Category: UNC Press News

Robert McElvaine on The News Hour: reconsidering consumption

I’ve posted a couple of items recently (here and here) about the renewed relevance in these painful economic times of Robert McElvaine’s classic collection of letters written to FDR, Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man. On Friday, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer aired a wonderful segment featuring McElvaine and his book,  incorporating some… Continue Reading Robert McElvaine on The News Hour: reconsidering consumption

Remembrances for Franklin abound

Our hearts are warmed by the outpouring of remembrances for John Hope Franklin. We’ve been blogging about it the past couple of days (here and here), but there’s no letting up yet. In a New York Times editorial, Brent Staples cites John Hope’s “groundbreaking work on free Negroes in antebellum North Carolina” (that would be JHF’s first book, The Free… Continue Reading Remembrances for Franklin abound

In memoriam, John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)

The ties between the nation’s most distinguished historian and UNC Press go back a very long way. In 1943, UNC Press (which had already made something of a name for itself by its books by and about African Americans) published John Hope Franklin’s first book, The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790-1860. It was a revision of his Harvard dissertation… Continue Reading In memoriam, John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)

Sad news: we’ve lost 2 giants

We’re mourning two great losses over here at the Press this afternoon. In addition to being UNC Press authors, both men were giants in their fields, and indeed helped establish and define new fields of scholarship. Both lived long, fulfilling lives in which their pioneering intellectual pursuits served the public good. Both gave of themselves tirelessly, mentoring and inspiring multiple… Continue Reading Sad news: we’ve lost 2 giants

Snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails

That’s what little boys are made of. So what are fraternities made of? Nicholas Syrett, author of The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities, will be talking about the long and secretive history of male fraternities  on WUNC’s The State of Things at noon (and 9pm) today. You can listen live online or catch the podcast later… Continue Reading Snips and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails

Busy week – check out these events

If you’re in NC, you’ve got a couple chances to catch up with our busily touring authors this week. Tonight!!, Tuesday, March 24: Nancy Carter Crump, reception @ 5 pm, reading @ 5:45pm, Wilson Library UNC-CH. The author of Hearthside Cooking will be featured as part of the Southern Historical Collection Book Series, featuring authors whose research has involved material… Continue Reading Busy week – check out these events

The Obamas’ Working Marriage

  Kristin Celello, author of Making Marriage Work: A History of Marriage and Divorce in the Twentieth-Century United States, responds to Michelle Obama’s interview with People magazine regarding her marriage to the President. In a recent issue of People magazine, Michelle Obama does her best to dispel any notions that she and the President have a “perfect” marriage.  Rather, she… Continue Reading The Obamas’ Working Marriage

New (old) bird species named for biologist Alan Feduccia

Congratulations to author Alan Feduccia, who has just had a 120-million-year-old bird named after him! The fossil of the early Cretaceous period bird, named Confuciusornis feducciai, was recently discovered in ancient, dried up lake deposits in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, an area that has produced a “gold rush” of fossils in the last decade, Feduccia said. He helped to… Continue Reading New (old) bird species named for biologist Alan Feduccia

Places to go, people to see

The sun is just starting to break through the morning cloud cover on this warm spring day. Last day of sunshine before we roll into a week of rain here in the Triangle, say the weather forecasters, so let’s make the most of it! In the next few days, there will be several opportunities to hear various UNC Press authors… Continue Reading Places to go, people to see

Anoop Makes It to the Top 13!

Yes, it’s another post about American Idol. I swore off American Idol as a huge Time Drain after last season (the first season we’d watched in years) and was brought back into it ONLY because one of my former students, Anoop Desai, (a UNC alum who did his graduate thesis on NC Barbecue!) was in the semi-finals. For those of… Continue Reading Anoop Makes It to the Top 13!

Harwood follows up on ethical issues at stake in the octuplets case

  We’ve had a lot of passionate responses to Karey Harwood’s recent guest post about the ethical issues surrounding the California octuplets case. Harwood gave some helpful responses for further reading in the comments thread to that post. Here, we’re pleased to have a follow-up post from her, in which she addresses the pressures on patients and providers in the… Continue Reading Harwood follows up on ethical issues at stake in the octuplets case

Dear Mister President

[ed. note: see updates from 2/24 and 2/25 at bottom of post] ABC reports that President Obama is reading ten letters a day from all kinds of people all across the country, “to help him get outside of the bubble,” says press secretary Robert Gibbs. Each day he is handed a purple envelope containing the day’s selection of letters. Sometimes… Continue Reading Dear Mister President

Good stuff from the internet that we think you might like

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the good stuff going on up on the interwebs. All of these stories warrant posts here, but instead of falling way behind, I’ve decided to round ’em up and toss ’em out to you as a batch. You’ll find public history, Sidney Poitier, Catholic feminism, Civil War, black women academics, university presses,… Continue Reading Good stuff from the internet that we think you might like

Last Sunday in Durham

The past few weeks here in the Raleigh -Durham -Chapel Hill area were filled with the type of weather you’d rather read about than have to live through: rain, snow, black ice in the mornings, a damp cold and the occasional wind to cut through most clothing. This section of North Carolina tends to get a serious dose of what… Continue Reading Last Sunday in Durham

Fatemeh Keshavarz to appear on Just Peace radio show this evening

As Iran celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, a network of individuals and associations inside and outside of Iran known as Iranians for Peace have written to President Obama to encourage direct dialogue with Iranian authorities to find political solutions to nuclear standoffs. They also call for “a nuclear-weapon-free zone for ALL the countries in the Middle East,… Continue Reading Fatemeh Keshavarz to appear on Just Peace radio show this evening

I laughed, I cried, I feared for my job

Oh, Gawker, you make me giggle but hurt me so.  It’s like getting tickled and laughing really hard until you get the hiccups and an awful cramp in your side and suddenly the game is over. Feeling depressed because the recession and the internet are both killing the book publishing industry, and hurting your hopes for the big literary contract… Continue Reading I laughed, I cried, I feared for my job

Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners Announced

In a former life I was a Children’s Librarian.  Books written for kids is still one of my most preferred genres when seeking out books to read (much to my wife’s constant bewilderment).  And while the UNC Press has published two recent titles for kids (“The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales” and “Taffy of Torpedo Junction“) neither… Continue Reading Caldecott and Newbery Award Winners Announced

Dorothy Spruill Redford on WUNC’s “The State of Things”

In 1860 one of the largest and most successful plantations in North Carolina was Somerset Place. In the course of becoming one of the state’s most prosperous rice, corn, and wheat plantations, the plantation’s owner, Josiah Collins, became one of the largest slaveholders in the state. Somerset Place covered as many as 100,000 acres and was home to more than… Continue Reading Dorothy Spruill Redford on WUNC’s “The State of Things”

UNC Press Awarded Mellon Grant for Indigenous-Studies Series

The University of North Carolina Press is proud to announce that it is part of a $1-Million grant to establish a collaborative publishing program dedicated to indigenous studies. The grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation teams the UNC Press with the University of Arizona Press, the University of Minnesota Press, and Oregon State University Press. Mark Simpson-Vos, an acquisitions… Continue Reading UNC Press Awarded Mellon Grant for Indigenous-Studies Series