New This Week: January 6th 2026
Today calls for celebration—it’s our first publication day of 2026! We’re thrilled to kick off the new year with three incredible titles that span a wide range of topics: from the fascinating world of crayfish (or crawfish… or crawdads!) to uncovering the untold complexities of Reconstruction, to the clothing, culture, and violence in the American Civil War Era. These new releases highlight the depth and diversity of scholarship UNC Press is proud to publish and make for a powerful start to an exciting year of books.
Meet the New Releases
Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad: The Biology and Conservation of North America’s Favorite Crustaceans
By Zackary A. Graham
The amazing story of an unassuming crustacean.
“[Graham] debuts with a captivating paean to crayfish, a type of freshwater crustacean . . . and makes it clear why people should care about the health and well-being of these typically underappreciated organisms. . . . [L]avishly illustrated with stunning photographs. [Readers] will find much to appreciate.”—Publishers Weekly
“An exciting book that teaches us about crayfish while also showing us what it takes to be a field biologist. Zackary Graham’s gift of storytelling, sharing his own personal story along with that of the crayfish, will captivate readers of all ages.”—Georgann Eubanks, author of The Fabulous Ordinary: Discovering the Natural Wonders of the Wild South
A Nation Unraveled: Clothing, Culture, and Violence in the American Civil War Era
By Sarah Jones Weicksel
A richly woven history of Civil War clothing and its many meanings.
“A convincingly argued work of stunning originality and imagination, rooted in enormously creative research. This book will alter the vision and sensibility of Civil War historians by revealing how everyone fighting the war saw, felt, and remembered the conflict through clothing. There is nothing like this on anyone’s shelf.”—David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
“A Nation Unraveled is, quite simply, one of the most compelling histories of the American Civil War around. Sarah Jones Weicksel’s thoughtful analysis is full of surprises and vivid evidence. Readers will be convinced that material culture, textiles in particular, are fundamental to understanding the history of war in early America.”—Zara Anishanslin, author of Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World
Requiem for Reconstruction: Black Countermemory and the Legacy of the Lowcountry’s Lost Political Generation
By Robert D. Bland
The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
Reclaiming the legacy of Reconstruction’s pioneering generation.
“This book’s exploration of the Reconstruction generation and the Black countermemory it built is a groundbreaking contribution to the field, successfully integrating Civil War and Reconstruction scholarship with African American political and intellectual history. It is an important, insightful, and exciting work.”—Amy Murrell Taylor, author of Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps
“With thorough research and methodology, Robert Bland navigates the complicated road to freedom and how Black people, countering many and various limitations, created and preserved their own history—the true history of Reconstruction. Requiem for Reconstruction is a major contribution to the booming field on memory studies, elucidating the deliberate effort to erase Black contributions to postbellum American history. This is a brilliant book, brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed.”—Orville Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln: A History
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