𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
@charlescmann.bsky.social
Author of "1491, "1493," and, most recently, "The Wizard and the Prophet." New book coming out in Spring 2027 from Knopf.
The background image is real old by now, but I like the pig. The avatar photo is only a few years old, though, so that's something.
The background image is real old by now, but I like the pig. The avatar photo is only a few years old, though, so that's something.
Pinned
How the System Works
A series on the hidden mechanisms that support modern life — and what happens if we don’t maintain them
www.thenewatlantis.com
My thanks to the New Atlantis, letting me do this series on "How the System Works," and for removing the paywall today. It's maddening how little attention our society--and our political leaders, who take cues from us--pay to the systems that have made things better for so many billions.
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
Thought this was interesting. This slide is from a talk I gave in 2013 about our research on vaccine exemptions in AZ.
Even then, one of the hotspots for exemptions was Colorado City AZ, and as denoted by the masked emoji I just added, this is where the current AZ measles outbreak began.
Even then, one of the hotspots for exemptions was Colorado City AZ, and as denoted by the masked emoji I just added, this is where the current AZ measles outbreak began.
November 1, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Thought this was interesting. This slide is from a talk I gave in 2013 about our research on vaccine exemptions in AZ.
Even then, one of the hotspots for exemptions was Colorado City AZ, and as denoted by the masked emoji I just added, this is where the current AZ measles outbreak began.
Even then, one of the hotspots for exemptions was Colorado City AZ, and as denoted by the masked emoji I just added, this is where the current AZ measles outbreak began.
A few striking images that capture much of what has happened to US publishing in the last 30 years.
The Big Five US Trade Book Publishers
With all the imprints out there, it's sometimes difficult to know which imprint belongs to which of the big five publishers.
almossawi.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:14 PM
A few striking images that capture much of what has happened to US publishing in the last 30 years.
Mind-boggling stuff: ICE has detained 4 Oglala men and is apparently demanding the Lakota--a nation of the continent's original inhabitants--“enter into an immigration agreement with ICE." www.twincities.com/2026/01/13/i...
Oglala Sioux Tribe says three tribal members arrested in Minneapolis are in ICE detention
The detained tribal members are experiencing homelessness and living under a bridge in Minneapolis.
www.twincities.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Mind-boggling stuff: ICE has detained 4 Oglala men and is apparently demanding the Lakota--a nation of the continent's original inhabitants--“enter into an immigration agreement with ICE." www.twincities.com/2026/01/13/i...
@jvl.bsky.social, pertinently: "Tell me: Is there a single Republican in America willing to say, 'Well, if the protesters refused to comply with orders from the Gasht-e Ershad [Iranian morality police], then they should expect to be killed'?"
We Make Our Own Monsters
Foucault’s Boomerang and the road from Fallujah to Minneapolis.
www.thebulwark.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:45 PM
@jvl.bsky.social, pertinently: "Tell me: Is there a single Republican in America willing to say, 'Well, if the protesters refused to comply with orders from the Gasht-e Ershad [Iranian morality police], then they should expect to be killed'?"
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
I should add that whenever the Journal has commissioned me since then there's been no political push one way or another. To wit: www.wsj.com/economy/slav...
January 13, 2026 at 3:02 PM
I should add that whenever the Journal has commissioned me since then there's been no political push one way or another. To wit: www.wsj.com/economy/slav...
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
the short-term potency of the kinepox inoculations (which were made up of ground up scabs from persons infected with cowpox) meant there was a whole global network of infected cowpox patients used for this purpose, who were shipped all over the globe
www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
22 Orphans Gave Up Everything to Distribute the World’s First Vaccine
Spain’s strategy for rolling out the smallpox vaccine ran into some very 19th-century problems.
www.theatlantic.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:21 PM
the short-term potency of the kinepox inoculations (which were made up of ground up scabs from persons infected with cowpox) meant there was a whole global network of infected cowpox patients used for this purpose, who were shipped all over the globe
www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
TIL that Thomas Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to carry with them smallpox vaccine--technically, an earlier form that used cowpox--that they were to offer to native people they encountered. Jefferson was by no means a friend to native people, but he was an ardent proponent of vaccination...
