S Roy Chowdhury
@sroychowdhury.bsky.social
Historian of the (very long) twentieth century. Writer.
Pinned
This app feels like a library - and god knows we need a good public library for our digital selves. A place where we can be quiet, reflective, get some coherent thoughts together, interact with people we want to interact with. When we want to experience cacophony and brawls, we all know where to go.
Setting off on a research trip. Will set aside some time for researching the colonial French food here. Wasn’t much French fare in evidence at the airport or at dinner.
August 9, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Setting off on a research trip. Will set aside some time for researching the colonial French food here. Wasn’t much French fare in evidence at the airport or at dinner.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
It's not "harder to determine". We have centuries of jurisprudence on whose fault it is when an object or machine causes harm.
As I said above, focusing on questions of liability might be fruitful in changing the incentives for behaviour through the system
August 5, 2026 at 10:02 AM
It's not "harder to determine". We have centuries of jurisprudence on whose fault it is when an object or machine causes harm.
In Kolkata I notice the thatched hut beneath the flyover under construction. Once ubiquitous in rural Bengal, the square tiles woven from palm fronds were used to make walls for village houses. Here it’s temporary housing for workers. The tall buildings on the horizon signal relentless urbanization.
August 4, 2026 at 12:58 PM
In Kolkata I notice the thatched hut beneath the flyover under construction. Once ubiquitous in rural Bengal, the square tiles woven from palm fronds were used to make walls for village houses. Here it’s temporary housing for workers. The tall buildings on the horizon signal relentless urbanization.
Don’t know what lies ahead, but this generation of Indians has mobilized and protested with great wit and amazing humor.
www.instagram.com/reel/DbJalhU...
www.instagram.com/reel/DbJalhU...
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
www.instagram.com
July 25, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Don’t know what lies ahead, but this generation of Indians has mobilized and protested with great wit and amazing humor.
www.instagram.com/reel/DbJalhU...
www.instagram.com/reel/DbJalhU...
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
Nineteen years ago, Lionel Messi bathed a baby named Lamine Yamal for a charity calendar. Some call it football's most famous blessing. Others say it sounds like the plot of the perfect movie.
Tomorrow, we find out how it ends at the NYNJ Stadium.
Tomorrow, we find out how it ends at the NYNJ Stadium.
July 19, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Nineteen years ago, Lionel Messi bathed a baby named Lamine Yamal for a charity calendar. Some call it football's most famous blessing. Others say it sounds like the plot of the perfect movie.
Tomorrow, we find out how it ends at the NYNJ Stadium.
Tomorrow, we find out how it ends at the NYNJ Stadium.
“In our Connecticut modesty, many people assume that Connecticut was ancillary or on the sidelines – but in every way, Connecticut is at the center of this story": Andy Horowitz, Connecticut State Historian.
today.uconn.edu/2026/07/seri...
today.uconn.edu/2026/07/seri...
Series of Historical Markers Celebrate America’s 250th Through a Connecticut Lens - UConn Today
And while UConn wasn’t around in 1776, its fingerprints are all over the project
today.uconn.edu
July 13, 2026 at 6:56 AM
“In our Connecticut modesty, many people assume that Connecticut was ancillary or on the sidelines – but in every way, Connecticut is at the center of this story": Andy Horowitz, Connecticut State Historian.
today.uconn.edu/2026/07/seri...
today.uconn.edu/2026/07/seri...
“The gamble of civilisation is that we can learn from the past without having to go through it all again ourselves.”
Timothy Garton Ash, __Homelands: A Personal History of Europe__, p. 24.
Timothy Garton Ash, __Homelands: A Personal History of Europe__, p. 24.
July 9, 2026 at 1:18 AM
“The gamble of civilisation is that we can learn from the past without having to go through it all again ourselves.”
Timothy Garton Ash, __Homelands: A Personal History of Europe__, p. 24.
Timothy Garton Ash, __Homelands: A Personal History of Europe__, p. 24.
Around 5% digitized documents is what I remember someone saying…
Apparently people would be surprised by how little of the archival corpus is digitized.
>>Many of the records in Chicago have not been digitized and are only available in person.<<
July 6, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Around 5% digitized documents is what I remember someone saying…
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
people in nineteenth century france sometimes just asked Claude, too
July 6, 2026 at 2:43 PM
people in nineteenth century france sometimes just asked Claude, too
A teeming nation of nations…
My de Tocquevillean takeaway from my Philadelphia trip this week is that the public mood is noticeably cheerful. This has been boosted by the influx of happy World Cup fans who have filled bars and restaurants and public places.
My de Tocquevillean takeaway from my Philadelphia trip this week is that the public mood is noticeably cheerful. This has been boosted by the influx of happy World Cup fans who have filled bars and restaurants and public places.
July 4, 2026 at 2:11 PM
A teeming nation of nations…
My de Tocquevillean takeaway from my Philadelphia trip this week is that the public mood is noticeably cheerful. This has been boosted by the influx of happy World Cup fans who have filled bars and restaurants and public places.
My de Tocquevillean takeaway from my Philadelphia trip this week is that the public mood is noticeably cheerful. This has been boosted by the influx of happy World Cup fans who have filled bars and restaurants and public places.
New York City through a grimy Amtrak train window is reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Factories at Asnières” or Laura Woodward’s “Twilight on St. Augustine.”
June 29, 2026 at 3:31 PM
New York City through a grimy Amtrak train window is reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Factories at Asnières” or Laura Woodward’s “Twilight on St. Augustine.”
Some uplifting developments in gloomy times: this summer the United States took big steps to becoming a soccer fandom loving country. It will still take a while for the US to become a soccer crazy country.
