Category: History

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

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

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?

Evan Faulkenbury: Who Deserves Credit for the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

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: Who Deserves Credit for the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

Cheryl Shelton-Roberts: The Geography of Hope: Restoring North Carolina’s Lighthouses

Today we welcome a guest post from Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, co-author with Bruce Roberts, of the revised and expanded edition of North Carolina Lighthouses:  The Stories Behind the Beacons from Cape Fear to Currituck Beach, just published by UNC Press. Of the over four dozen lighthouses that once marked the jagged shoreline of North Carolina, only nine still stand, watching over… Continue Reading Cheryl Shelton-Roberts: The Geography of Hope: Restoring North Carolina’s Lighthouses

Cheryl Shelton-Roberts: North Carolina Lighthouses

Today we welcome a guest post from Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, co-author with Bruce Roberts, of the revised and expanded edition of North Carolina Lighthouses:  The Stories Behind the Beacons from Cape Fear to Currituck Beach, just published by UNC Press. Of the over four dozen lighthouses that once marked the jagged shoreline of North Carolina, only nine still stand, watching over… Continue Reading Cheryl Shelton-Roberts: North Carolina Lighthouses

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

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

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

David J. Neumann: Karma

Today we welcome a guest post from David J. Neumann, author of Finding God through Yoga:  Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global Age, just published by UNC Press. Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), a Hindu missionary to the United States, wrote one of the world’s most highly acclaimed spiritual classics, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was first published in… Continue Reading David J. Neumann: Karma

David J. Neumann: What is Yoga? Who is a Yogi?

Today we welcome a guest post from David J. Neumann, author of Finding God through Yoga:  Paramahansa Yogananda and Modern American Religion in a Global Age, just published by UNC Press. Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952), a Hindu missionary to the United States, wrote one of the world’s most highly acclaimed spiritual classics, Autobiography of a Yogi, which was first published in… Continue Reading David J. Neumann: What is Yoga? Who is a Yogi?

Aline Helg: Slave runaway communities: the ongoing struggle

Today we welcome a guest post from Aline Helg, author of Slave No More:  Self-Liberation before Abolitionism in the Americas, just published this month by UNC Press. Commanding a vast historiography of slavery and emancipation, Helg reveals as never before how significant numbers of enslaved Africans across the entire Western Hemisphere managed to free themselves hundreds of years before the… Continue Reading Aline Helg: Slave runaway communities: the ongoing struggle

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!

Aline Helg: Beyond the image of the “male slave rebel”

Today we welcome a guest post from Aline Helg, author of Slave No More:  Self-Liberation before Abolitionism in the Americas, just published this month by UNC Press. Commanding a vast historiography of slavery and emancipation, Helg reveals as never before how significant numbers of enslaved Africans across the entire Western Hemisphere managed to free themselves hundreds of years before the… Continue Reading Aline Helg: Beyond the image of the “male slave rebel”

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

Patricia de Santana Pinho: Traveling Brazil

Today we welcome a guest post from Patricia de Santana Pinho, author of Mapping Diaspora:  African American Roots Tourism in Brazil, just published by UNC Press. Brazil, like several countries in Africa, has become a major destination for African American tourists seeking the cultural roots of the black Atlantic diaspora. Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic research as well… Continue Reading Patricia de Santana Pinho: Traveling Brazil

Nina Silber: The Lost Cause in the New Deal Era

Today we welcome a guest post from Nina Silber, author of This War Ain’t Over:  Fighting the Civil War in New Deal America, just published by UNC Press. The New Deal era witnessed a surprising surge in popular engagement with the history and memory of the Civil War era. From the omnipresent book and film Gone with the Wind and… Continue Reading Nina Silber: The Lost Cause in the New Deal Era

Max Felker-Kantor: Resisting Police Power: The Roots of Anti-Police Abuse Movements in Los Angeles

Today we welcome a guest post from Max Felker-Kantor, author of Policing Los Angeles:  Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD, just published by UNC Press. Felker-Kantor narrates the dynamic history of policing, anti-police abuse movements, race, and politics in Los Angeles from the 1965 Watts uprising to the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion. Using the explosions of two large-scale… Continue Reading Max Felker-Kantor: Resisting Police Power: The Roots of Anti-Police Abuse Movements in Los Angeles

Nina Silber: ‘Slavery’ in Depression Era America

Today we welcome a guest post from Nina Silber, author of This War Ain’t Over:  Fighting the Civil War in New Deal America, just published by UNC Press. The New Deal era witnessed a surprising surge in popular engagement with the history and memory of the Civil War era. From the omnipresent book and film Gone with the Wind and… Continue Reading Nina Silber: ‘Slavery’ in Depression Era America

Max Felker-Kantor: Police Power, Race, and Reform in Urban America: Lessons from L.A.

Today we welcome a guest post from Max Felker-Kantor, author of Policing Los Angeles:  Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD, just published by UNC Press. Felker-Kantor narrates the dynamic history of policing, anti-police abuse movements, race, and politics in Los Angeles from the 1965 Watts uprising to the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion. Using the explosions of two large-scale… Continue Reading Max Felker-Kantor: Police Power, Race, and Reform in Urban America: Lessons from L.A.