Laura O'Brien
@lrbobrien.bsky.social
Cultural historian of France, Meathwoman, crafter, multifaceted fangirl. Thinks a lot about Napoleon in cinema/theatre; Paris; caricature. She/her.
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
American Studies and a variety of other programs under under threat at the University of Nottingham. Lend your voice to the petition.
Sign the Petition
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
www.change.org
November 13, 2025 at 3:01 PM
American Studies and a variety of other programs under under threat at the University of Nottingham. Lend your voice to the petition.
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
If anyone thought Bruce Springsteen would back down after Donald Trump’s threats, last night he doubled down: “In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They're rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just society”
May 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
If anyone thought Bruce Springsteen would back down after Donald Trump’s threats, last night he doubled down: “In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They're rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just society”
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Historians for Trans Rights - Open Letter to MPs
In light of the recent and incessant attacks on the trans community in the UK by the UK government and legal system, a group of UK-based historians have drafted the letter linked below. Our aim is to ...
tinyurl.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:17 AM
OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now!
Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver
Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn
Caught between genuinely thinking the Michel Thomas audio method will work for my language learning and my misophonia going haywire at Michel’s mouth noises on certain tracks 😵💫
March 10, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Caught between genuinely thinking the Michel Thomas audio method will work for my language learning and my misophonia going haywire at Michel’s mouth noises on certain tracks 😵💫
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
The backstory of Reacher author Lee Child as a union guy in Granada TV is new to me! Jack Reacher would not cross a picket line I'm pretty sure!
March 3, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The backstory of Reacher author Lee Child as a union guy in Granada TV is new to me! Jack Reacher would not cross a picket line I'm pretty sure!
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Actually the image doesn't explain why it's so exciting -- the book is about modern New York as the most linguistically diverse place that has ever existed on earth, the work of the Endangered Language Alliance in documenting & supporting marginalised languages, and the stories of their speakers.
March 3, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Actually the image doesn't explain why it's so exciting -- the book is about modern New York as the most linguistically diverse place that has ever existed on earth, the work of the Endangered Language Alliance in documenting & supporting marginalised languages, and the stories of their speakers.
Enjoying waving remotely at @rpanchasi.bsky.social and the rest of the stellar panel for tonight’s @frenchhistory.bsky.social event on French and francophone global history…
March 3, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Enjoying waving remotely at @rpanchasi.bsky.social and the rest of the stellar panel for tonight’s @frenchhistory.bsky.social event on French and francophone global history…
Wait…an editorial on universities that *doesn’t* blame staff and actually thinks we suffer as a result of the problems in the sector?! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on campus cuts: academics pay a high price for Westminster’s mistakes | Editorial
Editorial: The government should not stand aloof as a crisis unfolds in our universities. A new settlement is needed
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Wait…an editorial on universities that *doesn’t* blame staff and actually thinks we suffer as a result of the problems in the sector?! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Alexa play “My Happy Place” by @divinecomedyhq.bsky.social merciiiiii
February 7, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Alexa play “My Happy Place” by @divinecomedyhq.bsky.social merciiiiii
Saw this on the other place. Immediately thought of @onslies.bsky.social. #nuntastic
February 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Saw this on the other place. Immediately thought of @onslies.bsky.social. #nuntastic
“We should ask not whether what unfolded in 🇩🇿 is especially similar to 🇵🇸, but how reading these histories together might help us consider what decolonization feels like not as an end point, but as an ongoing process.” The always-great @arthurasseraf.bsky.social on Algeria and Palestine.
The Algeria Analogy
We must turn to histories of decolonization not in order to predictoutcomes, but to expand our sense of how to fight without knowing the future.
jewishcurrents.org
January 28, 2025 at 6:02 PM
“We should ask not whether what unfolded in 🇩🇿 is especially similar to 🇵🇸, but how reading these histories together might help us consider what decolonization feels like not as an end point, but as an ongoing process.” The always-great @arthurasseraf.bsky.social on Algeria and Palestine.
Question: does anyone know if there are decent digitised runs of 1950s/1960s British women’s magazines - not for me, for a student? Woman’s Own seems only to exist in hard copy in various libraries…
January 28, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Question: does anyone know if there are decent digitised runs of 1950s/1960s British women’s magazines - not for me, for a student? Woman’s Own seems only to exist in hard copy in various libraries…
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
THIS FRIDAY! It's going to be spectacular, so don't miss out!
