Alex Mayhew
@alexmayhew.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at LSE International History | Great War + Morale + Crisis + Mesopotamia + Technological Innovation
Written a book for Cambridge University Press | Past me: University of Birmingham, LSE100 and LSE LIFE.
Written a book for Cambridge University Press | Past me: University of Birmingham, LSE100 and LSE LIFE.
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
It's pretty boring, but I have a new article out on the first British attempt to collect and classify the languages of South Asia: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Sir James Mackintosh and the first linguistic survey of India, 1806–1811 | Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society | Cambridge Core
Sir James Mackintosh and the first linguistic survey of India, 1806–1811 - Volume 35 Issue 4
www.cambridge.org
January 19, 2026 at 11:35 AM
It's pretty boring, but I have a new article out on the first British attempt to collect and classify the languages of South Asia: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
On 26 March, I am speaking at my second IHR seminar of the academic year - this time at @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social.
It is only the second time I will be presenting something from one of my new projects so please do come along as I am desperate for feedback, ideas, suggestions, and thoughts!
It is only the second time I will be presenting something from one of my new projects so please do come along as I am desperate for feedback, ideas, suggestions, and thoughts!
Sensemaking and Violence in Britain’s Mesopotamia Campaign during the First World War
www.history.ac.uk
January 15, 2026 at 9:32 PM
On 26 March, I am speaking at my second IHR seminar of the academic year - this time at @ihrbritainseminar.bsky.social.
It is only the second time I will be presenting something from one of my new projects so please do come along as I am desperate for feedback, ideas, suggestions, and thoughts!
It is only the second time I will be presenting something from one of my new projects so please do come along as I am desperate for feedback, ideas, suggestions, and thoughts!
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
The gap between gloom-ridden public perception and reality in the UK has now opened up like a Grand Canyon-style chasm. I personally don't see any way of bridging it.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
London’s murder rate drops to lowest in more than a decade
Sadiq Khan says ‘public health’ approach has made the capital one of the safest cities in the western world
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:11 AM
The gap between gloom-ridden public perception and reality in the UK has now opened up like a Grand Canyon-style chasm. I personally don't see any way of bridging it.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
Very much enjoying my planned reading on this snowy (fortunately in my case non-working) Friday.
My first academic read of the year is a book I've been looking forward to reading for a long time. I'm a chapter in, and @alexmayhew.bsky.social's "Making Sense of the...
#HistBookChat #Skystorians
My first academic read of the year is a book I've been looking forward to reading for a long time. I'm a chapter in, and @alexmayhew.bsky.social's "Making Sense of the...
#HistBookChat #Skystorians
January 9, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Very much enjoying my planned reading on this snowy (fortunately in my case non-working) Friday.
My first academic read of the year is a book I've been looking forward to reading for a long time. I'm a chapter in, and @alexmayhew.bsky.social's "Making Sense of the...
#HistBookChat #Skystorians
My first academic read of the year is a book I've been looking forward to reading for a long time. I'm a chapter in, and @alexmayhew.bsky.social's "Making Sense of the...
#HistBookChat #Skystorians
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
I got the birthday present I really wanted. Thanks, Lili and Mark!
@alexmayhew.bsky.social
@alexmayhew.bsky.social
January 8, 2026 at 5:13 PM
I got the birthday present I really wanted. Thanks, Lili and Mark!
@alexmayhew.bsky.social
@alexmayhew.bsky.social
Quite a forward curatorial instruction in a Portuguese archaeological museum.
December 17, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Quite a forward curatorial instruction in a Portuguese archaeological museum.
We drew on the collection of @historians.org essays analysing the film by Santanu Das, Susan Grayzel, @thehistorygirl1.bsky.social, and Catherine Robson.
Students were drawn to the soundscape and narrative but queried the silences and omissions.
All agreed it was an impressive piece of cinema!
Students were drawn to the soundscape and narrative but queried the silences and omissions.
All agreed it was an impressive piece of cinema!
