Diane Miller Sommerville

Book Review: Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America’s First Opioid Crisis - Emerging Civil War Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America’s First Opioid Crisis. By Jonathan S. Jones. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2025. Softcover, 412 pp. $39.95. Reviewed by Tim Talbott...

Grateful for this positive review of Opium Slavery in Emerging Civil War. First book review in the books! emergingcivilwar.com/2026/02/03/b...

PSA: The Marshall Foundation in Lexington, VA is hiring. You would not believe what they have in their archives. networks.h-net.org/jobs/69739/g...

Amidst all the tragic news a bright spot: @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social has named the finalists for the Lincoln Prize and among them are some fabulous historians including @jgiesber.bsky.social @amarshall.bsky.social Doug Egerton and @jonathansjones.bsky.social -- a Binghamton U. PhD. Congrats!

Weird to be commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Am Rev while living under a government that has a) sent armed troops to occupy cities perceived to be too rebellious, b) rendered largely irrelevant the representative branch of government, and c) claimed imperial right to rule other countries.

Former advisee and Binghamton PhD @jonathansjones.bsky.social publishes his amazing book OPIUM SLAVERY on the opioid crisis after the Civil War. A must read for all students of US history.

Congratulations to Binghamton University grad student Youngin Jang who received the Holmes Award at the meeting of the Southern Historical Assn for the best paper given by a graduate student or junior faculty member. Her dissertation is on working class children families in antebellum Baltimore.

Just teasing! Just don’t call me a senior citizen 😜

😂

“Older ladies”?!?!😠

Just google the saying and you’ll get multiple outlets.

#NoKings #Antifa 🇺🇸 👊🏻

No kings in Binghamton NY. 4000 strong.

Bryan Andrews Music

I think I'm just as excited as Jonathan!! Congratulations, Jonathan! I can't wait to get a copy in my hands!

We've got a cover and a publication date (April 3, 2026).

New AP history prompt: Did Father Coughlin do politics right? Discuss.

How to Read a Book: The X-Ray Method for Achieving a Sustainable “Book-Life Balance” - Commonplace This is why you need a plan: to read attentively but efficiently, and sustainably, without surrendering your book-life balance.

Tis the season to make plans to reclaim and cherish your book-life balance! See my 10-step handout “How to Read a Book” @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social

#skystorians #gradstudents
#howtoreadabook #bibliophiles #selfcare

commonplace.online/article/how-...

Congratulations!!

Here's the map of violent crime rates. Before you ask what the dots are blah blah, just click through and use the interactive version!

@sarahlongwell25.bsky.social

ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study The study, from MIT Lab scholars, measured the brain activity of subjects writing SAT essays with and without ChatGPT.

MIT study found that AI overuse causes measurable brain damage. “Cognitive atrophy.. like a muscle that’s forgotten how to work” MIT Publication - arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...
Time Magazine - time.com/7295195/ai-c...

100 years ago today a Tennessee grand jury indicted science teacher John Scopes for violating the state’s law making it a crime “to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History The Founders had disagreements about the role of religion in America’s public schools, but there was always one line they would not cross.

Oklahoma is forcing the Supreme Court to choose: Either the justices can allow more religious control of public schools, or they can respect the wishes of the Founding Fathers, writes Adam Laats.

Binghamton New York. Drenching rain, 500 democracy loving peeps #HandsOff

Your tariff rate is your star sign divided by the number of boys you've kissed, multiplied by one

DOGE Demands Deep Cuts at Humanities Endowment The National Endowment for the Humanities, which supports museums, scholarship and historical sites, could see grants curtailed and staffing slashed by up to 80 percent.

DOGE Demands Deep Cuts at Humanities Endowment www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/a...

@jonathansjones.bsky.social for your Vietnam course

Bewilderment as a Way of Understanding America’s Present – and Past - Commonplace Circumstances in which people are feeling extreme disorientation are potent breeding grounds for people who are willing to exploit it to take advantage in moments of crisis.

Do you feel bewildered by the current state of the nation? In a thoughtful new piece in @commonplacejrnl.bsky.social,
@rparkinson.bsky.social provides some historical context from 1770s PA to explain how bewilderment and chaos agents are not new in America. 🗃️

commonplace.online/article/bewi...

Y'all, listen to this glowing review of Last Seen by @jgiesber.bsky.social on @nprfreshair.bsky.social! Congratulations Judy!!! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f... 🗃️