Dr. Jessica Lepler
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jlepler.bsky.social
Dr. Jessica Lepler
@jlepler.bsky.social
Historian at UNH. Teaches early America, capitalism, & animals. 1st Book (2013): "The Many Panics of 1837." 2nd Book (2025): "Canal Dreamers" https://uncpress.org/book/9781469690551/canal-dreamers/
Pinned
Today's release of the Canal Dreamers audio book made me realize that I should pin a thread with links related to the book. Starting with the @uncpress.bsky.social website:
uncpress.org/978146969055...
Canal Dreamers
In the 1820s, there was a little-known quest to unite the world by building a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As Spanish American nations d...
uncpress.org
We had so much fun churning butter with children and their caregivers. While our biceps worked out, we chatted about the history of food, labor, animals, and so much more!
Our UNH History team is doing it again next month. You can do it too! We hope this idea gathers STEAM! 🗃️#skystorians
And at the other end of the student age spectrum, a team from UNH led by @ksalex10.bsky.social and @jlepler.bsky.social went to a local elementary school to inject some history fun into STEAM Night. 🗃️
Churning Butter and Promoting History – AHA
A butter-churning activity got children excited about history at an elementary school STEAM night.
www.historians.org
February 11, 2026 at 5:26 PM
One month from today, I will be discussing my book Canal Dreamers at @amantiquarian.bsky.social in Worcester, MA. It is a hybrid event so distant folks can join the fun! March 5, 7-8 PM. Here's the registration link:
www.americanantiquarian.org/programs-eve...
@uncpress.bsky.social #skystorians
🗃️
The Epic 1820s Quest to Connect the Atlantic and Pacific | American Antiquarian Society
www.americanantiquarian.org
February 5, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Cultivated to be ephemeral, this Shaw's orchid has survived a decade. It was on death's door a few years ago. It hadn't produced a bud in about five years. And then, in the last six months, it has produced two rounds of flowers. Resiliency in floral form, and a model for us all.
January 24, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
We discussed the Monroe Doctrine, the former plans for a canal in Nicaragua - not Panama - and a great deal more on the Colombia Calling podcast this week with @jlepler.bsky.social.

Tune in for this and the news by Emily Hart on the Colombia Briefing.

podcasts.apple.com/co/podcast/c...
January 21, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Looking forward to publishing this one online, so everyone can read it. But for now, AHA members should check it out in their print #AHAPerspectives!
@ksalex10.bsky.social and I wrote a new article about UNH students churning butter with 500 5-12 year olds to bring the humanities into an elementary school's STEAM night. The kids ate it up! Find the full article in @historians.org "Perspectives Magazine" www.historians.org/perspectives...
🗃️
January 20, 2026 at 1:59 PM
@ksalex10.bsky.social and I wrote a new article about UNH students churning butter with 500 5-12 year olds to bring the humanities into an elementary school's STEAM night. The kids ate it up! Find the full article in @historians.org "Perspectives Magazine" www.historians.org/perspectives...
🗃️
January 20, 2026 at 1:47 PM
I had so much fun chatting with @londomomposino.bsky.social about Canal Dreamers. He was such a wonderful conversationalist! I am currently reading a new source he recommended for my research on the history of Nicaraguan Sharks! 🌎 🌊🦈 🗃️
@uncpress.bsky.social #envhist #histsci #oceanhist #skystorians
Coming tomorrow, the historic quest for the Nicaragua Canal.

podcasts.apple.com/co/podcast/c...
January 20, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Today's release of the Canal Dreamers audio book made me realize that I should pin a thread with links related to the book. Starting with the @uncpress.bsky.social website:
uncpress.org/978146969055...
Canal Dreamers
In the 1820s, there was a little-known quest to unite the world by building a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As Spanish American nations d...
uncpress.org
January 13, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Today is the release day of the Canal Dreamers audio book! I listened to Word's read aloud feature while I was writing. I haven't heard the tracks yet & am so curious how professional voice actor Kristin Price tells the story!
@uncpress.bsky.social
#skystorians
🗃️
www.audible.com/pd/Canal-Dre...
Canal Dreamers
Check out this great listen on Audible.com. In the 1820s, there was a little-known quest to unite the world by building a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As Spanish American nations ...
www.audible.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
RIP Dan Howe, a great historian of the antebellum United States

🗃️
In memoriam: Daniel Walker Howe, 88, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and UCLA professor
His scholarship reshaped how Americans understood the nation’s political, intellectual and religious past.
newsroom.ucla.edu
January 10, 2026 at 3:43 PM
I spy with my author eye a familiar book cover on that poster. Happy #AHA26 to all who celebrate!
Our booth is set up for #AHA26 👏

If you're attending be sure to stop by tomorrow to chat with editors Andrew Winters and Andrew Kinney & visit our friends @oieahc.bsky.social in the booth next to us!

