Nicholas Birns
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nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns
@nicholasbirns.bsky.social
1.4K followers 2K following 640 posts

Academic, literary critic etc. teaching at NYU. Books from Cambridge UP, Bloomsbury, Broadview, Palgrave, U of South Carolina P, Sydney UP, Routledge. He/him

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Nicholas Birns is a scholar of literature, including fantasy and Australian literature. As a Tolkien scholar he has written on a variety of topics including "The Scouring of the Shire" and Tolkien's biblical sources. His analysis of the writings of Anthony Powell and Roberto Bolaño has been admired by scholars. .. more

Art 28%
Political science 22%
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Reposted by Nicholas Birns

joycewhitevance.bsky.social
Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 9h
A federal judge in Boston interrupted the administration’s efforts to force 15,000 people with legal status in the US to leave by revoking their parole just days before Christmas. Learn who these people are & ask yourself how this makes us any safer. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
A Little Good News on a Saturday Night
Saturday night, a federal judge prevented the Trump administration from revoking “parole” as many as 15,000 people who don’t have legal immigration status but have been permitted to remain in the U.S.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

aodhbc.bsky.social
Hugo Brady Brown @aodhbc.bsky.social · 11h
"The Last Living Atlanticist Widow Tells All" (forthcoming)

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 18h
Talk I am giving February 26. Will post registration link when I have it..

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

thetypist.bsky.social
The Typist @thetypist.bsky.social · 1d
If you want to understand the reality Ukrainian soldiers experience at the front watch 2000 Meters to Andriivka, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov.
2000 Meters to Andriivka (official trailer) | FRONTLINE
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
youtu.be

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

americanstudier.bsky.social
Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 1d
Thread! & check out my new column for some Commonsensical contexts:

www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/01/cons...

Reposted by Steven Heydemann, Marc Goergen, Michael A. Clemens , and 19 more

thetnholler.bsky.social
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d
🚨 NEW VIDEO 👇🏽This puts an end to all the lies. Horrific.

They were having a calm exchange seconds before he murdered Renee Good, and she was barely moving and clearly avoiding him.

Stop the lies.

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

victorasal.bsky.social
Victor Asal @victorasal.bsky.social · 1d
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
@chronicle.com
@ehayot.bsky.social
@mattseybold.bsky.social

www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 2d
www.inquirer.com/food/wine-re...
Low-alcohol wines are trending. Here’s one that’s actually good.
Consumers are increasingly interested in "lite" wine. But removing alcohol alters flavor and compromises the complex balance of tastes, smells, and textures that people expect from a good wine.
www.inquirer.com

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 4d
Found this in an old suit jacket, Momentos of my trip to Serbia in 2014..

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

apnews.com
The Associated Press @apnews.com · 5d
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Her comments came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the mineral-rich Arctic island to come under U.S. control.
Danish prime minister says a US takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.
bit.ly

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Robert W. Wallace, Philip N. Cohen , and 14 more

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 5d
kind of darkly funny that "gender studies" is the stereotypical "useless degree" because gender studies will help you understand a large and important chunk of the current psychosis in american life

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

alltoosuman.bsky.social
Suman Seth is meant to be writing @alltoosuman.bsky.social · 5d
I tend to think I stay up to date on Warwick Anderson’s publications. But just came across his 2017 paper on ‘Coolie Therapeutics.’ A lovely short paper, one that touches on lots of themes from earlier publications while also exploring new terrain. Final para on Ackerknecht’s sig today is great.

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

theknightirish.bsky.social
TheKnightIrish @theknightirish.bsky.social · 6d
Three more volumes from the Routledge sale that all landed separately. It’s very 18th century heavy… 📚 #histbookchat

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

joshuaholland.bsky.social
Joshua Holland @joshuaholland.bsky.social · 6d
This little indoor herb garden has really driven home why dill is called dillweed.
A small hydroponic herb growing setup containing three herbs. Two are small and immature and the dill is overgrowing the lights.

