Category: Guest Bloggers

Malinda Maynor Lowery: A Nation of Nations

Today is Indigenous People’s Day, and we welcome a guest post from Malinda Maynor Lowery, author of The Lumbee Indians:  An American Struggle, just published by UNC Press. Jamestown, the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and Plymouth Rock are central to America’s mythic origin stories. Then, we are told, the main characters–the “friendly” Native Americans who met the settlers–disappeared. But the… Continue Reading Malinda Maynor Lowery: A Nation of Nations

Hannah Gill: Silent Sam in Carolina del Norte

Today we welcome a guest post from Hannah Gill, author of the new revised and expanded edition of The Latino Migration Experience in North Carolina:  New Roots in the Old North State, just published by UNC Press. Now thoroughly updated and revised—with a new chapter on the Dreamer movement and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA)—Hannah Gill’s book… Continue Reading Hannah Gill: Silent Sam in Carolina del Norte

Benjamin T. Smith: Por Qué, Por Qué?

Today we welcome a guest post from Benjamin T. Smith, author of The Mexican Press and Civil Society, 1940–1976:  Stories from the Newsroom, Stories from the Street, just published by UNC Press. Mexico today is one of the most dangerous places in the world to report the news, and Mexicans have taken to the street to defend freedom of expression.… Continue Reading Benjamin T. Smith: Por Qué, Por Qué?

Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: Supreme Court Matters

Today we welcome a guest post from Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy, author of Jim Crow Capital:  Women and Black Freedom Struggles in Washington, D.C., 1920–1945, which UNC Press will publish in November. In her new book, Murphy tells the story of how African American women in D.C. transformed civil rights politics in their freedom struggles between 1920 and 1945. Even though no… Continue Reading Mary-Elizabeth B. Murphy: Supreme Court Matters

Pamela Grundy: In Search of Ora Washington

Today we welcome a guest post from historian Pamela Grundy, whose work helped lead to the nomination, and upcoming enshrinement, of Ora Washington, who was credited as the greatest female athlete of her time and was a part of 11 straight Women’s Colored Basketball Championship teams, into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this week. ### Pamela Grundy:… Continue Reading Pamela Grundy: In Search of Ora Washington

Georgann Eubanks: Bigger is Rarely Better

Today we welcome a guest post by Georgann Eubanks, author of The Month of Their Ripening:  North Carolina Heritage Foods through the Year, just published by UNC Press. Telling the stories of twelve North Carolina heritage foods, each matched to the month of its peak readiness for eating, The Month of Their Ripening takes readers on a flavorful journey across… Continue Reading Georgann Eubanks: Bigger is Rarely Better

Mushroom of the Month, September 2018: Cortinarius argentatus

Here’s the final entry in our series, Mushroom of the Month, brought to you by Michael W. Hopping, co-author of A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas:  A Southern Gateways Guide — this month it’s Cortinarius argentatus. Mushrooms in the wild present an enticing challenge: some are delicious, others are deadly, and still others take on almost unbelievable forms.… Continue Reading Mushroom of the Month, September 2018: Cortinarius argentatus

Anne Balay: If your feminism isn’t intersectional, it isn’t feminism

Today we welcome a guest post from Anne Balay, author of Semi Queer:  Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers, just published this month by UNC Press. Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral… Continue Reading Anne Balay: If your feminism isn’t intersectional, it isn’t feminism

Georgann Eubanks: Marking the Textures of a Year

Today we welcome a guest post by Georgann Eubanks, author of The Month of Their Ripening:  North Carolina Heritage Foods through the Year, just published by UNC Press. Telling the stories of twelve North Carolina heritage foods, each matched to the month of its peak readiness for eating, The Month of Their Ripening takes readers on a flavorful journey across… Continue Reading Georgann Eubanks: Marking the Textures of a Year

Cameron B. Strang: What’s so American about American Science?

Today we welcome a guest post from Cameron B. Strang, author of Frontiers of Science:  Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500-1850, just published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and UNC Press. Frontiers of Science offers a new framework for approaching American intellectual history, one that transcends political and cultural boundaries and… Continue Reading Cameron B. Strang: What’s so American about American Science?