@historians.org
January 9, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Thank you, @benjaminepark.bsky.social! So happy that Canal Dreamers made you list!
9) @jlepler.bsky.social, CANAL DREAMERS: THE EPIC QUEST TO CONNECT THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS (UNC)

An exhaustively researched and often surprising tale of 1820s politics, race, and “revolution” in the Americas.
December 22, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
🚨 JOB JOB JOB!!! 🚨
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...
University of Colorado - Boulder - Assistant or Associate Professor of History | H-Net
The Department of History at the University of Colorado Boulder seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor or early Associate Professor specializing in Native American history with a focus on the North American West, broadly defined. The successful applicant will have access to funds associated with the Walter and Lucienne Driskill Professorship in Western American History. Specialization is open, but the department particularly encourages applications from scholars whose research focuses on the early American West (pre-1920s) and engages with legal history, the history of women and gender, environmental history, and/or the history of medicine and public health.  Scholars with demonstrated commitments to engaging Native American communities and/or supporting Native and Indigenous students are especially encouraged to apply, as are those who bring relevant lived and individual experiences and achievements to this position.
networks.h-net.org
December 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Great episode!
Fun fact on the sharks, as well as all the canal might-have-beens. *Follow*
December 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Why didn’t the U.S. build a canal through Nicaragua?

☑️ Geopolitics
☑️ Rainforest
☑️ Rival New Yorkers
☑️ Sharks (yes, really)

This week's episode explores an almost-history you’ve never heard.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428

#Skystorians #HistoryPodcasts #CanalDreamers
December 15, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Can a failed dream shape history?

The Nicaraguan canal was never built, but its dream influenced U.S. diplomacy, Latin American politics, and the Panama Canal.

This week on Ben Franklin’s World: the power of dreams that didn’t come true.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
December 11, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Mapping. Data. Climate. Geopolitics.

The 1820s canal dream has a lot to say to our present.

In the latest episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Liz Covart and Jessica Lepler explore a major, failed idea and what we can learn from it today.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
December 12, 2025 at 9:34 PM
So happy I got to talk about nineteenth-century sharks (and also loan sharks) on an early American history podcast. We need more 🦈 in 🗃️ !
@whysharksmatter.bsky.social #historyofanimals #envhist #histsci #oceanhist #coastalhist
Why didn’t the U.S. build a canal through Nicaragua?

☑️ Geopolitics
☑️ Rainforest
☑️ Rival New Yorkers
☑️ Sharks (yes, really)

This week's episode explores an almost-history you’ve never heard.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428

#Skystorians #HistoryPodcasts #CanalDreamers
December 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Two men. One rainforest. No data.

In the 1820s, two rival Americans tried to build a canal through Nicaragua. One had connections. The other had a surveyor named Blunt (yes, really).

It did not go well.

🎧 Listen: www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
December 10, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
In the 1820s, Americans thought a canal across Nicaragua was inevitable.
They were wrong.

Canal dreamers, revolutions, and rainforest disasters—this story has it all.

🎧 @lizcovart.bsky.social dives in with historian Jessica Lepler

🔗 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428

#history #EarlyAmerica #BFWpod
Episode 428: Jessica Lepler, America’s Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
In the 1820s, Americans dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. This is their story.
www.benfranklinsworld.com
December 9, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
What do the 1820s, infrastructure speculation, and unrealized dreams have in common?

Canal dreamers.

Liz Covart speaks with historian Jessica Lepler about her new book Canal Dreamers and how early Americans imagined remaking the world.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
Episode 428: Jessica Lepler, America’s Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
In the 1820s, Americans dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. This is their story.
www.benfranklinsworld.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Long-time listener, first time talker. Loved my Ben Franklin’s World experience. I hope you will enjoy it, too! Thanks @lizcovart.bsky.social!
Mapping. Data. Climate. Geopolitics.

The 1820s canal dream has a lot to say to our present.

In the latest episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Liz Covart and Jessica Lepler explore a major, failed idea and what we can learn from it today.

🎧 www.benfranklinsworld.com/428
December 9, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Canals? I can dig this conversation.
December 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Podcast Alert! I had so much fun chatting with @lizcovart.bsky.social about the history of 1820s interoceanic Canal Dreamers. The @bfworld.bsky.social podcast episode went live today! What a great last day of classes treat. @uncpress.bsky.social 🗃️
benfranklinsworld.com/episode-428-...
Episode 428: Jessica Lepler, America’s Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
In the 1820s, Americans dared to dream big. They believed they could cut a canal through the wild, rain-soaked terrain of Nicaragua. This is their story.
benfranklinsworld.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Dr. Jessica Lepler
Beckert's new book on the history of capitalism is 1,325 pages! The good news is that capitalism will have ended by the time I finish reading it.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
How Capitalism Took Over the World
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:21 AM