New This Week: June 3rd

This week we have two exciting new titles publishing. Something to Do with Power by David Tyroler Romine traces the life and legacy of Julian Mayfield, illuminating his pivotal yet underrecognized role in Black radical thought and activism across the mid-20th century & A Common Grave by Susan Juster provides the first comprehensive look at the lived experience of Catholics—whether Irish, African, French, or English—in colonial America. You can learn more about both of these books below.

Something to Do with Power: Julian Mayfield’s Journey toward a Black Radical Thought, 1948–1984 by David Tyroler Romine

“By rescuing a dedicated and principled participant in the global Black liberation struggle, Romine’s work offers a welcome contribution to the scholarship on the nexus between Black militancy, literary nationalism, Black arts, and radicalism.”—Christopher M. Tinson, Saint Louis University

“Julian Mayfield has deserved a book-length treatment for some time now, and David Romine has the storytelling and analytical skills to do him justice. This book will change how scholars understand the domestic and international dimensions of Black power.”—Benjamin Talton, Howard University

A Common Grave: Being Catholic in English America by Susan Juster

Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press

“Through imaginative and assiduous research, Juster brings a mostly hidden population to life: Catholics in English America. Her remarkable study invites the reader to imagine the lived experiences of the faithful—fidgeting with a rosary, furtively recognizing a priest, or worrying about how to travel safely through a hostile jurisdiction. By moving a marginal and poorly understood population to the center of her analysis, Juster opens entirely new perspectives on the English Atlantic.”—Alison Games, Georgetown University

“Written in lucid prose, and supported by prodigious research, A Common Grave challenges preconceived divisions between Protestant and Catholic to reveal a world of commingling and hybridity along with secrecy and disguise. Juster has given us a riveting and judicious study about the making of religious identity in a perilous and changing world.”—Mark Valeri, Washington University in St. Louis