Mushroom of the Month, August 2018: Ravenel’s Stinkhorn Phallus ravenelii

Here’s the next entry in our monthly series, Mushroom of the Month, brought to you by Michael W. Hopping, co-author of A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas:  A Southern Gateways Guide — this month it’s Ravenel’s Stinkhorn Phallus ravenelii. Mushrooms in the wild present an enticing challenge: some are delicious, others are deadly, and still others take on… Continue Reading Mushroom of the Month, August 2018: Ravenel’s Stinkhorn Phallus ravenelii

John M. Coggeshall: “Can you change history? Yes and no.”

Today we welcome a guest post from John M. Coggeshall, author of Liberia, South Carolina: An African American Appalachian Community, just published by UNC Press. In 2007, while researching mountain culture in upstate South Carolina, anthropologist John M. Coggeshall stumbled upon the small community of Liberia in the Blue Ridge foothills. There he met Mable Owens Clarke and her family,… Continue Reading John M. Coggeshall: “Can you change history? Yes and no.”

Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt: Balancing Privacy and Archival Access

Today we welcome a guest post from Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt, author of The Science and Politics of Race in Mexico and the United States, 1910–1950, just published by UNC Press. In this history of the social and human sciences in Mexico and the United States, Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt reveals intricate connections among the development of science, the concept of race,… Continue Reading Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt: Balancing Privacy and Archival Access

Hertha D. Sweet Wong: The History of Canada, as told by Miss Chief Eagle Testickle

Today we welcome a guest post from Hertha D. Sweet Wong, author of Picturing Identity:  Contemporary American Autobiography in Image and Text, just published by UNC Press. In Picturing Identity, Hertha D. Sweet Wong examines the intersection of writing and visual art in the autobiographical work of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American writers and artists who employ a mix of written and… Continue Reading Hertha D. Sweet Wong: The History of Canada, as told by Miss Chief Eagle Testickle

Nadine Cohodas: Reconstructing Nina Simone’s Earliest Days

Today we welcome a guest post from Nadine Cohodas, author of Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone, available in paperback from UNC Press. Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933-2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music… Continue Reading Nadine Cohodas: Reconstructing Nina Simone’s Earliest Days

Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D.: Redesigning the American Health Care System

Today we welcome a guest post from Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D., authors of a new open-access pamphlet published by UNC Press, Promoting Worker Health:  A New Approach to Employee Benefits in the Twenty-First Century. In this extended essay, the authors introduce a new approach to reforming the American health-care system–a plan they call the Universal… Continue Reading Nortin M. Hadler, M.D., and Stephen P. Carter, J.D.: Redesigning the American Health Care System

Mushroom of the Month, July 2018: Golden Chanterelle, Cantharellus spp.

Here’s the next entry in our monthly series, Mushroom of the Month, brought to you by Michael W. Hopping, co-author of A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas:  A Southern Gateways Guide — this month it’s Golden Chanterelle, Cantharellus spp. Mushrooms in the wild present an enticing challenge: some are delicious, others are deadly, and still others take on… Continue Reading Mushroom of the Month, July 2018: Golden Chanterelle, Cantharellus spp.

A. Wilson Greene: Petersburg’s Emergence from the Shadows

Today, we welcome a guest post from A. Wilson Greene, author of A Campaign of Giants–The Battle for Petersburg:  Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater, just published by UNC Press. Grinding, bloody, and ultimately decisive, the Petersburg Campaign was the Civil War’s longest and among its most complex. Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee… Continue Reading A. Wilson Greene: Petersburg’s Emergence from the Shadows

Miroslava Chavez-Garcia: What Migrant Stories Can Tell Us About Ourselves

Today we welcome a guest post from Miroslava Chávez-García, author of Migrant Longing:  Letter Writing across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, just published by UNC Press. Drawing upon a personal collection of more than 300 letters exchanged between her parents and other family members across the U.S.-Mexico border, Miroslava Chávez-García recreates and gives meaning to the hope, fear, and longing migrants experienced… Continue Reading Miroslava Chavez-Garcia: What Migrant Stories Can Tell Us About Ourselves

Mark Wilde-Ramsing and Linda Carnes-McNaughton: Queen Anne Appears Aboard QAR

Today, we welcome a guest post from Mark Wilde-Ramsing and Linda Carnes-McNaughton, authors of Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize:  The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge, just published by UNC Press. In 1717, the notorious pirate Blackbeard captured a French slaving vessel off the coast of Martinique and made it his flagship, renaming it Queen Anne’s Revenge. Over the next six months,… Continue Reading Mark Wilde-Ramsing and Linda Carnes-McNaughton: Queen Anne Appears Aboard QAR