Author: Spencer

Two New Ebook Shorts: Excerpts from The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond

Both of the new UNC Press Civil War Shorts originally appeared in The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, a collection that combines fresh evidence with the reinterpretation of standard sources to testify to the enduring impact of the Civil War on our national consciousness and refocus our view of the third day at Gettysburg. Continue Reading Two New Ebook Shorts: Excerpts from The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond

Preview: C-SPAN’s coverage of Gettysburg 150th Anniversary

July 1st marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and to kick of the celebration C-SPAN’s American History TV will be live all day long from the battlefield on June 30th. The weekly program “American Artifacts” has produced a 30-minute special, “The Monuments at Gettysburg,” where Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler take viewers around Gettysburg and showcase nine of their favorite monuments. Continue Reading Preview: C-SPAN’s coverage of Gettysburg 150th Anniversary

UNC Press books in Chicano/a Studies offer timely insights

In reality, scholarship in the fields of Chicana/o and Latina/o studies defies such easy simplifications, revealing that the struggle for citizenship, inclusion, and social justice in this country has historic, deep roots, and that forces for change do not always begin and end in Washington. Continue Reading UNC Press books in Chicano/a Studies offer timely insights

UNC Press Receives Grant from Mellon Foundation

The funding will be used to study expanded publication models that can successfully and sustainably connect the emerging forms of scholarship that rely on digital and computer-based methods with the book and journal formats long associated with university press publishing. Continue Reading UNC Press Receives Grant from Mellon Foundation

Andrew Cayton: History, Romance, and Conversations with Dead People

I like the discipline of history, especially the requirements that I support what I say with evidence and that I not ignore inconvenient evidence. But I wanted to write a book with emotional as well as intellectual depth. And so, borrowing elements of form and tone from fictional personal histories, I attempted a narrative of a love affair informed by the sensibility of a novelist. Continue Reading Andrew Cayton: History, Romance, and Conversations with Dead People

Sheila Kay Adams named 2013 NEA National Heritage Fellow

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently announced UNC Press author Sheila Kay Adams as a 2013 NEA National Heritage Fellow. Adams is a seventh generation-ballad singer and has been performing Appalachian ballads and telling stories for over thirty years. Continue Reading Sheila Kay Adams named 2013 NEA National Heritage Fellow

Excerpt: Creating a Common Table in Twentieth-Century Argentina, by Rebekah E. Pite

Therefore, even as Petrona included some explicitly nationalistic recipes, such as a cake with an Argentine national flag, along with some typical criollo cuisine, like empanadas, she presented French, Spanish, and Italian dishes as equally important for Argentine amas de casa to master. Continue Reading Excerpt: Creating a Common Table in Twentieth-Century Argentina, by Rebekah E. Pite

Excerpt: Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, and Indigenous Rights in the United States

As Sherman points out, whether gaming can be a viable means of asserting and defending tribal sovereignty in the long term remains under debate. What does seem clear, however, is that Mashantucket Pequots’ recognition by the federal government produced new political, cultural, and economic dilemmas as well as important new possibilities for revitalizing and sustaining the tribal nation. Continue Reading Excerpt: Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, and Indigenous Rights in the United States

North Carolina Icons: Sandhills

Our State describes the variety of the region: “Southern Pines is the horse capital of N.C., Pinehurst is the golf capital, and Candor is the peach capital.” Stretching into South Carolina and Georgia, the Sandhills are also known for a dry climate, sandy soils (hence the success of peaches), and vast Longleaf Pine forests that support threatened and endangered species like the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: Sandhills

Excerpt: The Strange History of the American Quadroon, by Emily Clark

Abolitionists, fed on the fictional fare of the tragic mulatto, expected New Orleans to be filled with “white” slaves catering to the sexual appetites of immoral men. Other visitors to the city, informed by sensationalized travelers’ accounts, hoped for a glimpse of one of its renowned kept women of color, and perhaps contemplated engaging one for themselves. Continue Reading Excerpt: The Strange History of the American Quadroon, by Emily Clark

Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery Hosts Thomas Day Exhibit

Much like Marshall and Leimenstoll’s book, Dubrow describes the Smithsonian’s exhibit as, “doubly intriguing—combining his startlingly unique cabinets, bureaus, chairs, even a child’s Gothic-Classical style ‘commode’ (potty), architectural designs, with his extraordinary career.” Continue Reading Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery Hosts Thomas Day Exhibit

Interview: Lee A. Craig on Josephus Daniels

Josephus Daniels was a progressive, a warm-hearted family man, a man who genuinely cared about the country’s less-fortunate and down-trodden, at least as he defined them. Yet at the same time, he was a white supremacist, who used the coercive powers of the state to keep blacks in a socially and economically inferior state for generations. Continue Reading Interview: Lee A. Craig on Josephus Daniels

Michael T. Bernath: Confederate Teachers United in a War of Their Own

It was 150 years ago, on April 28, 1863 in Columbia, South Carolina, that nearly seventy delegates from six Confederate states met to form the South’s first and only national teachers’ organization, The Educational Association of the Confederate States of America. Continue Reading Michael T. Bernath: Confederate Teachers United in a War of Their Own

Eric S. Yellin: Woodrow Wilson’s Inauguration a Disheartening Anniversary

It was not just careers that came to an end in Woodrow Wilson’s Washington. African Americans also lost a claim to their legitimacy as American citizens and participants in the national state. Marked as corrupt and untrustworthy, black Americans have struggled ever since to clear their names as honest and trust-worthy citizens, a struggle that continues into our own time. Continue Reading Eric S. Yellin: Woodrow Wilson’s Inauguration a Disheartening Anniversary

Interview: Tom Earnhardt on Crossroads of the Natural World

The first essay, “Three Elephants in the Basement,” allowed me to transport the reader back to a time not very long ago—just a comma and three zeroes ago—when the land that would become North Carolina was populated by three species of elephant and a menagerie of strange animals as large as any in Africa today. Continue Reading Interview: Tom Earnhardt on Crossroads of the Natural World

David W. Stowe: A Conversation about the Jesus Movement with Malcolm Magee

The Jesus music had a visceral effect on my peers and me. Music was all around us and a constant emotional and intellectual force in the 1970s. It was very much the vehicle for communicating this faith. Music identified us. It captured the emotion that was largely absent in the churches that emerged from the 1950s. The music communicated both an identity and a mission. We all felt like we were going to somehow change the world. Music, however could be exploited. Continue Reading David W. Stowe: A Conversation about the Jesus Movement with Malcolm Magee

North Carolina Icons: Doc Watson

This week we revive our NC Icons series with a look at Doc Watson, number 51 on Our State magazine’s 100 North Carolina Icons list. The Deep Gap, North Carolina native and Grammy award winning singer/songwriter left a lasting legacy on traditional American music, revered for his influence on bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: Doc Watson