December 2, 2025 at 11:57 AM
We drew on the collection of @historians.org essays analysing the film by Santanu Das, Susan Grayzel, @thehistorygirl1.bsky.social, and Catherine Robson.
Students were drawn to the soundscape and narrative but queried the silences and omissions.
All agreed it was an impressive piece of cinema!
Students were drawn to the soundscape and narrative but queried the silences and omissions.
All agreed it was an impressive piece of cinema!
This week our First Years are thinking about how to build microhistories of the Silvertown Explosion in 1917.
I am excited about this one: '... the Germans become a convenient, politically motivated space goat - linking to broader political trends of state and elite aversion of responsibility.'
🐐🐐
I am excited about this one: '... the Germans become a convenient, politically motivated space goat - linking to broader political trends of state and elite aversion of responsibility.'
🐐🐐
November 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
This week our First Years are thinking about how to build microhistories of the Silvertown Explosion in 1917.
I am excited about this one: '... the Germans become a convenient, politically motivated space goat - linking to broader political trends of state and elite aversion of responsibility.'
🐐🐐
I am excited about this one: '... the Germans become a convenient, politically motivated space goat - linking to broader political trends of state and elite aversion of responsibility.'
🐐🐐
This is incredibly sad.
I met Tim for the first and only time over the summer whilst doing research at the Canadian War Museum.
For someone so senior (and busy) he was incredibly generous with his time: took me for a coffee, discussed his research, and enquired about mine.
A real loss.
I met Tim for the first and only time over the summer whilst doing research at the Canadian War Museum.
For someone so senior (and busy) he was incredibly generous with his time: took me for a coffee, discussed his research, and enquired about mine.
A real loss.
Everyone at the International Society for First World War Studies is greatly saddened to hear about the passing of Dr Tim Cook.
www.warmuseum.ca/news-release...
www.warmuseum.ca/news-release...
War Museum announces passing of Chief Historian, Dr. Tim Cook | Canadian War Museum
www.warmuseum.ca
October 27, 2025 at 7:02 AM
This is incredibly sad.
I met Tim for the first and only time over the summer whilst doing research at the Canadian War Museum.
For someone so senior (and busy) he was incredibly generous with his time: took me for a coffee, discussed his research, and enquired about mine.
A real loss.
I met Tim for the first and only time over the summer whilst doing research at the Canadian War Museum.
For someone so senior (and busy) he was incredibly generous with his time: took me for a coffee, discussed his research, and enquired about mine.
A real loss.
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
New online: The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) collection is now available on LSE Digital Library! We’ve digitised and published the GLF Diaries and the GLF newspaper Come Together. Further series from the archives will be added as digitisation continues.
1/2
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
1/2
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
October 14, 2025 at 11:16 AM
New online: The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) collection is now available on LSE Digital Library! We’ve digitised and published the GLF Diaries and the GLF newspaper Come Together. Further series from the archives will be added as digitisation continues.
1/2
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
1/2
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges
Gill admits to eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in the European parliament and articles
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
Join us on Tuesday 14 October for Dr Jake Subryan Richards' book release event, "The Bonds of Freedom: Liberated Africans & the End of The Slave Trade".
See here for full event details and registration: www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...
#event #slavery #slavetrade #africa #history #LSE
See here for full event details and registration: www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...
#event #slavery #slavetrade #africa #history #LSE
September 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Join us on Tuesday 14 October for Dr Jake Subryan Richards' book release event, "The Bonds of Freedom: Liberated Africans & the End of The Slave Trade".
See here for full event details and registration: www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...
#event #slavery #slavetrade #africa #history #LSE
See here for full event details and registration: www.lse.ac.uk/Internationa...
#event #slavery #slavetrade #africa #history #LSE
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
The launch of my new @manchesterup.bsky.social book Songs of Seven Dials will be at 6pm, Tues 21 Oct, at Waterstones Covent Garden. I'll be in conversation with the wonderful @julialaite.bsky.social.
Please do come along. Free tickets, but register in advance
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/songs-of-s...
Please do come along. Free tickets, but register in advance
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/songs-of-s...
