Notanda 11.25
November 4, 2025: A Newsletter from Historically Thinking
Last night I was out for a walk, took a shortcut, and ended up in a place I’ve never been before. Well, I actually had—or actually have driven by it numerous times. It’s a creek now confined to a channel, with undergrowth along it. Driving by I barely notice it. But in the dark everything is different. The channel becomes a gorge, musical with running water; the creek a barrier threatening to break your leg; the undergrowth a miniature impenetrable forest. All that was familiar becomes strange, just thirty minutes after sunset.
Naturally that made me think of history, or rather my favorite quote about doing history. I’m not sure where I picked it up, but I choose to phrase it thus: “The curious task of the historian is not to explain the past to the present, but to make the present seem strange.” I’m never quite sure why or why not I choose a book to discuss on the podcast. But usually it’s because the historical argument makes me look at things that are familiar seem completely different—or new again. Like standing on my head in my backyard. Or walking in a familiar place in the dark.
Another reason I choose certain books for the podcast is because I enjoyed talking to the person before. To be sure, there are very few people that I’ve had on the podcast that I wouldn’t want to talk with again—I honestly can’t think of one, at this precise moment. In the next couple of months there will be several repeat guests on the podcast. This month you’ll hear from Eric Kline about the Amarna Letters, an unparalleled source for ancient history. And in a quasi-historical episode Ariel Helfer (who talked with me about political ambition) will explain why he believes the letters attributed to Plato were not only written by the great philosopher, but form a unitary work of epistolary philosophy. There will be other repeat offenders, as well, but I’m hesitant to name them until at least the conversation is scheduled, and preferably once it is safely in the digital can.
But, despite how much some of you enjoy it, I think it’s going to a while before I do another conversation on the Second World War. More on that in our first Historically Thinking “Field Guide”, out soon.
And now the links…
Curiosities & Essays
John Adamson, “Hold the Front Page,” reviewing The Great Exchange: Making the News in Early Modern Europe by Joad Raymond, Literary Review (October 2025).—“Here is an account of how news was recorded, transmitted, consumed and made sense of – one which ranges in time from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the advent of the mass-market newspaper in the early 19th century, and traverses the entire European continent, from London to Moscow.” Really should have done this one on the podcast.
Physical Culture: Studying the History of Fitness—a website full of curiosities, such as how exercises from the Royal Canadian Air Force became a worldwide sensation (“The Twelve-Minute Workout That Took Over the World”)
Dan Williams, “Scapegoating the Algorithm”, AsteriskMag—the fault lies not in our algorithms but in ourselves
Dan Williams, “Serendipity: The historian’s secret weapon”, Historia—but if it’s serendipitous, it’s not really a weapon you can draw whenever you want, is it?
Maddalena Alvi, “Pauses in Ph.D. Admissions Are a Blessing in Disguise: The overproduction of doctorates in the humanities has ruined the job market”, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 29, 2025—or, as the self-destruction of the University of Chicago creates heavy shade from its dark expanding mushroom cloud, look for the silver lining.
From “Reading the China Dream”
This is a scholarly website run by David Ownby on which he posts translations of Chinese “establishment intellectuals.” As Ownby writes in mission statement, “once China becomes a great power, Chinese ideas will matter, regardless of their intrinsic quality. This web site is dedicated to helping the West to understand those ideas.” It’s a place from which I’ve learned a lot. Unfortunately things have slowed down a lot because Ownby is writing a book, but it is worth exploring and rooting through for truffles.
Xu Jilin, “Those Born in the 1990s and 2000s No Longer Believe in Great Narratives”, Introduction and Translation by David Ownby
Question: I have a methodological question regarding these three generations. If we view them as being three stages, does this already suggest that there will be “front and rear waves”?
Xu Jilin: From this perspective of “front and rear waves,” an intriguing phenomenon is that these three generations in China span roughly 20 years each. Biologically, a generation—say, the time it takes for a child to become a parent—typically takes 20 to 30 years. But China’s transformations have been so rapid that even 5 to 10 years can create a psychological and cultural generational divide, so that even people we see as “rear waves” may instead see themselves as “front waves”…
The group born between 1985 and 1995 is often labeled “Millennials,” while those born between 1995 to 2009 are called “Gen Z.” The contrast between these two groups is stark. A popular joke claims that those born after 1995 aimed to “reform the workplace,” but now they’re struggling even to enter it. This highlights how fast China - and indeed, the post-globalization world - is evolving. In recent years, a difference of 5 to 10 years has come to feel like a full generational shift in terms of mindset and culture. Thus any talk of “front and rear waves” is relative. Even those born in the 2000s might come to see themselves as elders compared to those born in the 2010s.
Essay–Episode Callbacks
Lucas Thompson, “Hooked on Sonics: Experimenting with Sound in 19th-Century Popular Science”, The Public Domain Review, October 23, 2025
“Generations of Reason,” with Joan L. Richards—which has brief peep into the world of 19th century popular science
Cynthia Paces, “Prague: A Playlist”
“Prague: The Heart of Europe”, with Cynthia Paces
Peter Rutland and Elizaveta Gaufman, “Beware the Anglo-Saxons! Why Russia likes to invoke a medieval tribe when talking about the West,” The Conversation, 30 October 2025
“Talking Anglo-Saxon,” with Rory Naismith
Regina Sienra, “Expedition Recovers Treasure Worth Over $1 Million From Shipwreck off Florida Coast,” My Modern Met, October 7, 2025
“Stories Told by Trees”, with Valerie Trouet—no, really. Listen and find out.
“Which It’s All About Pirates”, with Steve Hahn—these chaps are very far from the first to dive on the 1715 fleet.
“The Great Museum of the Sea,” with James Delgado—on the conflict between treasure hunters and marine archaeologists
Liz Tracey, “The Fifteenth Amendment: Annotated”, Jstor Daily, October 24, 2025
“Black Suffrage”, with Paul D. Escott
“How Black Americans Created American Citizenship”, with Christopher Bonner—the prehistory of the 15th Amendment
Warmly,
Al Zambone
Historian, host of Historically Thinking