Rich Heffron
richheffron.bsky.social
Rich Heffron
@richheffron.bsky.social
History teacher at Mercersburg Academy
Reposted by Rich Heffron
“The pope will be from Chicago” sounds like an 1880s Republican’s dire prediction for if we don’t stop Irish immigration
May 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
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DEEP DISH COMMUNION WAFERS
May 8, 2025 at 5:23 PM
May 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
For those interested in the history of the Luddite Movement.
May 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Rich Heffron
New book on the history of Ottoman astrology & science from @stanfordpress.bsky.social looks very interesting: 👀 📗 www.sup.org/books/middle... #earlymodern #histsci
Forgotten Experts | Stanford University Press
Forgotten Experts offers a history of Ottoman court astrologers and traces their shifting authority and prestige over the long sixteenth century. These individuals served the Ottoman court with their ...
www.sup.org
May 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
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Ok I know this has been entirely co-opted by hasbara but does anyone have any actually good actually academic work on the difference between the early Islamic conquests and “colonization,” preferably thru comparing with Roman colonies?
April 1, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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March 22, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Excellent! I was just thinking about this the other day when I assigned the primer to the students in my Arab-Israeli Conflict course to review for their final in-class essay.

It's a great resource for introducing students to the depth & breadth of the conflict.
Joel and Lisa have been writing and re-writing this primer since 1988! This major update is coming at an incredibly vital moment and I hope everyone takes some time to digest it.
OUT NOW: The first major update to our Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar, in over a decade is now live! Read, teach, share!
March 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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Talking about cyclical history, anthropomorphism, and romanticizing the past as some of the problems studying history. Trump's inauguration is history in the making. From the invoking of a "golden age" to the "manifest destiny" of the US, there is much to discuss. I have some questions: +
January 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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Studis wenn ich frage wie es mit ChatGPT bei Hausarbeiten aussieht
January 14, 2025 at 10:35 PM
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John Berger, most beloved, passed away on January 2, 2017.

"What reconciles me to my own death more than anything else is the image of a place: a place where your bones and mine are buried...With you I can imagine a place where to be phosphate of calcium is enough.”

#everynightapoem #ofsorts
January 2, 2025 at 10:59 PM
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Meaning fragrance in Islamic Studies, or more generally?

Within IS, there is @nehavermani.bsky.social, Anya King, me and Christian Lange, and a few others.

Here are good starting points, with bibliography:

doi.org/10.1163/1570...

brill.com/display/titl...

www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfss20/1...
Islamic Sensory History
"Islamic Sensory History" published on 29 Jul 2024 by Brill.
brill.com
December 26, 2024 at 8:47 PM
A few of my favorite books of the year that I'm giving as gifts:

Kaveh Akbar, *Martyr*
James McBride, *The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store*
Oliver Burkeman, *Meditations for Mortals*
What books are you giving your relatives/friends/self for the holidays?

I’m gifting @shannonchakraborty.bsky.social’s work, @dghaskell.bsky.social’s work, and @profgabriele.com and @lollardfish.bsky.social’s work.
December 24, 2024 at 5:08 PM
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more specifics to come, but for now: 618 pages, hot off the press!! check out the new issue of @alusuralwusta.bsky.social

I'd go take a nap to recover, but we already have three articles in production and some more in the pipeline. 2025 is going to be fun!
Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta
Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the Islamic lands of the Middle East during the medieval period (defined r...
journals.library.columbia.edu
December 13, 2024 at 4:32 PM
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Alright, I wrote a rant about my feelings about the Global Middle Ages as institutional, historiographical, and moral paradigm. You can read it here.

journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
View of The Intricate World and the Mundane University | Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta
journals.library.columbia.edu
December 13, 2024 at 3:42 PM
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This is such a great question and I get asked this a lot, so here is a really brief thread on some accessible, excellent books on ancient Mesopotamia 😎
don't know you'll see this but do you have any recommendations for books about this time period that's easy for the general public to read? I have been loving your threads about the ancient Mesopotamia! I'd love to learn more but don't want to accidentally read alternative history books.
December 7, 2024 at 6:59 PM
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An interesting forum on the meanings and pursuit of the academic study of Islam, featuring my doktormutter and a few other professors.

www.seldoninstitute.org/seldonforum
Seldon Forum — Seldon Institute
www.seldoninstitute.org
December 2, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Rich Heffron
“I pine for the morrow, and when it comes I weep over the day that has just gone”

Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, The Philosopher Responds, transl. James E. Montgomery
November 21, 2024 at 1:15 PM
#1 is a fascinating question, and certainly one that I can't imagine being asked on comps these days.

I wonder what two "great classics of historical writing" are being referred to here? My first guess would be Gibbon's "Decline and Fall."
The questions Marshall Hodgson was asked in 1951 for his written comprehensive exam in Social Thought are preserved in his papers. He completed the exam near the end of his PhD and it appears he was rather tired of writing about the Nizaris.
November 19, 2024 at 2:27 PM