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Category: American History

November 7, 2019

Author Interview: Lana Dee Povitz on Stirrings: How Activist New Yorkers Ignited a Movement for Food Justice

In this Q&A, Siobhan Barco (@SiobhanBarco) speaks with author Lana Dee Povitz about her new book Stirrings: How Activist New Yorkers Ignited a Movement for Food Justice, out this week from UNC Press. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, government cutbacks, stagnating wages, AIDS, and gentrification pushed ever more people into poverty, and hunger reached levels unseen… Continue Reading Author Interview: Lana Dee Povitz on Stirrings: How Activist New Yorkers Ignited a Movement for Food Justice

Categories American History/Events/Politics/Sociology/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 1, 2019

Author Interview: Jeremy Zallen on American Lucifers: The Dark History of Artificial Light, 1750-1865

In this Q&A, UNC Press graduate student intern Eric Bontempo (@ebontemp) talks with author Jeremy Zallen about his new book American Lucifers: The Dark History of Artificial Light, 1750-1865, out this month from UNC Press. From whale oil to kerosene, from the colonial period to the end of the U.S. Civil War, modern, industrial lights brought wonderful improvements and incredible wealth… Continue Reading Author Interview: Jeremy Zallen on American Lucifers: The Dark History of Artificial Light, 1750-1865

Categories American History/American Studies/Environmental Studies/Nature/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 30, 2019

Author Interview: Daniel S. Pierce on Why North Carolina Needs a Moonshine Hall of Fame (and Shame)

Today we’re pleased to share Part Two of our Q&A with Daniel S. Pierce, author of Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World. Check out Part One here. From the late nineteenth century well into the 1960s, North Carolina boasted some of the nation’s most restrictive laws on alcohol… Continue Reading Author Interview: Daniel S. Pierce on Why North Carolina Needs a Moonshine Hall of Fame (and Shame)

Categories American History/Cooking / Food/North Carolina/Travel/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 28, 2019

Brianna Theobald: A Birth in the Water Protector Camps

Today we welcome a guest post from Brianna Theobald, author of Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century, published last week by UNC Press. This pathbreaking book documents the transformation of reproductive practices and politics on Indian reservations from the late nineteenth century to the present, integrating a localized history of childbearing, motherhood, and… Continue Reading Brianna Theobald: A Birth in the Water Protector Camps

Categories American History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
October 25, 2019

Author Interview: Daniel S. Pierce on Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World

In this Q&A, Daniel S. Pierce, author of Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World, sits down with director of publicity Gina Mahalek to discuss the business of moonshine in North Carolina. From the late nineteenth century well into the 1960s, North Carolina boasted some of the nation’s most restrictive… Continue Reading Author Interview: Daniel S. Pierce on Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World

Categories American History/American Studies/Cooking / Food/North Carolina/Southern Studies/Travel/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
October 23, 2019

Rachel F. Seidman: Voices from Speaking of Feminism

Today we welcome a guest post from Rachel F. Seidman, author of Speaking of Feminism: Today’s Activists on the Past, Present, and Future of the U.S. Women’s Movement. From the Women’s Marches to the #MeToo movement, it is clear that feminist activism is still alive and well in the twenty-first century. But how does a new generation of activists understand… Continue Reading Rachel F. Seidman: Voices from Speaking of Feminism

Categories American History/American Studies/Gender Studies/Interviews/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
October 14, 2019

Brianna Theobald: The History-Making Work of Native Nurses

On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day we welcome a guest post from Brianna Theobald, author of Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century, published this month by UNC Press. This pathbreaking book documents the transformation of reproductive practices and politics on Indian reservations from the late nineteenth century to the present, integrating a localized history… Continue Reading Brianna Theobald: The History-Making Work of Native Nurses

Categories American History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
September 18, 2019

Jessica M. Kim: Roads and Walls in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Today we welcome a guest post from Jessica M. Kim, author of Imperial Metropolis:  Los Angeles, Mexico, and the Borderlands of American Empire, 1865–1941, published this month by UNC Press. In this compelling narrative of capitalist development and revolutionary response, Jessica M. Kim reexamines the rise of Los Angeles from a small town to a global city against the backdrop… Continue Reading Jessica M. Kim: Roads and Walls in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Current Events/Latino Studies/Public Policy/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
September 9, 2019

Jessica M. Kim: Why Trump’s Wall Will Fail

Today we welcome a guest post from Jessica M. Kim, author of Imperial Metropolis: Los Angeles, Mexico, and the Borderlands of American Empire, 1865–1941, published this month by UNC Press. In this compelling narrative of capitalist development and revolutionary response, Jessica M. Kim reexamines the rise of Los Angeles from a small town to a global city against the backdrop… Continue Reading Jessica M. Kim: Why Trump’s Wall Will Fail

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Current Events/Latino Studies/Public Policy/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
August 22, 2019

Author Interview: Eric Muller on “The Terror: Infamy”

Eric Muller, editor of Colors of Confinement: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II, offers a historical perspective on the opening episodes of the “The Terror: Infamy,” airing now on AMC. ### Q: What were your general impressions of the second episode of the AMC anthology series, “The Terror: Infamy,” which is set in part in a Japanese… Continue Reading Author Interview: Eric Muller on “The Terror: Infamy”