January 12, 2026 at 4:15 PM
TIL that Thomas Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to carry with them smallpox vaccine--technically, an earlier form that used cowpox--that they were to offer to native people they encountered. Jefferson was by no means a friend to native people, but he was an ardent proponent of vaccination...
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
1. There's a new FluView report from #CDC. Let's dive in.
CDC was informed of 7 more kids who've died from #flu, bringing the season's toll to 17. Sadly, this number is going to rise.
Vaccine uptake among kids has been declining. As of this week, flu vaccine is no longer rec'd for all kids.
CDC was informed of 7 more kids who've died from #flu, bringing the season's toll to 17. Sadly, this number is going to rise.
Vaccine uptake among kids has been declining. As of this week, flu vaccine is no longer rec'd for all kids.
January 9, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
The key to being really good at competitive clientelism as a political model is to do while in office the things you would rage at when in the opposition. www.ft.com/content/8d20...
Donald Trump to announce direct-to-consumer US drug sales programme
So-called TrumpRx will allow people to buy prescriptions at discounted price negotiated by government
www.ft.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
The key to being really good at competitive clientelism as a political model is to do while in office the things you would rage at when in the opposition. www.ft.com/content/8d20...
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
Yes, JD. Let’s ask them if they think a stay at home mom, avowed Christian, and widow of a veteran deserved to be shot in the face and left to bleed out in her own car after dropping her 6-year-old off at school, for the crime of looking out for her neighbors. Let’s ask everyone running for office.
January 8, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Yes, JD. Let’s ask them if they think a stay at home mom, avowed Christian, and widow of a veteran deserved to be shot in the face and left to bleed out in her own car after dropping her 6-year-old off at school, for the crime of looking out for her neighbors. Let’s ask everyone running for office.
Fascinating paleoDNA analysis of the consequences of the 17th-c. Russian conquest of the Yakuts, the biggest Indigenous group in Siberia. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Fascinating paleoDNA analysis of the consequences of the 17th-c. Russian conquest of the Yakuts, the biggest Indigenous group in Siberia. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
As a pal notes, the long US policy of not recognizing the Chavista president and denouncing the regime has just ended with Trump's recognition of Delcy and his dumping Machado to the curb hard. How is that not a giant retreat?
January 8, 2026 at 3:05 PM
As a pal notes, the long US policy of not recognizing the Chavista president and denouncing the regime has just ended with Trump's recognition of Delcy and his dumping Machado to the curb hard. How is that not a giant retreat?
Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park, SW Texas.
January 6, 2026 at 11:45 PM
Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park, SW Texas.
@joshtpm.bsky.social: "The stock story about Iraq was that the U.S. successfully decapitated the Iraqi state but made few plans for how to govern Iraq once it had overthrown the existing regime. We have a parallel situation in Venezuela, **only the U.S. hasn’t even overthrown the current regime."**
Venezuela Regime Change and the Theater of the Absurd
On Saturday, a friend and I were comparing notes on the events...
talkingpointsmemo.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:05 PM
@joshtpm.bsky.social: "The stock story about Iraq was that the U.S. successfully decapitated the Iraqi state but made few plans for how to govern Iraq once it had overthrown the existing regime. We have a parallel situation in Venezuela, **only the U.S. hasn’t even overthrown the current regime."**
"What," I asked as we approached Marfa, "attracted a minimalist like Donald Judd to this place, anyway?"
January 5, 2026 at 4:39 PM
"What," I asked as we approached Marfa, "attracted a minimalist like Donald Judd to this place, anyway?"
Old windmill, new windmill. Whiteside, NM.
January 5, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Old windmill, new windmill. Whiteside, NM.
