I’ve been enjoying Kim Bowes’ latest book, Surviving Rome, and I’ve blogged a bit about it on my Thanksgiving live blog. The book contributed nicely my thinking about my Roman History class in the spring. I’ll likely include it as a highly recommended book for students to review in the class. The book examines the… Read More →
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been toiling through a pretty substantial rewrite and revision of a short book manuscript on oil, photography, and archaeology of the contemporary world anchored in our experience in the Bakken. The book is a mess, but hopefully, a good mess. Below is a slightly updated table of contents… Read More →
I had a nice time at the 2025 ASOR annual meeting. It was a good chance to catch up with friends, scheme some schemes, and hear some papers. In hindsights, I’d have liked to spend more time in sessions and less time in meetings, but at least the meetings that I had were broadly productive. … Read More →
A couple weeks ago, I made the rookie mistake of reading a pair of intriguing articles on the Roman and Late Roman economy and then setting them aside before I took notes on them. I think I had planned on blogging about both pieces but then travel, mid-semester deadlines, and life got in the way.… Read More →
Over the last month of so, I’ve been slogging through some revisions on my book manuscript focusing on archaeology, oil, and photography. I’ve basically outlined it the book here. Last week, I posted the first part of the third chapter which explored the intersection of oil, modernity, and archaeology. This second part of this chapter focuses… Read More →
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been trying to get a book manuscript finished this past few months. The book, which still lacks a title, will focus on oil, archaeology, the Bakken, and photography (in some order and in some relationship). It’s going to be a weird book, but I’ve basically outlined it here.… Read More →
It has been hard to find time to do any writing over the last few weeks and the next month looks even worse. As a result, I’ve turned my hand to revising the chapters that I have already completed for my book project on oil, photography, archaeology, and the Bakken. I’ve been revising part 2… Read More →
I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. I’ve been too focused on writing and keeping ahead of a seemingly endless array of (possibly pointless) administrative tasks that I’ve struggled to slow down and just read. In fact, I’m excited about my impending travel not because I like travel (I hate it), but because… Read More →
This weekend, I read Mandarin Dubey’s short book in the Cambridge Elements series titled Esoteric Orientalism (2024). Being a Cambridge Elements title, this book offered a minimal commitment to helping my contextualize Blavatsky a bit more clearly in the 19th century context and offered an opportunity for a more sympathetic reading of her work which… Read More →
As readers of this blog know, I’ve been slowly putting words on the page for a new book project focused on oil, mobility, and modernity. I have a vague (and fleeting) hope that it might be done by the end of the calendar year (it won’t be). Last week, between many other obligations, I managed… Read More →
I have many simmering anxieties as a scholar. Among them is my worry about having to publish the North Basilica at Polis on Cyprus by myself. This means immersing myself again in the literature of Early Christian architectural history. Among the most interesting features of the North Basilica is the presence of apsidal exedrae on… Read More →
Yesterday, I managed to finish draft of my book manuscript. Oddly, I don’t have a title for the book. Right now, I call it stuff like “The MC11 Project,” “something I’m writing on oil, photography, and the Bakken,” or “Workforce Housing” (and even sometimes Work Force Housing). Not having a title is a relatively minor… Read More →
This week, I focused on the penultimate section of my book manuscript. While the optimist in me sees the book as almost done, the realist in me recognizes that there is a still a good bit to do before I can submit this manuscript for review. For those of you with a score card, this… Read More →
On Tuesday, we received the sad new that Tom Davis passed away. Tom was the director of Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI), a vastly experienced archaeologist, and he co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology with me and David Pettegrew. He had a big personality, opinions, and energy. And he played an important… Read More →
My writing the past week has been pretty rough. After years of dodging Walter Benjamin, I finally created a situation from which I could not escape dealing with Benjamin. The result is a clunky section of text, but one that I’m feeling confident can be rehabilitated. Part of my reason for posting this very rough… Read More →
Those of you who come to this blog regularly know that I’m using any free time that I have to work on a short book project focused on photographs from one particular man camp in the Bakken oil patch. The book is, broadly speaking, looking at the relationship between oil, modernity, photography, and archaeology. The… Read More →
I keep chipping away at my book project. The following section is pretty unsatisfying, but I re-read some work on the New Topographics and think that I have a more potent final paragraph in the works. This is the final section of the third part of my little book project on oil, photography, and the… Read More →
