with Sarah Chinn at the helm!
j19journal.bsky.social j19journal.bsky.social @j19journal.bsky.social · Oct 5
We've extended the deadline for submissions to our special issue, "Adaptations," to January 15th, 2026. Attaching the cfp here: please submit!
Cfp for special issue of J19, "Adaptations."

Reposted by Shirley Samuels

j19journal.bsky.social
j19journal.bsky.social @j19journal.bsky.social · Oct 5
We've extended the deadline for submissions to our special issue, "Adaptations," to January 15th, 2026. Attaching the cfp here: please submit!
Cfp for special issue of J19, "Adaptations."

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Sep 6
Just for a moment — taking a break

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Aug 28
The code is P329

Brings it under $30

For a hardback…!

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Aug 25
www.facebook.com/share/p/1J2i...

A coupon code is somewhere here…
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com

Reposted by Alison Powell, Shirley Samuels, Guillaume Carton

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · Nov 15
In response to OpenAI’s recent ‘A Student’s Guide to Writing with ChatGPT’, Arthur Perret (maître de conferénces, Jean Moulin Lyon 3) writes a line-by-line rebuttal — A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT www.arthurperret.fr/blog/2024-11...
A Student’s Guide to Not Writing with ChatGPT
Site web d’Arthur Perret, enseignant-chercheur en SIC.
www.arthurperret.fr

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Jun 24
Coming soon:

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... Haunted by the Civil War | Princeton University Press
Haunted by the Civil War
How the legacy of the Civil War—as presented by writers, poets, and artists of the time—has shaped American visions of democracy
press.princeton.edu

Reposted by Shirley Samuels

jsench.bsky.social
Jonathan @jsench.bsky.social · Feb 4
Come study book history with me at @calrbs.bsky.social in LA this summer!

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Feb 8
(That was either too subtle or too obvious as an account of children playing with matches. It’s a true story.)

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Feb 7
Three guesses about what’s on my mind.

The first two don’t count.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Feb 7
We assumed they would want to play with matches and we just wanted to show them how to safely close the matchbook and only strike once it was closed. Away from flammable materials.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Feb 7
It’s hard to imagine all the protocols that would be in place now concerning research on human subjects, let alone young children.

We drove all over. We had matchbooks.

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Feb 7
When I was an undergraduate in the San Francisco Bay Area, back when my major was psychology, I had a work study job in connection with a study of children who played with matches.

The idea was to train them in safety…

shirleyinithaca.bsky.social
Shirley Samuels @shirleyinithaca.bsky.social · Jan 27
Respect the list. And solidarity with those who study the wild 19th century and hear echoes.