Author: Anna

Interview: Lori Rotskoff and Laura L. Lovett, editors of When We Were Free to Be

Lori Rotskoff and Laura L. Lovett, editors of When We Were Free to Be: Looking Back at a Children’s Classic and the Difference It Made discuss the legacy of Free to Be…You and Me after 40 years. Continue Reading Interview: Lori Rotskoff and Laura L. Lovett, editors of When We Were Free to Be

Fall sale wrap-up: new categories 50% off, sale ends soon!

Announcing our last four sale subjects, all at 50% off, with free shipping for orders over $75 for the next two weeks. Continue Reading Fall sale wrap-up: new categories 50% off, sale ends soon!

Interview: Daniel W. Patterson on The True Image

A thousand unique gravestones cluster around old Presbyterian churches in the piedmont of the two Carolinas and in central Pennsylvania. Most are the vulnerable legacy of the Bigham family, Scotch Irish stonecutters whose workshop near Charlotte created the earliest surviving art of British settlers in the region. In The True Image, Daniel Patterson documents the craftsmanship of this group and the current appearance of the stones. In two hundred of his photographs, he records these stones for future generations and compares their iconography and inscriptions with those of other early monuments in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Continue Reading Interview: Daniel W. Patterson on The True Image

M. Todd Bennett: When Behaviorism Went to the Movies

Developed at the beginning of the twentieth century, movies quickly arose to become the cultural centerpiece, especially during Hollywood’s “golden era” of the 1930s and ’40s. In 1941, 85 million Americans—85 million, more than three-fifths of the overall U.S. population, which totaled 131 million at the time—attended movie theaters each week. Cinema’s remarkable popularity led observers to conclude that movies strongly influenced impressionable theatergoers. Continue Reading M. Todd Bennett: When Behaviorism Went to the Movies

Congratulations to James Sweet, winner of the 2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize

We are happy to announce UNC Press author James Sweet, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, has been selected as the winner of the 2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for his book, Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World. Continue Reading Congratulations to James Sweet, winner of the 2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize

North Carolina Icons: The Brown Mountain Lights

This week we’re featuring number 79 from Our State magazine’s 100 North Carolina Icons list: the Brown Mountain Lights. Unexplained lights often appear at Brown Mountain, hovering in the air when the weather is right. Our State writes, “Your best chance at catching the Brown Mountain Lights is Milepost 310 along the Blue Ridge Parkway, at the Brown Mountain Overlook along Highway 181, or from the top of Table Rock.” There have been various explanations for the lights, from scientific to legends and ghost stories. Today we have some suggested books of Carolina ghost stories. Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: The Brown Mountain Lights

Tobe: Tracking down the storybook family

Where are they now? Historian Benjamin Filene seeks information about the people involved in the 1939 children’s book “Tobe,” about an African American sharecropping family in NC. Continue Reading Tobe: Tracking down the storybook family

UNC Press Fall Sale: New categories

New Fall sale categories: business history and southern history. Throughout the fall, we’re offering 50% off selected titles in the disciplines listed below. Enter 01SALE12 at checkout. Spend $75.00 and the shipping is free. Continue Reading UNC Press Fall Sale: New categories

Sarah E. Ruble: All Americans Are Missionaries

2012 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the first Protestant American foreign missionaries. Over the course of those years, the movement’s fortunes and its public presence have waxed and waned. In 1812, the movement boasted five missionaries sailing to the Indian subcontinent. One hundred years later, its most prominent members were recruited for diplomatic missions. Yet whatever the public perception of missionaries, their work raises significant questions, even for people who might have little interest in the movement itself. Continue Reading Sarah E. Ruble: All Americans Are Missionaries

NC Icons: NC State Fair, Pepsi, and Sweet Potatoes

Since we’re in the middle of the North Carolina State Fair (October 11-21), we’re featuring it for our NC Icon this week — along with Pepsi and sweet potatoes. The NC State Fair is number 63 on Our State magazine’s 100 North Carolina Icons list. Pepsi and sweet potatoes come in at numbers 21 and 95. The State Fair is held in Raleigh every October, and you can be sure to find North Carolina favorites like Pepsi and sweet Potatoes there. Continue Reading NC Icons: NC State Fair, Pepsi, and Sweet Potatoes

Douglas M. Orr: Reflections on Bill Friday

Like so many others, I was the beneficiary of Bill Friday’s support and mentorship over the span of my entire professional career. While there are countless features of the Bill Friday life that can he highlighted, I would like to recite two: his abiding love and knowledge of our state, and his common touch with people. Continue Reading Douglas M. Orr: Reflections on Bill Friday

Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey: The Christ-less Revolution

Jesus was part of the Revolution and formation of the United States, but not as much as one might expect. As a physical presence, he was almost completely absent. And in the language of law and legislation for the new republic, he was virtually as nonexistent. In comparison to how prominent Jesus would become in the United States of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Revolution and founding of the new nation were profoundly Christ-less. Continue Reading Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey: The Christ-less Revolution

Congratulations to Dylan C. Penningroth, 2012 MacArthur Fellow

Today we’re excited to announce that historian Dylan C. Penningroth has been awarded a 2012 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Penningroth is the author of The Claims of Kinfolk. Continue Reading Congratulations to Dylan C. Penningroth, 2012 MacArthur Fellow

Interview: C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa on Crooked Paths to Allotment

In Crooked Paths to Allotment, C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa complicates standard narratives of nineteenth century Native American history by uncovering the stories of individuals who contested federal Indian policy and proposed viable alternatives during a critical moment in its development. Continue Reading Interview: C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa on Crooked Paths to Allotment

Miles Orvell: Main Street in the 21st Century

Travel across the U.S.A., from Maine to California, and sooner or later you’re bound to stop at a new Main Street-inspired mall. Along the way, you may also find yourself driving into a town with an actual historic Main Street that is struggling to assert its relevance in the age of malls and supermalls. After the postwar romance with the mega shopping mall—which drained the vitality out of small towns across the U.S.—Americans are gradually coming back to the idea of the small-scale community embodied in the Main Street model. Continue Reading Miles Orvell: Main Street in the 21st Century