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March 4, 2020

Jill D. Snider: A Macro-Micro Approach to Biography

Today we welcome a guest post from Jill D. Snider, author of Lucean Arthur Headen: The Making of a Black Inventor and Entrepreneur, out now from UNC Press. Born in Carthage, North Carolina, Lucean Arthur Headen (1879–1957) grew up amid former slave artisans. Inspired by his grandfather, a wheelwright, and great-uncle, a toolmaker, he dreamed as a child of becoming… Continue Reading Jill D. Snider: A Macro-Micro Approach to Biography

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Biography / Autobiography/Guest Bloggers/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 26, 2020

Kate Dossett: Making Theatre Dangerous Again

Today we welcome a guest post by Kate Dossett, author of Radical Black Theatre in the New Deal, out now from UNC Press. Between 1935 and 1939, the United States government paid out-of-work artists to write, act, and stage theatre as part of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a New Deal job relief program. In segregated “Negro Units” set up… Continue Reading Kate Dossett: Making Theatre Dangerous Again

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Theatre & Performing Arts/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 24, 2020

Mary J. Henold: The Most Extraordinary (Catholic) Fashion Show of 1970

Today we welcome a guest post from Mary J. Henold, author of The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era, out today from UNC Press. Summoning everyday Catholic laywomen to the forefront of twentieth-century Catholic history, Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishioners experienced their religion in the wake of Vatican II (1962–1965). This era saw major… Continue Reading Mary J. Henold: The Most Extraordinary (Catholic) Fashion Show of 1970

Categories American History/Christian Studies/Religion/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
February 21, 2020

Author Interview: Thomas W. Hanchett on Sorting Out the New South City

In this Q&A, Thomas W. Hanchett discusses Sorting Out the New South City, Second Edition: Race, Class, and Urban Development in Charlotte, 1875–1975, available now from UNC Press. This updated edition includes a new preface by the author. One of the largest and fastest-growing cities in the South, Charlotte, North Carolina, came of age in the New South decades after the… Continue Reading Author Interview: Thomas W. Hanchett on Sorting Out the New South City

Categories American History/Interviews/North Carolina/Southern Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 17, 2020

Author Interview: Jill D. Snider on Lucean Arthur Headen

In this Q&A, Jill D. Snider discusses her book Lucean Arthur Headen: The Making of a Black Inventor and Entrepreneur, out now from UNC Press. Born in Carthage, North Carolina, Lucean Arthur Headen (1879–1957) grew up amid former slave artisans. Inspired by his grandfather, a wheelwright, and great-uncle, a toolmaker, he dreamed as a child of becoming an inventor. His… Continue Reading Author Interview: Jill D. Snider on Lucean Arthur Headen

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Biography / Autobiography/Interviews/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 10, 2020

Maddalena Marinari: The Fight for Immigration Reform Then and Now

Today we welcome a guest post from Maddalena Marinari, author of Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882-1965, available now from UNC Press. In the late nineteenth century, Italians and Eastern European Jews joined millions of migrants around the globe who left their countries to take advantage of the demand for unskilled labor in rapidly industrializing nations,… Continue Reading Maddalena Marinari: The Fight for Immigration Reform Then and Now

Categories American History/Current Events/European History/Law / Legal History/Political Science/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 5, 2020

D. H. Dilbeck: Did Union Armies Really Wage a Just War? The Lieber Code and Sherman’s March to the Sea

There are several possible ways to explore how fully the Union army adhered to the Lieber code. But the spirit of the code was perhaps nowhere more fully realized—for good and ill—than in Sherman’s March across Georgia in late 1864. The March, like the code, embodied the spirit of a vigorous (and therefore hopefully short) war that proceeded within certain restraints. Continue Reading D. H. Dilbeck: Did Union Armies Really Wage a Just War? The Lieber Code and Sherman’s March to the Sea

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Civil War/Guest Bloggers/History
January 29, 2020

Interview with Gregory P. Downs about The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic

The sixth episode in the Talking Legal History podcast’s series featuring UNC Press is live! Siobhan Barco talks with Gregory P. Downs about his book The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic. Downs is professor of history at the University of California, Davis where he studies the political and cultural… Continue Reading Interview with Gregory P. Downs about The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic

Categories American History/Civil War/Interviews/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Law / Legal History/Podcasts/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
January 22, 2020

Tiffany A. Sippial: Are U.S. Citizens Still Allowed to Travel to Cuba?

Today we welcome a guest post from Tiffany A. Sippial, author of Celia Sánchez Manduley: The Life and Legacy of a Cuban Revolutionary, out now from UNC Press. Celia Sánchez Manduley (1920–1980) is famous for her role in the Cuban revolution. Clad in her military fatigues, this “first female guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra” is seen in many photographs alongside… Continue Reading Tiffany A. Sippial: Are U.S. Citizens Still Allowed to Travel to Cuba?

