Monthly Digest: September 2025

It’s time for another monthly digest. For those new to Liberating Narratives, I send a general update at the end of each month. This month features a brief update about my writing projects and a fun travel story about two unique sites in Norway and Iceland.

Some Reflections

September was a busy writing month. After spending the first half of the year on the road, being home for an entire month felt good. We even had a few cooler mornings here in Charleston, but it still feels like summer. Being at home meant I could do some additional writing for Liberating Narratives. On September 10, I published“The Enlightenment Didn’t Cause the Haitian Revolution.” I wrote the essay in a lighter style that is designed for any history enthusiast. I plan to write publicly available essays every other Wednesday. All subscribers to Liberating Narratives will receive these posts, but I’m also cross-posting them on Substack and Medium. I’m hoping to expand the readership.

I also launched micro-posts for Liberating Narratives. These are short little updates about topics I’m writing about. I have a lot of material that doesn’t make it into the posts, and I wanted a place to share it. These will be irregular posts.

One last writing project has been an open educational resource (OER) primary source reader for modern world history. Joshua Weiner at American River College asked me to help with this project. It’s been a lot of fun collaborating with him and putting together resources. We’re hoping to finish the project sometime in 2026. I’ll share more details in the coming months.

I’m putting together another study tour for July 2026. This trip will be open to teachers and world history enthusiasts. I want to continue helping folks learn about the world and find ways to share that knowledge in the classroom. The trip will most likely be an eight-day tour of Istanbul and Athens. I’ll share more details in October.