About Outside the Academy
Hi, I’m Dr. Albert Thompson.
I am a historian of American government, conflict, and identity. My expertise bridges the gap between military history, political theory, and Christian theology. My career has been defined by the ability to translate complex truths across the different “languages” of American life. My academic journey provided the tools to thrive in environments with audiences that rarely speak to one another:
Howard University (Ph.D., United States History): At this premier HBCU, I mastered the historical and cultural rigor required to understand the deep, often painful, complexities of the American identity.
Norwich University (M.A., Military History): At the nation’s oldest private military college, I gained the realist lens necessary to analyze conflict and understand strategic trade-offs.
Oral Roberts University (B.A., Government): At this flagship charismatic institution, I learned how different American communities ground their understanding of governance in diverse moral and theological frameworks.
I have taught at Howard University, American University, NYU, and Georgetown, where I challenged students to think historically and act prudently in a world defined by power and confusion. I started Outside the Academy because our public debates have become detached from reality. I write to excavate and recover the context and memory required to respond to events today.
Why Subscribe? The Full Curriculum
Subscribing to this platform provides you with a comprehensive program of historical and strategic analysis.
Membership Tiers
Free
Enrollment at the free level provides three weekly 250-400 word brief analyzes:
• Monday Memo: Reflections on philosophy, character, and first principles.
• World War Wednesdays: A serialized re-examination of the World Wars from 1914–1945.
• Friday Flashpoint: A review of the week’s global events grounded in a realist perspective.
Supporting Subscriber— $7/Month or $50/Year
Unlocks the full uncut episodes of the Podcast, in addition to:
• The Deep Cuts: Full access to long-form essays and historical deep dives.
• The Syllabus: My curated reading lists and self-study plans designed to build your historical literacy.
• The Community: Access to the subscriber only chat with the ability to comment on posts.
Patron — $250/Year
The highest level of commitment to my work and grants access to my course modules:
• Exclusive access to my long-form video lectures. These are 45-minute sessions where I teach the complex history and statecraft.
• Exclusive ability to start chat threads and initiate discussions within this community.
• A podcast welcome and thank you acknowledgement.
If you agree that democracy requires good historians, honest reflections on our past, and our best ideas should not be captive to the ivory tower, then I hope you will support my project as a subscriber.
Tech Support What is Substack?
Outside the Academy is hosted by Substack, an online platform that provides publishing and payment infrastructure to support independent writers and creators. When you subscribe to Outside the Academy a Substack account is automatically created for you using the email address used to subscribe. This allows you to manage your subscription at any time.
How do I sign into my Substack account?
You can access and manage your account using this link:
My Outside the Academy Account
Sometimes, if you have trouble signing in, it is due to a typo in the email address. Other times, there may be another issue; in case of the latter, you can use this link to connect with Substack Support.
I signed up, where is my Outside the Academy newsletter?
Thank you for subscribing! You will receive a Welcome Email confirming your subscription. But, in case that doesn’t happen, Substack has a helpful feature allowing you to send yourself a test email, first click here Manage Subscription. Scroll down to “Account Actions” and then click the link “If you’re having email delivery issues”. If you do not receive the test email, please check your Spam folder. Alternatively, your email provider may have blocked emails from Substack. In that case, contact Substack Support.
Why can’t I access every article or podcast?
Outside the Academy is subscriber-supported. While some posts are available to everyone, only paid subscribers have access to all posts, including the entire archive of my work on Substack. If you like the content of Outside the Academy, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting my work.
How do I pause, unsubscribe, or cancel my subscription to Outside the Academy?
Sorry to see you go and thank you for subscribing. If you really want to stop receiving the first rate, cool, best ever, this-makes-sense-for-the-first-time, content of Outside the Academy, you can manage your subscription by using this link: My Outside the Academy Account. Then, in the Account Actions menu, click on “To cancel your paid subscription, click here”. From here, you have options: you can either pause your subscription or cancel your subscription.
Additional Questions?
If you have any additional questions about your subscription, you can find more answers in the Substack Help Center. To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
