Jeff Ostler
@jostler.bsky.social
Semi-retired history professor, University of Oregon. Thinking about genocide.
I don't believe the Trump regime's project of erasing history will succeed. Too many people know too much.
January 25, 2026 at 4:43 PM
I don't believe the Trump regime's project of erasing history will succeed. Too many people know too much.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Here's a time-lapse from yesterday as thousands of people marched through downtown Minneapolis to protest ICE.
📷️: Sydney Lewis/The Minnesota Star Tribune
📷️: Sydney Lewis/The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 24, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Here's a time-lapse from yesterday as thousands of people marched through downtown Minneapolis to protest ICE.
📷️: Sydney Lewis/The Minnesota Star Tribune
📷️: Sydney Lewis/The Minnesota Star Tribune
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
"Slavery was real"
Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington.
Presidents House, Philadelphia.
Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington.
Presidents House, Philadelphia.
January 23, 2026 at 3:22 PM
"Slavery was real"
Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington.
Presidents House, Philadelphia.
Tiny sign at the base of a brick wall that, until yesterday, held panels about the people enslaved by George Washington.
Presidents House, Philadelphia.
Recommending these very insightful observations of the past year by Aziz Rana.
www.equator.org/articles/day...
www.equator.org/articles/day...
Days of Complicity • EQUATOR
A legal scholar’s diary of Trump’s return to power
www.equator.org
January 20, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Recommending these very insightful observations of the past year by Aziz Rana.
www.equator.org/articles/day...
www.equator.org/articles/day...
Lots of theft in US history, that's for sure.
Cruz: "When it comes to Greenland, I want to commend President Trump for being single-mindedly focused on America first... I believe it is overwhelmingly in America's national interest to acquire Greenland... the whole history of America has been a history of acquiring new lands and new territories"
January 18, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Lots of theft in US history, that's for sure.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
🙃
This FB post is public.
This FB post is public.
January 16, 2026 at 11:24 PM
🙃
This FB post is public.
This FB post is public.
Saw this ad for Max Mueller's new book WAKARA'S AMERICA in the NYRB. I was lucky to read a draft. It is really really good.
January 16, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Saw this ad for Max Mueller's new book WAKARA'S AMERICA in the NYRB. I was lucky to read a draft. It is really really good.
The owner of X is ignorant about American history.
January 15, 2026 at 11:09 PM
The owner of X is ignorant about American history.
Daniel Walker Howe, 88, Revisionist Historian of Jackson’s America, Dies www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/o...
Daniel Walker Howe, 88, Revisionist Historian of Jackson’s America, Dies
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Daniel Walker Howe, 88, Revisionist Historian of Jackson’s America, Dies www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/o...
An eloquent critique of capitalism and plea for the Earth by Apache elder Wendsler Nosie, Sr.
nativenewsonline.net/environment/...
nativenewsonline.net/environment/...
nativenewsonline.net
January 9, 2026 at 4:29 AM
An eloquent critique of capitalism and plea for the Earth by Apache elder Wendsler Nosie, Sr.
nativenewsonline.net/environment/...
nativenewsonline.net/environment/...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
To move forward, Coloradans must face the massacre’s trauma and begin to repair trust.
Colorado cannot heal until it confronts Sand Creek honestly - High Country News
The trauma around the Sand Creek Massacre must be recognized by Coloradans for true healing to take place. #opinion
buff.ly
January 9, 2026 at 1:00 AM
To move forward, Coloradans must face the massacre’s trauma and begin to repair trust.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Field “also reminds the intellectuals of the New Right of something they all too easily forget: They can indulge in fantasies of an authoritarian regime because of the freedom and security afforded by the liberal democracy they loathe.”
A terrific review of @lkatfield.bsky.social ’s “Furious Minds.”
A terrific review of @lkatfield.bsky.social ’s “Furious Minds.”
The Intellectuals Fueling the MAGA Movement
www.nytimes.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Field “also reminds the intellectuals of the New Right of something they all too easily forget: They can indulge in fantasies of an authoritarian regime because of the freedom and security afforded by the liberal democracy they loathe.”
A terrific review of @lkatfield.bsky.social ’s “Furious Minds.”
A terrific review of @lkatfield.bsky.social ’s “Furious Minds.”
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
RETVRN
Having bison on a Kane County prairie was one of projects promised in the forest preserve district’s Land Acquisition & Preserve Improvement referendum, which was approved in 2024.
Bison roaming in Kane County for first time in 200 years
Kane County has a created a home for a herd of bison in a free-range area of the Burlington Prairie Forest Preserve in Sycamore.
trib.al
December 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
RETVRN
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
December 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Today is publication day for my book, Mixed-Blood Histories: Race, Law, and Dakota Indians in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest, through the University of Minnesota Press!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
Mixed-Blood Histories
An unprecedented study that puts mixed-ancestry Native Americans back into the heart of Indigenous history Historical accounts tend to neglect mixed-ancestry...
www.upress.umn.edu
November 18, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Today is publication day for my book, Mixed-Blood Histories: Race, Law, and Dakota Indians in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest, through the University of Minnesota Press!
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
www.upress.umn.edu/978151792034...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
When Texas seceded from the US in 1861, it issued a proclamation declaring that Blacks "were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race." Could one even mention this fact in a history class at Texas A&M under these new guidelines?
“Texas A&M University System regents voted Thursday to limit how instructors may discuss matters like gender identity and race ideology in classrooms, tightening the rules in a conservative state where debates over academic freedom have flared for months.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Texas A&M Tightens Rules on Talking About Race and Gender in Classes
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 PM
When Texas seceded from the US in 1861, it issued a proclamation declaring that Blacks "were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race." Could one even mention this fact in a history class at Texas A&M under these new guidelines?
Another to reason to hate AI. Gemini screwed these guys over by hallucinating false info about their company.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
Who Pays When A.I. Is Wrong?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Another to reason to hate AI. Gemini screwed these guys over by hallucinating false info about their company.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
Eugene caught a stray at last night's NYC mayoral debate, so now I'm forced to imagine Curtis Silwa wandering the Saturday Market
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
October 17, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Eugene caught a stray at last night's NYC mayoral debate, so now I'm forced to imagine Curtis Silwa wandering the Saturday Market
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
October 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What The Hell Is Going On, a thread:
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I’ve seen some thinkpieces and posts about Portland protests that fail to understand the long-term hyperspecificity of Portland culture/humor, and frame it as a sort of shitposting meme-pilled ironic thing. Which is wrong.
So I’m gonna give you my breakdown.
I was one of the 12,000. Had to avoid antifa terrorists at aid stations, but made it.
October 8, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I was one of the 12,000. Had to avoid antifa terrorists at aid stations, but made it.
Reposted by Jeff Ostler
“The mood of Abundance is that of a chirpy regional sales manager giving a PowerPoint; Overshoot’s is a wild-eyed buccaneer swinging onto a burning frigate with a cutlass in his teeth.” —Trevor Jackson
How to Blow Up a Planet | Trevor Jackson
What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared
buff.ly
September 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
“The mood of Abundance is that of a chirpy regional sales manager giving a PowerPoint; Overshoot’s is a wild-eyed buccaneer swinging onto a burning frigate with a cutlass in his teeth.” —Trevor Jackson
Plan seems to be purge the military of people unwilling to go along with fascism. Same with FBI.
Hegseth: "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, they you should do the honorable thing and resign."
September 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Plan seems to be purge the military of people unwilling to go along with fascism. Same with FBI.