When Francisco I. Madero called for an uprising against dictatorial Mexican president Porfirio Diaz on November 20, 1910, he triggered a revolution in Mexico that would last until 1920. To understand the situation that led up to this event, it’s helpful to take a look at Patrick McNamara’s book Sons of the Sierra: Juarez, Diaz, [...]

On WUNC’s (91.5 FM Chapel Hill) The State of Things today at noon, Frank Stasio and a panel of guests will be discussing the legal and religious meanings of marriage in light of the passage of Prop 8 in California and similar amendments in other states.
Guests will include UNC Press author E. Patrick Johnson, professor [...]

Robert S. McElvaine, editor of Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man, blogs regularly for The Huffington Post. In his latest post, he discusses the demise of Nixon’s “southern strategy” and the new challenges for the GOP.
from McElvaine:
“New America” = Gone OLD Party
Prior to the start of the war [...]

The following post is from Christopher A. Cooper and H. Gibbs Knotts, co-editors of The New Politics of North Carolina. Cooper is MPA director and assistant professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University. Knotts is department head and associate professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University.
Every four [...]

In addition to the many outstanding books UNC Press has published on Civil War battles, World War II military tactics, Cold War strategy, war heroes, and other military history, we have also brought to print stories of veterans sometimes left out of traditional American military narratives. In honor of all those who serve our country, [...]

This past Saturday Wilmington, North Carolina, dedicated a new memorial to the victims of the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. The memorial site includes an installation of six 16-foot-high bronze paddles created by sculptor Ayokunle Odeleye.
Today, November 10, is the 110th anniversary of the event. Ten years ago, UNC Press published Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington [...]

I’ve added a few more press blogs to our university press blogroll recently, and I wanted to bring them to your attention and encourage you to go check them out.
Island Press focuses on environmental issues. Their Eco-Compass blog features posts by authors discussing green development, conservation, wildlife, sustainability, population growth, and more.
NYU Press, whose blog [...]

Three UNCP authors deserve special cheers for winning awards recently:
Rob Christensen, author of The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics, has been awarded the 2008 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. The successor to the organization’s Mayflower Cup, the Ragan Old North State Award honors Sam Ragan: [...]

The Durham County Library is in the midst of a fantastic lecture series called “Divining America: Religion in American History,” which kicked off in mid September and runs through November. The series explores many of the major religious movements and watershed moments in American history from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Lectures/discussion sessions so far [...]

If you’re not on your way to the Lexington Barbecue Festival Saturday morning around 10 a.m., tune in to C-SPAN2 for BookTV’s presentation of the 2008 Best of the Best from University Presses. The program consists of a panel of 5 librarians discussing their favorite university press books of the year, one of which is [...]

The Wall Street Journal has published a series of “Five Best” book lists in various subjects this month, including books on financial meltdowns and books on the history of medicine. This week’s list offers Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson’s top five books about the Civil War away from the battlefield.
Of the five books on [...]

Since her first appearance at the Republican National Convention, where she was greeted with rapturous applause by her fans and with astonishment by journalists — she’s a mother of five, and she hunts! — Sarah Palin has seemed to many like a brand-new phenomenon. Actually, she’s not. Sarah Palin is following in a long tradition [...]

The University of North Carolina Press was not the only out-of-towner attending the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville Oct. 10-Oct. 12. Comedian and actor Robin Williams strolled through the War Memorial Plaza on Sunday and checked out what UNC Press had to offer. He even purchased Lincoln and the Decision for War, by [...]

The Ella Baker Tour and Retreat, sponsored by the Southern Anti-Racism Network (SARN), is inspiring a wave of intergenerational dialogue and cooperation between veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and a new generation of social justice activists. The SARN website explains the tour’s origins this way:
Social change movements led by people of African descent in [...]

Maggie Lena Walker (third from the left in the cover photo) was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1867 (or 1864, or 1865, depending on your source). She spent her lifetime working to empower the black community there, even as early as high school, when she led a protest against the segregation policy that prevented her [...]