Brian Halley
@brianbhalley.bsky.social
Executive Editor at University of Massachusetts Press, based at UMass Boston. Views here don’t reflect them. Feminist, progressive, 🏳️🌈, into books, dogs, ocean, print culture, lit studies, environmental studies/climate justice, and more.
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Brian Halley
@brianbhalley.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Homepage - University of Massachusetts Press
Welcome to the online home of University of Massachusetts Press. We publish scholarship, literature, and books for general readers that reflect the quality and diversity of intellectual life on our ca...
www.umasspress.com
I’m fortunate to work with brilliant authors & colleagues at @umasspress.bsky.social and it’s worth checking out website. I’ll be posting on range incl my areas (print culture, env studies, lgbtq+ and gender studies, African American studies, Native studies, New England, etc) & probs w/ #publishing.
Truly chilling.
“Like Prime, but with human beings.”
December 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Truly chilling.
Said goodbye to this perfect pup exactly one year ago today. Almost 14 years with him. Still miss him everyday if I’m being honest.
December 23, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Said goodbye to this perfect pup exactly one year ago today. Almost 14 years with him. Still miss him everyday if I’m being honest.
Just an fyi, my colleague at @umasspress.bsky.social has acquired a couple of Shaker books recently so check out our small but powerful - and current! - Shaker list!
Celibate, communal — and once seen as a real threat to society.
“The Testament of Ann Lee”, starring Amanda Seyfried, hits theaters on Christmas Day and explores how the Shakers shocked 18th-century America, and still shape our music and culture today. buff.ly/06EcS2j
“The Testament of Ann Lee”, starring Amanda Seyfried, hits theaters on Christmas Day and explores how the Shakers shocked 18th-century America, and still shape our music and culture today. buff.ly/06EcS2j
The celibate, dancing Shakers were once seen as a threat to society – 250 years later, they’re part of the sound of America
‘The Testament of Ann Lee,’ Mona Fastvold’s 2025 film, depicts part of the long history of Shaker worship.
theconversation.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Just an fyi, my colleague at @umasspress.bsky.social has acquired a couple of Shaker books recently so check out our small but powerful - and current! - Shaker list!
If I wanted to try to write about Boston publishing history (more recent, like last 50 years or so, not 19th c) in some kind of serial way, what is best platform? Substack seems lowkey evil. Happy to get opinions on this. Thanks! #publishing #bookhistory #Boston #books
December 22, 2025 at 4:44 PM
If I wanted to try to write about Boston publishing history (more recent, like last 50 years or so, not 19th c) in some kind of serial way, what is best platform? Substack seems lowkey evil. Happy to get opinions on this. Thanks! #publishing #bookhistory #Boston #books
How the mighty (60 Minutes) have fallen. My parents watched loyally for years, I was the rare teen that never missed an episode. My dad is rolling his eyes at it now, from the beyond. Sad days.
December 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM
How the mighty (60 Minutes) have fallen. My parents watched loyally for years, I was the rare teen that never missed an episode. My dad is rolling his eyes at it now, from the beyond. Sad days.
Sitting with this today
The 6 richest men in the world are all Trump allies.
They control your algorithms and data on X, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and YouTube.
Just in case you’re wondering why more isn’t done to stop right-wing bots and misinformation on social media.
They control your algorithms and data on X, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads, and YouTube.
Just in case you’re wondering why more isn’t done to stop right-wing bots and misinformation on social media.
December 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Sitting with this today
Imagine having to live with having voted for a desperate, petty, insecure man, giving him a platform to seek vengeance in the saddest ways (along with some of the most harmful, deadly ways). Or you didn’t vote at all. And you’re allowed to keep that to yourself, of course, but what a secret to have.
December 18, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Imagine having to live with having voted for a desperate, petty, insecure man, giving him a platform to seek vengeance in the saddest ways (along with some of the most harmful, deadly ways). Or you didn’t vote at all. And you’re allowed to keep that to yourself, of course, but what a secret to have.
