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rscar.bsky.social
Rachael King
@rscar.bsky.social
1K followers 320 following 250 posts
18th-centuryist, book historian, media scholar. I read old letters. Assoc. Prof., UCSB English
rachaelsking.com
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rscar.bsky.social
Rachael King @rscar.bsky.social · Sep 23
I'm so happy to finally share this news. This book is about how the past 9 years changed my ideas about family, community, and care, and how those ideas fit into a long history. Huge thanks to my agent @carolineeisenmann.bsky.social, who held my hand through much angst, and to my editor Abby Mohr.
A Publishers Marketplace Deal Report for "How Much, How Little" by Rachael King. "UC Santa Barbara professor Rachael King's HOW MUCH, HOW LITTLE, about how her life was transformed in the wake of her late husband Ady Barkan's ALS diagnosis, and how it galvanized her to search for a new vision of caregiving in America, to Abby Mohr at One Signal, by Caroline Eisenmann at Francis Goldin Literary Agency (world English)"
rscar.bsky.social
My first talk to come with a souvenir
Photograph of a screen with the title page of a slideshow presentation, for a talk titled "The Shape of history: Time Travel in the Eighteenth Century" Bronze bas relief medal of Samuel Johnson
November 24, 2025 at 6:03 PM
rscar.bsky.social
Oh, I’ve missed you
Photo of a hand holding a can of Trader Joe’s black cherry vanilla sparkling water
November 20, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Rachael King
cecs-york.bsky.social
📢 Our next seminar is scheduled for Tuesday 25 November with Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth @carolinemccaff.bsky.social,
presenting a paper on ‘James Tassie: A Maker of the Scottish Enlightenment’.
🗓️ Tuesday 25 November, 5pm
📍 HG/09, Heslington Hall

www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
James Tassie: A Maker of the Scottish Enlightenment - Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, University of York
Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth discusses the modeller, collector, inventor and businessman James Tassie.
www.york.ac.uk
November 19, 2025 at 11:22 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Oh, this hurts. What a light to go out.

The final words of Alice’s farewell message: “Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
November 15, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Rachael King
bradlander.bsky.social
Our message to Andrew Cuomo was loud & clear in June.

It’s louder & clearer tonight.
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Part 2!
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
rscar.bsky.social
Deadline extended to Dec. 1!
rscar.bsky.social Rachael King @rscar.bsky.social · Oct 17
WSECS proposals due Nov. 1! Come spend Presidents' Day weekend in sunny Santa Maria, CA, or present remotely. This year's theme is "Eighteenth-Century Collaborations."
www.wsecs.org/upcoming-eve...
CFP for the 2026 WSECS conference, "Eighteenth-Century Collaborations." The CFP reads: Eighteenth-Century Collaborations WSECS 2026 Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, CA February 13-14, 2026 Featuring Keynote Speaker Jillian Hess, Bronx Community College, CUNY This HyFlex conference invites in-person and remote attendance and takes place Friday and Saturday of the Presidents’ Day weekend. We welcome proposals from all disciplines for individual papers and full panels. Potential topics for the conference theme, “Eighteenth-Century Collaborations,” include: Commonplace books, scrapbooks, and ephemera collections that represent authorial collaboration, as well as collaborative relationships across various media; collaborative assignments or pedagogical practices for teaching the 18th century; collaborative readings of 18th-century texts; collaborations between the 18th century and other time periods; digital collaborations surrounding 18th-century materials; 18th-century musical collaborations; collaborations across 18th-century visual culture; collaboration and conviviality in 18th-century social culture; collaborations across the arts and sciences; collaborative collecting practices; institutional collaborations; collaborative research practices. We also welcome papers and panels not directly related to the conference theme and that conceive of the 18th century in broader terms. Please indicate your modality preference when applying and send an abstract (approximately 250 words) by November 1, 2025 to WSECS2026@gmail.com.
November 3, 2025 at 1:57 PM
rscar.bsky.social
Today is the second anniversary of Ady's death. Carl said, "I can't believe it's been two years. So much has happened, but it feels like just a year." We miss him every day.

