Category: UNC Press News

Venus Bivar: Romanticising the French Countryside

Today we welcome a guest post from Venus Bivar, author of Organic Resistance:  The Struggle over Industrial Farming in Postwar France. France is often held up as a bastion of gastronomic refinement and as a model of artisanal agriculture and husbandry. But French farming is not at all what it seems. Countering the standard stories of gastronomy, tourism, and leisure… Continue Reading Venus Bivar: Romanticising the French Countryside

Southeastern Geographer: Celebrating Black Geographies

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) annual meeting is being held April 10-14 in New Orleans, and one of the featured themes this year is Black Geographies. To celebrate the AAG being held in the South, the editors of Southeastern Geographer have curated two special issues from previously published articles — “Black Geographies” and “Geographies of Louisiana.” Our friends at… Continue Reading Southeastern Geographer: Celebrating Black Geographies

Nora Doyle: Breastfeeding and American Culture: Idealizing Maternal Virtue in the Eighteenth Century and Today

Today, we welcome a guest post from Nora Doyle, author of Maternal Bodies:  Redefining Motherhood in Early America, publishing this month from UNC Press. In Maternal Bodies, Nora Doyle shows that depictions of motherhood in American culture began to define the ideal mother by her emotional and spiritual roles rather than by her physical work as a mother. As a… Continue Reading Nora Doyle: Breastfeeding and American Culture: Idealizing Maternal Virtue in the Eighteenth Century and Today

Author Interview: A Conversation with John T. Hill about Edna Lewis

Acclaimed photographer and designer John T. Hill talks with UNC Press Publicity Director Gina Mahalek about one of his most celebrated subjects, Edna Lewis. Hill’s photographs of Lewis, who was often heralded as the “Grand Dame” of southern cooking, are included in Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original. Many more will be exhibited—some for the first time—at… Continue Reading Author Interview: A Conversation with John T. Hill about Edna Lewis

Michael Hopping: Seeing Fungi

Today we welcome a guest post from Michael Hopping, who along with Alan E. Bessette and Arleen R. Bessette, is co-author of A Field Guide to Mushrooms of the Carolinas:  A Southern Gateways Guide, just published by UNC Press. Mushrooms in the wild present an enticing challenge: some are delicious, others are deadly, and still others take on almost unbelievable… Continue Reading Michael Hopping: Seeing Fungi

Book Giveaway: Enter to win a selection of new UNC Press books in African-American History!

UNC Press is raffling off a selection of our newest books in African American History. To enter, simply follow us on Twitter (@uncpressblog), re-Tweet this contest, or send us your email address. The winner will be selected randomly from all entries received.  Winner will be selected at the Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting in Sacramento — April 14, 2018,… Continue Reading Book Giveaway: Enter to win a selection of new UNC Press books in African-American History!

Pamela Grundy: Resegregation: Where Do We Go from Here?

Today we highlight a post written by Pamela Grundy, author of Color and Character:  West Charlotte High and the American Struggle over Educational Equality, published last fall by UNC Press.  Her post is in response to a recent Newsweek feature story on the state of school segregation in America today. Drawing on nearly two decades of interviews with students, educators,… Continue Reading Pamela Grundy: Resegregation: Where Do We Go from Here?

Author Interview: A Conversation with Sara B. Franklin, editor of Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original

Today UNC Press publicity director Gina Mahalek chats with Sara B. Franklin, editor of Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original, just published by UNC Press. ### Gina Mahalek: Edna Lewis can be said to be having something of “a moment.” Why this resurgence of interest in her, and why now? Sara B. Franklin: That’s a really complicated… Continue Reading Author Interview: A Conversation with Sara B. Franklin, editor of Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original

Venus Bivar: The Racist Origins of Organic Farming

Today we welcome a guest post from Venus Bivar, author of Organic Resistance:  The Struggle over Industrial Farming in Postwar France, publishing this month from UNC Press. France is often held up as a bastion of gastronomic refinement and as a model of artisanal agriculture and husbandry. But French farming is not at all what it seems. Countering the standard… Continue Reading Venus Bivar: The Racist Origins of Organic Farming

Women’s History Month: A fond remembrance of Gerda Lerner (1921-2013)

