Greg Barnhisel
@gbarnhisel.bsky.social
Pittsburgh-based English professor and writer
Through Dec. 3,
@uchicagopress.bsky.social
has my CODE NAME PURITAN--a biography of the professor and spy Norman Holmes Pearson--at a 30% discount (enter HOLIDAY25 at checkout). Dapper WWII spies, Ivy League professors, wild bohemian poets: something for everyone! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
@uchicagopress.bsky.social
has my CODE NAME PURITAN--a biography of the professor and spy Norman Holmes Pearson--at a 30% discount (enter HOLIDAY25 at checkout). Dapper WWII spies, Ivy League professors, wild bohemian poets: something for everyone! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Code Name Puritan
An insightful biography of an unassuming literary scholar—and spy—who transformed postwar American culture. Although his impact on twentieth-century American cultural life was profound, few people kno...
press.uchicago.edu
December 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Through Dec. 3,
@uchicagopress.bsky.social
has my CODE NAME PURITAN--a biography of the professor and spy Norman Holmes Pearson--at a 30% discount (enter HOLIDAY25 at checkout). Dapper WWII spies, Ivy League professors, wild bohemian poets: something for everyone! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
@uchicagopress.bsky.social
has my CODE NAME PURITAN--a biography of the professor and spy Norman Holmes Pearson--at a 30% discount (enter HOLIDAY25 at checkout). Dapper WWII spies, Ivy League professors, wild bohemian poets: something for everyone! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
For this so-called "Cyber Monday," @columbiaup.bsky.social is offering all of its titles--including my own Cold War Modernists--at a 50% discount! At this price, you can't afford not to get yourself and everyone on your holiday shopping list a copy, can you?
cup.columbia.edu/book/cold-wa...
cup.columbia.edu/book/cold-wa...
Cold War Modernists | Columbia University Press
European intellectuals of the 1950s dismissed American culture as nothing more than cowboy movies and the A-bomb. In response, American cultural diplomats tr... | CUP
cup.columbia.edu
December 1, 2025 at 3:56 PM
For this so-called "Cyber Monday," @columbiaup.bsky.social is offering all of its titles--including my own Cold War Modernists--at a 50% discount! At this price, you can't afford not to get yourself and everyone on your holiday shopping list a copy, can you?
cup.columbia.edu/book/cold-wa...
cup.columbia.edu/book/cold-wa...
It was fun to do this “Authors in Conversation” feature with @elysegraham.bsky.social , where we reviewed each other’s books. My favorite thing about scholarly writing is engaging with other scholars, and this gave it an additional level. networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
H-Diplo Authors in Conversation: Greg Barnhisel and Elyse Graham | H-Net
H-Diplo Authors in Conversation21 November 2025 | PDF: https://hdiplo.org/to/AiC-1 | X: @HDiplo | BlueSky: @h-diplo.bsky.social
networks.h-net.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:03 PM
It was fun to do this “Authors in Conversation” feature with @elysegraham.bsky.social , where we reviewed each other’s books. My favorite thing about scholarly writing is engaging with other scholars, and this gave it an additional level. networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
It’s that time of year friends! Thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social and our friends at @contingent-mag.bsky.social, Laura and I are putting together a list of 2025 articles & books by contingent & indie lit critters. DM, reply, email me @ suny press. And spread the word!!
We are at it again! Myself & the wonderful @rcolesworthy.bsky.social😍
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
Seeking pubs -- articles, book chapters, monographs -- by contingent lit scholars for the 2025 list 👇👇 please spread the word!!!
contingentmagazine.org/2024/12/08/2...
2024 Literary Studies Book and Journal Article List
A companion list for lit studies scholars.
contingentmagazine.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
It’s that time of year friends! Thanks to @erinbartram.bsky.social and our friends at @contingent-mag.bsky.social, Laura and I are putting together a list of 2025 articles & books by contingent & indie lit critters. DM, reply, email me @ suny press. And spread the word!!
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
A couple of good books on this are the Cloak & Gown by Robin Winks, about Yale and the IC (mostly OSS), and recently Code Name Puritan by Greg Barnhisel, about NH Pearson, an OSS Yalie and key 20th century literary figure who got Angleton hired into the OSS in London. cc @gbarnhisel.bsky.social
I’m slowly parsing my way through Stephen Greenblatt’s new book on Christopher Marlowe, and it’s making me wish someone would do a deep study on the relationship between literature and spycraft.
November 9, 2025 at 2:46 PM
A couple of good books on this are the Cloak & Gown by Robin Winks, about Yale and the IC (mostly OSS), and recently Code Name Puritan by Greg Barnhisel, about NH Pearson, an OSS Yalie and key 20th century literary figure who got Angleton hired into the OSS in London. cc @gbarnhisel.bsky.social
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
This, from @sivav.bsky.social, is the mic drop reply to the “Compact” you have been waiting for. It won’t, but it should really just end the discussion and deliberations straight up. newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This, from @sivav.bsky.social, is the mic drop reply to the “Compact” you have been waiting for. It won’t, but it should really just end the discussion and deliberations straight up. newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Perhaps this garbage first-half performance by the #texaslonghorns is karmic payback for the university enthusiastically signing on to the Trump extortion "compact."
