Home  >  Excerpts

Category: Excerpts

October 20, 2023

Racial and Sexual Exclusion in World War II–Era Military and Veterans’ Policy: An excerpt from “Ambivalent Affinities”

The following is an excerpt of Ambivalent Affinities: A Political History of Blackness and Homosexuality after World War II by Jennifer Dominique Jones, which is available now wherever books are sold. In a January 31, 1942, letter to the Pittsburgh Courier, twenty-six-year-old James G. Thompson queried, “Should I sacrifice my life to live half [an]American? Would it be demanding too much to demand… Continue Reading Racial and Sexual Exclusion in World War II–Era Military and Veterans’ Policy: An excerpt from “Ambivalent Affinities”

Categories African American Studies/Excerpts/Labor Studies
October 12, 2023

Race and the “Nuevo South”: An Excerpt from MAKING THE LATINO SOUTH

The following is an excerpt from Making The Latino South: A History of Racial Formation by Cecilia Márquez, which is available wherever books are sold. Making the Latino South is the first book in our new Latinx Histories series. This Hispanic Heritage Month use code 01UNCP30 to get 30% + FREE shipping on orders over $75 when you order this… Continue Reading Race and the “Nuevo South”: An Excerpt from MAKING THE LATINO SOUTH

Categories Excerpts/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Latino Studies
September 13, 2023

Underground Whales: An Excerpt of “Rendered Obsolete”

The following is an excerpt from Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling by Jamie L. Jones which is available now wherever books are sold. “Rendered Obsolete provides a compelling perspective on the history of whaling and how we understand energy consumption.” Hester Blum, Penn State University Underground Whales: An Energy Archaeology The Pennsylvania oil fields were full… Continue Reading Underground Whales: An Excerpt of “Rendered Obsolete”

Categories Environmental Studies/Excerpts/Literature
August 25, 2023

Crime Meets Punishment: An Excerpt from “Convicting the Mormons”

The following is an excerpt from Convicting the Mormons: The Mountain Meadows Massacre in American Culture by Janiece Johnson which is available wherever books are sold. This book is fantastic! Elizabeth Fenton, University of Vermont Johnson’s authorial voice and absolute command of the primary sources make this book an indispensable resource for historians examining the aftermath and American cultural perception… Continue Reading Crime Meets Punishment: An Excerpt from “Convicting the Mormons”

Categories Excerpts/Religion
August 17, 2023

The Land That Time Forgot: An Excerpt from “Landscapes of Care”

The following is an excerpt of Landscapes of Care: Immigration and Health in Rural America by Thurka Sangaramoorthy, which available now wherever books are sold. Sangaramoorthy offers a glimpse into how and under what conditions migrant workers from Latin America, the Caribbean, and other parts of North America seek, receive, and fashion care. This book provides new ways of reimagining… Continue Reading The Land That Time Forgot: An Excerpt from “Landscapes of Care”

Categories Excerpts/Health / Medicine
August 14, 2023

The Gods Give Looks: An Excerpt from Vodou en Vogue

The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Vodou en Vogue: Fashioning Black Divinities in Haiti and the United States by Eziaku Atuama Nwokocha which is available wherever books are sold. “Nwokocha’s superb work offers a much-needed corrective to previous scholarship that presents Vodou as a religion defined by poverty and precarity. Her skillful observations and thoughtful descriptions of… Continue Reading The Gods Give Looks: An Excerpt from Vodou en Vogue

Categories Excerpts/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Religion
August 9, 2023

Indian Country and the Origins of the United States: An Excerpt from “Seeing Red”

The following is an excerpt of SEEING RED: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America by Michael John Witgen (published with our publishing partners at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture) which is now available in paperback wherever books are sold. Finalist, 2023 Pulitzer Prize in History 2023 James A. Rawley… Continue Reading Indian Country and the Origins of the United States: An Excerpt from “Seeing Red”

Categories Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Excerpts/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies
August 4, 2023

Faith in Democracy: An Excerpt from “Public Confessions”

The following is an excerpt from Public Confessions: The Religious Conversions That Changed American Politics by Rebecca L. Davis, now available in paperback wherever books are sold. “A sterling history of mid-20th-century religious conversions and the social issues surrounding them. . . . This impressive work captures a fraught period in American political and religious history with a clear eye… Continue Reading Faith in Democracy: An Excerpt from “Public Confessions”

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/Political Science/Religion
July 26, 2023

Undocumented and Irish: An Excerpt from “Dreamland”

The following is an excerpt from Dreamland: America’s Immigration Lottery in an Age of Restriction by Carly Goodman, available now wherever books are sold. Phenomenally well-researched and wide-ranging . . . . a feat . . . . Goodman hops smoothly from topics as diverse as the history of Irish immigration to the impacts of structural adjustment in West Africa… Continue Reading Undocumented and Irish: An Excerpt from “Dreamland”

Categories Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Excerpts
July 17, 2023

A Tactic of Silence: An Excerpt from “An Army Afire”

The following is an excerpt from An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era by Beth Bailey, available everywhere books are sold. Bailey’s account of the way the army responded to the growing crisis is original and informative. Eric Foner, London Review of Books A TACTIC OF SILENCE On a humid afternoon in mid-October… Continue Reading A Tactic of Silence: An Excerpt from “An Army Afire”