Reposted by Brian Halley
It is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 AM
It is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
Reposted by Brian Halley
Because it’s a smash and grab.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it faced hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects last year.
(Published July 2024)
(Published July 2024)
School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state program...
www.propublica.org
December 16, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Because it’s a smash and grab.
"I just want to try as best I can, with what limited financial and emotional resources I have, to create a community of book people who enjoy creating the art they want to create for the readers who enjoy reading these sorts of books." Amen. Very helpful - thanks, @chadwpost.bsky.social! #publishing
Kicking off a deep dive into @openletterbooks.bsky.social’s backlist with this post about publishing strategies, looking at backlist trends, and Ingrid Winterbach’s TO HELL WITH CRONJÉ.
threepercentproblem.substack.com/p/the-promis...
threepercentproblem.substack.com/p/the-promis...
The Promise of the Backlist
A new project that kicks off with Ingrid Winterbach's "To Hell with Cronjé."
threepercentproblem.substack.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"I just want to try as best I can, with what limited financial and emotional resources I have, to create a community of book people who enjoy creating the art they want to create for the readers who enjoy reading these sorts of books." Amen. Very helpful - thanks, @chadwpost.bsky.social! #publishing
Reposted by Brian Halley
Code of Conduct for United States Judges, Canon 5: "A judge should not . . . attend or purchase a ticket for a dinner or other event sponsored by a political organization or candidate... A judge should not engage in any other political activity." (All judges receive training on this.)
Via MS NOW: Emil Bove is in attendance at Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania tonight.
December 10, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Code of Conduct for United States Judges, Canon 5: "A judge should not . . . attend or purchase a ticket for a dinner or other event sponsored by a political organization or candidate... A judge should not engage in any other political activity." (All judges receive training on this.)
Full-throated endorsement of the strange, poetic novel North Sun, or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford, pub’d by A Strange Object out of Austin and @deepvellum.bsky.social, shortlisted for the National Book Award. Men’s cruelty, nature’s magic, hyper capitalism’s power. Phew.
NORTH SUN
By Ethan Rutherford. From "one of our great artists of catastrophe" (Laura van den Berg) comes North Sun, or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther—an allegory of extraction and a tale of adventure and en...
store.deepvellum.org
December 10, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Full-throated endorsement of the strange, poetic novel North Sun, or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford, pub’d by A Strange Object out of Austin and @deepvellum.bsky.social, shortlisted for the National Book Award. Men’s cruelty, nature’s magic, hyper capitalism’s power. Phew.
Reposted by Brian Halley
In addition to all of the other benefits already reported about NYC congestion pricing, "In the first six months of the program, air pollution – in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller – dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)"
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 2:19 AM
In addition to all of the other benefits already reported about NYC congestion pricing, "In the first six months of the program, air pollution – in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller – dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)"
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
How many people must experience this until a critical mass demands that it stop? I’m counting on my political leaders - @warren.senate.gov & @edmarkey.bsky.social & @pressley.house.gov - to keep the pressure up. Have y’all called yours?
Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars.
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
December 3, 2025 at 6:44 PM
How many people must experience this until a critical mass demands that it stop? I’m counting on my political leaders - @warren.senate.gov & @edmarkey.bsky.social & @pressley.house.gov - to keep the pressure up. Have y’all called yours?
Reposted by Brian Halley
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man on earth and leading Republican is a fucking Nazi
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
December 3, 2025 at 5:03 AM
it should probably be a bigger story that the richest man on earth and leading Republican is a fucking Nazi
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
media needs to stop beating around the bush. this is Nazi shit.
Reposted by Brian Halley
Critical & devastating work by @thrasherxy.bsky.social & Afeef Nessouli documenting what they call the "racialized LGBTQ+ employment crisis for front-line Black & brown workers" in HIV prevention & care globally. #WorldAIDSDay #IllnessPolitics
theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...
theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...
