Dennis Todd
banner
dtodd.bsky.social
Dennis Todd
@dtodd.bsky.social
Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University. Written about Pope, Swift, Defoe, Mary Toft, indentured servitude, and William Byrd II and slavery in colonial Virginia. Living in Berkeley raising a severely traumatized dog.
Reposted by Dennis Todd
I’m looking forward to delivering the plenary lecture at this multidisciplinary conference, which marks the tercentenary of the first publication of the world’s greatest prose satire, in 2026:
www.fabula.org/actualites/1...
Gulliver’s Travels at 300. The Global Afterlives of a Bestseller in Print, Transmedial Adaptations, and Material Cultures (Seventh ILLUSTR4TIO International Symposium, London)
Plenary Lecture: Professor Daniel Cook (University of Dundee) Artist’s Talk: Martin Rowson (in conversation with Brigitte Friant-Kessler) Venue: St. Bride Library (London, U.K.) Dates: 23–25 September...
www.fabula.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Friends, if you want to learn a bit more abt The Sweet Taste of Empire, watch this INCREDIBLE conversation with @triciamatthew.bsky.social w.bsky.social, Debapriya Sarkar, Jennifer Morgan, @kwazana.bsky.social & Tapiwa Gambura!
www.youtube.com/live/a-Npxq-...

Then you can buy it at 40% discount.
Kim F. Hall: The Sweet Taste of Empire
YouTube video by Barnard Center for Research on Women
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
This is Queen Mary and Queen Anne erasure
The Washington Post on Abigail Spanberger: "No woman has led Virginia since its colonial government was formed 406 years ago."
November 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
November 5, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Feel bad nobody replied, so I’ll say for me Henry Wiencek’s Master of the Mountain. Hope that makes you feel better
lol, I guess folks i follow on here haven‘t read much in this way. Fair enough!
Poll: best book on Thomas Jefferson, in your opinion? Research on him is consuming my days, and I’ve read plenty of the scholarly stuff, but I’m genuinely curious which books people most enjoyed, academic or popular alike.

Drop your pick below ⬇️
November 3, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
October 31, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Once the find Hoffa’s body I hope they get on the Edward V and Richard, Duke of York case
October 27, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
San Francisco!

#NoKings 👑
October 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
No Kings protest on Berkeley campus rn.
October 18, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Berkeley getting its groove back
October 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Scholars of eighteenth-century topics: consider submitting your work to *Digital Defoe*. We publish essays on Defoe, but also on his "contemporaries," which we're inclined to interpret broadly. More info here:
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/10/...
cfp | call for papers
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu
October 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
The thing is, they weren't live rabbits. They were rabbit parts, which you would think would have been a tip-off to what was going on here.
The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: When Doctors Believe the Unbelievable
What if I told you that in 1726, the most respected doctors in England, including the King's own surgeon, were convinced a woman was giving birth to rabbits? This isn't a fairy tale; it's the unbelievable true story of Mary Toft, and it's one of history's most bizarre cases of Mass Hysteria. In this episode, we're dissecting the strange and contagious nature of belief. We'll explore the phenomenon of Mass Psychogenic Illness, where symptoms with no biological cause can spread like wildfire through a population, fueled by stress and misinformation. The story of Mary Toft is a masterclass in the illusion of expertise, revealing how easily even the most brilliant minds can be fooled when a story is shocking enough. This isn't just a weird relic of the past; it's a critical lesson for our modern world. How does a medical hoax from the 18th century explain our vulnerability to viral lies today? Stick with us to the very end to learn about the one simple, physical 'proof' Mary Toft presented that convinced even the most skeptical doctors and sealed her fame. This is a wild ride through history, psychology, and the importance of critical thinking. Subscribe, share this unbelievable true story, and join the conversation about why we believe the things we do.
www.spreaker.com
August 30, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Hello everyone. Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax has a tenure-track job in Enlightenment rhetoric and / or 18th-century literature. Tell everyone.

www.msvu.ca/about-msvu/c...
Full-time Academic positions
Inspired by a strong tradition of social responsibility and an enduring commitment to the advancement of women, Mount Saint Vincent University promotes academic excellence and the pursuit of knowledge...
www.msvu.ca
August 29, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Here’s the valve that gets the water from Northern to Southern California. I accidentally turned it off after watering the hydrangeas in my side-yard. My bad!
Trump: "We send hundreds of millions of gallons of water a day to the Pacific Ocean. They turn a valve and the valve heads out. And we turned the valve back. I actually had to do it using force. We turned the valve back and now they have water."
August 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
The Wingnut Museum. TBH I’ve actually never gone, even though it’s right down the street. I read the NYT and WaPo every morning and get enough news about wingnuts there.
August 6, 2025 at 4:22 AM
AI vs. MSM
July 30, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Here’s an idea. Let’s name them after Confederate generals.
Trump on DeSantis's new detention camp for migrants: "We'd like to see them in many states. And at some point they might morph into a system."
July 1, 2025 at 8:03 PM
The last IKEA piece I put together, after 5 hours I had to get my next door neighbor to help me. He is—and I’m not lying here—a nuclear physicist, and he had trouble too.
An IKEA piece that requires anything more than an Allen wrench is like a celestial orbit that requires an epicycle or an equant. It is an anomaly, a violation, an affront to order
June 13, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Oakland trucking companies hit by trade war weigh job cuts
Oakland trucking companies hit by trade war weigh job cuts
Business at the Port of Oakland has dropped more than 70% for some due to the economic face-off between the U.S. and China.
sfstandard.com
April 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
“Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution,” Treanor wrote.
Georgetown law dean rebuffs DEI warning from top federal prosecutor for DC
Georgetown Law School’s dean has rebuffed an unusual warning from the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., that his office won’t hire the private school’s students if it doesn’t eliminate dive...
apnews.com
March 8, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Dennis Todd
Isolation. #Skystorians - I could use some help here. Are there histories on isolation? #18century on? Seems to me the more post-modern we go, the more isolated we become. I could be wrong. Defoe's Crusoe hung on isolation. But I need much more. Any help? 🗃️
February 5, 2025 at 10:27 PM