New Books This Week

We love Tuesdays because it means that there’s another list of new books publishing! Check out the following books which are now available wherever books are sold and don’t forget you can see all of our October releases on our Hot Off the Press page. Plus, if you want updates in your inbox every month on new titles and what’s happening at UNC Press, you can sign up for our monthly eNews here.

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The Edwin Fox: How an Ordinary Sailing Ship Connected the World in the Age of Globalization, 1850–1914 by Boyd Cothran and Adrian Shubert

“A skillfully narrated, deeply engaging account of the shifting currents that reshaped global networks and changed the relationships among nations and their people in the second half of the nineteenth century. The book deserves to be widely reviewed and read around the globe.”—Tony Ballantyne, author of Empires and the Reach of the Global: 1870–1945

“In Cothran and Shubert’s expert telling, the story of the Edwin Fox reveals the great changes wrought by human globalization in the second half of the nineteenth century, skillfully situating individual lived experiences on a single sailing ship within a big, broad history of the era. It should appeal to a wide audience.”—Cian T. McMahon, author of The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine

The Crisis of Caitlin: Rome, 63 BCE by Bret Mulligan

A Reacting to the Past Gamebook

The Crisis of Catiline situates students in Rome in 63 BCE during a time of urban and rural tumult, economic instability, sensational trials, and electoral misconduct. Lucius Sergius Catilina (or “Catiline”), a charismatic and scandal-plagued noble, has proposed radical reforms that are favored by the urban and rural poor. But he is despised and feared by the senatorial elites who have placed their hopes in the hands of an immigrant to Rome, the brilliant orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Assuming the roles of Roman senators who are either for, against, or undecided about Catiline’s and Cicero’s viewpoints, students must confront the social and political crises of the day by choosing the fates of Rome and its historical characters. Can they lead Rome out of crisis? Or will the political and economic climate lead to Rome’s collapse?

Wrestling with the Reformation in Augsburg, 15530 by Emily Fisher Gray

A Reacting to the Past Gamebook

In 1530, Holy Roman emperor Charles V called an imperial council in Augsburg, hoping to resolve religious dissention in the empire introduced by Martin Luther, whose 95 Theses, criticized the church’s practice of offering promises of forgiveness from sins in exchange for money. Luther’s allies in the town of Wittenberg presented the emperor with their theological positions. Another faction, aligned with Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, offered more radical reforms. The Roman church responded with a defense of traditional doctrines, but by then, hope of a simple resolution to religious concerns had faded. By the time the council ended, local authorities in Augsburg recognized that its neutral, “middle way” position could not continue. The city would have to choose a side in the ongoing Reformation.

In the game, students acting as members of the 1530 City Council of Augsburg must balance competing demands for reform from citizens who espouse the religious conservatism of Charles V, while considering the implications of various Reformation positions for the city’s military defense, economic growth, and spiritual purity. Students will have to choose whether to align with the Zwingli or the Wittenberg faction, uphold the traditions of the church in Rome, or create a unique approach to religious practices.