Spencer W. McBride
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spencerwmcbride.bsky.social
Spencer W. McBride
@spencerwmcbride.bsky.social
Historian & Writer
Saturday vibes at the McBride home.
January 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
Please stop using “revisionist history” as a stand-in for falsehoods.

Any worthwhile work of history uses untapped sources, novel methodologies and/or new connections across fields to improve, alter and, yes, revise our understanding of history.

Truly revisionist history is a *good* thing.
January 16, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
Terrific thread:
January 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
The number of folks liking this article despite it being "old"--published in 2019--is making us happy. But if you think this article is old, wait till you learn about the stuff in the archives!
December 29, 2024 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
It would be fun to have sideline reporters at academic conferences.

Reporter: "Prof. Rothman, how do you come back from such a devastating Q&A? They really hammered you out there."

Me: "All we can do is go back to the archives, find more evidence, and then just trust the process, Helen."
December 30, 2024 at 12:44 AM
What is your favorite opening sentence of a book?

#booksky #books #writing #reading
December 30, 2024 at 3:22 AM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1929 & sound recordings from 1924 will enter the public domain in the US, like:

⚓️ Popeye
🕵️ The Maltese Falcon
📖 The Sound and the Fury
🇮🇹 A Farewell to Arms
🏠️ A Room of One's Own
🙌 Hallelujah
🎺 Bolero
and many more!

🧵👇
December 26, 2024 at 3:56 PM
Another re-read for me this year was Ted Conover’s Rolling Nowhere. I have never hopped a freight train, although as a teenager I often dreamed about doing so just to see where it took me. Looking back, I’m glad I never did it. But I enjoy reading about it!
December 27, 2024 at 4:16 AM
Agreed. I love hearing from readers of my books that they borrowed a copy from their local library!
Library purchases are purchases. They pay the press. The press counts them towards advances and royalties. And (gasp) the book is in a library!! It’s wonderful and no one should ever feel bad about getting a book through a library instead of buying it.
I got it from my local library system, which has 28 physical copies (more than half are checked out) and 4 audiobooks. The branch library is two blocks from my house so I get most of my books from there. Hope this helps because I loved the book - I'm not a historian and knew nothing of that period.
December 27, 2024 at 1:41 AM
😁😆🤣
googling "last minute gift ideas for the one person who has sustained me, without whom I would be lost, unmoored, crashing upon the rocks under $25"
December 21, 2024 at 4:00 PM
I’m old enough to remember when episode 1 of Ben Franklin’s World was released. Now the incomparable @lizcovart.bsky.social & her team are celebrating EPISODE 400! Congratulations, Liz!
December 17, 2024 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
same energy
December 15, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Another book that I re-read just about every year is 84, Charring Cross Road. It’s charming and the same passages touch my heart every time.
December 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” #AChristmasCarol
December 10, 2024 at 3:24 AM
I re-read Dear Mr. Henshaw every year. It’s among my favorites. It reminds me of the importance of community for the sake of our children, of them knowing that there are adults in their lives who are cheering them on, ready to help them. It inspires me to be such a person. #books #amreading
December 9, 2024 at 3:54 AM
Throwback to my high school cross country days (Ramona High School in the San Diego area). My running some 20 years later looks different (in Utah, mostly on mountain trails, & quite a bit slower 😁) but it remains a source of joy for me. #running
December 8, 2024 at 3:58 PM
I’m here for everyone’s Spotify wrapped. Here’s mine.
December 8, 2024 at 6:34 AM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
Amazed to find that Harvard Library has the signatures of some of the 650 Bostonians who signed the non-consumption agreement on 28 October 1767 to protest the Townshend Duties.

We're featuring it in Worlds: Episode 12: "The Conspiracy." Coming soon!

iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/vi...
November 20, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Here’s my thinking on Blue Sky: back on the bird site, I posted mostly about history, writing, & books. I’ll still do that here, but I plan to post more about my hobbies than I previously did (gardening, trail running, backpacking, & more). I hope you will enjoy (or at least tolerate) that as well.
The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, April 2024. (One of the coolest/hardest backpacking trips of my life.)
November 12, 2024 at 4:34 AM
The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, April 2024. (One of the coolest/hardest backpacking trips of my life.)
November 12, 2024 at 4:08 AM
I am excited to dive into this new book from @markcheathem.bsky.social, the latest release in an excellent series on U.S. presidential elections. (You all may know that I have a special interest in the election of 1844.) Congratulations, Mark!
November 16, 2023 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
I am so excited to share the cover of my upcoming book MAKING THE PRESIDENCY: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic. The book is out August 2024, and is available now for preorder!
Amazon: lindsaychervinsky.pub/amazon
B&N: lindsaychervinsky.pub/bn
November 15, 2023 at 12:19 PM
If you’re interested in the politics of the early American Republic, you are going to want to read this book. Congratulations, Mark!
It takes a village to write a book. That's certainly true in my case.

wordpress.com/post/jackson...
October 24, 2023 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Spencer W. McBride
Hey our team keeps growing! Pls share, this is the coolest library and the best group of folks to work with. IMHO. 😀 🗃️#libraries jcblibrary.org/news/join-ou...
October 20, 2023 at 1:53 PM
Whenever I stop at peculiar roadside attractions such as this I think of the novel American Gods by @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com.
I was in Bailey, CO, today and stumbled upon a Bigfoot museum and gift shop. It felt like something out of the animated series, Gravity Falls, if you know what I mean. #Bigfoot #Sasquatch
October 20, 2023 at 3:28 AM