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Interviews/Media Studies/UNC Press News
August 19, 2019

UNC Press books featured at the Talking Legal History Podcast

Talking Legal History Podcast: Interview with Hendrik Hartog about The Trouble with Minna: A Case of Slavery and Emancipation in the Antebellum North The first episode in the Talking Legal History podcast’s series featuring UNC Press books is now live! You can listen to the episode here. The series is produced by Siobhan M. M. Barco, J.D. with support from the… Continue Reading UNC Press books featured at the Talking Legal History Podcast

Categories American History/Law / Legal History/Podcasts/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
July 15, 2019

History Repeats: Eric L. Muller on today’s migrant detention camps and Japanese-American imprisonment camps

While thousands of migrants from Central America are held in detention camps along the U.S. border, comparisons have surfaced to the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Recently, a group of Japanese American imprisonment camp survivors and their descendants gathered to protest at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, speaking out against the planned detention of migrant children… Continue Reading History Repeats: Eric L. Muller on today’s migrant detention camps and Japanese-American imprisonment camps

Categories American History/Civil Rights/Current Events/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
July 3, 2019

Craig Bruce Smith: The Minds and Hearts of the People

Happy Fourth!  Today we welcome a guest post from Craig Bruce Smith, author of American Honor: The Creation of the Nation’s Ideals during the Revolutionary Era. The American Revolution was not only a revolution for liberty and freedom, it was also a revolution of ethics, reshaping what colonial Americans understood as “honor” and “virtue.” As Craig Bruce Smith demonstrates, these… Continue Reading Craig Bruce Smith: The Minds and Hearts of the People

Categories American History/Author blog entry/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
June 26, 2019

Paul Musselwhite: 1619 – The Origins of America’s Paradox

Today we welcome a guest post from Paul Musselwhite, one of the editors of Virginia 1619:  Slavery and Freedom in the Making of English America, just published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, and UNC Press. Virginia 1619 provides an opportunity to reflect on the origins of English colonialism around the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic… Continue Reading Paul Musselwhite: 1619 – The Origins of America’s Paradox

Categories African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
May 13, 2019

Evan Faulkenbury: What Does Tax Policy Have to Do with the Civil Rights Movement?

Today we welcome a guest post from Evan Faulkenbury, author of Poll Power:  The Voter Education Project and the Movement for the Ballot in the American South, just published by UNC Press. The civil rights movement required money. In the early 1960s, after years of grassroots organizing, civil rights activists convinced nonprofit foundations to donate in support of voter education… Continue Reading Evan Faulkenbury: What Does Tax Policy Have to Do with the Civil Rights Movement?

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Political Science/Politics/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
April 18, 2019

Author Interview: Lawrence N. Powell on the Power of Historical Memory

Lawrence N. Powell is professor emeritus of history at Tulane University and a founding member of the Louisiana Coalition against Racism and Nazism.  The new Second Edition of his book, Troubled Memory: Anne Levy, the Holocaust, and David Duke’s Louisiana, has just been published by UNC Press. Troubled Memory tells the story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who… Continue Reading Author Interview: Lawrence N. Powell on the Power of Historical Memory

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Jewish Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
April 11, 2019

Aram Goudsouzian: Politics, Old and New

Today we welcome a guest post from Aram Goudsouzian, author of The Men and the Moment:  The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America, just published by UNC Press. The presidential election of 1968 forever changed American politics. In this character-driven narrative history, Aram Goudsouzian portrays the key transformations that played out over that dramatic year.… Continue Reading Aram Goudsouzian: Politics, Old and New

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Political Science/Politics/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
April 8, 2019

Author Interview: A conversation with Kathleen Sprows Cummings, author of A Saint of Our Own

Kathleen Sprows Cummings is the author of A Saint of Our Own:  How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American, just published by UNC Press. What drove U.S. Catholics in their arduous quest, full of twists and turns over more than a century, to win an American saint? The absence of American names in the canon of the… Continue Reading Author Interview: A conversation with Kathleen Sprows Cummings, author of A Saint of Our Own

Categories American History/American Studies/Cultural Studies/Religion/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
March 18, 2019

American History Sale 2019 — Save 40 percent on all UNC Press books!

It’s that time of the year again, time to celebrate American History and our great list of new UNC Press books. We are extremely excited about our new American History books, and as a gift to you, we’ve put them all on sale!  To see our full selection of books in American History, visit the sale page on the UNC… Continue Reading American History Sale 2019 — Save 40 percent on all UNC Press books!

Categories American History/Sale/UNC Press News
February 4, 2019

African American History Month Reading List for 2019

The study of African American history is a year-round endeavor for UNC Press, but in honor of African American History Month 2019, we’d like to highlight some of the great new books we’ve been published in this field recently. Here are books on African American history, culture, and modern society from UNC Press over the past year, plus a few that will be… Continue Reading African American History Month Reading List for 2019

Categories African American Studies/American History