Categories Excerpts/Military History
July 7, 2023

Jerry Housel at Heart Mountain in Wyoming: An Excerpt from “Lawyer, Jailer, Ally Foe”

The following is an excerpt from Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America’s World War II Concentration Camps by Eric L. Muller, which is available now wherever books are sold. It’s also available in Audiobook format from Audible and Libro.fm. “A fascinating and detailed account of one of America’s darkest chapters. Through the eyes and work of three… Continue Reading Jerry Housel at Heart Mountain in Wyoming: An Excerpt from “Lawyer, Jailer, Ally Foe”

Categories Asian American Studies/Excerpts/Law / Legal History
June 20, 2023

Magic Tricks: An Excerpt from “Living Queer History”

The following is an excerpt from Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City by Gregory Samantha Rosenthal. Living Queer History tells the story of an LGBTQ community in Roanoke, Virginia, a small city on the edge of Appalachia. Interweaving  historical analysis, theory, and memoir, Gregory Samantha Rosenthal tells the story of their own journey—coming out and transitioning as… Continue Reading Magic Tricks: An Excerpt from “Living Queer History”

Categories Excerpts/Labor Studies/LGBT Studies
June 19, 2023

Phantoms of Freedom: An Excerpt From “Illusions of Emancipation”

Happy Juneteenth! Celebrate and reflect on the emancipation of slavery with this excerpt from Illusions of Emancipation: The Pursuit of Freedom and Equality in the Twilight of Slavery by Joseph P. Reidy. In this sweeping reappraisal of slavery’s end during the Civil War era, Joseph P. Reidy employs the lenses of time, space, and individuals’ sense of personal and social… Continue Reading Phantoms of Freedom: An Excerpt From “Illusions of Emancipation”

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Excerpts
June 2, 2023

Becoming the Future of Rock and Roll

The following is an excerpt of The Future of Rock and Roll: 97X WOXY and the Fight for True Independence by Robin James, which is available wherever books are sold. Becoming the Future of Rock and Roll 1981-1989 Between 1988 and 2010, “The Future of Rock and Roll” was 97X’s “liner” or recorded station ID. Broadcast on air and printed… Continue Reading Becoming the Future of Rock and Roll

Categories Excerpts/Music
May 17, 2023

The Contexts of Faith-Based Community Organizing an excerpt from “Making Moral Citizens”

The following is an excerpt from Making Moral Citizens: How Faith-Based Organizers Use Vocation for Public Action by Jack Delehanty, which is available now wherever books are sold. The Contexts of Faith-Based Community Organizing The streets were full of police as I walked south through Philadelphia toward Center City. With the pope due to arrive in town later that day,… Continue Reading The Contexts of Faith-Based Community Organizing an excerpt from “Making Moral Citizens”

Categories Excerpts/Religion
April 26, 2023

Circulating Specters: An Excerpt from “Seeing Things”

The following is an excerpt from Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism by Mason Kamana Allred which is available wherever books are sold. Allred articulates in this ambitious entry some fascinating connections between Latter-day Saint theology, technology, and identity formation . . . . Deeply conversant in critical theory, the author establishes inventive arguments supported by… Continue Reading Circulating Specters: An Excerpt from “Seeing Things”

Categories Excerpts/Media Studies/Religion
April 20, 2023

A New Form of Collective Action? An Excerpt from “Indigenous Civil Society in Latin America”

The following is an excerpt from Indigenous Civil Society in Latin America: Collective Action in the Digital Age by Pascal Lupien, which is available now wherever books are sold. This is a thoughtful and impressive study. Lupien sheds important light on twenty-first century Indigenous political dynamics in the Andes, teaching us sobering lessons about the limits of digital technologies and… Continue Reading A New Form of Collective Action? An Excerpt from “Indigenous Civil Society in Latin America”

Categories Excerpts/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Political Science
April 13, 2023

Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Election of Chicago’s first Black Mayor: An Excerpt from “The Multiracial Promise”

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Harold Washington’s election as the first Black mayor of Chicago. Washington’s victory 40 years ago was unlikely not just because America’s second city was one of the nation’s most racially balkanized but also because it came at a time when Ronald Reagan and other political conservatives seemed resurgent. In The Multiracial Promise: Harold Washington’s… Continue Reading Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Election of Chicago’s first Black Mayor: An Excerpt from “The Multiracial Promise”

Categories African American Studies/Excerpts/Political Science
April 12, 2023

Below the Plow Zone: An Excerpt from “Oconaluftee”

The following is an excerpt from Oconaluftee: The History of a Smoky Mountain Valley by Elizabeth Giddens, which is available everywhere books are sold. A deep dive into one valley of the mountain borderlands of the antebellum South, the Civil War, and industrialization. Giddens makes this amazing place come alive by connecting the stories of prosperous and less prosperous people… Continue Reading Below the Plow Zone: An Excerpt from “Oconaluftee”

Categories Appalachian Studies/Excerpts/North Carolina
April 10, 2023

Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America: An Excerpt

The following is an excerpt of Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America by Leslie A. Schwalm, available wherever books are sold. Race and the U.S. Military: Black Soldiering Early in the war, congress, the Lincoln administration, and the War Department’s leadership first rejected then moved very cautiously toward Black enlistment. By 1863, it was military necessity and… Continue Reading Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America: An Excerpt

Categories Civil War/Excerpts