Crooked Timber

Crooked Timber is a blog with a left-of-center political slant, primarily administered by academics from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. 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." Known for its intellectual rigor, Crooked Timber frequently hosts online book events and includes contributions from a variety of experts in fields such as philosophy, political science, and sociology.

For the album by Therapy, see Crooked Timber (album).

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 an agreed optimum of 15 members.[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".[3]

The quotation "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made" (Aus so krummem Holze, als woraus der Mensch gemacht ist, kann nichts ganz Gerades gezimmert werden) is from Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose. The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin alluded to the quotation in The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas.

Crooked Timber has held several online book events, during which a subset of members (and often also invited guestbloggers) read a book and each write a blog post about it, either a review or a post inspired by the book.

Current members
Name Occupation
Chris Bertram Political philosopher at the University of Bristol, UK
Harry Brighouse Political philosopher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Daniel Davies Financial industry analyst; former stockbroker and economist
Henry Farrell Political scientist at George Washington University
Maria Farrell Director of Information Coordination, ICANN
Eszter Hargittai Sociologist at Northwestern University
Kieran Healy Sociologist at Duke University
John Holbo Philosopher at the National University of Singapore
Serene Khader Philosopher and feminist theorist at Brooklyn College
Scott McLemee Writer, Inside Higher Education
John Quiggin Economist at the University of Queensland, Australia
Eric Rauchway Professor of History at UC Davis
Ingrid Robeyns Political Philosopher at the Erasmus University Rotterdam
Corey Robin Political Theorist at Brooklyn College
Miriam Ronzoni Political philosopher at the University of Manchester
Gina Schouten Philosopher at the Harvard University
Astra Taylor Documentary film maker and fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation
Belle Waring Trained as a Classicist at Berkeley; living in Singapore
Brian Weatherson A philosopher at The University of Michigan
Richard Yeselson Contributing editor at Dissent (American magazine)

Former members
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
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

References
  1. Kieran Healy (30 March 2004). "The Full Lineout — Crooked Timber". Crookedtimber.org. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  2. Aldred, Jessica (2008-03-09). "The world's 50 most powerful blogs | UK news | The Observer". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  3. Paul, Pamela (2011-04-15). "Big Blog on Campus". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 2011-04-17.


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