#LowCountries #EarlyModern #FoodHistory #SkyStorians
#LowCountries #EarlyModern #FoodHistory #SkyStorians
Come and hear all about “Food history as history of knowledge: preservation technologies in the #EarlyModern #LowCountries” from the fab @mariekehendriksen.bsky.social
Friday 31 January, 17:30 (UK time), @ihr.bsky.social or on zoom. All welcome! www.history.ac.uk/events/food-...
Friday 31 January, 17:30 (UK time), @ihr.bsky.social or on zoom. All welcome! www.history.ac.uk/events/food-...
January 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
THIS FRIDAY! It's going to be spectacular, so don't miss out!
#LowCountries #EarlyModern #FoodHistory #SkyStorians
#LowCountries #EarlyModern #FoodHistory #SkyStorians
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
It’s started: ICE raided a Chicago-area hospital emergency department today and showed up at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan last week. Share this with any health workers you know. We must know how to respond when ICE comes for our patients and coworkers.
jacobin.com/2025/01/hosp...
jacobin.com/2025/01/hosp...
The Hippocratic Oath May Require Doctors to Disobey Trump
Donald Trump's ICE raids on hospitals endanger immigrants and attack the ethical foundations of medicine. Health workers' fundamental duty is to patients, not the law, and they must resist policies th...
jacobin.com
January 27, 2025 at 2:26 AM
It’s started: ICE raided a Chicago-area hospital emergency department today and showed up at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan last week. Share this with any health workers you know. We must know how to respond when ICE comes for our patients and coworkers.
jacobin.com/2025/01/hosp...
jacobin.com/2025/01/hosp...
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Goodbye to the lost children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it | Nesrine Malik
Goodbye to the lost children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it | Nesrine Malik
There is no way to rationalise the horrors inflicted on Gaza’s innocent children. Now is the time to mourn them fully
For the past week, Palestinians in Gaza have been returning to their homes, now mostly reduced to rubble – and to their dead who still…
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Goodbye to the lost children of Gaza. You were loved, you are remembered, you did not deserve it | Nesrine Malik
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Me, writing my book, 4 years in, and still not being quite sure what it is.
January 23, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Me, writing my book, 4 years in, and still not being quite sure what it is.
Extremely hot book cover klaxon! “Napoleonic Objects and their Afterlives”, edited by @matildagreig.bsky.social and Nicole Cochrane, coming on 6 February (and featuring a chapter from me on Napoleonic performance w/Albert Dieudonné as key case study). www.bloomsbury.com/uk/napoleoni...
January 23, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Extremely hot book cover klaxon! “Napoleonic Objects and their Afterlives”, edited by @matildagreig.bsky.social and Nicole Cochrane, coming on 6 February (and featuring a chapter from me on Napoleonic performance w/Albert Dieudonné as key case study). www.bloomsbury.com/uk/napoleoni...
21 January: execution of Louis XVI. “Something for crowned jugglers to ponder”, as this contemporary print warns. Mort aux tyrans, indeed…
January 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
21 January: execution of Louis XVI. “Something for crowned jugglers to ponder”, as this contemporary print warns. Mort aux tyrans, indeed…
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Search engines exist. Calendars and reminders are already on your phone and email client. No one needs to use immense amounts of energy and water and stolen IP to make a worse version!
ChatGPT can now handle reminders and to-dos
ChatGPT can now handle reminders and to-dos
ChatGPT just got a new automation feature for future tasks.
buff.ly
January 15, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Search engines exist. Calendars and reminders are already on your phone and email client. No one needs to use immense amounts of energy and water and stolen IP to make a worse version!
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
J'ai évoqué Los Angeles, ses écosystèmes et l'histoire des incendies dans la ville sur RTS, la radio préférée de mon oncle zurichois 📻🎙️
“Los Angeles ne sera plus comme avant”, m’écrivait une amie qui y habite.
@elsadevienne.bsky.social nous explique comment l’urbanisme influence la situation.
www.rts.ch/info/monde/2...
@elsadevienne.bsky.social nous explique comment l’urbanisme influence la situation.
www.rts.ch/info/monde/2...