Reposted by Matthew Bunn, Peter Thorne, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 7 more

ryanmarino.bsky.social
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 6d
In a study following 23 million people age 18-59 (pretty young) for 4 years…despite the fact that the ones who got the COVID vaccine were overall older and sicker at baseline, they not only had 74% lower risk of dying from COVID than the unvaccinated but 25% lower risk of dying from any other cause!

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

akurjata.ca
Andrew Kurjata @akurjata.ca · 6d
Refreshingly clear-eyed editorial in the Globe and Mail: Venezuela's fate is a warning for Canada.

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
Globe editorial: The Sunday Editorial: Venezuela’s fate is a warning for Canada
U.S. military action to seize Nicolás Maduro marks the formal debut of an imperial America
www.theglobeandmail.com

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 8d
My man looks like vandals covered a statue with lunch meat

Reposted by Steven French, Rosemary A. Joyce, Alison Phipps , and 4 more

rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 8d
In celebration of Mamdani's first day in office, the map from our 2016 NYC atlas celebrating Queens as the most linguistically diverse place on earth. (800 languages spoken in NYC, according to NY's Endangered Language Institute, which collaborated with us on this map.

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

joelhs.bsky.social
Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 8d
It’s quite telling that so many right-wing dealers in nostalgia are embracing the aesthetics of modern AI-generated art. Can’t actually find real images of the imagined past to which you want us to return? No problem; just generate it with AI.
Post from Congressman Andy Ogles with an AI-generated image of a Crusader

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 11d
From Mimi Pond’s graphic biography of the Mitford sisters – the Communist Party of the United States in 1994 being a bit Trumpian.

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

kkoczwara.bsky.social
Kevin Koczwara @kkoczwara.bsky.social · 11d
Did a lot of teaching this year and not a lot of writing, but kept a newsletter stacked with author interviews and ran an essay on Denis Johnson to close out the year. open.substack.com/pub/kevinkoc...
The humanity of Denis Johnson
How the American author finds the best parts of us in his work
open.substack.com

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 11d
Some grammar time

Reposted by Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Nicholas Birns

dieworkwear.bsky.social
derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15d
Don't need to imagine, Sinatra had something to say about multicultural liberal democracies 🧵
Stephen Miller writes on Twitter: "Watched the Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra Family Christmas with my kids. Imagine watching that and thinking America needed infinity migrants from the third world."

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 16d
Biggest tree in town

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 17d
Thanks to New York University by the way for supporting its faculty in publishing open access.

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 18d
Full article: “But Hermengyld Loved Hire Right as Hir Lyf”: Conversion, Gender Transposition and History in The Man of Law’s Tale www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... my article on Chaucer, gender, and history, now published open access..
“But Hermengyld Loved Hire Right as Hir Lyf”: Conversion, Gender Transposition and History in The Man of Law’s Tale
This article explores the role the name “Hermengyld” plays in delineating the Mediterranean arena of Geoffrey Chaucer's
www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Nicholas Birns

moudhy.bsky.social
Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 18d
As we go into the holidays, I leave you with this stone relief and stunning cuneiform inscription.

The writing is engraved over the image of a protective spirit whose image once flanked the doorway to the throne room of an Assyrian palace in Nimrud.
Photo of a cuneiform inscription carved into stone over a relied showing a hand holding a bucket which itself had the scene of two figures facing a tree. Photo of a stone relief showing a mythical being in profile facing left. The being has wings and the head of an eagle but the body of a man. He holds a bucket and a cone. There is a cuneiform inscription engraved across the middle of the relief

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 21d
@juanedecastro.bsky.social Polish Peruvian

Reposted by Nicholas Birns, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

nicholasgrossman.bsky.social
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 21d
It’s fascinating.

The notion that your economic challenges are real, and should be addressed, but are not greater than economic challenges of various times in the past really bothers some people.

This has to be the worst economy ever. As if 20th century ads and sitcoms were the common experience.

nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Nicholas Birns @nicholasbirns.bsky.social · 22d
elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2025/12/Birn.... Recording of our zoom at the end of this post
December 15 Zoom event on the work of Agatha Christie.
A blog focusing on the history of mystery/detective fiction.
elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com