Complicating that analysis is the fact that the team embarrassing them is Florida, flagship of another MAGAfied system.
Complicating that analysis is the fact that the team embarrassing them is Florida, flagship of another MAGAfied system.
October 4, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Perhaps this garbage first-half performance by the #texaslonghorns is karmic payback for the university enthusiastically signing on to the Trump extortion "compact."
Complicating that analysis is the fact that the team embarrassing them is Florida, flagship of another MAGAfied system.
Complicating that analysis is the fact that the team embarrassing them is Florida, flagship of another MAGAfied system.
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
"It’s not possible to read a biography of William F. Buckley today except through the lens of Trump and MAGA." Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of Sam Tanenhaus’s "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/did-the-buck-stop-with-buckley/
October 2, 2025 at 12:50 PM
"It’s not possible to read a biography of William F. Buckley today except through the lens of Trump and MAGA." Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of Sam Tanenhaus’s "Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/did-the-buck-stop-with-buckley/
Was William F Buckley responsible for Trump and Trumpism? In my latest piece for the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social , I argue that despite the men’s dramatic differences in self-presentation, Buckley might be seen as Trump’a patrician precursor.
Did the Buck Stop with Buckley? | Los Angeles Review of Books
William F. Buckley’s patrician trappings didn’t keep him away from the mud, writes Greg Barnhisel in his review of Sam Tanenhaus’s biography of the conservative intellectual.
lareviewofbooks.org
October 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Was William F Buckley responsible for Trump and Trumpism? In my latest piece for the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social , I argue that despite the men’s dramatic differences in self-presentation, Buckley might be seen as Trump’a patrician precursor.
I had a great conversation with Daniel Oppenheimer about @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER for his “Eminent Americans” podcast. Listen here! danieloppenheimer.substack.com/p/mr-blue-bl...
Mr. Blue Blood and His Marvelous Adventure
Norman Holmes Pearson and the apotheosis and decline of the old American elite
danieloppenheimer.substack.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:32 PM
I had a great conversation with Daniel Oppenheimer about @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER for his “Eminent Americans” podcast. Listen here! danieloppenheimer.substack.com/p/mr-blue-bl...
The BOOK HISTORY editors are here in Rochester at the @sharpweb.org conference and ready to answer your questions or help you with any issues you might have missed! #bookhistory #sharp2025
July 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The BOOK HISTORY editors are here in Rochester at the @sharpweb.org conference and ready to answer your questions or help you with any issues you might have missed! #bookhistory #sharp2025
Wonderful and thought-provoking keynote by Simone Murray at the “(Dis)Trusting the Institutions of Literature” conference in Dublin.
June 19, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Wonderful and thought-provoking keynote by Simone Murray at the “(Dis)Trusting the Institutions of Literature” conference in Dublin.
It’s springtime in New York and the new BOOK HISTORY is out! Featuring contributions by @whitneytrettien.bsky.social @juandmurillos.bsky.social @borna-i.bsky.social and others, this issue of @sharpweb.org ‘s official scholarly journal is 🔥📚! Link in the comments
May 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
It’s springtime in New York and the new BOOK HISTORY is out! Featuring contributions by @whitneytrettien.bsky.social @juandmurillos.bsky.social @borna-i.bsky.social and others, this issue of @sharpweb.org ‘s official scholarly journal is 🔥📚! Link in the comments
NYC folks! I'll be talking about my @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER at the venerable Grolier Club on Tuesday May 13, 6:30pm. Register (for free) at this Eventbrite link. www.eventbrite.com/e/code-name-...
Code Name Puritan: A Grolierite Spy
Prof. Barnhisel will explore Norman H. Pearson’s career as a literary fixer, secret agent, cultural diplomat, and academic bureaucrat.
www.eventbrite.com
May 9, 2025 at 8:53 PM
NYC folks! I'll be talking about my @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN: NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON AT THE NEXUS OF POETRY, ESPIONAGE, AND AMERICAN POWER at the venerable Grolier Club on Tuesday May 13, 6:30pm. Register (for free) at this Eventbrite link. www.eventbrite.com/e/code-name-...
When @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social assigned me to review @vincebeiser.bsky.social POWER METAL, the President of the United States wasn't yet extorting other nations for their rare earths. But hey, here we are! At least it makes the book more timely.... lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...
