Books to Look Forward to in 2024
As 2023 comes to an end were excited to share some of the great books we have coming in 2024. Our Spring 2024 catalog contains books—publishing from February-July 2024—on a wide range of topics including Andy Griffith, baseball integration in the Carolina’s, country music and the US military, financial management for arts organizations, the DARE program, Racism in higher education, container gardening, sexual violence and American slavery, and much more. Continue reading to browse some of these 2024 titles or browse our full Spring 2024 catalog.
Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century by Julia F. Irwin
January 2024
Catastrophic Diplomacy offers a sweeping history of US foreign disaster assistance, highlighting its centrality to twentieth-century US foreign relations. Spanning over seventy years, from the dawn of the twentieth century to the mid-1970s, it examines how the US government, US military, and their partners in the American voluntary sector responded to major catastrophes around the world.
“A cautionary tale of constant pitfalls in provisioning aid, as well as humble suggestions for a better path through the calamities of the future—especially as once-a-century disasters become ever more frequent in our climate crisis.”—Megan Black, author of The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power
Everywhere the Undrowned: A Memoir of Survival and Imagination by Stephanie Clare Smith
February 2024
The first book in our Great Circle Books literary nonfiction series.
Holding on is all fourteen-year-old Stephanie Clare Smith can do when she’s left home alone in New Orleans during the summer of 1973. As she seeks to ease her solitude through her summer school algebra class, her wandering in the city, and her friendship with a streetcar operator, adults—particularly men—fail her again and again, with devastating consequences.
“This stunningly lyrical memoir is a profoundly insightful glimpse into the complex and frightening consequences of parental neglect. As Smith’s voice naturally evolves from alienated to intensely present, the impressively concise narrative alternates between ethereal observations about everything from space to spiders and gut punches of pain, shame, revelation, and redemption . . . . A masterful literary memoir about caring for those responsible for our trauma.”—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
Being Black in the Ivory: Truth-Telling about Racism in Higher Education edited by Shardé M. Davis
February 2024
When Shardé M. Davis turned to social media during the summer of racial reckoning in 2020, she meant only to share how racism against Black people affects her personally. But her hashtag, #BlackintheIvory, went viral, fostering a flood of Black scholars sharing similar stories. This curated collection of original personal narratives from Black scholars across the country seeks to continue the conversation started by the v#BlackintheIvory movement.
“Being Black in the Ivory is a collective exhale. Davis validates the experiences of Black scholars and reminds us that we are not crazy and we are not alone.”—Kellie Carter Jackson, author of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence, finalist for the MAAH Stone Book Award
The After: A Veteran’s Notes on Coming Home by Michael Ramos
March 2024
When Michael Ramos enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to serve as a chaplain’s bodyguard thirteen days before 9/11, he had no idea he would soon be sent to Iraq. But he embraced the posting, combat service, and career for a decade, until, at age thirty-four, the military told him his skill set was no longer relevant. Through divorce and remarriage, his son’s choice to enlist in the Marines, the loss of friends to war and suicide, and his inability to sleep or rest, Michael struggled with the return to civilian life, and particularly with civilian attitudes toward veterans.
“Powerfully written, unflinching accounts of life on active duty—essential reading for anyone who cares about our veterans.”—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
Rap and Redemption on Death Row: Seeking Justice and Finding Purpose behind Bars by Alim Braxton & Mark Katz
April 2024
Imprisoned since age nineteen, Alim Braxton has spent more than a quarter century on North Carolina’s death row. During that time, he converted to Islam and dedicated his life to redemption. Braxton uses his rhymes as a form of therapy and to advocate for prison reform, particularly by calling attention to the plight of the wrongfully incarcerated. This book, a hip-hop-rich prison memoir, chronicles Braxton’s struggles and triumphs as he attempts to record an album while on death row, something no one has done before.
“Alim Braxton’s story is a harrowing one—far too common, yet rarely heard from the vantage of the person living it. This book lets readers hear the words directly, in his voice, and humanizes the men on death row with whom he is serving time. Braxton’s book draws us into his worlds and takes us through his transformations. Like The Autobiography of Malcolm X, it reads like a testament to a life of reinvention.”—A. D. Carson, University of Virginia
DARE to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools by Max Felker-Kantor
April 2024
Justice, Power, & Politics Series
Max Felker-Kantor has assembled the first history of DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). With its signature “DARE to keep kids off drugs” slogan and iconic t-shirts, DARE was the most popular drug education program of the 1980s and 1990s. But behind the cultural phenomenon is the story of how DARE and other antidrug education programs brought the War on Drugs into schools and ensured that the velvet glove of antidrug education would be backed by the iron fist of rigorous policing and harsh sentencing.
“Max Felker-Kantor’s illuminating and highly original study demonstrates how the DARE program mirrored the LAPD’s racialized practices and how the ‘soft’ war on drugs undergirded the expansion of the carceral state. DARE to Say No will forever change the way we think about the war on drugs.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
North Carolina’s Roadside Eateries, Revised and Expanded Edition: A Traveler’s Guide to Local Restaurants, Diners, and Barbecue Joints by D. G. Martin
April 2024
- Features locally owned and community favorites
- Covers a range of food tastes from BBQ and traditional southern fare to Mexican food and Laotian cuisine
- Introduces the restaurant owners and locals who make these places unique
- Recommends nearby points of interest to explore after eating
“Martin wants . . . us to take his guide and have our own adventures. . . . He encourages readers to go a little out of their way to be greeted like an old friend at one of these places, even if it’s your first visit.” —Bridgette Lacy, Raleigh News & Observer
Vital Relations: How the Osage Nation Moves Indigenous Nationhood into the Future by Jean Dennison
April 2024
Relationality is a core principle of Indigenous studies, yet there is relatively little work that assesses what building relations looks like in practice, especially in the messy context of Native nations’ governance. Focusing on the unique history and context of Osage nation building efforts, this insightful ethnography provides a deeper vision of the struggles Native nation leaders are currently facing.
“Dennison’s book takes an important place among Indigenous and institutional ethnography, showing the fine details and complex negotiations of tribal governance as they unfold in both ordinary and official settings. Dennison paints a highly contoured and complex picture of the Osage Nation as a site of struggle, contestation, cooperation, and care.”—Clint Carroll, University of Colorado
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