September 16, 2025 at 8:11 PM
The launch of my new @manchesterup.bsky.social book Songs of Seven Dials will be at 6pm, Tues 21 Oct, at Waterstones Covent Garden. I'll be in conversation with the wonderful @julialaite.bsky.social.
Please do come along. Free tickets, but register in advance
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/songs-of-s...
Please do come along. Free tickets, but register in advance
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/songs-of-s...
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
Tickets available via the link to sign up, great range of speakers on everything from slavery to remembrance and pageantry to stokers - full programme here: www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...
August 13, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Tickets available via the link to sign up, great range of speakers on everything from slavery to remembrance and pageantry to stokers - full programme here: www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...
Thank you @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social for publishing this detailed review of my book.
Have a read and remember that you can purchase globally from Cambridge University Press (bit.ly/4l1M5Gu), Amazon (amzn.to/4mZKaEm), and other vendors.
I recently saw it in the wild!
Have a read and remember that you can purchase globally from Cambridge University Press (bit.ly/4l1M5Gu), Amazon (amzn.to/4mZKaEm), and other vendors.
I recently saw it in the wild!
August 20, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Thank you @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social for publishing this detailed review of my book.
Have a read and remember that you can purchase globally from Cambridge University Press (bit.ly/4l1M5Gu), Amazon (amzn.to/4mZKaEm), and other vendors.
I recently saw it in the wild!
Have a read and remember that you can purchase globally from Cambridge University Press (bit.ly/4l1M5Gu), Amazon (amzn.to/4mZKaEm), and other vendors.
I recently saw it in the wild!
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
My new book Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London is part of @waterstones.bsky.social summer promotion this week - 25% off pre-orders by entering SUMMER25 at the checkout.
www.waterstones.com/book/songs-o...
#WPreorder #history #London #20s30s #sevendials
www.waterstones.com/book/songs-o...
#WPreorder #history #London #20s30s #sevendials
July 29, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My new book Songs of Seven Dials: An intimate history of 1920s and 1930s London is part of @waterstones.bsky.social summer promotion this week - 25% off pre-orders by entering SUMMER25 at the checkout.
www.waterstones.com/book/songs-o...
#WPreorder #history #London #20s30s #sevendials
www.waterstones.com/book/songs-o...
#WPreorder #history #London #20s30s #sevendials
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
On advance access: "Energy Policy and Climate Change in Europe during the Era of Neoliberalism"
by Stephen G. Gross (@nyu.edu)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Stephen G. Gross (@nyu.edu)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Energy Policy and Climate Change in Europe during the Era of Neoliberalism*
Abstract. This article shows how the European Community sought to become a global climate leader during the 1980s and 1990s, only to fail to make progress
doi.org
July 29, 2025 at 7:47 AM
On advance access: "Energy Policy and Climate Change in Europe during the Era of Neoliberalism"
by Stephen G. Gross (@nyu.edu)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Stephen G. Gross (@nyu.edu)
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Well worth a read!
My first peer-reviewed article is in print! "Not Soldiers from a Soldier’s Point of View: The British Army Service Corps and the Boundaries of Martial Masculinities, 1914–1918." www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UDQRH...
Give it a read if you like #fww history, British history, or gender history.
Give it a read if you like #fww history, British history, or gender history.
Not Soldiers from a Soldier’s Point of View: The British Army Service Corps and the Boundaries of Martial Masculinities, 1914–1918
Historians of Britain and its empire have explored how the First World War’s violence and scale of mobilisation could transform cultural hierarchies. They have debated the impact of many white wome...
www.tandfonline.com
July 15, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Well worth a read!
After several weeks in Canada, I have got my hands on my author copies of Making Sense of the Great War.
Mark Jones (@mark18681918.bsky.social) was chosen at random to receive one for free!
You can buy it for £23.99 using the code HIST2425: bit.ly/4mYM08h.
#History #HistoryBooks #FirstWorldWar
Mark Jones (@mark18681918.bsky.social) was chosen at random to receive one for free!
You can buy it for £23.99 using the code HIST2425: bit.ly/4mYM08h.
