Alexis Coe
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alexiscoe.bsky.social
Alexis Coe
@alexiscoe.bsky.social
Presidential historian. American History Columnist @NYTBR. Senior Fellow @NewAmerica. NYT bestselling author of (almost!) 3 books.
Reposted by Alexis Coe
Just three months from today, my book about Americans’ 250 year struggle over slavery’s place in George Washington’s legacy will be out in the world. Some great (and NYT bestselling!) writers have said kind things about it. I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering a copy. bookshop.org/p/books/thy-...
January 7, 2026 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Alexis Coe
Feed: "NYT > Books > Book Review"
By: Alexis Coe on Monday, December 15, 2025
What’s the Deal With the U.S. Economy?
As costs are rising and wallets are hurting, these books explore the promises and pitfalls of the U.S. economy.
www.nytimes.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Alexis Coe
I went live with historian Alexis Coe to talk about history as something we are doing, not just remembering—democracy, national myth, and what it means to stay in the room when the story feels unfinished.
History, Democracy, and the Work of Meaning — with Alexis Coe
A recording from Mike Brock's live video
www.notesfromthecircus.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
@kalpenn.bsky.social: I'm still floored that you read [Contract with America] in the fourth grade.

Me: I mean, it really messed me up for a while.

I joined "Here We Go Again" to talk forgotten families and what all of this means heading into America’s 250th.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...
Is the Dynasty Dead? with Alexis Coe
Podcast Episode · Here We Go Again With Kal Penn · 06/01/2026 · 43m
podcasts.apple.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:10 PM
December 2020:
“Santa is not going to be spreading any infections to anybody.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci

December 2025:
RFK Jr. wants the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule to look like Denmark’s. In response, Danish officials say the U.S. is getting “crazier and crazier," has diseases they don’t.
December 23, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Captain’s Log, Day 337. Situation grim. Crew remains at posts out of spite, pedantry, and an old, stubborn attachment to an unfinished America.
—AC

Ie I contributed to this NYT survey:
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
December 23, 2025 at 2:12 PM
My best subject line of 2025
Valuable life advice this week from @alexiscoe.bsky.social
December 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Alexis Coe
Valuable life advice this week from @alexiscoe.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I spent my final NYTBR column of 2025 circling a question a deceptively simple question: what happened to the American Dream?

History, economics, and the mechanics of disappointment here:
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/b...
What Happened to the American Dream? Will It Ever Come Back?
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:38 PM
In my last NYTBR column of 2025, I started with a question that has become unanswerable: What happened to the American Dream—and why does it feel so out of reach?

More books on the big bad economy here:

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/b...
What Happened to the American Dream? Will It Ever Come Back?
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Relieved to say the saga is losing me as Lizza toggles between
“she was in a mental health crisis” and “she was running a multi-pronged psy-op with professional operatives.”
December 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
The singular delight of being one's nerdiest, most ardent self on @NPR: www.npr.org/2025/12/07/n...
A surge of history on TV reflects race to define collective memory
A retelling of James Garfield's assassination and other recent TV programs about history show an interest in saying 'who we were, who we are and who we're going to be,' explains presidential historian...
www.npr.org
December 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I want to die just looking at this yet he’s choosing to live it
December 3, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Sleepy Don
Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.
December 2, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I named my fists Abigail & John because I fight with love and receipts
I named my fists Iliad & Odyssey because I’m about to leave it hanging before I bring it home
I named my fists Moby and Dick because I’m about to sink the tyrant.
December 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
*channeling Sassy Mag*

It Happened to Me: My Country Pivoted from Democracy to Kleptocracy
December 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Happy Thanksgiving. I'm grateful, truly, to be working this morning while the streets are sill silent, chuckling at a note I wrote during a meeting with my editor:

Don’t say its all rigged and you should jump off the bridge.

xx
November 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Obviously my take—it was actually about wistful longing for a life unlived—remains the best take. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Built (Maybe) for City Hall, Sitting in the Oval Office: One Look at Mamdani and Trump Saw the Life He Wanted
History cranks and fiends, a lil’ prompt: If the presidency keeps exposing men who weren’t built for its scale, how would you redesign the path to it?
substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Can I blow this up into a huge print? I love it.
November 25, 2025 at 12:50 PM
AMA
Valuable life advice this week from @alexiscoe.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
In today’s newsletter, my favorite kind of scandal: one where everyone involved has been dead for centuries.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
Don’t Let Your Husband Stop You From Meeting Your Other Husband (Plus some Boyfriends and Lovers...)
Women in men's fields
substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:26 PM
As I testified in the spring, releasing the SSN of living Americans was egregious--and they did it anyway. Now Bondi will redact parts Epstein records that "contain personally identifiable information" and would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
November 20, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Factional excommunication: the old guard using ritual as its last veto.
November 20, 2025 at 7:47 PM