June 26, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Some uplifting developments in gloomy times: this summer the United States took big steps to becoming a soccer fandom loving country. It will still take a while for the US to become a soccer crazy country.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
A new partnership between Beehiiv and Cloudflare gives independent journalists a suite of tools to control which AI crawlers are scraping their work. www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/beeh...
Beehiiv’s new Cloudflare partnership gives indie journalists a new level of control over AI crawlers
Over the past year, major news publishers have taken aggressive anti-scraping measures to curb the rise of AI crawlers. So far, most of these backend interventions have been out of reach for…
www.niemanlab.org
June 26, 2026 at 12:30 AM
A new partnership between Beehiiv and Cloudflare gives independent journalists a suite of tools to control which AI crawlers are scraping their work. www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/beeh...
"As Britain approaches the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the EU, the British are beginning to debate rejoining what they call Europe. But, as in most previous British debates about “Europe”, this is Europe with the Europe left out."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
If the UK wants to rejoin the European Union, it first needs to understand it | Timothy Garton Ash
A full return will require a marathon of democratic persuasion, on the continent as much as in Britain. For one side holds most of the cards, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash
www.theguardian.com
June 17, 2026 at 5:28 PM
"As Britain approaches the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the EU, the British are beginning to debate rejoining what they call Europe. But, as in most previous British debates about “Europe”, this is Europe with the Europe left out."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Right now, the only people in the world 100% happy with their life are New Yorkers. 🏀⛹🏼⛹️♂️⛹🏾
June 11, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Right now, the only people in the world 100% happy with their life are New Yorkers. 🏀⛹🏼⛹️♂️⛹🏾
Any postcolonial India history that touches on whether the Nehruvian era saw large scale demolition of existing buildings? As far as I recall, there was a lot of building from scratch - RK Puram, Khan Market, Chanakyapuri, IITs, IIMs, etc. - but not much talk of demolition.
June 8, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Any postcolonial India history that touches on whether the Nehruvian era saw large scale demolition of existing buildings? As far as I recall, there was a lot of building from scratch - RK Puram, Khan Market, Chanakyapuri, IITs, IIMs, etc. - but not much talk of demolition.
Infiltrated the Republic of Mamdanistan to steal some culture.
May 31, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Infiltrated the Republic of Mamdanistan to steal some culture.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
L’Allemagne rend des livres volés à Marc Bloch, avant sa panthéonisation : «une reconnaissance majeure d’une injustice historique»
L’Allemagne rend des livres volés à Marc Bloch, avant sa panthéonisation : «une reconnaissance majeure d’une injustice historique»
Lors d’une cérémonie à l’ambassade de France, sept ouvrages dérobés à l’historien par les nazis ont été remis aux descendants du résistant qui entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin. Il avait été arrêté en 1944 par la Gestapo avant d’être fusillé.
l.liberation.fr
May 28, 2026 at 11:14 PM
L’Allemagne rend des livres volés à Marc Bloch, avant sa panthéonisation : «une reconnaissance majeure d’une injustice historique»
Going to redraft Modern Europe syllabi by revisiting 19th century French novels. You're never too young to plod through Flaubert, Stendhal, Zola, Hugo, de Maupassant and all the other misérables. In any case, as Scott Dominic Carpenter tells us, the French don't like "le happy end."
May 27, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Going to redraft Modern Europe syllabi by revisiting 19th century French novels. You're never too young to plod through Flaubert, Stendhal, Zola, Hugo, de Maupassant and all the other misérables. In any case, as Scott Dominic Carpenter tells us, the French don't like "le happy end."
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
It's monkeys with poor dress-sense all the way down...
As an anthropologist, I endorse this message!
May 27, 2026 at 1:25 PM
It's monkeys with poor dress-sense all the way down...
The Anglosphere media (not so much French media) is all agog about Macron’s “platonic” affair. But true veterans of everything French remember when François Mitterand’s two families attended his 1996 funeral. All this to a great big Gallic shrug. Meanwhile, absolute furore in the UK-US media.
May 18, 2026 at 1:03 AM
The Anglosphere media (not so much French media) is all agog about Macron’s “platonic” affair. But true veterans of everything French remember when François Mitterand’s two families attended his 1996 funeral. All this to a great big Gallic shrug. Meanwhile, absolute furore in the UK-US media.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
the number of people who think the solution to AI hallucinated references is… more AI
👌
👌
May 15, 2026 at 5:57 PM
the number of people who think the solution to AI hallucinated references is… more AI
👌
👌
Term is done, just a few loose ends to tie up before the more measured pace of summer starts. Time to enjoy a long brunch with old friends visiting from the West Coast, walk by the river, and to take in some art.
May 16, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Term is done, just a few loose ends to tie up before the more measured pace of summer starts. Time to enjoy a long brunch with old friends visiting from the West Coast, walk by the river, and to take in some art.
Everything may be falling apart but New England is still insisting on spring.
April 19, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Everything may be falling apart but New England is still insisting on spring.
Reposted by S Roy Chowdhury
«Immense actrice», «aimée de tous», «lumineuse»… La mort de Nathalie Baye suscite une vive émotion
«Immense actrice», «aimée de tous», «lumineuse»… La mort de Nathalie Baye suscite une vive émotion
L’actrice multicésarisée est morte vendredi soir à l’âge de 77 ans, ont annoncé ses proches ce samedi 18 avril. Les hommages saluant ses cinquante ans de carrière, son talent et sa personnalité affluent.
www.liberation.fr
April 18, 2026 at 10:42 AM
«Immense actrice», «aimée de tous», «lumineuse»… La mort de Nathalie Baye suscite une vive émotion