Tom Cutterham
Historian of class and capital in the American Revolution. *Empire Ablaze* out in summer 2026. Previously, *Gentlemen Revolutionaries* press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/978…
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham“The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni. Is that fair?” Oli Dugmore It’s absolutely NOT fair. This outrageous scandal must end
- 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence update: the State Department is apparently using it "to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions."
- US government to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in Europe - www.ft.com/content/f869... via @FT
- Morgan McSweeney's Labour Party: low-energy Trumpism.
- Heroic activists, heroic jurors. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Students in my class "Land, Law, and Violence in the American West" spent yesterday morning analysing some of Walt Whitman's pro-war journalism for the Brooklyn Eagle. Like the one where he says the battle of Monterey was "clinching proof of the indomitable energy of the Anglo-Saxon character" (1/2)
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamMeanwhile, at a school and university near you, AI tools that have yet to be tested on the types of students and subjects you teach are being rolled out to/in them without robust discussion and analysis. It's a major, shameful failing of the management of education systems.
- “We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery.” Props to Anthropic for studying the effects of their creation and reporting results that are not probably what they wished for www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...
- "In France, they say, the revolution was so revolutionary that it revolutionised the very concept of revolution." buttondown.com/cutterham/ar...
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamA huge win for Dutch higher education and the Netherlands as a whole - the new coalition cabinet has announced it wants to reverse all cuts to higher education planned by the previous government. What targeted activism, electoral politics, and a bit of luck can do...🎉🇳🇱
- Eerlijkheid gebiedt te zeggen dat ik dit niet had verwacht. Wel heel blij mee. Alle bezuinigingen op het onderwijs worden teruggedraaid! #WOinActie www.nu.nl/formatie/638...
- Was the French Revolution the first modern revolution? Some scholars say "yes, and in a bad way."
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamRachel Reeves: "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to." I don't use local leisure centres and I don't drive, so will I be made exempt for taxation that pays for all that stuff? Or is it only education we'll be going after
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- Reposted by Tom Cutterhamliterally thousands of people with unique expert knowledge and skills being made redundant, universities in the brink of closure, but sure, let's publicly fund the bullshit machine
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamI’m organising a graduate conference in July on Early America! Please see the CfP and circulate wherever you can 🥳
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamAll the things we could have fixed about our society with all those resources. Gone now, on the whims of the rich and their institutions, no possibility of our society deciding on any collective good to put them towards. The existence of billionaires diminishes our ability to build a society.
- Extra wide pavement? Extra wide car-park! #yplac
- Yes, and, this is the only way regulators *can* function, since their ostensible task is to square the circle of public goods operated for private profit.
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamCFP: "AMERICAN REVOLUTION INTERNATIONAL" - Huntington Library, Nov. 6-7, 2026. With support from the Early Modern Studies Institute at USC, my co-conspirators & I look forward to two days of generative conversation. Travel & lodging included! Proposals now due 1/24. Please help spread the word! 🙏
- Common Sense wasn't a hit with British audiences, but that didn't mean no-one here was down for revolution.
- In the mid-nineteenth century there was a flurry of debate about Paine's pre-1774 authorship of the Junius Letters. From Gregory Claeys' talk last week, it sounds like his new edition of Paine's writings will confirm the attribution for at least some of Junius. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamSome professional news: I'm now hiring two postdocs to be part of the research project I'm leading on global republicanism and the making of democratic cultures in the early 19th century. If you know someone for whom this may be relevant, don't hesitate to let them know. www.au.dk/om/stillinge...
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- Love this characterisation of what consultancies actually do: "selling PowerPoints."
- A familiar phrase, in @rickbell.bsky.social's American Revolution and the Fate of the World!
- Artist's impression of me making my way through Storm Goretti to get from Birmingham to Lewes for @theitps.bsky.social Common Sense at 250...
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham📮 Help us deliver hope one letterbox at a time. Join us and join in ⤵️
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham@sethrockman.bsky.social @apeikeumolu.bsky.social @aishadjelid.bsky.social and @sallytuckett.bsky.social are coming to Birmingham next Friday to discuss Plantation Goods: A Material History of Slavery - everyone welcome! www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/round...
