David Luck
@dluckarchivist.bsky.social
Archivist at Bethlem Museum of the Mind, London, UK. Singalonglong to the gateway song. All poorly thought out views his own, don't blame his peers/employers. Contact at 'archives' on https://tinyurl.com/58tkxrb7
He/him.
He/him.
The O'Donoghue book has references and... *shakes fist at sky*
January 23, 2026 at 10:37 PM
The O'Donoghue book has references and... *shakes fist at sky*
The Wikipedia page mentions 'substantial conjecture' by O'Donoghue, which is perhaps weaker than my personal opinion. 😉
I'm not sure I understand your second point, but I've nothing against self-publishing. If I was a self-publishing author I would actually see this as a very bad thing indeed.
I'm not sure I understand your second point, but I've nothing against self-publishing. If I was a self-publishing author I would actually see this as a very bad thing indeed.
January 23, 2026 at 4:38 PM
The Wikipedia page mentions 'substantial conjecture' by O'Donoghue, which is perhaps weaker than my personal opinion. 😉
I'm not sure I understand your second point, but I've nothing against self-publishing. If I was a self-publishing author I would actually see this as a very bad thing indeed.
I'm not sure I understand your second point, but I've nothing against self-publishing. If I was a self-publishing author I would actually see this as a very bad thing indeed.
Yes, I did, and it's really worrying they had to actually issue that. Thankfully this book doesn't seem to have generated any references, but I feel this is coming...
January 23, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Yes, I did, and it's really worrying they had to actually issue that. Thankfully this book doesn't seem to have generated any references, but I feel this is coming...
And most importantly
3) I get asked a ton of questions about records that have never existed.
3) I get asked a ton of questions about records that have never existed.
January 23, 2026 at 8:51 AM
And most importantly
3) I get asked a ton of questions about records that have never existed.
3) I get asked a ton of questions about records that have never existed.
Just to quickly return to this, the implications of this are
1) by relying on out of copyright history, the errors of past historians get regurgitated (badly)
2) 'mid-tier', affordable histories by humans (yer Katherine Arnolds etc), which are at least fact checked, get squeezed out of the market
1) by relying on out of copyright history, the errors of past historians get regurgitated (badly)
2) 'mid-tier', affordable histories by humans (yer Katherine Arnolds etc), which are at least fact checked, get squeezed out of the market
January 23, 2026 at 8:50 AM
Just to quickly return to this, the implications of this are
1) by relying on out of copyright history, the errors of past historians get regurgitated (badly)
2) 'mid-tier', affordable histories by humans (yer Katherine Arnolds etc), which are at least fact checked, get squeezed out of the market
1) by relying on out of copyright history, the errors of past historians get regurgitated (badly)
2) 'mid-tier', affordable histories by humans (yer Katherine Arnolds etc), which are at least fact checked, get squeezed out of the market
I hate to say it, but the cover is no better or worse than some of the popular histories I referenced earlier.
January 22, 2026 at 10:37 PM
I hate to say it, but the cover is no better or worse than some of the popular histories I referenced earlier.
Ha, trust me lesson learnt!
January 22, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Ha, trust me lesson learnt!
You'd be most welcome! If the chance ever comes up do drop me a line directly- contact details are in my bio here.
January 22, 2026 at 10:05 PM
You'd be most welcome! If the chance ever comes up do drop me a line directly- contact details are in my bio here.
I can see the logic, so is it a known phrase in American English? It's not one I've come across before, but happy to acknowledge my ignorance.
January 22, 2026 at 9:26 PM
I can see the logic, so is it a known phrase in American English? It's not one I've come across before, but happy to acknowledge my ignorance.
(looking at this a bit more closely, what the hell is 'census pressure'?!?)
January 22, 2026 at 9:07 PM
(looking at this a bit more closely, what the hell is 'census pressure'?!?)
(apologies, didn't use alt text on some passages, which are large chunks of text but they are available as samples via Amazon)
January 22, 2026 at 9:04 PM
(apologies, didn't use alt text on some passages, which are large chunks of text but they are available as samples via Amazon)
So... Yeah. Be careful out there folks. History writing just got a whole lot weirder, and finding good written history suddenly looks a whole lot harder.
January 22, 2026 at 8:54 PM
So... Yeah. Be careful out there folks. History writing just got a whole lot weirder, and finding good written history suddenly looks a whole lot harder.
(her books seem to be fantasy/romance too)
January 22, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(her books seem to be fantasy/romance too)
These books appear to only exist on Amazon. They don't come up on a Google search.
