10 Books To Buy During Our Holiday Sale: Gift Guide

Our Holiday Sale is happening now and you can save 30% on all UNC Press print books plus get free US shipping on orders over $75 with the code 01UNCP30 at checkout.

Our Holiday Sale is the perfect time to grab those holiday gifts you need but we know that picking the perfect book can be tough. So to make your holiday shopping easier, we selected 10 of our favorite gift books from recent seasons. Of course, all UNC Press books make great gifts, so if you don’t find what you’re looking for here, you can browse all of our books by subject on our website.

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The perfect book for lovers of apples & cider

Wild, Tamed, Lost Revived: The Surprising Story of Apples in the South by Diane Flynt with a foreword by Sean Brock and photographs by Angie Mosier

“Flynt is a natural storyteller. Her voice gently draws the reader into her world; a world of apples and dreams.”—Cidercraft Magazine

A must-have for anyone interested in race, gender, & politics

The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

“Myers carefully stitches together the story of Julia Ann Chinn, the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, Martin Van Buren’s vice president, recounting her life on his estate and the public controversy over their relationship.”—New York Times Book Review

Music enthusiasts will want this on their shelf

High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape by Marc Masters

“High Bias makes a persuasive case that . . . cassette-based activity functions as a sort of understory in the forest of music, a substructure in the shadows that nurtures and fortifies the canopy of successful commercial artists above. . . . An extended, paperbound mixtape of cassette-based music. . . . Revelatory.”—New Yorker

Powerful stories about Tibetan Refugees

Far From the Rooftop of the World: Travels among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents by Amy Yee with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“Yee renders her subjects on the page with energetic prose that focuses foremost on their humanity, not the tragedies that have befallen them, individually and collectively . . . . a deeply researched and empathetic look at a people who remain largely unknown or misunderstood to American readers, akin to fellow journalist Barbara Demick’s excellent book, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Readers who seek to understand the plight of our fellow humans in other parts of the world should hang on every word.”—Hannah Bae, The Boston Globe

THE book for anyone interested in the history of the South

A New History of the American South edited by W. Fitzhugh Brundage.
Associate editors Laura F. Edwards and Jon Sensbach

“An important book for anyone interested in Southern history. . . . The book’s contributors brilliantly integrate the contents of their separate chapters, each on a distinct era, into a taut, analytical narrative. Throughout, their voices and styles cohere in striking fashion. . . . To learn of the South’s past as it is viewed today by leading historians, this is the book to read.”—Kirkus Reviews(STARRED review)

Anyone interested in Appalachia will want this

The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women: Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South edited by Kami Ahrens

“Captivating, resisting nostalgia with its authentic, honest, and sometimes contradictory experiences from women all over the region.”—Garden and Gun

The holiday cookbook that every kitchen needs

Southern Holidays (NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK) by Debbie Moose
A Savor the South Cookbook

Featuring seventeen holidays and fifty recipes, this book includes such classics as Coconut King Cake for Mardi Gras and Smoky Red Rice for Juneteenth, as well as southern twists on time-honored delicacies, from Cajun-Style Rice Dressing for Thanksgiving to Sweet Potato Latkes for Hanukkah.

“[Moose] digs into holidays with zest. . . . Engaging.”—Booklist

A tragically timely book for those interested in the rise in gun ownership in the US

Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America by Andrew C. McKevitt

“Sharp, fascinating, devastating, exhaustively researched and often wryly funny, this indispensable book—one of the best works of nonfiction this year—details how America came to be not just a gun country but the gun country.”—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post Book World

For those interested in WWII, human rights, & legal history

Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps by Eric L. Muller

“The book is beautifully written and consistently fascinating,and an example of his remarkable research . . . . in the vein of Robert Cover’s Justice Accused.”—Gabriel J Chin, American Journal of Legal History

Ideal for anyone interested in art in North Carolina

Art of the State: Celebrating the Visual Art of North Carolina by Liza Roberts with a foreword by Lawrence J. Wheeler and photographs by Lissa Gotwals

“Art of the State offers a sprawling, vital survey of North Carolina art now. . . . The book itself is impressively designed and rich with captivating images of art that are often paired with profiles of artists and collectors. These cutaway sections—separate from but interspersed with the main text—give the book the feel of a well-curated gallery, with individual pieces hanging on the wall and coalescing around a holistic theme.”—INDY Week