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January 10, 2023

Native Americans and Enslaved Africans

The following is an excerpt from The Southern Way of Life: Meanings of Culture and Civilization in the American South by Charles Reagan Wilson, available everywhere books and ebooks are sold. Native Americans and Enslaved Africans Southern colonists, including Jefferson’s forebears, had been on the periphery of Western civilization at the beginning of settlement, but they self-consciously came as predominantly… Continue Reading Native Americans and Enslaved Africans

Categories Excerpts/Southern
December 28, 2022

A Camp Meeting at the Gallows

The following is an excerpt from The End of Public Execution: Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South by Michael Ayers Trotti, available now wherever books are sold. A Camp Meeting at the Gallows There is a fountain fill’d with blood,Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,Lose all their guilty stains,Lose all their guilty stains.The dying thief rejoiced… Continue Reading A Camp Meeting at the Gallows

Categories Excerpts/Southern
November 22, 2022

New Books Out Today

Looking for you next read? Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Browse our list of books that are officially on-sale today and take advantage of our holiday sale to save 40% plus free shipping on orders over $75 with code 01HOLIDAY! Making our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia by Emily Hilliard “A benchmark in public folklore.”—Mary Hufford,… Continue Reading New Books Out Today

Categories African American Studies/Appalachian Studies/folklore/Health / Medicine/Southern
November 17, 2022

#NextUP: Black Women’s History Series

Happy University Press Week 2022! We are thrilled to be announcing a new series from UNC Press, Black Women’s History, during the Association of University Presses annual celebration. #UPWeek garners awareness and recognition for the vital publishing university presses offer, and this year’s theme, “Next UP,” highlights the dedicated work performed by those in the university press community to seek… Continue Reading #NextUP: Black Women’s History Series

Categories African American History/UNC Press News
November 16, 2022

A Fresh Look at the History of Pecan Pie

The following is a guest blog post by Rebecca Sharpless, author of Grain and Fire: A History of Baking in the American South, available now wherever books are sold.             Come Thanksgiving, pecan pie, a gooey concoction of syrup, eggs, and butter, and pecans, will be on many American tables. Along with pumpkin and apple, it’s one of the most popular… Continue Reading A Fresh Look at the History of Pecan Pie

Categories Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers/Southern
November 11, 2022

2022 Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting

UNC Press is excited to be exhibiting at the Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting! We hope you’ll stop by booth B to say hello to editors Mark Simpson-Vos & Andrew Winters and to browse our titles on display. If you can’t join us in-person, you can always visit our virtual booth! Stop by either our in-person booth or our virtual booth to browse our new southern history… Continue Reading 2022 Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting

Categories Southern/Southern Studies
November 11, 2022

Happy Birthday, General Butler: Remarks for Butler Birthday Commemoration

The following are remarks given by Elizabeth D. Leonard, author of Benjamin Franklin Butler: a Noisy, Fearless Life, at the annual Benjamin Butler birthday commemoration at the cemetery in Dracut, MA, where he and many of his family members are buried. As you may or may not know, I am the author of a new biography of General Butler: Benjamin Franklin Butler: A Noisy,… Continue Reading Happy Birthday, General Butler: Remarks for Butler Birthday Commemoration

Categories Biography / Autobiography/Civil War
October 20, 2022

C. Vann Woodward and the Beginning of the End of Jim Crow’s Career in the SHA: Part 2

The following is the final piece in a two-part guest blog post by James. C. Cobb, author of C. Vann Woodward: America’s Historian, available now from your favorite bookstore. In case you missed it, you can find part 1 here. Though he had managed to get John Hope Franklin on the program at the 1949 meeting in Williamsburg, C. Vann Woodward knew… Continue Reading C. Vann Woodward and the Beginning of the End of Jim Crow’s Career in the SHA: Part 2

Categories Biography / Autobiography/Southern
October 19, 2022

2022 Oral History Association Annual Meeting

Although UNC Press is not attending the Oral History Association annual meeting in-person this year, you can still visit our virtual booth to browse our recent titles and to connect with one of our editors. New from UNC Press Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism by Heather Berg Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11 by John Bodnar Committed:… Continue Reading 2022 Oral History Association Annual Meeting

Categories History
October 14, 2022

C. Vann Woodward and the Beginning of the End of Jim Crow’s Career in the SHA: Part 1

The following is part one of a two-part guest blog post by James. C. Cobb, author of C. Vann Woodward: America’s Historian, available now from your favorite bookstore. When C. Vann Woodward agreed to chair the program committee for the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association in 1949, he was already known not only for his scholarship, but for his… Continue Reading C. Vann Woodward and the Beginning of the End of Jim Crow’s Career in the SHA: Part 1

