Fraser Raeburn
@fraserraeburn.bsky.social
Historian interested in foreign fighters, transnational solidarities, emotion, anti-fascism and the Spanish Civil War. Currently based at @uvahumanities.bsky.social. Author 'Scots and the Spanish Civil War' (EUP, 2020). He/him.
I am absolutely torn between being very happy at this level of site traffic for our project, and a keen need to move on up out of this immediate neighbourhood.
Please make it your new resolution to visit AskHistorians once a week, because we've never been this invested in overtaking another community.
February 1, 2026 at 8:02 PM
I am absolutely torn between being very happy at this level of site traffic for our project, and a keen need to move on up out of this immediate neighbourhood.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
January 31, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/
Something I've been ruminating on watching the news from Minnesota unfold is the extent to which fascism - being an ideology concerned with recreating and reliving an imagined, mythical past - now naturally includes reliving an imagined *fascist* past.
January 28, 2026 at 9:26 AM
Something I've been ruminating on watching the news from Minnesota unfold is the extent to which fascism - being an ideology concerned with recreating and reliving an imagined, mythical past - now naturally includes reliving an imagined *fascist* past.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
You should read everything @adamserwer.bsky.social writes, but this one really stands out. He's given a gift link below.
January 27, 2026 at 2:09 PM
You should read everything @adamserwer.bsky.social writes, but this one really stands out. He's given a gift link below.
The very first tutorials I taught as a PhD student included the Friday, 5-6pm slot. By the last week, only one student was attending. We had a great chat, but I'm unconvinced that the cohort's pedagogical needs were being well served.
Do other UK universities timetable lectures and seminars until 6 pm? Given that professional services staff finish at 5 pm, I don’t understand why academics and students (who hate the time slot) are meant to continue until 6 pm. I also just find it exhausting.
January 27, 2026 at 8:42 PM
The very first tutorials I taught as a PhD student included the Friday, 5-6pm slot. By the last week, only one student was attending. We had a great chat, but I'm unconvinced that the cohort's pedagogical needs were being well served.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
Join the Raphael Samuel History Centre mailing list to get the latest information on our forthcoming events.
Go to our website and click 'contact us'
Our events are free and open to all.
www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
Go to our website and click 'contact us'
Our events are free and open to all.
www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
Raphael Samuel History Centre - Birkbeck, University of London
The Raphael Samuel History Centre is an outreach and research centre supported by a two-way partnership between Birkbeck and Queen Mary.
www.bbk.ac.uk
January 15, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Join the Raphael Samuel History Centre mailing list to get the latest information on our forthcoming events.
Go to our website and click 'contact us'
Our events are free and open to all.
www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
Go to our website and click 'contact us'
Our events are free and open to all.
www.bbk.ac.uk/research/cen...
This is a little on the nose tbh
January 26, 2026 at 4:11 PM
This is a little on the nose tbh
"Penguin, you said you'd walk with us all the way, but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
The penguin replied, during your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."
The penguin replied, during your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."
January 24, 2026 at 4:19 PM
"Penguin, you said you'd walk with us all the way, but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
The penguin replied, during your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."
The penguin replied, during your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."
"I dunno, it feels like people might read this the wrong way"
"You're right, let's put a line next to it to disambiguate things"
"You're right, let's put a line next to it to disambiguate things"
January 23, 2026 at 3:44 PM
"I dunno, it feels like people might read this the wrong way"
"You're right, let's put a line next to it to disambiguate things"
"You're right, let's put a line next to it to disambiguate things"
Checking back into Australian politics news and
January 23, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Checking back into Australian politics news and
Look we're all dunking on the guy who lost all their 'work' to ChatGPT, but when have any of us managed to parlay an egregious and public failure to do their job into an article in a field's leading journal?
January 22, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Look we're all dunking on the guy who lost all their 'work' to ChatGPT, but when have any of us managed to parlay an egregious and public failure to do their job into an article in a field's leading journal?
In protestant countries, baths can only be semi-relaxing, and they sure as hell can't smell like anything.
January 21, 2026 at 8:30 PM
In protestant countries, baths can only be semi-relaxing, and they sure as hell can't smell like anything.
