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David J. Snyder

@fractalpast9.bsky.social

750 followers 870 following 860 posts

Historian, writer, and editor. Author of "American Power in the Netherlands" (Bloomsbury, 2026). I blog about US empire, history, and culture at fractalpast.com/blog. For editing inquiries: www.fractalpast.com

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · Nov 18

Hello Bluesky! I am David J. Snyder, PhD--historian, writer, and non-fiction #editor. My current book, "American Power in the Netherlands: Modernization and the Politics of Clientelism, 1945-1959" will be published by Bloomsbury next year. I am also writing books on higher education and a memoir.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 7h

Bruce Lee: "Be like water."

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 17h

Bluesky is probably not the forum for this, but coming of age in the internet world it's always seemed somehow inexplicable to me that there is no real digital record of my mother, who passed away 48 years ago today. Here is a picture of Gail Margery Lee Snyder, c. 1972-3. I miss her.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 2d

Anyone now what happened to Kevin Leven (@civilwarmemory.bsky.social)? Why was his account deactivated?

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 2d

10, over about two weeks.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 2d

Camera can't do it justice, but breathtaking sunrise today in my little neighborhood:

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 3d

The last two NFL/Europe halftime shows have reassured me that, when it comes to pop music at least, the Americans are still ahead.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 3d

I don't really know if Jung said this or not, but the sentiment remains true regardless of who said it. Seems apropos for our judgmental age.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 4d

Ahem. Some knowledge should be kept to oneself, Sarah.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 4d

Unless he uses it as a descriptor of you!

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 5d

Folks may be interested in this related new title: www.savasbeatie.com/beyond-the-o...

Beyond the Outpost: An Army Cavalry Officer’s War Diary on the Frontlines of Afghanistan, 2003 – 2007

A leader in military and general history book publishing.

www.savasbeatie.com

Reposted by David J. Snyder

NPR @npr.org · 7d

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere.

Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself.

Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 7d

He is conflating the PE standards, which have always been gendered (and age-specific!) with training certifications, which only tangentially and in some areas correlate to PE standards.

Reposted by David J. Snyder

Vote Blue 🌵🗳️💙🦋🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦🇲🇽🇵🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱 @lflorepolitics.bsky.social · 10d

I think this sums it up. He is a laughing stock around the world.
“A festering carcass of American rot. A rotting pumpkin.” Thank you, Oliver from the UK👏

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 10d

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 11d

. . . if and when this is over, I should have added.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 11d

Totally agree. The only habit over which I lose my $%!& is the lazy appropriation of idiom. Every time I see the phrase "based off of" I go ballistic. "Based on," people, "based on." Anything that has a base exists *on* that base, it does not fly up and off that base. Ugh. /rantover

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 11d

The destruction the Court is wreaking is highly efficient. Each constitutional principle it destroys took a generational struggle to accomplish. How do we rebuild constituencies to support birthright, rule of law, congressional Art I appropriations, voting rights, Fed independence, etc, all at once?

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11d

the evidence in favor of the traditional understand of the birthright citizenship clause is so overwhelming that a bunch of conservative legal hacks had to conjure a fake literature int existence to create the appearance of dispute. i expect the court to side with trump, of course.

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 11d

Trump asks Supreme Court to decide whether he can end birthright citizenship www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 11d

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 11d

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 12d

Replies are disabled, but check out Mamdani's new campaign ad downstream. Great christ almighty this guy is good. I have never seen or heard an American candidate use history--good, accurate, unflinching history--this way before. One hopes it's revolutionary.

Reposted by David J. Snyder

Hex Anderson @dexanderson.com · 12d

Cuomo could never.

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David J. Snyder @fractalpast9.bsky.social · 13d

A Duke Ellington mention earns a special shoutout to his frequent collaborator, the great Billy Strayhorn, of PITTSBURGH, baby, and thus cause to recommend this wonderful book: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Smoket...