Categories Biography / Autobiography/Guest Bloggers/Southern
October 12, 2022

2022 Western History Association Annual Meeting

UNC Press is excited to once again be exhibiting in-person at the Western History Association Annual Meeting! We hope you’ll stop by booth 43 to say hello to editor Debbie Gershenowitz and to browse our titles on display. If you can’t join us in-person, you can always stop by our virtual booth! Congratulations to our 2022 Western History Association Award… Continue Reading 2022 Western History Association Annual Meeting

Categories History
October 11, 2022

Announcing Publication of “A New History of the American South,” the First, Collaborative Effort to Tell the History of the Region for the Twenty-First Century  

The University of North Carolina Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming and long-awaited publication of A New History of the American South, edited by Pulitzer Prize-finalist W. Fitzhugh Brundage. With associate editors Laura Edwards and Jon F. Sensbach, Brundage has compiled a definitive, one-volume history of the American South. The broadly chronological collection features essays by leading scholars on various aspects of the… Continue Reading Announcing Publication of “A New History of the American South,” the First, Collaborative Effort to Tell the History of the Region for the Twenty-First Century  

Categories Southern/UNC Press News
October 5, 2022

Lula’s Rise From Metalworker to President of Brazil

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commonly known as “Lula,” has won the first round of Brazil’s presidential elections by 48.4%, much tighter than many had expected. As we await the second round of election please enjoy this excerpt of Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil by John D. French, which was the winner of… Continue Reading Lula’s Rise From Metalworker to President of Brazil

Categories Excerpts/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Political Science
September 28, 2022

Lost in Fresia

The following is an excerpt from The Investigative Brigade: Hunting Human Rights Criminals in Post-Pinochet Chile by Pascale Bonnefoy Miralles, available now from your favorite bookstore. Lost in Fresia The rain poured down in torrents, and wind whipped against the small Cessna plane suspended in the black of night in flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt. The four passengers on board… Continue Reading Lost in Fresia

Categories Latin American/Caribbean Hist.
September 23, 2022

Opposition and Misperceptions of Black Reparations

The following is an excerpt from the new preface of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, Second Edition by William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen, available now from your favorite bookstore. Opposition to Black Reparations Two major strands of raw opposition to reparations arise out of misperceptions. One category of misperceptions involves the… Continue Reading Opposition and Misperceptions of Black Reparations

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Excerpts
September 21, 2022

Even When China and the US Were Allies, Chinese and Americans Struggled to Get Along

The following is a guest blog post by Zach Fredman, author of The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941–1949, available now wherever books and e-books are sold. Ties between China and the United States have deteriorated to their lowest point since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1979. But Sino-U.S. relations have always been fraught.… Continue Reading Even When China and the US Were Allies, Chinese and Americans Struggled to Get Along

Categories Asian American Studies/Asian Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Military History
September 13, 2022

Archival Research in China and Myanmar before the Doors Closed

The following is a guest blog post by Zach Fredman, author of The Tormented Alliance: American Servicemen and the Occupation of China, 1941–1949, available now wherever books and e-books are sold. I spent more than year in Asia researching The Tormented Alliance as a PhD student. My search for sources took me to municipal and provincial archives from all areas of China… Continue Reading Archival Research in China and Myanmar before the Doors Closed

Categories Asian Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Guest Bloggers/Military History
September 2, 2022

Remembering the Arab Scare: America’s Response to the Munich Olympic Attacks 50 Years Later

Fifty years ago, on September 5, 1972, Palestinian nationalist militants from the Black September organization stunned the world with an attack on Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany. Satellite television turned the hostage-taking siege into an international live-action news drama, which reached a bloody climax in the deaths of a police officer, five militants, and all… Continue Reading Remembering the Arab Scare: America’s Response to the Munich Olympic Attacks 50 Years Later

Categories American History/Excerpts
August 29, 2022

How Starving Soldiers Survived

The following is an excerpt from Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 by Ricardo A. Herrera available everywhere books and e-books are sold. Faced with the collapse of the commissariat and the all too real potential of scattering the army across eastern Pennsylvania so that it might feed itself, Washington was on the horns of a dilemma.… Continue Reading How Starving Soldiers Survived

Categories Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Excerpts/Military History
August 25, 2022

Martin Luther King Jr. and the “Coca Cola Scenario”

Sunday, August 28, we celebrate the anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. In the following guest post, Daniel T. Fleming, author of Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day—available NOW wherever books and e-books are sold—writes about the history surrounding the copyright of the… Continue Reading Martin Luther King Jr. and the “Coca Cola Scenario”

Categories African American History/Guest Bloggers