While we're in York for the fall, Ady's caregiver Izamar set up this beautiful ofrenda for him at our house in Santa Barbara.
Wooden chest topped with colorful flags, candles, marigold flowers, and small skulls, surorunding an urn
November 1, 2025 at 8:47 AM
rscar.bsky.social
*Highly* recommend a tour of the Palace of Knossos narrated entirely by a Greek-mythology-obsessed 9-year-old. We got way more detail than the other tour groups.
October 22, 2025 at 11:57 AM
rscar.bsky.social
OMG (yes that’s the Acropolis)
Hill topped by the Parthenon rising up above buildings, with a bright rainbow to the right
October 21, 2025 at 9:39 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Pilgrimage to see the Difference Engine at the London Science Museum (9-year-old mostly unimpressed)
Photo of Charles Babbage’s difference engine prototype in a glass case with a boy rolling his eyes in the background
October 18, 2025 at 3:27 PM
rscar.bsky.social
WSECS proposals due Nov. 1! Come spend Presidents' Day weekend in sunny Santa Maria, CA, or present remotely. This year's theme is "Eighteenth-Century Collaborations."
www.wsecs.org/upcoming-eve...
CFP for the 2026 WSECS conference, "Eighteenth-Century Collaborations." The CFP reads: Eighteenth-Century Collaborations WSECS 2026 Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, CA February 13-14, 2026 Featuring Keynote Speaker Jillian Hess, Bronx Community College, CUNY This HyFlex conference invites in-person and remote attendance and takes place Friday and Saturday of the Presidents’ Day weekend. We welcome proposals from all disciplines for individual papers and full panels. Potential topics for the conference theme, “Eighteenth-Century Collaborations,” include: Commonplace books, scrapbooks, and ephemera collections that represent authorial collaboration, as well as collaborative relationships across various media; collaborative assignments or pedagogical practices for teaching the 18th century; collaborative readings of 18th-century texts; collaborations between the 18th century and other time periods; digital collaborations surrounding 18th-century materials; 18th-century musical collaborations; collaborations across 18th-century visual culture; collaboration and conviviality in 18th-century social culture; collaborations across the arts and sciences; collaborative collecting practices; institutional collaborations; collaborative research practices. We also welcome papers and panels not directly related to the conference theme and that conceive of the 18th century in broader terms. Please indicate your modality preference when applying and send an abstract (approximately 250 words) by November 1, 2025 to WSECS2026@gmail.com.
October 17, 2025 at 9:01 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Looking forward to this!
cecs-york.bsky.social Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at York @cecs-york.bsky.social · Oct 14
📣 It’s research seminar day! Join us at 5pm to welcome Dr Rachael King (UC Santa Barbara) who will present a paper titled ‘Care Networks in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Archives’.
🗓️ Tuesday 14 October, 5.00pm
📍 HG/09, Heslington Hall
More info: www.york.ac.uk/eighteenth-c...
Care Networks in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Archives - Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, University of York
Rachael King, our British Academy International Fellow, discusses the ethics of care.
www.york.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 6:38 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Great! While we’re it, let’s go back to state funding of the UC that would make tuition free.
governor.ca.gov Governor Gavin Newsom @governor.ca.gov · Oct 2
IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY'LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY.

CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.
New York Times: "Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference." The White House asked nine top universities to pledge support for President Trump’s agenda to help ensure access to research funding.
October 3, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Rachael King
johannawinant.bsky.social
[clears throat]...I have another book coming out in the near future

if you'd like to read a bit about LYRIC LOGIC, there are some very generous blurbs over at @columbiaup.bsky.social

(my thanks to Marjorie Levinson, Oren Izenberg, Theo Davis, Nan Z. Da, and also @philipleventhal.bsky.social)
Lyric Logic | Columbia University Press
Between the Civil War and the Cold War, American literary modernism and philosophy both grappled with the challenge of novelty and the chance to make it new.... | CUP
cup.columbia.edu
September 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
rscar.bsky.social
'Ilaheva Tuaone and I are still seeking panelists for our ASECS roundtable, "The Unwritten Word: Alternative Texts, Epistemologies, and Ontologies." Full description here: asecs.org/sessions2026/

