Category: Business

New This Week: “Country Capitalism”

Happy pub day to Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet by Bart Elmore, now available wherever books are sold! Country Capitalism is published under our Ferris & Ferris imprint. This engaging and important book reveals how five of today’s most influential global corporations developed from common roots in the US South and are implicated… Continue Reading New This Week: “Country Capitalism”

2026 and Insurance: A Conversation With Hannah Farber

Thanks to the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture for allowing us to reblog the following Q&A with Hannah Farber, author of Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding, that originally appeared on their blog, Uncommon Sense. In this installment of interviews with OI Book authors about the Semiquincentennial, Hannah Farber discusses marine insurance—a topic that seems… Continue Reading 2026 and Insurance: A Conversation With Hannah Farber

Russia and the former Soviet Union: A Recommended Reading List

If you’ve been following recent events, you may have seen that Russia has invaded Ukraine. Last week, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of its neighbors to the southwest. It marked a major escalation between the countries, which had been in a state of conflict since 2014. Russia and Ukraine were also two of the largest republics responsible… Continue Reading Russia and the former Soviet Union: A Recommended Reading List

Authors William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen featured on Reset Race

Recently, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen, authors of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, were featured on Reset Race’s podcast. Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. At several historic moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically. Perhaps no moment was… Continue Reading Authors William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen featured on Reset Race

Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black American Experience

Earlier this month, we published the first of our weekly Black History Month reading lists, focused on Black Resistance. This week’s reading list centers the Black American experience and it consists of books written by black authors who touch on a few of the various and infinite lived occurrences we share as Black people in America. We are not a… Continue Reading Black History Month 2022 Reading List: The Black American Experience

North Carolina In The Connected Age: The Creation of the Connected Age

The following is an excerpt from Michael L. Walden’s North Carolina In The Connected Age: Challenges and Opportunities in a Globalizing Economy. At a time when North Carolina’s population is exploding and its economy is shifting profoundly, one of the state’s leading economists applies the tools of his trade to chronicle these changes and to inform North Carolinians in easy-to-understand… Continue Reading North Carolina In The Connected Age: The Creation of the Connected Age

Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

The following is an excerpt from Carolyn M. Goldstein’s Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America. Home economics emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this… Continue Reading Creating Consumers: Envisioning the Rational Consumer, 1900–1920

“Private Profits and Public Affairs”, The Omohundro Institute’s Conversation with Authors Hannah Farber and Michael Zakim

Watch below as Hannah Farber, author of Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding, and author Michael Zakim speak with the Omohundro Institute for one of their latest author conversations. Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the… Continue Reading “Private Profits and Public Affairs”, The Omohundro Institute’s Conversation with Authors Hannah Farber and Michael Zakim

National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

January 6th marks National Technology Day. Technology has been a huge stepping stone in the advancement of so many cultures. From the technology we use in our everyday lives to NASA’s own technology used for space exploration, it’s always been closely connected to the overall progress of America. In celebration of National Technology Day, we’re sharing a recommended reading list… Continue Reading National Technology Day: Recommended Reading List

What Insurance Wants You To See

The following is a guest blog post by Hannah Farber, author of Omohundro Institute & UNC Press published Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding. Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled… Continue Reading What Insurance Wants You To See

“Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Economic Identities”

The following is an excerpt from Courtney Lewis’ “Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty“. By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the United States around the globe. As corporations across the United States folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thrive. In this… Continue Reading “Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Economic Identities”

Happy National Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

Since 1990, November has been nationally celebrated as Native American Heritage Month. We take this month to honor the cultures, histories and contributions that Native people have made throughout the years. To help celebrate, we’ve curated a reading list of books from all Native American authors touching on different aspects of Native American life. We would also like to highlight… Continue Reading Happy National Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

Workers’ Rights: A Reading List

Yesterday was Labor Day, “a federal holiday that recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States.” The very first Labor Day was celebrated in 1882, but, as many of you may know, we’re still fighting for a living wage for all, better working conditions and effective, well-protected workers’ rights. Below are some recommended… Continue Reading Workers’ Rights: A Reading List

Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

For our last bit of JuneTeenth celebration this month, I decided to pull an excerpt from one of the books featured in our two part commemorative JuneTeenth recommended reading list (Part One, Part Two). This excerpt is from Eric Williams and Colin A. Palmer’s Capitalism and Slavery, Third Edition.  The negro slaves were “the strength and sinews of this western world.”… Continue Reading Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

Do Boycotts Work?

Guest post by Allyson P. Brantley, author of Justice, Power and Politics series book Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors and Remade American Consumer Activism Boycotts seem to be everywhere these days. Most recently, the April 2021 passage of Georgia’s new, restrictive voting law sparked significant backlash and boycotts – ranging from Major League Baseball’s decision to move the All-Star… Continue Reading Do Boycotts Work?

Philip F. Rubio: The Great Postal Wildcat Strike Jubilee

Today we welcome a guest post from Philip F. Rubio, author of Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the Manufactured Crisis of the U.S. Postal Service, forthcoming in May 2020 from UNC Press. For eight days in March 1970, over 200,000 postal workers staged an illegal “wildcat” strike—the largest in United States history—for better wages and working… Continue Reading Philip F. Rubio: The Great Postal Wildcat Strike Jubilee

Author Interview: A conversation with James W. Dean Jr. and Deborah Y. Clarke about The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities

James W. Dean Jr. and Deborah Y. Clarke, co-authors of The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities, discuss the fundamental differences in the ways that universities and businesses operate, and how they can successfully work together in a time of change. Why do decisions in universities take so long and involve so many people? Why isn’t growth a priority for… Continue Reading Author Interview: A conversation with James W. Dean Jr. and Deborah Y. Clarke about The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities

The UNC Press Has Transformed the South …

[This article is an exerpt cross-posted from the University of North Carolina System website.  You can read the full article here.] The UNC Press Has Transformed the South … Now It’s Changing the Rules of Academic Publishing Not too many university press publications find their way into the luggage of beachward-bound North Carolinians. The coast is for light reading—for books… Continue Reading The UNC Press Has Transformed the South …

Abigail Hall: Musings on a Beautiful and Mysterious Industry: A Publishing Intern Reflects

This past January, I was able to live out a lifelong dream of mine: wearing business casual clothes five days a week. I own so many sweaters and I was ecstatic to finally be able to do something with them. But this past month was more than just a chance to try out my office fashion. January 2019 was also… Continue Reading Abigail Hall: Musings on a Beautiful and Mysterious Industry: A Publishing Intern Reflects

Anthony Chaney: The Royal Scam

Today, we welcome a guest post from Anthony Chaney, author of Runaway:  Gregory Bateson, the Double Bind, and the Rise of Ecological Consciousness, on Steely Dan, Columbia House and the negative-option record club. The anthropologist Gregory Bateson has been called a lost giant of twentieth-century thought. In the years following World War II, Bateson was among the group of mathematicians,… Continue Reading Anthony Chaney: The Royal Scam