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we at UNC Press offer up this appreciation of the life and work of Gerda Lerner, one of the founders of Women’s History Month.  This post appeared on the UNC Press blog back in April 2010, in anticipation of her 90th birthday. Read the original post here. You can see from the many comments… Continue Reading Women’s History Month: A fond remembrance of Gerda Lerner (1921-2013)

Millington W. Bergeson-Lockwood: How a Monument to the Boston Massacre Was and Can Be So Much More

Today, as we prepare for St. Patrick’s Day, we welcome a guest post from Millington W. Bergeson-Lockwood, author of Race Over Party:  Black Politics and Partisanship in Late Nineteenth-Century Boston, publishing in May from UNC Press.  Bergeson-Lockwood discusses the creation of the monument to Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre, a unique moment of Black and Irish alliance in 1880s… Continue Reading Millington W. Bergeson-Lockwood: How a Monument to the Boston Massacre Was and Can Be So Much More

American History Sale 2018 — Save 40 percent on all 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 Press website. Use discount code 01DAH40 at checkout to see your discount, and if your order total is $75 or more, we’ll ship… Continue Reading American History Sale 2018 — Save 40 percent on all UNC Press books!

John Sherer: The 2017 UNC Press Annual Report

The 2017 UNC Press Annual Report In its more than nine and a half decades of existence, the University of North Carolina Press has never created a comprehensive annual report. We have steadily published seasonal catalogs and more recently, a donor report recognizing their invaluable support for the Press. These records have created a collective archive of our publishing outputs.… Continue Reading John Sherer: The 2017 UNC Press Annual Report

Jerry Gershenhorn: Louis Austin–A Courageous Voice for Black Freedom in North Carolina

Today we welcome a guest post from Jerry Gershenhorn, author of Louis Austin and the Carolina Times:  A Life in the Long Black Freedom Struggle, just published by UNC Press. Louis Austin (1898–1971) came of age at the nadir of the Jim Crow era and became a transformative leader of the long black freedom struggle in North Carolina. From 1927… Continue Reading Jerry Gershenhorn: Louis Austin–A Courageous Voice for Black Freedom in North Carolina

John Weber: Walls and Other Monuments to Failure

Today we welcome a guest post by John Weber, author of From South Texas to the Nation: The Exploitation of Mexican Labor in the Twentieth Century. In the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and desolate for… Continue Reading John Weber: Walls and Other Monuments to Failure

Rebecca de Schweinitz: Youth Activism, Yesterday and Today

Today we welcome a guest post from Rebecca de Schweinitz, author of If We Could Change the World: Young People and America’s Long Struggle for Racial Equality. Hers is the first book to connect young people and shifting ideas about children and youth with the black freedom struggle, and in it she explains how popular ideas about youth and young… Continue Reading Rebecca de Schweinitz: Youth Activism, Yesterday and Today

Rebecca Tuuri: The National Council of Negro Women’s Monumental Achievement

Continuing our celebration of African American History month, today we welcome a guest post by Rebecca Tuuri, author of Strategic Sisterhood: The National Council of Negro Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, which will be published by UNC Press in May. When women were denied a major speaking role at the 1963 March on Washington, Dorothy Height, head of the… Continue Reading Rebecca Tuuri: The National Council of Negro Women’s Monumental Achievement

Thomas J. Brown: Statue and Statute

Today, we welcome a guest post from Thomas J. Brown, author of Civil War Canon:  Sites of Confederate Memory in South Carolina, just published in paperback by UNC Press. In this expansive history of South Carolina’s commemoration of the Civil War era, Thomas J. Brown uses the lens of place to examine the ways that landmarks of Confederate memory have… Continue Reading Thomas J. Brown: Statue and Statute

Gregg A. Brazinsky: South Korea: The Unappreciated Ally

Today we welcome a guest post from Gregg A. Brazinsky, author of Nation Building in South Korea:  Koreans, Americans, and the Making of a Democracy, and more recently,  Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry during the Cold War. Here, Professor Brazinsky discusses the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and that nation’s fraught relationship with the United States. ### South… Continue Reading Gregg A. Brazinsky: South Korea: The Unappreciated Ally