I wrote another post about how much I struggled with episode five of Ken Burns’ American Revolution: open.substack.com/pub/evanmwil...
12.01.2026 21:08
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I wrote another post about how much I struggled with episode five of Ken Burns’ American Revolution: open.substack.com/pub/evanmwil...
I have thoughts about the recent announcement that the US Navy will build battleships once more. @warontherocks.bsky.social was kind enough to publish them.
warontherocks.com/2026/01/why-...
I was not a fan of Ken Burns' American Revolution Episode 5. Some thoughts on the missing global context, and how events in Europe shaped events in the thirteen colonies.
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/ken-burns-...
Photo of the huge dam on the Dnipro river after it was attacked, with billowing smoke and flames.
Issue 3 of Mainsheet, on Challenges in Maritime Archaeology, is online now. I am especially excited to see the publication of this article by a Ukrainian archaeologist about the underwater heritage of his country and the impacts of the war. 🏺 #oa www.mainsheet.mysticseaport.org/article/1475...
Some background and context for Ken Burns' discussion of the Howe brothers: evanmwilson.substack.com/p/ken-burns-...
On the Benedicts Arnold and the family's connection to Newport, inspired by Ken Burns' American Revolution Episode 2:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/ken-burns-...
Some additional commentary on Ken Burns' American Revolution Episode 1. I talk about missing India; Suffren; and sending the army to the colonies.
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/ken-burns-...
I tried to figure out what applied history is, and what it means that I have to care about it in my day job:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/applied-hi...
oh my god Yale
Great read.
@smh-historians.bsky.social
Why did convoys work?
With apologies for the Buzzfeed-style subtitle...
#navalhistory
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/why-did-co...
A Hunger-Games-style proposal for solving the Royal Navy's manning problems in 1813:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/a-plan-for...
Retraction watch--a double whammy! Plagiarism AND a double submission! Don't see that every day.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
What made Nelson ordinary, and what made him extraordinary.
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/admiral-lo...
History has a whole tense designed specifically for its use. Not many other disciplines can say that!
oh my god this.
And it bleeds into writing. I have to yell to my students “if it’s in the past USE PAST TENSE.”
I wrote about the Continental Navy on its 250th birthday, specifically about why its dismal combat record obscures its other accomplishments. I've also got a section in there about the challenges the British faced in the early years of the Revolution. Check it out: open.substack.com/pub/evanmwil...
And that meant I got to link to my favorite item on JSTOR: Iggy Pop's essay on Edward Gibbon: www.jstor.org/stable/25528...
I wrote about Charlton Heston writing about Patrick O'Brian in an academic book. What's not to like about that sentence?
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/arms-and-t...
Nope.
Historian achievement unlocked: I've just had my own book explained to me by a stranger.
It's the hover-text that does it. Historians, click through:
xkcd.com/3127/
In Nelson's era, were British ships really worse than French and Spanish ships? I investigate Patrick O'Brian's claims:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/men-of-war...
I wrote about Patrick O'Brian's evolving relationship with Lord Cochrane, and about how Stephen Maturin lies about his income to Diana Villiers when he proposes in HMS SURPRISE. Check it out!
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/hms-surpri...
#navalhistory
Stephen Maturin reflects on the types of naval officers in HMS Surprise. He wasn't the first to do that:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/hms-surpri...
Patrick O'Brian's Stephen Maturin is an unbelievable character, in the most literal sense. Yet he compels us to suspend our disbelief, and he sticks in our mind long after we're finished with the series. A post from my dad:
evanmwilson.substack.com/p/really
#navalhistory