L'étalement urbain de Los Angeles joue un rôle dans la propagation des incendies
Le feu continue de ravager les abords de Los Angeles vendredi. L'urbanisme spécifique de la région joue un rôle dans la propagation des feux, selon Elsa Devienne, maîtresse de conférence à la Northumb...
www.rts.ch
January 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
J'ai évoqué Los Angeles, ses écosystèmes et l'histoire des incendies dans la ville sur RTS, la radio préférée de mon oncle zurichois 📻🎙️
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Pour les blueskyeurs français, j'ai évoqué la situation à Los Angeles ce matin avec Guillaume Erner sur France Culture.
Petite erreur dans son intro: Mike Davis a écrit son texte "Faut-il laisser Malibu brûler?" dans les années 1990 (pas 70).
www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Petite erreur dans son intro: Mike Davis a écrit son texte "Faut-il laisser Malibu brûler?" dans les années 1990 (pas 70).
www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Californie en feu : que peuvent les politiques ? / Les différents systèmes de retraite / Richard Malka
Avec Elsa Devienne, historienne des Etats-Unis, spécialiste d'histoire environnementale / Bruno Pallier, directeur de recherche au CNRS et à Sciences Po / Richard Malka, avocat, romancier
www.radiofrance.fr
January 13, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Pour les blueskyeurs français, j'ai évoqué la situation à Los Angeles ce matin avec Guillaume Erner sur France Culture.
Petite erreur dans son intro: Mike Davis a écrit son texte "Faut-il laisser Malibu brûler?" dans les années 1990 (pas 70).
www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Petite erreur dans son intro: Mike Davis a écrit son texte "Faut-il laisser Malibu brûler?" dans les années 1990 (pas 70).
www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
🎶just little bits of history repeating🎶
In a nutshell, modest progress on gender equality led to a 'backlash decade' in which every American institution decided that activists were too aggressive, that the women's movement had gone too far and that feminists were the reason women still lagged behind.
January 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
🎶just little bits of history repeating🎶
My niece is going through a pear phase. “Draw one with a happy face. Okay now a sad face. Okay now a mad face.”
This is proof that research *is* transferable in the most unexpected circumstances, I think. 🍐 #ifyouknowyouknow
#channellingphilipon
This is proof that research *is* transferable in the most unexpected circumstances, I think. 🍐 #ifyouknowyouknow
#channellingphilipon
January 11, 2025 at 3:41 PM
My niece is going through a pear phase. “Draw one with a happy face. Okay now a sad face. Okay now a mad face.”
This is proof that research *is* transferable in the most unexpected circumstances, I think. 🍐 #ifyouknowyouknow
#channellingphilipon
This is proof that research *is* transferable in the most unexpected circumstances, I think. 🍐 #ifyouknowyouknow
#channellingphilipon
Reposted by Laura O'Brien
Happy 2025 everyone!🧡🌿🏺 I’m excited to spend this new year illustrating the ancient Mediterranean world, and also learning more about my own local folklore🌿
Any shares so i can reach my audience on this new platform are greatly appreciated 🧡🧡🧡
#artvsartist #illustration #ancientbluesky
Any shares so i can reach my audience on this new platform are greatly appreciated 🧡🧡🧡
#artvsartist #illustration #ancientbluesky
January 7, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Happy 2025 everyone!🧡🌿🏺 I’m excited to spend this new year illustrating the ancient Mediterranean world, and also learning more about my own local folklore🌿
Any shares so i can reach my audience on this new platform are greatly appreciated 🧡🧡🧡
#artvsartist #illustration #ancientbluesky
Any shares so i can reach my audience on this new platform are greatly appreciated 🧡🧡🧡
#artvsartist #illustration #ancientbluesky
Ridiculously proud that this is out in the world! Thank you @enghistrev.bsky.social and the many people who helped with this work along the way.
New article! Laura O'Brien @lrbobrien.bsky.social on 'Religion, Politics and Reconciliation in France: The Death of Archbishop Denis-Auguste Affre and the Revolution of 1848'
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
Religion, Politics and Reconciliation in France: The Death of Archbishop Denis-Auguste Affre and the Revolution of 1848*
Abstract. Denis-Auguste Affre, archbishop of Paris, died on 27 June 1848, two days after being shot at the barricades while attempting to parley with insur
academic.oup.com
January 6, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Ridiculously proud that this is out in the world! Thank you @enghistrev.bsky.social and the many people who helped with this work along the way.