Historian of early America writing about rivers and all that flow through them• Asst. Professor @NorwichNews• PhD @RutgersU • Mainer
Joined February 2011
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The blurbs are out for my book! Contested Currents: Rivers and the Remaking of New England will be coming out in October
pennpress.org/9781512830156/…
Zachary Bennett retweeted
Know Nothing Party members screaming, crying, throwing up rn.
VATICAN: "Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a citizen of the United States, every time he had the opportunity. The Holy See Press Office confirms that, in line with this established practice of civic participation, the Pope has sent his ballot by mail to Chicago. The Holy Father has also confirmed that, during the years in which he resided in Peru, he exercised his right to vote every time he had the opportunity. The Holy Father expresses his conviction regarding the right and duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”
Zachary Bennett retweeted
Michael Pollan reveals how the introduction of caffeine completely changed human history and consciousness.
"Before caffeine, it was a very different world and a very different consciousness. People were drunk a lot of the time, buzzed almost all of the time because it was safer than water"
"Water was really how you got diseases. If you fermented things, even low alcohol, it killed a lot of the microbes. So people, even kids, drank hard cider for breakfast"
"Tea, chocolate, and coffee all arrive in the same decade in England, and things start to change... no one ate or drank boiling water or hot beverages before"
"Boiling it made it much safer. This gave this incredible public health boost to these places, and then you have the drug that fosters a kind of more linear, rational, focused way of thinking"
"People in the 1600s started writing about it saying, 'Wow, we have this new civil and sober drink that we can use.' And that, I think, makes possible things like the Industrial Revolution"
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The clip repeats the myth that pre-caffeine people were mostly drunk because water was unsafe. Historians and medieval sources show water was commonly drunk from wells/springs while weak ale provided nutrition/calories, not a substitute for bad water.
leslefts.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-gr…
slate.com/human-interest…
fakehistoryhunter.net/2026/02/02/dri…
This book has been part of my life for at least a decade, and today is the final chapter: it’s publication day for Contested Currents: Rivers and the Remaking of New England!
Zachary Bennett retweeted
China consumed more coal in the last four years (2022–2025) than the entire world consumed throughout the 19th century.
Zachary Bennett retweeted
Africa’s explosive growth in cities.
The continent’s urban centers are set to expand by 19mn people annually, or by nearly two Londons a year. But urbanization is not following a familiar path.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftartic…
Zachary Bennett retweeted
On Old North's balcony, there is a cryptic bit of carved graffiti that reads "No Popery Here."
"Popery" is a derogatory term, largely fallen out of use, referring to Roman Catholic beliefs or practices.
ALT Carved graffiti in Old North Church's balcony that reads "No Popery Here."
Zachary Bennett retweeted
.@realDonaldTrump Red Sox owner John Henry is enriching uranium and now two weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
To echo this, I’ve noticed that several of my students come from high schools that banned technology from their classroom years ago, and they are high performers. There is hope!
Zachary Bennett retweeted
cracks me up when people are like ‘oh if i lived in the middle ages they would have burned me as a witch’ no you’d be a normal farmer just like everyone else
Prepare for the quality of education at the Naval and Air Force academies to plummet.
Hegseth directs military service academies to immediately stop giving tenure to civilian professors cbsn.ws/4yGBckZ
Zachary Bennett retweeted
I’m reading the depression-era diary from a highschooler in North Dakota and it’s making me emotional
Zachary Bennett retweeted
What makes the Covidian lesbian bar story so appealing is its quintessentially American and specifically New England character: a remote sect of true believers trying to preserve the old faith, but consumed by vicious factional conflicts over how to live up to its strictures…
Look like Kerri Greenidge is this generation's version of Michael Bellesiles in the historical profession
nytimes.com/2026/07/10/books…
Zachary Bennett retweeted
I will continue to be a broken record about this because so many people continues to insist that Bad Ideas broke the university in general, the humanities specifically, and that is a fairy tale. The bad ideas were the weeds that grew over the earth the corporate model pre-salted.
Zachary Bennett retweeted
Was it darker than this day?
If the game goes ahead on Sunday it will be one of the darkest days in Ireland's history. There must be some players who don't want their name to be permanently stained by that.
#stopthegame
@FAIreland
Zachary Bennett retweeted
New book on the way! A decade-plus in the making. And it's coming into the world with the most absurdly glorious honour guard. Couldn't be happier. press.princeton.edu/books/ha…