This 'Evelyn Cross' has no trace other than these Amazon listings. There is a self-publishing Evelyn Cross (who posts carefully bland engagement stuff on X), but she doesn't lay claim to these books.
This 'Evelyn Cross' has no trace other than these Amazon listings. There is a self-publishing Evelyn Cross (who posts carefully bland engagement stuff on X), but she doesn't lay claim to these books.
January 22, 2026 at 8:52 PM
These books appear to only exist on Amazon. They don't come up on a Google search.
This 'Evelyn Cross' has no trace other than these Amazon listings. There is a self-publishing Evelyn Cross (who posts carefully bland engagement stuff on X), but she doesn't lay claim to these books.
This 'Evelyn Cross' has no trace other than these Amazon listings. There is a self-publishing Evelyn Cross (who posts carefully bland engagement stuff on X), but she doesn't lay claim to these books.
Even weirder, the publication dates in Amazon have listed all her books as appearing in a matter of the last couple of months. I guess that could be self publishing playing some odd tricks?
But it looks like some sort of AI generated material. Mostly about horrific institutional abuses.
But it looks like some sort of AI generated material. Mostly about horrific institutional abuses.
January 22, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Even weirder, the publication dates in Amazon have listed all her books as appearing in a matter of the last couple of months. I guess that could be self publishing playing some odd tricks?
But it looks like some sort of AI generated material. Mostly about horrific institutional abuses.
But it looks like some sort of AI generated material. Mostly about horrific institutional abuses.
Now, the Bethlem book is bland. But her work on Willowbank is utterly anonymous. She could be talking about any institution here...
January 22, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Now, the Bethlem book is bland. But her work on Willowbank is utterly anonymous. She could be talking about any institution here...
Evelyn Cross has written a number of history books, all about institutional scandals. Here's a sample of some of her Amazon list...
January 22, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Evelyn Cross has written a number of history books, all about institutional scandals. Here's a sample of some of her Amazon list...
So what's happened here? That's when I started looking a bit more closely at the author...
January 22, 2026 at 8:41 PM
So what's happened here? That's when I started looking a bit more closely at the author...
There's a lot wrong here. A lot. Part of the problem is that the first history by Geoffrey O'Donoghue has also got a lot wrong, and it's undoubtedly been LLM ingested.
But what records are they talking about here? Nothing exists pre 1557!
But what records are they talking about here? Nothing exists pre 1557!
January 22, 2026 at 8:40 PM
There's a lot wrong here. A lot. Part of the problem is that the first history by Geoffrey O'Donoghue has also got a lot wrong, and it's undoubtedly been LLM ingested.
But what records are they talking about here? Nothing exists pre 1557!
But what records are they talking about here? Nothing exists pre 1557!
And the statues that were on the gateposts still survive. They're in the Museum! And they look nothing like this.
Anyway, no judgement on the history just for that.
And that's when I got to the sample...
Anyway, no judgement on the history just for that.
And that's when I got to the sample...
January 22, 2026 at 8:33 PM
And the statues that were on the gateposts still survive. They're in the Museum! And they look nothing like this.
Anyway, no judgement on the history just for that.
And that's when I got to the sample...
Anyway, no judgement on the history just for that.
And that's when I got to the sample...
And this came up as second on the list.
I'd never heard of it. That's fine. The Museum and Archives didn't ever meet half the authors of the other histories either. You can do a lot from home these days, and our records are on Find My Past.
The image grated a bit. It's not any version of Bethlem..
I'd never heard of it. That's fine. The Museum and Archives didn't ever meet half the authors of the other histories either. You can do a lot from home these days, and our records are on Find My Past.
The image grated a bit. It's not any version of Bethlem..
January 22, 2026 at 8:29 PM
And this came up as second on the list.
I'd never heard of it. That's fine. The Museum and Archives didn't ever meet half the authors of the other histories either. You can do a lot from home these days, and our records are on Find My Past.
The image grated a bit. It's not any version of Bethlem..
I'd never heard of it. That's fine. The Museum and Archives didn't ever meet half the authors of the other histories either. You can do a lot from home these days, and our records are on Find My Past.
The image grated a bit. It's not any version of Bethlem..
I found this on Amazon, while looking for a medium- sized history of Bethlem. There's one very good history (Andrews et al), which is a chonky 650 pages, and a couple of flawed-but-have-some-upside popular histories. I can never remember their name, so have to search every time.
January 22, 2026 at 8:26 PM
I found this on Amazon, while looking for a medium- sized history of Bethlem. There's one very good history (Andrews et al), which is a chonky 650 pages, and a couple of flawed-but-have-some-upside popular histories. I can never remember their name, so have to search every time.