banner
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield
@benchansfield.bsky.social
990 followers 730 following 160 posts
asst prof of history at temple // they/them BORN IN FLAMES: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City (W.W. Norton, August 19) https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324093510
wwnorton.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · Jan 6
I'm certain this is a mistake but my book is somehow on Barnes & Noble's list of "Most Anticipated Nonfiction of 2025" (link below).

BORN IN FLAMES: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City is out Aug 19th from
@wwnorton.bsky.social
14 43 210
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 33m
Maysles Documentary Center event 10/16 maysles.org/calendar/dec...

Museum of the City of NY event 10/18
mcny.org/event/teneme...

And more about book here:
wwnorton.com/books/978132...
DECADE OF FIRE – Born In Flames Book Launch — maysles documentary center
IN CINEMA Thursday, October 16th at 7PM DECADE OF FIRE – Born In Flames Book Launch 1975: THE YEAR NYC WENT BROKE Vivian Vasquez and Gretchen Hildebran, 2019, 76 minutes
maysles.org
1
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 33m
NYC come thru!! I'll be doing two BORN IN FLAMES launch events next week 10/16 and 10/18. Plz spread the word!

(links to follow)
Two posters for the Born in Flames launch. OCTOBER 16 // 7pm // $7-15 Maysles Documentary Center Screening of Decade of Fire + Book Panel with organizer and writer Shellyne Rodriguez, director Vivian Vázquez, and Elliot Liu of Take Back the Bronx OCTOBER 18 // 2:30pm // $15-20 Museum of the City of New York In Conversation with Ritti Singh (Housing Justice for All and NYS Tenant Bloc) and curator of social activism Sarah Seidman
1 1 4
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
ajbauer.bsky.social
A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 1d
It really doesn't make much sense to talk about right-wing media as distinct from legacy or mainstream media at this point.
5 43 170
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
cristianfarias.com
Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 3d
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
3.5K 16K 44K
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 5d
And here’s my recently published book detailing this history: wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Born in Flames
A <em>New York Times</em> Editors' Choice<br /><br />&#8220;[R]evelatory&hellip;Deeply researched and masterfully told.&#8221; &#8212;Brian Goldstone, <em>New York Times Book Review</em><br /><br />Th...
wwnorton.com
3
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 5d
Full piece here: www.zocalopublicsquare.org/disasters-hi...

Shortened SF Chronicle piece here: www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
The Disasters ‘High-Risk’ Insurance Fails to Paper Over | Essay
From the Watts Riots to 2025 Wildfires, California’s FAIR Plan Has Stood in the Way of Transformative Change
www.zocalopublicsquare.org
1 3
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 5d
After the Palisades & Eaton fires, insurers leaned on a program designed to respond to the '60s uprisings. The climate crisis is being hedged with the same faulty tools created for the urban crisis. I wrote about that inheritance for @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social and @sfchronicle.com
Screenshot of the SF Chronicle with the headline "How the Watts Uprising in LA led to the state's FAIR insurance plan"
1 2 7
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social
Zócalo Public Square @zocalopublicsquare.bsky.social · 6d
By leaning on insurance-based solutions to deep-seated societal problems, California has put itself on a path toward repeating the mistakes of the past, warns Temple University historian @benchansfield.bsky.social. zps.la/4nuhIdv
The Disasters ‘High-Risk’ Insurance Fails to Paper Over | Essay
From the Watts Riots to 2025 Wildfires, California’s FAIR Plan Has Stood in the Way of Transformative Change
zps.la
2 4
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
charlotte-leib.bsky.social
Charlotte Leib @charlotte-leib.bsky.social · 6d
Brilliant piece by @benchansfield.bsky.social
#urbanhistory #envhist #fires #insurance #inequality #Watts #LA
cfarivar.bsky.social
Cyrus Farivar @cfarivar.bsky.social · 6d
How the Watts uprising in L.A. led to the state’s FAIR insurance plan www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
How the Watts uprising in L.A. led to the state’s FAIR insurance plan
OPINION: “As the costs of climate change became less possible to ignore, statewide FAIR plans began shifting their focus from the urban crisis to the climate crisis,” Bench Ansfield writes.
www.sfchronicle.com
1 1 7
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 6d
Thanks Charlotte!
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 7d
Event details here: www.mcny.org/event/teneme...