Trump Gutted AIDS Health Care at the Worst Possible Time
By the first World AIDS Day of his second term, Trump gutted LGBTQ+ employment globally and put humanity at greater risk of AIDS.
theintercept.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Critical & devastating work by @thrasherxy.bsky.social & Afeef Nessouli documenting what they call the "racialized LGBTQ+ employment crisis for front-line Black & brown workers" in HIV prevention & care globally. #WorldAIDSDay #IllnessPolitics
theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...
theintercept.com/2025/12/01/w...
Reposted by Brian Halley
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
December 1, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
Reposted by Brian Halley
Sometime last year, a CUNY alum contacted me saying they’d found some photos they took at the 1995 protest against budget cuts and would I please take them so they could clear out their attic?
They arrived today and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT
They arrived today and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT
December 1, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Sometime last year, a CUNY alum contacted me saying they’d found some photos they took at the 1995 protest against budget cuts and would I please take them so they could clear out their attic?
They arrived today and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT
They arrived today and they DID NOT DISAPPOINT
Great post from a fellow university press editor which can be applied to #MLA26 (where I’ll be) or really any scholarly conference! Thanks, @adinapopescu.com. @modernlanguage.bsky.social
Hello historians 🗃️! Planning on attending #AHA26 and have book ideas in mind?
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
Now is a good time to start thinking about contacting editors to meet with in Chicago. It's fun, it's easy, and you'll be chatting with people who love to chat about books! 👇
December 1, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Great post from a fellow university press editor which can be applied to #MLA26 (where I’ll be) or really any scholarly conference! Thanks, @adinapopescu.com. @modernlanguage.bsky.social
Today is #WorldAIDSDay and the government is cutting back funding for treatment and prevention globally, and telling employees not to discuss. People are getting treatment and not transmitting, but many others are too fearful to get tested, have no access, and/or have limited/no treatment options.
December 1, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Today is #WorldAIDSDay and the government is cutting back funding for treatment and prevention globally, and telling employees not to discuss. People are getting treatment and not transmitting, but many others are too fearful to get tested, have no access, and/or have limited/no treatment options.
Add this to list of human rights abuses in which our government is engaging. Truly terrifying and shameful.
Gutting of key US watchdog could pave way for grave immigration abuses, experts warn
Former oversight officials alarmed by dismantling of DHS system that oversees complaints about civil rights harms
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Add this to list of human rights abuses in which our government is engaging. Truly terrifying and shameful.
There’s a lot to watch rn but keep your eyes on these pathetic tactics, state by state.
1. In Tennessee, public libraries have closed for up to a week to facilitate a Trump-inspired book purge.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) has ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books with LGBTQ characters or themes.
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) has ordered most of the state's public librarians to remove children's books with LGBTQ characters or themes.
Tennessee public libraries close for Trump-inspired book purge
One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes…
popular.info
November 29, 2025 at 12:51 AM
There’s a lot to watch rn but keep your eyes on these pathetic tactics, state by state.
Reposted by Brian Halley
A very readable, deeply-informed piece by Naomi Klein that combines genocide, the Surrealists, fascism then and now -- and Mamdani.
www.equator.org/articles/sur...
www.equator.org/articles/sur...
Surrealism Against Fascism • EQUATOR
A century ago, artists who survived the trenches captured humanity’s capacity for destruction. What can they teach us about confronting the far-right in a new age of genocide?
www.equator.org
November 28, 2025 at 3:34 AM
A very readable, deeply-informed piece by Naomi Klein that combines genocide, the Surrealists, fascism then and now -- and Mamdani.
www.equator.org/articles/sur...
www.equator.org/articles/sur...
State dept employees and grantees have been told to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging.” Everytime you think they’ve gone the lowest, they go lower.
Trump Administration Will No Longer Commemorate World AIDS Day
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:13 PM
State dept employees and grantees have been told to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging.” Everytime you think they’ve gone the lowest, they go lower.