Brian DeLay
@briandelay.bsky.social
Berkeley Historian. Author of War of a Thousand Deserts. For Norton, finishing Aim at Empire: An international History of American Revolutions, through the Barrel of a Gun. Also 2nd Amendment cases. Birds, too. https://history.berkeley.edu/brian-delay
Now enormously richer than he was in 2013, he's taken positive steps to tear down one of the two great newspapers in the country. That act of vandalism should become as synonymous with the Bezos brand as Amazon.
How Jeff Bezos Brought Down the Washington Post
The Amazon founder bought the paper to save it. Instead, with a mass layoff, he’s forced it into severe decline.
www.newyorker.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Now enormously richer than he was in 2013, he's taken positive steps to tear down one of the two great newspapers in the country. That act of vandalism should become as synonymous with the Bezos brand as Amazon.
It wasn't a crazy idea at the time. Swooping in with enormous resources to save a vital American institution in crisis and insisting he wouldn't meddle in content? The acquisition and the discourse surrounding it enhanced his reputation.
The Bezos Effect: How Amazon’s Founder Is Reinventing The Washington Post – and What Lessons It Might Hold for the Beleaguered Newspaper Business - The Shorenstein Center
shorensteincenter.org
February 4, 2026 at 9:06 PM
It wasn't a crazy idea at the time. Swooping in with enormous resources to save a vital American institution in crisis and insisting he wouldn't meddle in content? The acquisition and the discourse surrounding it enhanced his reputation.
"Go home! And tell your master he sent you on a fool’s errand,” a gleeful young woman named Sarah Tarrent shouted after them. “Do you think we were born in the woods, to be frightened by owls?” So here's to the great city of Minneapolis, a town packed full of Sarah Tarrents 4/4
January 18, 2026 at 2:54 AM
"Go home! And tell your master he sent you on a fool’s errand,” a gleeful young woman named Sarah Tarrent shouted after them. “Do you think we were born in the woods, to be frightened by owls?” So here's to the great city of Minneapolis, a town packed full of Sarah Tarrents 4/4
The people would lower the bridge, but only after they'd moved the artillery. The commander had little choice but to agree, so that's what they did. The redcoats crossed over, found nothing, and made the humiliating trek back to their ship, empty-handed. 3/4
January 18, 2026 at 2:54 AM
The people would lower the bridge, but only after they'd moved the artillery. The commander had little choice but to agree, so that's what they did. The redcoats crossed over, found nothing, and made the humiliating trek back to their ship, empty-handed. 3/4
"You had better be damned than fire!," a militia captain roared in response. "You have no right to fire! If you fire you'll all be dead men!" The crowd swelled, jeering and confident. More armed locals arrived. Finally, a minister convinced the commander to accept a face-saving gesture. 2/4
January 18, 2026 at 2:54 AM
"You had better be damned than fire!," a militia captain roared in response. "You have no right to fire! If you fire you'll all be dead men!" The crowd swelled, jeering and confident. More armed locals arrived. Finally, a minister convinced the commander to accept a face-saving gesture. 2/4