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham@mbsbirmingham.bsky.social Modern British Studies Conference 2026 CfP is live. Deadline for proposals 31 January 2026. www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...
- @theitps.bsky.social has all bases covered by putting this conference across 9th and 10th (I will happily be speaking on the 9th!): theitps.org/event/common...
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- There never used to be this many "deadline extension" announcements, did there? Feels like this might be another symptom of everything falling apart.
- I'd love to see actual journalism on students' experience at university, but a piece based entirely on the PR work of a for-profit student accommodation provider ain't it. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
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- "This is just what the world sounds like now. This is how everything has chosen to speak... We are unearthing the echo of loneliness. We are unfolding the brushstrokes of regret." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...
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- There's a million things I haven't done, but writing another blog post is no longer one of them.
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- Reposted by Tom CutterhamThe @royalhistsoc.org is running a charitable donation campaign to fund the research of historians who lack support. The number of applications we're seeing is way up. I've been very lucky to have a career as a historian, I've donated, and I think this Christmas you should too. Pay it forward.
- Maybe it's just that time in the teaching term, but I'm really feeling all of this (from Steven Mintz's very prolific substack). substack.com/home/post/p-...
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamAlmost as if managers are too removed from students to actually understand what they need/want? Almost as if managers relying solely on consultants and not staff is creating a top layer of the university devoid of any input by reality?
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- Ok, I finally got around to writing something for the new blog. It's about what else I've been doing with my time lately! buttondown.com/cutterham/ar...
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamFriends, I could not be more excited to let you know that my book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, is out today from Penguin. I’m super proud of it and super grateful to all the scholars whose work informs it. I hope you’ll take a peek and spread the word! amzn.to/4nHkziG
- Not my place, not my period, but I'm looking forward to some "intimate history" in the present tense, in my colleague @tricksterprince.bsky.social's new book.
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham📣 Calling all PGR students, ECRs, & heritage employees: two weeks left to submit your abstract! With a program of keynote speakers, paper presentations, & 10-minute ‘lightning talks’ to unpack works in progress, we welcome submissions from a range of research interests & disciplinary perspectives.
- What it feels like to work in "one of an elite group of School's" these days... 😑
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamAfter submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results: - AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2% - ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1% - ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
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- Can student journalism survive and thrive? Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
- Reposted by Tom CutterhamMy interim editorship is over at the end of the academic year and we are hiring a permanent editor of the WMQ! Please share widely!
- Job Ad❗Editor-in-Chief of the William and Mary Quarterly williammary.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WM/det...
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- If you're on here you've probably already seen, but there's a 25% discount on these pre-orders at Waterstones, with the code OCTOBER25, until the end of the day on Friday.
- Oh, and I think British readers can put your pre-orders in for the book already, too, if you want! www.waterstones.com/book/empire-...
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- Reposted by Tom CutterhamI've lived in Birmingham six years. In that time, so far two cyclists have been killed directly along my short commute. Here's wishing big lawsuits on the people who have the power to prevent these results but prefer car owner convenience instead.
- In 1776, a Scottish housepainter called James Aitken set out on a secret mission to destroy the British navy and win the War of Independence for the United States. His story is the core of my book, EMPIRE ABLAZE: The American Revolution and the Atlantic Working Class, out next summer with Verso!
- UCU hasn't focused on university governance, but it should. Like their Australian counterparts, British universities are "profoundly undemocratic." @markpendleton.bsky.social is right we should learn from those in Australia who are taking the fight forward on this! ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
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- Tory conference has "8.45am session on the last day of your discipline's big annual meeting" vibes.
- Reposted by Tom Cutterham📢Call for papers! Benjamin Franklin House is hosting a conference, “Remember the ladies”: Women and Revolution, in London in May 2026! Details are available here: benjaminfranklinhouse.org/event/spring... If you have any questions, please email me at supervisor@benjaminfranklinhouse.org.
