September is the start of a new academic year and for many final year #History students, it is time to pick a #dissertation topic. There's a whole world of history to choose from so how do you narrow your choices?
Here are some of my tips based on my time as a lecturer.
youtu.be/GURIOd9ZsUY?...
I’m only slightly absolutely terrified that this has finally come out but…
Publication Day!
My book Totalitarian By Consent: Press, Politics and the “People’s War” has finally come out. #media #history
On 14 November 1940 the city of Coventry suffered one of the most horrific bombing campaigns of the war.
To find out more, watch this fascinating documentary by Dan Snow starring myself and the fantastic Dr Victoria Taylor.
access.historyhit.com/world-war-tw...
A moonlight, midnight rock concert - an excellent end to Alan Wake 2.
A really fantastic Lynchian story. Visually very impressive. Absurd, dark, serious and funny. The voice performances and acting is brilliant. It would definitely be a strong contender for GOTY.
All accounts submitted are still available to read for free here: kristopherlovell.com/category/rec...
Lots of news today about the Covid Inquiry.
Just a reminder there’s a brilliant edited collection exploring some accounts submitted by the public about their experiences: www.degruyter.com/document/doi...
Currently I have decorative pictures of Rosa Luxembourg and Constance Markievicz.
Who else do we think belongs on my wall?
It’s not September yet.
I don’t care what the diaries and calendars say. There’s been a rounding error somewhere.
It’s not September.
For every voice that told me that I didn't belong, there were a dozen that made me feel like I belonged more than ever.
There's some people who will stand on your neck to make themselves a little bit taller. There's also lots of people you'll find who are always standing by you.
Every step of the way someone told me I didn't belong. "How will you participate in class?" I'll sit at the front, lipread and ask lots of annoying questions.
"Really? You want to lecture with a speech impediment?" Yes, I replied with a slight lisp. I'll be quiet but bloody great
Selfie of Kris against a wall with various framed pictures - most are out of frame except an image of a cartoon woman holding a camera. Kris, wearing a maroon shirt, is standing in the foreground holding a copy of the #RecordCovid19 edited collection.
“Deaf people don’t go to Uni”, my Mum was told by teachers.
Some wouldn’t talk to me directly. “You need to stop letting him think it’s for him”.
I didn’t listen. Did A-Levels at college. Went to Uni for BA, MA, PhD. This week: my first edited collection.
Uni was for me.
Screen from Guardian with the headline “Walking just 4,000 steps a day can cut risk of dying from any cause, analysis finds”. Image above headline shows legs of a person in suit trousers waking along pavement.
Danton desperately running up and down the steps to the guillotine trying to reach the 4000 step mark before it’s his turn.
I came here to say the same thing!
Hot off the virtual press today! My chapter on “History Happens To Other People? Memory, Myth and History in #RecordCovid19” published with the brilliant De Gruyter.
Other, much better, chapters from the collection should be available too!
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110731002-002
What do you think is the best written history book you’ve read?
Not in terms of argument or analysis, but engagement and readability. What style inspired you or inflamed your mind through its prose?
Just looking for inspiration as I try to bleed on a page and write something worth reading myself!
Slowly migrating over to Bluesky - if anyone is interested in thoughts about media history, reviews of horror films, or disability activism/awareness, then I’m your person!
If you want insightful comments to improve your life, then I will help find someone else for you to follow.
That’s still a great sketch though. And might be something that inspired my fever dream!
Is there a comedy sketch based on “Real or Cake?” in which someone discovers all their personal relationships were just cake or have I made that up?
“Your partner of 30 years was never real. They were just marzipan! You are unloved, surrounded by false dreams and cake 🎉🎉🎉”
Saw a handwritten sign for a film viewing:
A S T E R O I D
CITY
I feel that’s a very different Wes Anderson film.
If Twitter, or other social media sites, do shut down in the future entirely, how do people think we can we best preserve the rich insights into people’s lives as historians, sociologists, political scientists etc?
Or should we even? Should ephemera be left to be, well, ephemeral?
Shameless self-promotional news!!
#RecordCovid19: Historicizing Experiences of the Pandemic has a planned publication date of 21 August 2023.
Lots of interesting chapters from brilliant contributors!
www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110731...
Best horror films or TV shows to cheer you up on a gloomy Sunday? Happy to try any suggestions.
Asked to check over some suggestions for minor revisions to a chapter I submitted 18 months ago.
I remember none of it.
I wrote it. But if you’d given me it to read without telling me, I’d have happily critiqued it as if it was someone else’s.
“Who thought this was acceptable?!
Oh wait. Me.”
A skeleton screams under a banner that says "Spooky Season"
July 4th is over; spooky season dawns. Happy Halloween y'all
I remember our shared office space well!
I used to love working to lots of loud music, especially old rock, but as I’ve gotten older I need to have silence. I certainly can’t have any music with lyrics otherwise their words end up in my writing!
Any type of music specifically? Do you need lyrics in particular to crowd them out?
Same for me. I can’t focus anymore with music. And bizarrely I have to put in my hearing aids so that I fully hear and appreciate the silence.
When it comes to crunch time to meet a deadline what working environment do you prefer:
Complete silence, like you’re composing a symphony in your head?
Or
Work disco, hammering out words to the rhythm?
I’m a media historian first and foremost so whilst things are quiet -
With bastions of social media like Facebook and Twitter declining, where do you think the future of social media lies? And what are you hoping changes and what do you want to stay the same?