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March 1, 2010

Scott Rohrer on Ancestral Migrations

We welcome a guest post today from S. Scott Rohrer, author of Wandering Souls: Protestant Migrations in America, 1630-1865. Popular literature and frontier studies stress that Americans moved west to farm or to seek a new beginning. In Wandering Souls, Rohrer argues that Protestant migrants in early America relocated in search of salvation, Christian community, reform, or all three. In… Continue Reading Scott Rohrer on Ancestral Migrations

Categories American History/Genealogy/Guest Bloggers/Religion/UNC Press Authors
February 24, 2010

To Right These Wrongs: A Groundbreaking Project

The first few books from UNC Press’ Spring|Summer 2010 catalog made it to bookshelves this month, and many more will be debuting in the coming months. One of the books we’re excited to publish, in partnership with Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement, is Robert R. Korstad and James L. Leloudis’ To Right These Wrongs: The North Carolina Fund and… Continue Reading To Right These Wrongs: A Groundbreaking Project

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Appalachian Studies/Civil Rights/Film/History/North Carolina/Public Policy/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
February 22, 2010

How do you Explain the Seemingly Unexplainable?

This is the question Susan Reverby considers in a post over at Wonders & Marvels. The author of, most recently, Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy writes: In my most recent book, I had to explain: why did the doctors do it? Sometimes it is easy to answer this: all the men were black and poor, and… Continue Reading How do you Explain the Seemingly Unexplainable?

Categories African American Studies/American History/Health / Medicine/History/UNC Press Authors
February 19, 2010

David Ruggles, Abolitionist and Mentor to Abolitionists

This week is the very good time to talk about Graham Hodges’ new book David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City–for at least two reasons.  The first of these is that Hodges was interviewed by Eric Foner (DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University) as part of the Lincoln Series at the… Continue Reading David Ruggles, Abolitionist and Mentor to Abolitionists

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Civil War/History/UNC Press News
February 18, 2010

Two Inaugural Addresses–two weeks apart

Early 1861 marked the only time in our nation’s history that it had two presidents, both calling for a return to the republic born in the American Revolution. On February 18, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the President of the Confederate States of America; on March 4, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States of… Continue Reading Two Inaugural Addresses–two weeks apart

Categories American History/Civil War/UNC Press News
February 16, 2010

Real NASCAR in Real Time: Dan Pierce is blogging!

Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France, by Daniel S. Pierce, is hot off the press and hitting bookstores now. If you’re a racing fan or southern history buff, this book is the can’t-miss backstory behind what has become a billion-dollar industry and one of the most popular spectator sports in America. Pierce writes as a historian… Continue Reading Real NASCAR in Real Time: Dan Pierce is blogging!

Categories American History/American Studies/History/North Carolina/Southern Studies/Sports/UNC Press Authors
February 14, 2010

The Children of Chinatown and Chinese New Year

Today our author Wendy Rouse Jorae writes on the occasion of Chinese New Year.  In her book, The Children of Chinatown: Growing Up Chinese American in San Francisco 1850-1920, Jorae  challenges long-held notions of early Chinatown as a bachelor community by showing that families–and particularly children–played important roles in its daily life. Facing barriers of immigration exclusion, cultural dislocation, child… Continue Reading The Children of Chinatown and Chinese New Year

Categories American History/Asian Studies/Guest Bloggers/UNC Press Authors
February 12, 2010

An NAACP Anniversary: Looking Back at Ella Baker

Today, February 12th, 2010, marks the 101st anniversary of one of the nation’s most important organizations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Because of today’s important nature, we want to focus on someone central to the organization’s success, as well as many more victories in the civil rights movement. Born in 1903, Ella Baker was involved in… Continue Reading An NAACP Anniversary: Looking Back at Ella Baker

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Civil Rights/History/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
February 11, 2010

Bringing the War Home: Operation Homecoming and the Unending Vietnam War

We welcome a guest post today from Michael J. Allen, author of Until the Last Man Comes Home: POWs, MIAs, and the Unending Vietnam War. In his book, Allen analyzes the effects that activism by POW and MIA families had on U.S. politics before and after the Vietnam War’s official end. In this post, marking the anniversary of the first… Continue Reading Bringing the War Home: Operation Homecoming and the Unending Vietnam War

Categories American History/Guest Bloggers/History/Military History/Military Studies
February 7, 2010

Today in History: The Importance of February 7th in Haiti

The Haitian Coat of Arms As we all know, events in recent weeks have been difficult for the people of Haiti. Victories have been few, and all accounts suggest the nightmare is far from over. Today, though, is an important day in Haiti, a bright spot in their story for two reasons. Modern politics in Haiti are tied to February… Continue Reading Today in History: The Importance of February 7th in Haiti

