Sean T. Byrnes

Historian, writer, former bartender.
Author of The United States and the Ends of Empire (@BloomsburyHist, 2026) and Disunited Nations (@lsupress, 2025).

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

The US and the Ends of Empire is now out in the US! Come for the kind blurbs from @samuelmoyn and @Tim_Shenk, stay for the (is it relevant?) discussion of American empire. Great for classrooms, zoom backdrops, and readers of all kinds—available everywhere. https://t.co/4O4nTYSb18

[Bob Elder @southernphd]

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.

In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.

Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.

When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.

She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.

As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.

Rest in peace, professor.

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

Don't forget, while the snazzy hardback of the United States and the Ends of Empire (below) is highly sought after, it's also available in a reasonably priced (and still snazzy) paperback edition, perfect for you, your friends, and your students this fall! Available all over!

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

Don't forget, while the snazzy hardback of the United States and the Ends of Empire (below) is highly sought after, it's also available in a reasonably priced (and still snazzy) paperback edition, perfect for you, your friends, and your students this fall! Available all over!

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

@estice @RaminNasibov A new classic.

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

A pleasure to interview Anton Jäger for The Nation about his important new book, “Hyperpolitics”: https://t.co/vPUkN3C1Jy

[Samuel Moyn 🔭 @samuelmoyn]

Old dog locks in

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

Really appreciated the opportunity to interview @sheydaj about her award-winning book The Poverty of the World in the new issue of Federal History. Link below!

https://t.co/ztYxYl7LVh

[lavitalenta @lavitalenta]

Leisure with Jean-Paul Sartre

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

Interview with me in the Ideas Letter : https://t.co/fbbqSYOB5r

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

The Banal Horror of Jimmy Fallon https://t.co/Ktpw7q7tQI

[Stephen Wertheim @stephenwertheim]

Very dark or very clear?

[Briahna Joy Gray @briebriejoy]

"A lot of reformers are of this 'make the Supreme Court great again,' view -- like there's some little problem that we have...Even if your view is that we need a Supreme Court to control the states & make sure that they have to conform to federal law, what we do not need is the Supreme Court second guessing the legislature...Why should this institution get to invalidate what the congress wanted, with it's own view of what the constitution requires? -@samuelmoyn

[Dexter Fergie @DexterFergie]

Just finished my manuscript workshop in my department. My brain is now mush. But feeling so grateful to all the people who took time to read and think about my book. 🇺🇳

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

"I made my way into an octagonal room that bills itself as showcasing the “Chicago Economics Experience.” It served as a kind of iconostasis of the great saints of the Chicago School of Economics—notably, Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and George Stigler." https://t.co/QJSF7kaA6O

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

My latest for the @newrepublic—much improved, as usual, by the work of the great @lmlauramarsh.

An Elegy for the Foreign Correspondent https://t.co/0Dy5yilVGv via @newrepublic

[Andrew Marchand @AndrewMarchand]

NEW COLUMN: The uniqueness of the legendary John Sterling

https://t.co/bFk28F9hHb

[Sean T. Byrnes @ByrnesSean]

Voice of summer for me. RIP.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: John Sterling, the over-the-top radio announcer who colorfully called Yankees games for more than 35 years, died at 87. https://t.co/eKlDADMXFz

[Ross Barkan @RossBarkan]

John Sterling's death hits hard. Like many Yankee fans, I grew up with John. The transistor on the beach, the radio in the car. When I was younger, I was a cynic, and I grew into a great appreciator of John's panache, even genius. There was no one like him. What a voice.

[Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards @AnisfieldWolf]

Born in Flames is a revelation that explains the burning of the Bronx. Bench Ansfield lays bare an intricate local, national, and international story with long-reaching consequences today.

Read more about the 2026 AWBA Nonfiction winner, Born in Flames: https://t.co/muNpRqVQvp

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

Look forward to reading Sam Moyn’s latest: