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While sitting through my PhD defense one of my examiners set a question to me: "is your dissertation a work of revisionist history?" I hadn't really thought about it before, partially because of the negative connotations associated with "revisionism." As I began answering the
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My dissertation spent a whole lot of time on Arnulf and how he fit into the broader constellation of Carolingian politics and tradition, but I had relatively little time to spend on things from the perspective of the local and regional elite. This was partially a function of time and
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Welcome back to my monthly installment of new releases in medieval studies. Medieval is being used very expansively here, so expect some books dealing with Late Rome or the Renaissance if they look particularly interesting. Now, I don't have the time or resources to read all of these
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This post was prompted by a brief interaction I saw on Bluesky a while back, where someone proudly shared they were starting an ancient history podcast geared towards sharing their expertise in a more public way. Someone jumped in to bemoan how the title of the podcast and the topics
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Recently my first article was accepted for publication in the journal Early Medieval Europe. If you have been reading Among the Ruins for a while it will be wholly unsurprising that my first article would be about two things: Arnulf of Carinthia and charters. Originally this material started its life
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Welcome back to my monthly installment of new releases in medieval studies. Medieval is being used very expansively here, so expect some books dealing with Late Rome or the Renaissance if they look particularly interesting. Now, I don't have the time or resources to read all of these
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It has been just about one year since I started posting regularly again. Since then I have come to realize that I needed a more coherent plan for the future so that I don't 1) burn out, and 2) move the newsletter towards something that is sustainable (i.
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Welcome back to my monthly installment of new releases in medieval studies. Medieval is being used very expansively here, so expect some books dealing with Late Rome or the Renaissance if they look particularly interesting. Now, I don't have the time or resources to read all of these
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History publishing operates along largely two tracks: the first is the more traditional scholarly monograph published through an academic press (Cambridge, Oxford, Brill, etc.). The second is what is often called "popular history" and is published through a trade publisher (Random House, etc.). People can be real snooty
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With so much new scholarship on the middle ages appearing all the time, it is easy for it to get lost or missed by those who are not in the know or professional historians. So my goal is to curate a list, mostly in English, of new releases in medieval
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I spend a lot of time on Among the Ruins talking about kings and nobles, perhaps unsurprising given my academic background. Yet charters and other sources give us glimpses into people of a decidedly lower register. Our challenge as historians is usually that we have very little information about these
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Hello! I received my PhD in Medieval History in May 2025 and am using my expertise to educate interested people in the Middle Ages and the process of creating history. Subscribing as either a free or paid member will help you go from an enthusiast to someone who understands how