The sad thing is that even if future historians can pinpoint this Davos summit as the endpoint of neoliberalism, you just know that decades from now, the last people clinging blindly to its precepts will turn out to be university managers.
January 21, 2026 at 8:05 AM
The sad thing is that even if future historians can pinpoint this Davos summit as the endpoint of neoliberalism, you just know that decades from now, the last people clinging blindly to its precepts will turn out to be university managers.
As my time in the Netherlands draws to a close, I can finally post my most controversial takes on Dutch life.
January 20, 2026 at 2:37 PM
As my time in the Netherlands draws to a close, I can finally post my most controversial takes on Dutch life.
Absolutely gutted that the latest spat of geopolitical buffoonery might torpedo the Chagos transfer, because 2026 being the year that the sun would be able to set on the British empire was one of its few selling points.
January 20, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Absolutely gutted that the latest spat of geopolitical buffoonery might torpedo the Chagos transfer, because 2026 being the year that the sun would be able to set on the British empire was one of its few selling points.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
The AskHistorians Best of 2025 Awards have been announced!
Whether it's the Beast's books, Bond's booze or Blackfoot butts, come celebrate and enjoy some outstanding public history work!
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Whether it's the Beast's books, Bond's booze or Blackfoot butts, come celebrate and enjoy some outstanding public history work!
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
From the AskHistorians community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community
www.reddit.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:48 PM
The AskHistorians Best of 2025 Awards have been announced!
Whether it's the Beast's books, Bond's booze or Blackfoot butts, come celebrate and enjoy some outstanding public history work!
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Whether it's the Beast's books, Bond's booze or Blackfoot butts, come celebrate and enjoy some outstanding public history work!
www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...
Absolutely wild to see "central bankers" and "solidarity" in the same sentence.
GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKERS: “.. We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell.”
www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/dat...
www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/dat...
January 13, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Absolutely wild to see "central bankers" and "solidarity" in the same sentence.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
While I love my niche stupid hobby of historical board gaming, sometimes it does just make me want to scream. Take the latest example, a board game about the Irish Potato Famine where you get to compete with friends to see who survives best (?)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
The Great Hunger
Easy-to-learn, card-driven game, rich with historical detail; explores 19th-century Irish expansion, blight, famine, & emigration. 2-5P
www.kickstarter.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:15 AM
While I love my niche stupid hobby of historical board gaming, sometimes it does just make me want to scream. Take the latest example, a board game about the Irish Potato Famine where you get to compete with friends to see who survives best (?)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/com...
No one invade anyone while I'm at the test match please
January 6, 2026 at 11:00 PM
No one invade anyone while I'm at the test match please
Not sure this is a sufficiently steep discount tbh
January 6, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Not sure this is a sufficiently steep discount tbh
I learned tonight that one of the nicest, most genuine guys I know has an AI podcast and does "drone meditation" at his local techno yoga studio, and tbh I cannot even.
January 5, 2026 at 12:23 PM
I learned tonight that one of the nicest, most genuine guys I know has an AI podcast and does "drone meditation" at his local techno yoga studio, and tbh I cannot even.
Special interest cruises are really getting quite niche
January 5, 2026 at 6:17 AM
Special interest cruises are really getting quite niche
There's a genre of AskHistorians question that boils down to "who was the universally acknowledged evil person before Hitler". I suspect future generations will ask a similar question about petty, stupid and self-destructive political leaders.
WH sources say Venezuela's opposition leader committed the "ultimate sin": She accepted the Nobel Peace prize.
“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one said.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one said.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
January 5, 2026 at 4:52 AM
There's a genre of AskHistorians question that boils down to "who was the universally acknowledged evil person before Hitler". I suspect future generations will ask a similar question about petty, stupid and self-destructive political leaders.
Good luck, future historians. Your problem is going to be explaining how you can rule the world's most powerful empire without grasping why that empire was actually powerful.
January 3, 2026 at 10:43 AM
Good luck, future historians. Your problem is going to be explaining how you can rule the world's most powerful empire without grasping why that empire was actually powerful.