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
I exaggerate but is this like invading Nauru for the Guano, but after the Haber-Bosch process was discovered?
January 3, 2026 at 4:36 PM
I exaggerate but is this like invading Nauru for the Guano, but after the Haber-Bosch process was discovered?
New Year's Day walk, Palo Duro, TX. May everyone have as promising a beginning to the New Year.
January 2, 2026 at 3:07 PM
New Year's Day walk, Palo Duro, TX. May everyone have as promising a beginning to the New Year.
Success! So much hard work paying off!
A hearty congrats to RFK Jr., as the U.S. is poised to lose its measles elimination status after 25 years, with the most cases since the early 1990s.
Congrats to RFK Jr., As the U.S. Is Poised to Lose Its Measles Elimination Status After 25 Years
After a quarter century where measles was considered eliminated in the U.S., 2025's continuous outbreaks have us back at ground zero.
www.jezebel.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Success! So much hard work paying off!
The utter lack of self-doubt by these guys is exasperating. It's OK to be the confidently wrong guy in a barstool bull session, but not so OK when millions think you're a source of information. Joe Rogan was born in '67, AFTER a massive global vaccination program cut measles deaths dramatically...
December 31, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The utter lack of self-doubt by these guys is exasperating. It's OK to be the confidently wrong guy in a barstool bull session, but not so OK when millions think you're a source of information. Joe Rogan was born in '67, AFTER a massive global vaccination program cut measles deaths dramatically...
Possibly important Harvard study finds infections can lead to tau tangle aggregates in brain, usually regarded as symptoms/causes of Alzheimer's. Same lab found a few years back that infections can also lead to amyloid plaques, another classic symptom if Alzheimer's. The (possible!) implication...
Phosphorylated tau exhibits antimicrobial activity capable of neutralizing herpes simplex virus 1 infectivity in human neurons - Nature Neuroscience
The authors found that the Alzheimer’s disease-associated protein tau, widely considered pathogenic when hyperphosphorylated, has a natural function as part of the innate immune system in the brain an...
www.nature.com
December 29, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Possibly important Harvard study finds infections can lead to tau tangle aggregates in brain, usually regarded as symptoms/causes of Alzheimer's. Same lab found a few years back that infections can also lead to amyloid plaques, another classic symptom if Alzheimer's. The (possible!) implication...
Reposted by 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝙲. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚗
It has happened before. It will happen again. (The interesting debate might be over exactly what mode of capitalism different places are practicing right now).
December 29, 2025 at 2:46 PM
It has happened before. It will happen again. (The interesting debate might be over exactly what mode of capitalism different places are practicing right now).
Lost Dutchman Park, Apache Junction, AZ
December 28, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Lost Dutchman Park, Apache Junction, AZ
I don't know what it is about airports.
George Bush Int'l (Houston). Step into elevator, guy inside looks up, big grin breaks out at the sight of me: "Stephen King!"
Me: No.
Him: Face falls. Silence. I have ruined his day.
Me: I get that a lot.
Him: Silent glower.
Me: Merry Christmas?
George Bush Int'l (Houston). Step into elevator, guy inside looks up, big grin breaks out at the sight of me: "Stephen King!"
Me: No.
Him: Face falls. Silence. I have ruined his day.
Me: I get that a lot.
Him: Silent glower.
Me: Merry Christmas?
December 24, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I don't know what it is about airports.
George Bush Int'l (Houston). Step into elevator, guy inside looks up, big grin breaks out at the sight of me: "Stephen King!"
Me: No.
Him: Face falls. Silence. I have ruined his day.
Me: I get that a lot.
Him: Silent glower.
Me: Merry Christmas?
George Bush Int'l (Houston). Step into elevator, guy inside looks up, big grin breaks out at the sight of me: "Stephen King!"
Me: No.
Him: Face falls. Silence. I have ruined his day.
Me: I get that a lot.
Him: Silent glower.
Me: Merry Christmas?