Kevin Manzel
banner
kevinmanzel.bsky.social
Kevin Manzel
@kevinmanzel.bsky.social
History. Music. Books. Running. Learning. Always learning. VP Content Strategy, The Great Courses.
So much fun that my Art of War Great Course has made connections to Thermopylae, Gettysburg, George Washington (several times), D-Day, the Schleiffen Plan, football, basketball, and his father’s poor business decisions.
February 7, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
@joelbaden.bsky.social Just wanted to tell you that I am ADORING your Great Courses series!!!! Bravo!!!!
February 5, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Calling all history nerds! Interested in a FREE live online lecture on the rise of the Venetian maritime empire by Great Courses Prof Thomas Noble on 2/26 2 pm EST? Lecture + live Q&A. Register here: streamyard.com/watch/Td7J2f...
February 5, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
This historian is amazing. I feel like watching her documentary series has given me more insight into America than countless hours of modern news media.
February 3, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you liked the series & found it enlightening.

“Forgotten America: Rediscovering Events that Changed the Nation” is available through The Great Courses Plus or Audible. 🗃️

bit.ly/4omm0oi
February 4, 2026 at 3:17 AM
The professor for Art of War walking you thru a line-by-line translation of Chp 1 is both insanely ambitious and thrillingly satisfying.
January 31, 2026 at 6:24 PM
I’m at that point in my career where I supervise and “direct” writing more than I actually do it myself. But, my god, when I do get to write - even something brief - for an audience, I really freaking love it. ❤️
January 31, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
My entire YouTube algorithm is niche social histories. I have been radicalized to pay for The Great Courses Plus, which I do not regret to inform you is 100% worth the money.
January 28, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Omg I’m watching the chat absolutely blow up for @carterhaughschool.bsky.social on the Great Courses Journeys Live event and it hasn’t even officially started yet. Love it!!!
January 29, 2026 at 7:01 PM
New favorite nonfiction writing criticism: “There’s too much throat clearing… .” I can’t wait to use that. (Just don’t use it on me pls.)
January 28, 2026 at 3:25 PM
I do, too. Outstanding course by an outstanding professor, Dr. Eren Taser.
I’ve started to watch this Great Courses Plus lecture series on Central Asian history, and I do recommend it!

The great civilizational crossroads

history.unc.edu/2025/02/11/d...
January 27, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Went for a long run in 15-degree weather to try and forget about the news for a while. Didn’t work. I’m more angry and sad than when I left.
January 24, 2026 at 7:59 PM
So glad I squeezed in a late run before the temperature plummets. Got to learn that both Mozart and Beethoven were inspired by music of Ottoman janissaries. Beethoven even features it in his Ode to Joy.
January 23, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
Travel with me to Panama and Costa Rica! Ill be hosting an amazing trip for The Great Courses in Jan 2027. We will be transiting the Panama Canal, visiting the spectacular San Blas Islands, and exploring Darién National Park, among the many highlights! www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/panamacanalp05
Panama Canal (Ponant 05) | TGC Journeys
Embark on an unforgettable Central American journey under the guidance of Professor Scott Solomon from Rice University, a biologist, science communicator, and expert in ecology and evolution.
www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
Did Napoleon write this?
January 21, 2026 at 12:36 PM
I highly recommend joining this live talk. History, myth, literature, and two outstanding and fascinating professors FOR FREE. And you can ask them questions. Register at the link below.
On 1/29 at 2:00PM ET, we’re doing a free talk “Experiencing King Arthur’s Cornwall” for The Great Courses. All are welcome, but come if you want to visit England with us in Sept 21-28 on “Enchanted England: Folklore, Literature, and Landscapes!”
www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/liveevents
January 21, 2026 at 2:55 AM
A horrifying thought: AI’s best comp for a previous technology that fundamentally changed information creation and access was the printing press, which was wielded for spreading violently polarizing views in the Wars of Religion.
January 19, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
I discussed this in the lecture on Asian Exclusion (covering Chinese Exclusion & Japanese Incarceration) in Forgotten America for the Great Courses and Audible. bit.ly/4omm0oi #HATM
January 19, 2026 at 1:28 AM
The history of AI is filled with appearances by so many great thinkers: Babbage, Lovelace, Russell, Chalmers, Gardner, Turing (Turing, Turing, Turing), Darwin, Asimov, and others. The human aspects are as interesting as the science itself.
January 18, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Kevin Manzel
🦷 “analysis of tooth enamel samples collected from the remains of people buried in England b/w the end of Roman rule in Britain around A.D. 400 & the arrival of the Normans around 1100 indicates that migration to the island was continuous throughout the period” 🦷 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
News - Medieval Migration to England Tracked in Tooth Enamel Study - Archaeology Magazine
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—According to a statement released by the University of Edinburgh, analysis of tooth enamel […]
archaeology.org
January 18, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Drinking game: Do a shot every time a Great Courses philosophy professor mentions John Searle’s Chinese Room.
January 17, 2026 at 6:58 PM
I’m fully locked into the new Great Courses AI course because the content is 🤯 but also because Prof Patrick Grim is a complete vocal doppelgänger of Peter Coyote (probably another German word for that).
January 16, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Me every time I hear an archaeologist shredding Schliemann’s “digs” at Troy
a man in a suit and tie is clapping his hands and saying `` go get ' em '' .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is clapping his hands and saying `` go get ' em '' .
media.tenor.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Crazy to think that parchment was invented in Pergamon because Egypt embargoed shipments of papyrus for use in the rival library. Parchment in fact derives from the name Pergamon.
January 16, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Ok Great Courses fans, get ready. You’ve been asking for it. Friday 1/16 we release a course on AI. Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Of Minds and Machines, taught by longtime TGC philosophy prof Patrick Grim.
January 14, 2026 at 3:46 PM