Categories Biography / Autobiography/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
December 20, 2019

New Talking Legal History Interviews with Kimberly M. Welch and Jane Hong

The fourth and fifth episodes of the Talking Legal History podcast series featuring UNC Press works are up! The fourth episode features Siobhan Barco talking with Kimberly M. Welch about her book Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South (University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Kimberly Welch is Assistant Professor of History and Assistant Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University. She is a… Continue Reading New Talking Legal History Interviews with Kimberly M. Welch and Jane Hong

Categories African American Studies/American History/Asian Studies/Interviews/Law / Legal History/Political Science/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
December 10, 2019

Silvan Niedermeier: Justice Then and Justice Now – The Unending History of Police Violence in the United States

Today we welcome a guest post from Silvan Niedermeier, author of The Color of the Third Degree: Racism, Police Torture, and Civil Rights in the American South, 1930–1955, out now from UNC Press. Available for the first time in English, The Color of the Third Degree uncovers the still-hidden history of police torture in the Jim Crow South. Based on a wide… Continue Reading Silvan Niedermeier: Justice Then and Justice Now – The Unending History of Police Violence in the United States

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 26, 2019

Catherine O. Jacquet: College Students Today Continuing a Long Tradition of Antirape Activism

Today we welcome a guest post from Catherine O. Jacquet, author of The Injustices of Rape: How Activists Responded to Sexual Violence, 1950-1980, out now from UNC Press. From 1950 to 1980, activists in the black freedom and women’s liberation movements mounted significant campaigns in response to the injustices of rape. These activists challenged the dominant legal and social discourses… Continue Reading Catherine O. Jacquet: College Students Today Continuing a Long Tradition of Antirape Activism

Categories American History/Gender Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
November 25, 2019

Silvan Niedermeier: “All These Scars, There and There.” Fighting Forced Confessions in the Pre-1954 South

Today we welcome a guest post from Silvan Niedermeier, author of The Color of the Third Degree: Racism, Police Torture, and Civil Rights in the American South, 1930–1955, out now from UNC Press. Available for the first time in English, The Color of the Third Degree uncovers the still-hidden history of police torture in the Jim Crow South. Based on… Continue Reading Silvan Niedermeier: “All These Scars, There and There.” Fighting Forced Confessions in the Pre-1954 South

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 22, 2019

Céline Carayon: Legible Signs and Symbolic Violence: Communicating Nonverbally, Then and Now

Today we welcome a guest post from Céline Carayon, author of Eloquence Embodied: Nonverbal Communication among French and Indigenous Peoples in the Americas, out now from UNC Press and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Taking a fresh look at the first two centuries of French colonialism in the Americas, this book answers the long-standing question of… Continue Reading Céline Carayon: Legible Signs and Symbolic Violence: Communicating Nonverbally, Then and Now

Categories American History/European History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 20, 2019

Author Interview: Cynthia Kierner on Inventing Disaster

In this Q&A, Cynthia Kierner discusses her book Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood, out now from UNC Press. When hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters strike, we count our losses, search for causes, commiserate with victims, and initiate relief efforts. Amply illustrated and expansively researched, Inventing Disaster explains the origins and development of this… Continue Reading Author Interview: Cynthia Kierner on Inventing Disaster

Categories American History/American Studies/Interviews/Sociology/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 18, 2019

Interview with William P. Hustwit about Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and the End of Jim Crow Education

The third episode in the Talking Legal History podcast’s series featuring UNC Press is live! You can listen to the episode here. This episode arrives with the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Alexander v. Holmes. Half a century after the decision, it is helpful to reflect and talk with William P. Hustwit, through a conversation about his book… Continue Reading Interview with William P. Hustwit about Integration Now: Alexander v. Holmes and the End of Jim Crow Education

Categories African American Studies/American History/Education/Interviews/Law / Legal History/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 15, 2019

Cynthia A. Kierner: Women and Children First?

Today we welcome a guest post from Cynthia A. Kierner, author of Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood, published this month by UNC Press. When hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other disasters strike, we count our losses, search for causes, commiserate with victims, and initiate relief efforts. Amply illustrated and expansively researched, Inventing… Continue Reading Cynthia A. Kierner: Women and Children First?

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
November 13, 2019

Author Interview: Shalom Goldman on How the Arts Shaped American Passions about Israel

In this Q&A, Shalom Goldman discusses his new book, Starstruck in the Promised Land: How the Arts Shaped American Passions about Israel, out now from UNC Press. From the days of steamship travel to Palestine to today’s evangelical Christian tours of Jesus’s birthplace, the relationship between the United States and the Holy Land has become one of the world’s most… Continue Reading Author Interview: Shalom Goldman on How the Arts Shaped American Passions about Israel

Categories American Studies/Cultural Studies/History/Interviews/Jewish Studies/Political Science/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
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