Categories Current Events/History/Politics/UNC Press News
February 2, 2010

Civil War books now available in Large-Print format

UNC Press is excited to now offer some of our best-selling and award-winning Civil War books in easy-to-read, Large-Print format. Set in 16-point type, these books have been designed to make some of our most requested titles accessible to a larger number of readers than ever before.  A dozen books are ready now, and more are on the way in… Continue Reading Civil War books now available in Large-Print format

Categories Civil War
January 29, 2010

50 Years: The International Civil Rights Center & Museum

On February 1, 1960, four students from the historically black Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina (now the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University) sat down in the “whites only” section of a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. They were refused service, but stayed. The next day, there were around 25 protesters. Soon, over 300 protesters… Continue Reading 50 Years: The International Civil Rights Center & Museum

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Civil Rights/History/North Carolina
January 19, 2010

Harvey Neptune on Haiti’s history

Harvey Neptune, author of Caliban and the Yankees: Trinidad and the United States Occupation, offered some background on Haiti for the arts blog at Temple University (where he is an assistant professor of history). I wanted to share some of his comments on the country’s history as well as his challenge for lovers of freedom to help Haiti rebuild–not just… Continue Reading Harvey Neptune on Haiti’s history

Categories Current Events/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./UNC Press Authors
January 13, 2010

“Black Men Bearing Freedom” This Weekend in Wilmington

All readers interested in American history should take the coming Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend as an opportunity to head to the Wilmington area for a fantastic panel discussion titled “Black Men Bearing Freedom: U.S. Colored Troops and Their Impact in North Carolina” on January 15th at 6 p.m. Presented by the Fort Fisher State Historic Site and held… Continue Reading “Black Men Bearing Freedom” This Weekend in Wilmington

Categories African American History/American History/Civil War/History/North Carolina/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
January 6, 2010

The Delicate Art of Nuclear Jujutsu

In this first post of the new year, new decade, as concerns over the nuclear programs of countries such as Iran and North Korea continue to make headlines, we welcome the following commentary from Shane J. Maddock, author of Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present (forthcoming March 2010).  In his book,… Continue Reading The Delicate Art of Nuclear Jujutsu

Categories Asian Studies/Current Events/Guest Bloggers/History/Middle Eastern Studies/Military Studies
December 19, 2009

Miguel Pinero: prisoner, playwright

Today we welcome a guest post from Lee Bernstein, author of America Is the Prison: Arts and Politics in Prison in the 1970s (forthcoming June 2010). In his book, Bernstein explores the forces that sparked a dramatic “prison art renaissance” in the 1970s, when incarcerated people produced powerful works of writing, performance, and visual art. One of the important figures… Continue Reading Miguel Pinero: prisoner, playwright

Categories American History/Film/Guest Bloggers/Literature/Theatre
December 14, 2009

Reaction to the Cobell Settlement

We announced last January that UNC Press was one of four university presses awarded a Mellon grant for a collaborative project to publish books in indigenous studies. As part of the joint project, some of our colleagues have set up a blog for the First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies series. You can get to know more about the… Continue Reading Reaction to the Cobell Settlement

Categories American History/Current Events/Law / Legal History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies
December 7, 2009

North Carolina Award Winners

Hearty congratulations to multiple UNC Press authors who have recently been honored by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources for their outstanding work in North Carolina history and culture. Anna Hayes was awarded the Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction for Without Precedent: The Life of Susie Marshall Sharp. The award is given yearly by the North Carolina… Continue Reading North Carolina Award Winners

Categories American History/Law / Legal History/Literature/Nature/North Carolina/Travel/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
December 2, 2009

Obama Pronounces on Afghanistan: Deja Vu All Over Again!

In a follow-up to his article on Obama and Afghanistan, Michael Hunt responds to President Obama’s speech at West Point last night, in which the President laid out his plan for additional troops and a timeline for withdrawal.–ellen  [author photo by Dan Sears] Barack Obama has an impressive intellect, and he has given the decision on Afghanistan policy the careful,… Continue Reading Obama Pronounces on Afghanistan: Deja Vu All Over Again!

Categories Current Events/Guest Bloggers/History/Michael H. Hunt/Military History/Military Studies/Politics/UNC Press Authors
November 25, 2009

Obama and Afghanistan

Before we close up shop for the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to highlight some excellent commentary on President Obama’s impending decision about how to proceed with the war in Afghanistan. The President is scheduled to make an announcement next Tuesday, December 1, about his intentions for America’s next steps. Between now and then, we would do well to consider the… Continue Reading Obama and Afghanistan

Categories American History/Current Events/History/Military History/Military Studies/Politics/UNC Press Authors