Max Long
@maxlong
Historian of the environment, science, and popular culture in modern Britain. Darby Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford. Views etc, my own.
🚨📘 Book Alert! 📘🚨 My first monograph, 'A Science for Everyday Life' is now available for pre-order! Published by @upittpress.bsky.social & released mid-December 2026. US/North America: upittpress.org/books/978082... UK/Europe: www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
Bee orchid, pyramidal orchid and yellow rattle today at @magdalenoxford.bsky.social!
The summary of the debate published by the OxStu newspaper really underscores quite how laughable and unserious it is to think of this as in any way contributing to a positive understanding of free speech and the exchange of ideas. Great to see Oxford turning out to reject this rubbish yesterday
🔔⏰Just over 1 month to go! ⏰🔔 Call for papers: Modern British History and the 'Environmental Turn' A two-day workshop organised by @andrewseaton.bsky.social and myself at Lincoln College, Oxford, 16-17 September. Deadline for abstracts is 15 May. Details in poster below!
My latest in History Today, on the Pride of Derby river pollution case of 1952. Now available in newsagents etc!
Huge news for the little owl! Its transformation from 'vermin alien' and 'worst bird in Britain' to 'cute little bird' is now almost complete 🦉
Little Owl of the day. Colour photograph by Skoflek István (1960s-1970s), from the collections of the Museum of Kuny Domokos (Tata, Hungary)
Little Owl of the day: ‘I think you will consider this proof enough of the mischief it does’. The Field, 1919
Little Owl of the day, 1938 Photograph by G. A. L. Bisseling & F. Kooymans, published in the Illustrated London News
Doing some of my favourite kind of research: surveying periodicals. The ones I'm looking at are usually bound up with other random titles, leading to some wonderful chance encounters!
Not quite what you’re looking for but I wonder whether Elaine Leong might touch on this?
Mignot started breeding narcoleptic dogs at Stanford in the 1990s, leading to a major discovery in the way that narcolepsy occurs in humans. Here he is with one his narcoleptic dogs, which he keeps as a pet
These and similar accounts from the past resonate strongly with the experiences of many people living with narcolepsy today. Despite numerous medical advancements, the everyday life of narcoleptics today is not too dissimilar from that of a century ago.
I first became interested in this when I came across a medical article from 1928 by S. A. Kinnier Wilson. I found these accounts of narcolepsy patients really moving. This is an image of a railway carpenter who had his first sleep attack while "on the top of a signal post executing a repair."
As a historian, I have also recently been developing a research project which looks at how individuals have lived with the condition in the past
Happy World Narcolepsy Day! I was first diagnosed with the condition almost a decade ago, and it's been great to see the work done by Narcolepsy UK to raise awareness in the past few years. I'd love to hear from fellow narcoleptics on here!
As a historian, I have also recently been developing a research project which looks at the history of the condition, particularly from the perspective of people who have lived with the disease in the past.
I stumbled upon lovely lonely pyramidal orchid yesterday on @magdalenoxford.bsky.social’s Addison’s Walk!
“A Protest” - a drawing by a Southport schoolgirl in 1929, raising awareness about the effect of ships’ oil on sea birds. Published in the RSPCA’s magazine “The Animal World”