Bathsheba Demuth
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brdemuth.bsky.social
Bathsheba Demuth
@brdemuth.bsky.social
12K followers 1.8K following 2.1K posts
Writer & environmental historian of cold places, now writing about the Yukon River. Author of FLOATING COAST. Prof at Brown University. Post mostly about animals, Arctic things & books. Heart is on a dogsled. #envhist #naturewriting
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brdemuth.bsky.social
Bathsheba Demuth @brdemuth.bsky.social · Aug 15
“Deep relationship is a sensation of the particular, held in the eager tilt of a lead dog’s ears before a run or the feel of an old scar left by a salmon’s tooth.”

An essay on the mighty but sometimes overlooked chum salmon & dogs & rivers & love

#envhist #rivers
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Where the Dogs Run | Bathsheba Demuth
The best days to work a salmon net are dry and bright. Bankside willows tilt from summer green to autumn gold. Light wind, no longer warm, riffles the
www.nybooks.com
brdemuth.bsky.social
That’s a great idea!
February 10, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Bathsheba Demuth
electrification.bsky.social
"Industry, for the growing European middle classes, first meant freedom from want—from the real tyrannies of hunger and cold—and then freedom to want. Consumption itself became a kind of liberty."

Beautifully about Svalbard and the world by @brdemuth.bsky.social

hakaimagazine.com/features/foo...
Footprints of Extraction | Hakai Magazine
The Svalbard Archipelago was uninhabited until humans came searching for resources. A historian follows their tracks.
hakaimagazine.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Bathsheba Demuth
brown-ibes.bsky.social
"Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait" by @brdemuth.bsky.social, Dean's Associate Professor at IBES and @brownhist.bsky.social, has been selected as the 2025-2026 Brown University Book Award 📕🏆 👏

Learn more: insite.browntextbook.com/BrownBookAward
February 2, 2026 at 6:18 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
I would add that many European ventures into the poles failed due to an inanity to appreciate Indigenous technology. Amundsen took note and it kept him alive, from not using horses to the calories needed (a stick of butter in your hot coca)
January 19, 2026 at 11:07 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Hmm good question! “The Worst Journey in the World” has some good stuff on Antarctica, and “A Wretched and Precarious Situation” on the Arctic. Those are focused on European expeditions which are often quite a bit different than Indigenous ways of Arctic travel — happy to provide cites for those too
January 19, 2026 at 11:05 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Gorgeous gorgeous cover!
January 18, 2026 at 7:52 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
I can endorse working with @greenleejw.bsky.social for maps if you’re looking! He helped with a whole series of custom maps for an edited volume on rivers coming out in about a year — all sorts of scales and details
greenleejw.bsky.social Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · Jan 7
Will you be working this year on a book or article that's going to need #maps? Let me help! I draw custom maps for a living!

I draw each map by hand, to my clients' specifications, & each is unique. You can find out more on my website:

surprisedeelmaps.com

Here's some recent examples of my work:
A Surprised Eel Map showing South America, with all of the countries named and the borders done in a light grey so that they are visible, but not obvious. The map shows the Amazon River, as well as the Rio de la Plata, the Parana River, and the Tiete River. The most salient part of the map is a series of large dark colored arrows, labeled "Flying Rivers." Each arrow is numbered, and has a shadow below it to suggest that it is floating above the map. The first arrow begins in the Atlantic ocean and goes west over the continent. The next turns back at the Andes, and then the last few split off of that into three different arrows that wind their way southeastward. There are lines showing evaporation in the atlantic, rain and evaporation over the Amazon, and lines showing rain the souther part of the continent. There is a key which reads: Life of a Flying River 1.Equatorial water evaporates off the ocean and is carried westward by trade winds 2. Cycles of evapotranspiration over the rainforest lead to emergence of an atmospheric ("flying") river 3. Colliding with the Andes, the flying river turns southward while feeding the headwaters of the Amazon basin 4. Continuing southeast, flying rivers carry accumulated water to distant parts of the continent via rainfall A black and white map showing a city plan for ancient Mycenae. Art. A greyscale map of southern Africa showing different biomes. The map map key indicates 7 different biomes: Succulent Karoo; Fynbos; Albany Thicket; India Ocean Coastal Belt; Mixed Woodland; Grassland; Nama-Karoo; and Kalahari Savanna. Each is represented on the may by a different shade of grey, with areas of more rainfall being darker, and areas of less rainfall being lighter. Several of the rivers are labeled, as is the Indian Ocean. Map of the globe, with Europe in the center. The map mostly does not show Oceania. The map is colored to look like an old-timey parchment maps. There are 15 drawings of various cultural artifacts on the map, each inside a black circle with an arrow pointing to the artifact's location in the world. A map title, written on what looks like torn parchment, reads, "Some Places and Treasures, Section 3: 1300 - 1500" There is a red dragon in the water. I've shown him before, so I'll share his alt-text again: A red sea serpent with little wings or fins. He might be a stupid dragon. His long, long tail curves several times before vanishing into the water behind him. You can't tell where in the world we are, as there are no landmarks. The serprent's tongue is yellow, like he's just popped a banana slug into his mouth. His expression kinda looks that way, too. His eyes are wide and his maw is open in something that looks like surprise. Like someone just pinched his butt in the middle of his quarterly earnings presentation. His name is Speril, and he is an only child
January 7, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Bathsheba Demuth
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
@brdemuth.bsky.social's essay in @grantamag.bsky.social on time spent in the Yukon piecing together oral histories of the Russian empire. Read it to the end; no spoilers!

granta.com/where-the-la...
Where the Language Changes
‘I am on the hunt for the Russian Empire, or what traces might still exist of its colonial enterprise.’ Bathsheba Demuth travels the Yukon river, following the history of the fur trade and the Nulato ...
granta.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:12 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
I’m glad it was helpful!
December 31, 2025 at 11:08 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Thank you Surekha! That means so much
December 31, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Bathsheba Demuth
coyotetrail.bsky.social
“I heard her say, ‘The love is there. The love is there. The love is there. Babe, the love is there. The love is there. The love is there.’” - Laureli Ivanoff
December 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Bathsheba Demuth
alaskawx.bsky.social
Tanacross #Dene #Language #Alaska
Saa Dzé’edeex Dé’ "Winter Solstice"; literary when the sun divides

Wunenh Nach’ehjedh "December"

Nach’imbâal Dzeen "Christmas"; refers to an old custom of giving/receiving gifts at the darkest time of year.

Dzeen Chox "Christmas" post-gold rush term
Black and white clipart sketch showing a dog team crossing a river or late with a setting or rising sun on the horizon.
December 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Thank you Tina—hard to comprehend this
December 14, 2025 at 1:12 AM
brdemuth.bsky.social
I’m so glad she’s safe!
December 14, 2025 at 12:22 AM
brdemuth.bsky.social
I feel like this is the nightmare we all dread in the US — an active shooter in your community. Brown University is still in shelter in place 3 hours in, with 2 confirmed deaths, 8 in critical condition, and no shooter(s) in custody. One of my students had to run from the scene. Horrified.
December 14, 2025 at 12:10 AM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Interesting— I’d be curious how it reads this year, given the rise in the abundance discourse that Jeff mentions
December 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Thank you for posting! And to my co-authors @parriblue.bsky.social and Ellen Wohl
December 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Thank you for all the suggestions in the replies! It’s really expanded this syllabus-in-progress
brdemuth.bsky.social Bathsheba Demuth @brdemuth.bsky.social · Dec 8
Favorite recent or classic readings on the history of environmental movements, 19th and 20th C? This is for a senior seminar, US and Europe as geographical focus
#envhist
December 13, 2025 at 1:28 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Oh this is excellent, thank you!
December 13, 2025 at 1:27 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Ooh yes!
December 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Ooh great suggestion thank you!
December 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Yes!
December 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
This looks terrific thank you!
December 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
Ooh I love the idea of putting Smell Detectives in this mix! And Dunaway is def going on the syllabus
December 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
brdemuth.bsky.social
This looks terrific, thank you Fredrik!
December 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM