Crooked Timber
Crooked Timber is a blog leaning left-of-center politically[1] primarily administered by academics.[2] The blog's name is inspired by a quotation from philosopher Immanuel Kant: "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made," from his 1784 essay "Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose". It includes contributions from a variety of experts in fields such as philosophy, political science, and sociology.[1][2]
History
Crooked Timber was founded in July 2003 as a merger of several individual blogs, including Junius and Gallowglass, along with some new contributors. Additional members were added over subsequent months until the group reached 16 to 17 members.[2][1]
Crooked Timber ranked in Technorati's Top 100 blogs between 2003 and 2005 and is still widely linked to in the academic blogosphere. On March 9, 2008, it was listed as number 33 in The Guardian's list of the world's 50 most important blogs.[2] On April 15, 2011, an article on academic blogs in The New York Times listed Crooked Timber as one of seven influential examples of the type, describing it as having "built a reputation as an intellectual global powerhouse; a sort of global philosophical thinktank conducted via blog.".[1]
Crooked Timber has held several online book events, during which a subset of members (and often also invited guest bloggers) read a book and each write a blog post about it, either a review or a post inspired by the book.[3]
Current contributors
| Name | Occupation | |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Armstrong | Political theorist | [4] |
| Chris Bertram | Political philosopher at the University of Bristol, UK | [4] |
| Harry Brighouse | Political philosopher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison | [4] |
| Henry Farrell | Political scientist at Johns Hopkins University SAIS | [1] |
| Maria Farrell | Director of Information Coordination, ICANN | [1] |
| Eszter Hargittai | Sociologist at Northwestern University | [1] |
| John Holbo | Philosopher at the National University of Singapore | [4] |
| Serene Khader | Philosopher and feminist theorist at Brooklyn College | [4] |
| John Quiggin | Economist at the University of Queensland, Australia | [4] |
| Ingrid Robeyns | Political Philosopher at the Erasmus University Rotterdam | [4] |
| Miriam Ronzoni | Political philosopher at the University of Manchester | [4] |
| Eric Schliesser | Philosopher | [4] |
| Gina Schouten | Philosopher at the Harvard University | [4] |
| Belle Waring | Trained as a Classicist at Berkeley; living in Singapore | [4] |
Former contributors
| Name | Occupation | |
|---|---|---|
| Tedra Osell | Freelance editor, California | |
| Jon Mandle | Political philosopher at SUNY Albany | |
| Niamh Hardiman | Senior Lecturer at University College Dublin | |
| Michael Bérubé | Professor of American literature and cultural studies at Pennsylvania State University | [1] |
| Ted Barlow | Economic consultant in Houston, TX | |
| Tom Runnacles | Software developer in the city of London, previously studied philosophy at Oxford University | |
| Micah Schwartzman | Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law | |
| Daniel Davies | Financial industry analyst; former stockbroker and economist | |
| Kieran Healy | Sociologist at Duke University | [1] |
| Scott McLemee | Writer, Inside Higher Education | |
| Eric Rauchway | Professor of History at UC Davis | |
| Corey Robin | Political Theorist at Brooklyn College | |
| Astra Taylor | Documentary film maker and fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation | |
| Brian Weatherson | A philosopher at The University of Michigan | |
| Richard Yeselson | Contributing editor at Dissent (American magazine) |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Pamela (2011-04-15). "Big Blog on Campus". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ a b c d Aldred, Jessica (2008-03-09). "The world's 50 most powerful blogs | UK news | The Observer". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
- ^ "Susanna Clarke Seminar — Crooked Timber". crookedtimber.org. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Crooked Timber — Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made". crookedtimber.org. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
External links