#History #HistoryBooks #FirstWorldWar
July 15, 2025 at 10:15 AM
After several weeks in Canada, I have got my hands on my author copies of Making Sense of the Great War.
Mark Jones (@mark18681918.bsky.social) was chosen at random to receive one for free!
You can buy it for £23.99 using the code HIST2425: bit.ly/4mYM08h.
#History #HistoryBooks #FirstWorldWar
Mark Jones (@mark18681918.bsky.social) was chosen at random to receive one for free!
You can buy it for £23.99 using the code HIST2425: bit.ly/4mYM08h.
#History #HistoryBooks #FirstWorldWar
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
What a wonderful day of discussion and collaboration at 'The Colonial Veteran in the Archive' workshops we had contributors from four continents and different disciplines talking about a wide and varied range of archives +contexts. Learned so much and I can see so much scope for future collaboration
June 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
What a wonderful day of discussion and collaboration at 'The Colonial Veteran in the Archive' workshops we had contributors from four continents and different disciplines talking about a wide and varied range of archives +contexts. Learned so much and I can see so much scope for future collaboration
I had a wonderful time in the archive room of the Canadian Great War Centre in Montreal yesterday.
Most of my time was spent looking through their postcard collection.
However, I also saw their (no longer) radioactive wrist watch collection and a painting of Arthur Currie by John Singer Sargent.
Most of my time was spent looking through their postcard collection.
However, I also saw their (no longer) radioactive wrist watch collection and a painting of Arthur Currie by John Singer Sargent.
June 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I had a wonderful time in the archive room of the Canadian Great War Centre in Montreal yesterday.
Most of my time was spent looking through their postcard collection.
However, I also saw their (no longer) radioactive wrist watch collection and a painting of Arthur Currie by John Singer Sargent.
Most of my time was spent looking through their postcard collection.
However, I also saw their (no longer) radioactive wrist watch collection and a painting of Arthur Currie by John Singer Sargent.
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
I really want to read this!!! Since I am teaching a class on the World Wars this autumn, it's high up on my reading list!!!! 🗃️📌 #firstworldwar @alexmayhew.bsky.social
If you are interested, CUP have released a 20% discount code for Making Sense of the Great War.
You can get it for £23.99 through their website using the code HIST2425.
Find more information - and purchase it - here: bit.ly/4mYM08h
#History #Military #NewBook #FirstWorldWar #MilitaryMorale
You can get it for £23.99 through their website using the code HIST2425.
Find more information - and purchase it - here: bit.ly/4mYM08h
#History #Military #NewBook #FirstWorldWar #MilitaryMorale
June 20, 2025 at 12:10 PM
I really want to read this!!! Since I am teaching a class on the World Wars this autumn, it's high up on my reading list!!!! 🗃️📌 #firstworldwar @alexmayhew.bsky.social
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays.
Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
June 18, 2025 at 7:32 AM
New research from MIT found that those who used ChatGPT can’t remember any of the content of their essays.
Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
Key takeaway: the product doesn’t suffer, but the process does. And when it comes to essays, the process *is* how they learn.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
Reposted by Alex Mayhew
📣Out now on #firstview!
Andrew Halladay (@lsehy.bsky.social) on 'Internationalism, Empire, and the Early Esperanto Movement in India'
#Language #Community #Transnational 🗣️ 🗃️ 20thc
👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Andrew Halladay (@lsehy.bsky.social) on 'Internationalism, Empire, and the Early Esperanto Movement in India'
#Language #Community #Transnational 🗣️ 🗃️ 20thc
👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
June 18, 2025 at 8:51 AM
📣Out now on #firstview!
Andrew Halladay (@lsehy.bsky.social) on 'Internationalism, Empire, and the Early Esperanto Movement in India'
#Language #Community #Transnational 🗣️ 🗃️ 20thc
👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Andrew Halladay (@lsehy.bsky.social) on 'Internationalism, Empire, and the Early Esperanto Movement in India'
#Language #Community #Transnational 🗣️ 🗃️ 20thc
👉Read open access: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...