Clean Energy, Dirt on Our Hands | Los Angeles Review of Books
Greg Barnhisel reviews “Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future” by Vince Beiser.
lareviewofbooks.org
May 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
When @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social assigned me to review @vincebeiser.bsky.social POWER METAL, the President of the United States wasn't yet extorting other nations for their rare earths. But hey, here we are! At least it makes the book more timely.... lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
"Vince Beiser lays out the environmental destructiveness of what he calls the 'Electro-Digital Age' in his buzzkill of a new book," Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of "Power Metals: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future." lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...
lareviewofbooks.org
May 8, 2025 at 6:28 PM
"Vince Beiser lays out the environmental destructiveness of what he calls the 'Electro-Digital Age' in his buzzkill of a new book," Greg Barnhisel writes in his review of "Power Metals: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future." lareviewofbooks.org/article/clea...
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
May 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
My time on two NEH fellowship review panels impressed and inspired me with the quality of the proposals and the care and seriousness the panelists took in evaluating them. All of this gone, and grantees informed with a tone composed of equal parts glib dismissiveness and sneering patronization.
The longest Zoom meeting I ever participated in (Summer 2023) was an NEH review panel. 5.5 hours, one 15-minute break. The fifteen of us all spent weeks preparing. All of the contenders were fantastic. D0Gee could never compete.
If you’ve ever sat on an NEH review panel (as many of us have), you know how difficult it is to win a grant. It’s an incredibly exacting process, with way too many excellent projects competing for funding. Awardees are scrutinized from every direction, with more rigor than DOGE can even imagine.
April 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
My time on two NEH fellowship review panels impressed and inspired me with the quality of the proposals and the care and seriousness the panelists took in evaluating them. All of this gone, and grantees informed with a tone composed of equal parts glib dismissiveness and sneering patronization.
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
From what I can tell NEH has unilaterally and immediately canceled all its grants to state humanities councils and last night placed most or all the NEH's staff on leave. They're on leave but must remain available by phone to answer questions from the people dismantling the NEH.
April 4, 2025 at 2:08 PM
From what I can tell NEH has unilaterally and immediately canceled all its grants to state humanities councils and last night placed most or all the NEH's staff on leave. They're on leave but must remain available by phone to answer questions from the people dismantling the NEH.
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
A few tips for NEH grantees:
1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP.
2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,
1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP.
2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,
April 2, 2025 at 10:09 PM
A few tips for NEH grantees:
1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP.
2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,
1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP.
2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,
I reviewed @elysegraham.bsky.social ‘s very entertaining BOOK AND DAGGER for the New Republic this morning. newrepublic.com/article/1889...
When America’s Top Spies Were Academics and Librarians
How scholars achieved some of the most consequential intelligence victories of the twentieth century
newrepublic.com
January 16, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I reviewed @elysegraham.bsky.social ‘s very entertaining BOOK AND DAGGER for the New Republic this morning. newrepublic.com/article/1889...
Don’t let the snow keep you from my Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures book talk tonight! It’s at the main Carnegie Library in Oakland at 6pm. I’ll be talking about my new @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN (link in the comments)
January 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Don’t let the snow keep you from my Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures book talk tonight! It’s at the main Carnegie Library in Oakland at 6pm. I’ll be talking about my new @uchicagopress.bsky.social book CODE NAME PURITAN (link in the comments)
Reposted by Greg Barnhisel
Two of my main interests are intelligence history and modernist writing. For decades I've been fascinated by Norman Holmes Pearson: OSS CI chief in WW2, Yale English prof, a key founder of American Studies, and advocate for avant-garde writers like H.D., Moore, Stevens, etc. This new bio is great.
November 15, 2024 at 12:23 AM
Two of my main interests are intelligence history and modernist writing. For decades I've been fascinated by Norman Holmes Pearson: OSS CI chief in WW2, Yale English prof, a key founder of American Studies, and advocate for avant-garde writers like H.D., Moore, Stevens, etc. This new bio is great.
Lovely piece on my CODE NAME PURITAN in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social this morning. Thanks @benjamenwalker.bsky.social for writing it! lareviewofbooks.org/article/they...
They’ll Still Be Carding You | Los Angeles Review of Books
Benjamen Walker reviews Greg Barnhisel’s “Code Name Puritan.”
lareviewofbooks.org
December 24, 2024 at 3:53 PM
Lovely piece on my CODE NAME PURITAN in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social this morning. Thanks @benjamenwalker.bsky.social for writing it! lareviewofbooks.org/article/they...
As a judge for the MLA's "First Book Prize," I was honored to read 35 amazing books by early-career scholars. Congrats to co-winners Adhaar Noor Desai and Miya Qiong Xie, and the shortlist authors (including @jamieljones.bsky.social and @dootson.bsky.social). Just wow. www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...
Modern Language Association Prize for a First Book Winners
2023Adhaar Noor Desai, Bard College, for Blotted Lines: Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Discomposition (Cornell Univ. Press, 2023)Miya Qiong Xie, Dartmouth College, for Territoriali...
www.mla.org
December 19, 2024 at 6:20 PM
As a judge for the MLA's "First Book Prize," I was honored to read 35 amazing books by early-career scholars. Congrats to co-winners Adhaar Noor Desai and Miya Qiong Xie, and the shortlist authors (including @jamieljones.bsky.social and @dootson.bsky.social). Just wow. www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...