Jacob Mikanowski

I’m a freelance journalist and writer based in Portland, OR. My academic training is in the history of Eastern Europe—I’ve completed doctoral work in European History at the University of California, Berkeley—but for over a decade, I worked as a critic and a science journalist. I write about art, books, movies, ancient history, anthropology, and – occasionally – food. I especially like to work on stories about the intersection of science and the humanities, photography, and people who are helplessly obsessed with whatever they’re doing. 

For the past few years, I’ve been working on single project which combines all my interests: Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land – a book-length history of Eastern Europe, covering culture, politics, religion and ideology (essentially, everything which made Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe over the past 2000 years).

Published book:

Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land – 2023