Robert Suits
@robertsuits.bsky.social
Asst Prof/Lecturer in environmental history at University College London. Researching climate, energy, capitalism, and labo(u)r; author of The Hobo: A History of America's First Climate Migrants (Princeton University Press, 2026). Also novelist, musician.
Genie: Listen closely. You only get three wishes, you can't bring back the dead, or make anyone --
Me: I wish that all books had a synopsis on the back of the dust jacket, not blurbs!
Me: I wish that all books had a synopsis on the back of the dust jacket, not blurbs!
January 26, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Genie: Listen closely. You only get three wishes, you can't bring back the dead, or make anyone --
Me: I wish that all books had a synopsis on the back of the dust jacket, not blurbs!
Me: I wish that all books had a synopsis on the back of the dust jacket, not blurbs!
Also applicable to sending me LLM text (email, assignments...).
When someone doesn’t respond to me within 17 seconds even though I ignored their email for three months
January 18, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Also applicable to sending me LLM text (email, assignments...).
Reposted by Robert Suits
When your D&D group is made up of a bunch of historians and history buffs, you naturally do age of sail homages @robertsuits.bsky.social
January 17, 2026 at 11:56 PM
When your D&D group is made up of a bunch of historians and history buffs, you naturally do age of sail homages @robertsuits.bsky.social
right now: The Thames
hometown: The Portage
in between: The Connecticut, the Platte, the Charles, the Calumet and the Chicago, the Bow, and the Wear
hometown: The Portage
in between: The Connecticut, the Platte, the Charles, the Calumet and the Chicago, the Bow, and the Wear
My favorite Twitter prompt was "RT this with your home river," so reskeet this with your home river.
Mine is the Patuxent.
Mine is the Patuxent.
January 12, 2026 at 10:36 PM
right now: The Thames
hometown: The Portage
in between: The Connecticut, the Platte, the Charles, the Calumet and the Chicago, the Bow, and the Wear
hometown: The Portage
in between: The Connecticut, the Platte, the Charles, the Calumet and the Chicago, the Bow, and the Wear
So, the world is dark -- let's talk about something that starts out quite silly. Why does my book's index have an entry for "Dick (Wobbly)"?
January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM
So, the world is dark -- let's talk about something that starts out quite silly. Why does my book's index have an entry for "Dick (Wobbly)"?
Reposted by Robert Suits
Does anyone have any Manchester University Press book proposals that they could let me have a look at? #18c #19c #skystorians #AcademicSky
January 9, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Does anyone have any Manchester University Press book proposals that they could let me have a look at? #18c #19c #skystorians #AcademicSky
Reposted by Robert Suits
Is there anyone based in the US who teaches US environmental history and who would like to co-teach as part this Fulbright call for interest? with thanks to @hilaryemmett.bsky.social for the reminder!
fulbright.org.uk/our-programm...
fulbright.org.uk/our-programm...
Global Challenges Teaching Award | Fulbright
fulbright.org.uk
January 7, 2026 at 12:13 PM
Is there anyone based in the US who teaches US environmental history and who would like to co-teach as part this Fulbright call for interest? with thanks to @hilaryemmett.bsky.social for the reminder!
fulbright.org.uk/our-programm...
fulbright.org.uk/our-programm...
Does anyone here lecture on the Great Acceleration? What is the framing you use? Trying to avoid what seems to be the standard way to talk about it -- 1) here's a series of hockey stick graphs that bode ill, 2) ok bye!
December 30, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Does anyone here lecture on the Great Acceleration? What is the framing you use? Trying to avoid what seems to be the standard way to talk about it -- 1) here's a series of hockey stick graphs that bode ill, 2) ok bye!
Reposted by Robert Suits
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Reposted by Robert Suits
London is the safest city I’ve ever lived in. Every other American I know that lives here feels the same way simply by virtue of the lack of gun violence.
Any pundit or public figure (often taking gulf $) trying to paint this city as crime-ridden is plainly wrong and probably lying to you.
Any pundit or public figure (often taking gulf $) trying to paint this city as crime-ridden is plainly wrong and probably lying to you.
The number of murders in the capital in the first nine months (1st January to 30th September) of 2025 is the lowest since monthly records began and represents a fall of almost 60 per cent compared to 2003.
www.london.gov.uk/london-recor...
www.london.gov.uk/london-recor...
London records fewest homicides this year since monthly records began
The number of homicides in London in the first nine months of 2025 was lower than any year since monthly homicide records began in 2003, according to new analysis from the Mayor’s Office for Policing ...
www.london.gov.uk
December 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM
London is the safest city I’ve ever lived in. Every other American I know that lives here feels the same way simply by virtue of the lack of gun violence.
Any pundit or public figure (often taking gulf $) trying to paint this city as crime-ridden is plainly wrong and probably lying to you.
Any pundit or public figure (often taking gulf $) trying to paint this city as crime-ridden is plainly wrong and probably lying to you.
Reposted by Robert Suits
Nature would do well to publish more content like this thoughtful piece from @kevinbaker.bsky.social and fewer Buzzfeed listicles gussied up as career advice "Five productivity hacks for using AI in your scientific workflow"
Context Widows
or, of GPUs, LPUs, and Goal Displacement
artificialbureaucracy.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Nature would do well to publish more content like this thoughtful piece from @kevinbaker.bsky.social and fewer Buzzfeed listicles gussied up as career advice "Five productivity hacks for using AI in your scientific workflow"
Reposted by Robert Suits
I really loved this two years ago, but last year I didn't get enough messages to make it happen. Don't be shy! Tell me about the best history book you read this year for the year-end episode.
I need your help! I want to put together a year-end episode, and I want to know what you read this year. Go here: www.speakpipe.com/DraftingtheP... and record a short message telling me who you are and the best history book you read this year. Doesn't have to be published this year!
Send a voice message to
DraftingthePast
A podcast devoted to the craft of writing history.
www.speakpipe.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:56 AM
I really loved this two years ago, but last year I didn't get enough messages to make it happen. Don't be shy! Tell me about the best history book you read this year for the year-end episode.
Reposted by Robert Suits
Bit of a long shot, but are there any medievalists in Cambridge at the moment who might be able to take pictures of a MS in the UL? Massive gratitude and thanks on offer ...
December 14, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Bit of a long shot, but are there any medievalists in Cambridge at the moment who might be able to take pictures of a MS in the UL? Massive gratitude and thanks on offer ...
Reposted by Robert Suits
This Day in Labor History: December 12, 1957. The AFL-CIO evicted four unions from the federation for corruption, most notably the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Let's talk about the issue of corruption in midcentury unions!
December 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This Day in Labor History: December 12, 1957. The AFL-CIO evicted four unions from the federation for corruption, most notably the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Let's talk about the issue of corruption in midcentury unions!
Reposted by Robert Suits
How do you find new podcasts to listen to?
December 11, 2025 at 10:20 PM
How do you find new podcasts to listen to?
Reposted by Robert Suits
Smash the slop machines.
Undermine the patriarchy.
Be like Ned Ludd!
Undermine the patriarchy.
Be like Ned Ludd!
December 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Smash the slop machines.
Undermine the patriarchy.
Be like Ned Ludd!
Undermine the patriarchy.
Be like Ned Ludd!
Reposted by Robert Suits
Two months ago my partner was asked to leave the Postdoc centre of the @cam.ac.uk in Eddington where she works because I briefly brought her our baby so she could breastfeed him (in the lobby)! If we want to support women in academia and career equality, we should do better!
December 10, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Two months ago my partner was asked to leave the Postdoc centre of the @cam.ac.uk in Eddington where she works because I briefly brought her our baby so she could breastfeed him (in the lobby)! If we want to support women in academia and career equality, we should do better!
People are calling this an Onion story, and yes, but to me it's giving this
youtube.com/shorts/zkDk9...
youtube.com/shorts/zkDk9...
Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor's decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move
Rubio Stages Font Coup: Times New Roman Ousts Calibri
The secretary of state called it a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.
www.huffpost.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
People are calling this an Onion story, and yes, but to me it's giving this
youtube.com/shorts/zkDk9...
youtube.com/shorts/zkDk9...
When someone says the humanities/social sciences aren't valuable, just think about how we could've saved trillions of dollars if more people understood that language =/= thought.
December 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM
When someone says the humanities/social sciences aren't valuable, just think about how we could've saved trillions of dollars if more people understood that language =/= thought.
Reposted by Robert Suits
I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Pluralistic: The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI (05 Dec 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
December 7, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Reposted by Robert Suits
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
This is real inside baseball, but the fact that the most popular/widely used long-term historical population estimates are on the very low end for the pre-contact Americas seems like a bad thing.
December 6, 2025 at 11:11 AM
This is real inside baseball, but the fact that the most popular/widely used long-term historical population estimates are on the very low end for the pre-contact Americas seems like a bad thing.
Obviously a lot of things go into car dependency, but I have to believe at least some of it is that the average automobile design makes it look like they have faces.
December 5, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Obviously a lot of things go into car dependency, but I have to believe at least some of it is that the average automobile design makes it look like they have faces.
Reposted by Robert Suits
Please come! Glasgow became an important thread in my book, almost a character in its own right. I can’t wait to give this talk!
On Thursday 11 December I'm hosting a talk by @dudleymarianna.bsky.social who will present her new book, Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain, to the Economic and Social History seminar series at Glasgow University.
Kicking off at 11am in 42 Bute Gardens, room 717. All welcome.
Kicking off at 11am in 42 Bute Gardens, room 717. All welcome.
December 4, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Please come! Glasgow became an important thread in my book, almost a character in its own right. I can’t wait to give this talk!