Maddie Collins
banner
collins1129.bsky.social
Maddie Collins
@collins1129.bsky.social
Lukewarm takes on medieval/public history, museums, books & indie bookstores • they/them • Views my own.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏴🌹
My eyes can’t see it at all by my camera can! Try taking a photo?
November 12, 2025 at 3:52 AM
And call all your senators to let them know that you’re ready to volunteer, donate, and vote for anyone who primaries against senators who fold.
November 10, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Nice crowd for No Kings at Lexington Battle Green in Massachusetts.
October 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I’m part of the Feminist Bird Club of Boston Birdathon team raising funds for Birders of Palestine!

You can donate per unique bird species I find during the birdathon, or any flat amount here: tinyurl.com/myr2yrya

Or join a team and go birding! Thanks!
October 7, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Ferdowsi

Who doesn’t love an epic poem?
June 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire by Eckart Frahm

Again, Assyria is just cool, and it did expand into the territory we know of as Iran and impact its history!
June 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan by Naomi Duguid

Cuisine, baybee.

(Honorary shout out to Iranian-American chef Samin Nosrat who does not specifically have a book on Iranian cooking but did save my Life with Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat).
June 22, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary

And

A History of the Muslim World: From Its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity by Michael A. Cook

Both not specifically about Iran, but great contextual works for this part of the world.
June 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China by Christopher I. Beckwith

And

The Scythians: Nomad Warriors of the Steppe by Barry Cunliffe

Look, the Scythians are just cool.
June 22, 2025 at 4:04 PM
America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian

Obviously relevant.
June 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry by Adrian Goldsworthy

An interesting look at the first model for “East-West” dynamics—but Goldsworthy argues that the two empires evolved in tandem, not always solely in opposition!
June 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The classic graphic memoir from the period in which the US intervened to disastrous effect on Iranian citizens.
June 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Feat. our very own Dusty Springfield
April 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Indie bookselling is weird because you are just a bookseller-turned-manager, but then you are suddenly also a feral pigeon rescue and release expert because a bird wandered in to browse the nonfiction display.
January 21, 2025 at 2:55 PM
PSA: Over the holiday, my father had a stroke. He identified the issue immediately and rushed to an emergency room with no hesitation. Because of this, he had a ~6 cm clot removed from his brain and is expected to make a full recovery.

The BE FAST mnemonic saved his life. Memorize it! stroke.org
January 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Asking for feedback at work
November 21, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Gaze upon her little feet and despair.
November 19, 2024 at 2:24 AM