And book info here: wwnorton.com/books/978132...
From Tenements to Towers: Redlining, Resilience, and the Burning of the Bronx
Join us for a conversation about challenges and mobilizations around housing in New York City.
www.mcny.org
3
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 7d
NYC launch of BORN IN FLAMES! Housing Justice for All and I will be in conversation at the Museum of the City of NY on Sat 10/18. Join HJ4A's Ritti Singh, the museum's curator of social activism Sarah Seidman, and me as we discuss the fight for housing justice from the 70s to the present.
1 11 36
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 8d
Two weeks from today! I couldn't be more excited to join @eveewing.bsky.social at the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago on Oct 14 to talk about There Is No Place for Us.

Free + open to all. RSVP here: nphm.org/event/there-...
There Is No Place for Us with Brian Goldstone and Eve L. Ewing - National Public Housing Museum
A conversation with author Brian Goldstone, whose deeply reported new book plunges readers into the lives of families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city.
nphm.org
1 16 43
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 8d
If the Trump administration has its way, nearly *four million* people—half of them children—will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness.

Let that sink in.
Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan
Drafts of unpublished rules obtained by ProPublica detail plans that would open the door to full-time work requirements, two-year limits on living in federally supported housing and stripping aid from...
www.propublica.org
5 86 130
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
billwearsties.bsky.social
Bill Wolkoff @billwearsties.bsky.social · 10d
Indie director Barbara Marques has been kidnapped by ICE. She is legally married to a U.S. citizen & was at a green card mtg when she was abducted and prevented from seeing her lawyer. Her husband Tucker May does not know where she is. Please spread the word so he can find her /1
78 4.6K 6.9K
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
drcaromaldo.blacksky.app
Jennifer Caroccio Maldonado, PhD @drcaromaldo.blacksky.app · 10d
This is kinda incredible that renters from multiple units in a realtor's portfolio are organizing for tenants' rights.
Tenants Seek to Unionize One Private Equity Firm's Entire Housing Portfolio
By organizing renters across Capital Realty Group’s affordable housing complexes, the Tenant Union Federation hopes to bring sectoral bargaining to negotiations with large landlords.
www.bloomberg.com
4 180 610
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
kenklippenstein.bsky.social
Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 11d
🚨 New directive NSPM-7 targets "anti-capitalism," “anti-Christian,” and “anti-American" opinions as indicators of extremist violence, authorizing an army of 4,000 counter-terrorism officers to prevent crimes that haven't happened:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nsp...
Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”
New order targets “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” and “anti-capitalism” opinions
www.kenklippenstein.com
230 1.5K 3.4K
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
prisonpolicy.org
Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 12d
Thousands of people detained by ICE are actually held in local, publicly operated jails

These facilities–run by elected sheriffs–are making money off of the incarceration of people who are mostly accused of no more serious offense than crossing the border without permission
U.S. map showing that in 25 states and D.C., federal agencies like ICE and the U.S. Marshals only detain people using local jails. In other states, jails play a part in the detention network alongside federal or private facilities. In Arizona, Delaware, and Hawaii no local jails provide substantial detention space to these agencies.
14 18
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
carceralhistory.bsky.social
Carceral History newsletter @carceralhistory.bsky.social · 12d
new: @benchansfield.bsky.social .bsky.social pitches their new book BORN IN FLAMES "The rise of finance complemented and shored up mass incarceration"
carceral-history.ghost.io/authors-pitc...
author's pitch: arson and the carceral history of property insurance
"We need to expand our understanding of state revanchism to include not only investments in security, but also in securitization. The rise of finance complemented and shored up mass incarceration"
carceral-history.ghost.io
3 6
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
melanienewport.bsky.social
melanie newport @melanienewport.bsky.social · 12d
new on @carceralhistory.bsky.social: @benchansfield.bsky.social pitches their new book BORN IN FLAMES "The rise of finance complemented and shored up mass incarceration"
carceral-history.ghost.io/authors-pitc...
Ghost
carceral-history.ghost.io
2 3
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
katmabu.bsky.social
Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 12d
ICE has erected a gate to keep protesters out. They are blocking a public street, despite the Broadview Fire Department ordering ICE to tear it down.

Join us at 1930 Beach Street. 7-9 AM. Tell Broadview to tear this fence down.
650 6.7K 21K
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
esqueer.net
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12d
Dems abandoning trans folks has now allowed for a million dollar ad buy for this disgusting ad by American Principles Project in NJ and VA casting trans people as school shooters and violent threats to children.

It was never about fucking sports.
56 410 1.8K
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 13d
That's the perfect pairing!! Thanks so much!
1
Reposted by Bench Ansfield
lipsticklitterati.bsky.social
Dr. Michelle @lipsticklitterati.bsky.social · 14d
This was a very good book! As someone living in TX, I never heard about this while I was growing up. I learned so much ... and got so very angry. "Born in Flames" is a must read.
1 1 1
benchansfield.bsky.social
Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 13d
Thank you!
1