Please get in touch with any questions!
List of Sessions 2026 – ASECS
asecs.org
September 25, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Rachael King
carolineeisenmann.bsky.social
Such an honor to work on this one, on so many levels-- it's a special project, and going to be a beautiful, incredibly thoughtful book.
rscar.bsky.social Rachael King @rscar.bsky.social · Sep 23
I'm so happy to finally share this news. This book is about how the past 9 years changed my ideas about family, community, and care, and how those ideas fit into a long history. Huge thanks to my agent @carolineeisenmann.bsky.social, who held my hand through much angst, and to my editor Abby Mohr.
A Publishers Marketplace Deal Report for "How Much, How Little" by Rachael King. "UC Santa Barbara professor Rachael King's HOW MUCH, HOW LITTLE, about how her life was transformed in the wake of her late husband Ady Barkan's ALS diagnosis, and how it galvanized her to search for a new vision of caregiving in America, to Abby Mohr at One Signal, by Caroline Eisenmann at Francis Goldin Literary Agency (world English)"
September 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
rscar.bsky.social
I'm so happy to finally share this news. This book is about how the past 9 years changed my ideas about family, community, and care, and how those ideas fit into a long history. Huge thanks to my agent @carolineeisenmann.bsky.social, who held my hand through much angst, and to my editor Abby Mohr.
A Publishers Marketplace Deal Report for "How Much, How Little" by Rachael King. "UC Santa Barbara professor Rachael King's HOW MUCH, HOW LITTLE, about how her life was transformed in the wake of her late husband Ady Barkan's ALS diagnosis, and how it galvanized her to search for a new vision of caregiving in America, to Abby Mohr at One Signal, by Caroline Eisenmann at Francis Goldin Literary Agency (world English)"
September 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Rachael King
samthielman.com
Lander does this shit when he's not even running for anything. The realest possible one
gwynnefitz.bsky.social Gwynne Hogan @gwynnefitz.bsky.social · Sep 18
Just now, 11 state and city lawmakers were arrested by DHS police on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza after a hour of demanding access to the ICE lock up on the same floor. @thecity.nyc
September 18, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Rachael King
jaysunsilver.bsky.social
I just spoke to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander as he left police custody following his arrest at immigration court. Here’s what he said:
September 19, 2025 at 12:31 AM
rscar.bsky.social
I’ll never forget Jimmy Kimmel tearing up while talking with Ady about how they both hoped their children would remember them. Horrible that he has been silenced.

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20...
Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Down in Emotional Interview With Ady Barkan
The late-night host and the dying healthcare champion shared some laughs. Then things took a heavy turn.
www.vanityfair.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:05 AM
rscar.bsky.social
Excited to have a new thematic review in the SEL omnibus!
sel1500to1900.bsky.social SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 @sel1500to1900.bsky.social · Aug 25
📣 SEL is pleased to announce the publication of our Summer 2025 issue, 63,3! 👉 shout out to @peterharringtonltd.bsky.social
who we interviewed for this issue! Read now on @projectmuse.bsky.social and stay tuned for more updates on contents and contributors muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.rice.edu/issue/55435
new from SEL graphic of the summer issue with front and back blue cover images on summer red background
August 25, 2025 at 6:20 PM
rscar.bsky.social
I did it. I just sent the revised manuscript of The Book of Improvement to the press. This was such a productive (still painful) revision process: the reader reports were so engaged and incisive. Reader 2 gave me a run for my money but we worked it out.

TOC and first paragraph below!
page of text: "Table of Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements xix Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Before and After: Landscape Gardening and the Visualization of Improvement 39 Chapter 2. The Impression of Improvement: Interactive Print and the Material Texts of Early Abolitionism 75 Chapter 3. Lines and Colors: Stadial Theory and the Shape of History 112 Chapter 4. Her Book: Women’s Accounts and the Spaces of Self-Improvement 148 Chapter 5. Improving Literature: Periodicals, Novels, and the Question of Genre 189 Epilogue: The End(s) of Improvement 236 Notes 246" Page of text: "Introduction “This is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement.” —Pres. Barack Obama, Nov. 15, 2019 In the early seventeenth century, “improvement” meant the development, beautification, and monetization of land; by the end of the eighteenth, almost everything apparently needed to be improved: estates, agriculture, roads, trade, nations, morals, literature, language, the law, the arts, the sciences, the self. This book is about how improvement came to dominate and direct thinking about social change during this period, as Britons used this concept to explain to themselves the bundle of ideas and practices that we call Enlightenment. While “improvement” now denotes generally “making something better,” in the earlier era its meaning was specific and significant: it described the daily, on-the-ground activities that people could undertake to effect change, such as keeping a diary, tending the land, or reading the right kind of books. It explained the connections between these disparate realms, shaping the period’s understanding of the trajectory of both personal and historical development. In this way, it operated as a hinge between the individual and the world, as improving activities connected personal choices to social goods. But this apparent benignity also legitimized the concept’s role in colonial, racist, sexist, and classist projects, as women, the poor, the colonized, and/or the enslaved were deemed incapable of self-improvement and sometimes forcibly “improved.” The progressive view of history implied in “improvement” ultimately forked into divergent paths, leading to its collapse as a meaningful metric. A central argument of The Book of Improvement is that the concept’s trajectory—and its deviations—was charted by the material object of the book, which itself underwent important"
August 20, 2025 at 7:52 PM
rscar.bsky.social
Does your library have a Pacific View Room? It should.
Photo of a university campus with the Pacific Ocean and palm trees in the background.
August 13, 2025 at 8:16 PM
rscar.bsky.social
Today in the 90s are back: children learning the Macarena at camp
August 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM