March 11, 2011

Remembering the Fruitcake Lady on her 100th birthday

Marie Rudisill (1911-2006), aka The Fruitcake Lady, was born 100 years ago this Sunday. You may remember her from her appearances on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Maybe you learned about her last fall when Beth blogged about the Fruitcake Festival and announced our new edition of Rudisill’s cookbook, Fruitcake. As we head off to the weekend, we leave… Continue Reading Remembering the Fruitcake Lady on her 100th birthday

Categories Cooking / Food
March 10, 2011

Michael H. Hunt: Caught in Contradictions: The United States and the Middle East

The popular uprisings of the sort now spreading across North Africa to the Persian Gulf were hard to anticipate—but the American response wasn’t. U.S. history is filled with moments like the present one when upheavals abroad generated great hopes for the advance of freedom. Those moments have also evoked deep anxieties rooted in a suspicion that most peoples reaching for… Continue Reading Michael H. Hunt: Caught in Contradictions: The United States and the Middle East

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Current Events/Global Studies/Guest Bloggers/Michael H. Hunt/Middle Eastern Studies/Political Science/Politics
March 8, 2011

International Women’s Day Megapost Spectacular!

Happy International Women’s Day!  People are recognizing and celebrating the importance of women all over the world–check out the #InternationalWomensDay hashtag on Twitter to see the many ways people are expressing their appreciation for women today.  Here in the U.S., the month of March is National Women’s History Month, where we celebrate the many great achievements by women over the… Continue Reading International Women’s Day Megapost Spectacular!

Categories Civil Rights/Gender Studies/History/Labor Studies/Women's Studies
March 4, 2011

James Marten: Charity for All: A Little-Known Legacy of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

We welcome a guest post from James Marten, author of Sing Not War: The Lives of Union and Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America.  Today is the anniversary of President Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural, in which he made a promise that was kept by passing federal programs that took care of war veterans and their families. Here, Marten discusses the importance… Continue Reading James Marten: Charity for All: A Little-Known Legacy of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Civil War/Guest Bloggers/History/Military History
March 3, 2011

Lisa Levenstein on Balancing Budgets and Public Employees

The recent events concerning public sector workers in Wisconsin have brought a great deal of reflecting and attention to the ways in which the government, at both the state and national levels, spends and saves money. UNC Press author Lisa Levenstein, with economics doctoral student Jason Brent, wrote an Op-ed in this past Sunday’s Greensboro News & Record on the… Continue Reading Lisa Levenstein on Balancing Budgets and Public Employees

Categories Current Events/Economics/Labor Studies/Politics/UNC Press Authors
March 2, 2011

W. Fitzhugh Brundage: Beyoncé, Bert Williams, and the History of Blackface in America

When we read about Beyoncé‘s recent photo shoot in blackface, we asked for some historical insight from W. Fitzhugh Brundage, editor of the forthcoming book Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 (July 2011). The book includes essays from sixteen scholars who depict popular culture as a crucial arena in which African Americans struggled to… Continue Reading W. Fitzhugh Brundage: Beyoncé, Bert Williams, and the History of Blackface in America

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Cultural Studies/Guest Bloggers/History
March 1, 2011

Leon Fink: Oceanic Piracy–A War without Nations

In today’s guest post, Leon Fink, author of Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World’s First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present, reflects on the recent Somali pirate attack on a group of Americans on a private yacht.  With piracy on the rise off the Somali coast, the relationship between commerce, globalization, power, and security becomes problematic.  Fink… Continue Reading Leon Fink: Oceanic Piracy–A War without Nations

Categories Author blog entry/Current Events/Global Studies/Guest Bloggers/Labor Studies/Military History/UNC Press Authors
February 28, 2011

A TEDx Talk by authors Thorp and Goldstein

Last week, Buck Goldstein and Holden Thorp, co-authors of Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century, gave a talk at the TEDxAshokaU event. Thorp is Chancellor at UNC Chapel Hill, where Goldstein serves as University Entrepeneur in Residence. The theme of the TEDx event was “Universities Driving Global Change,” and the authors spoke about the importance of… Continue Reading A TEDx Talk by authors Thorp and Goldstein

Categories Education/UNC Press Authors
February 25, 2011

The Dirty South: Why It’s on MY Pop Culture Radar

My students, and probably some friends and relatives, would be surprised to learn that I am a fan of southern hip hop.  What, pray tell, would a 40-something white woman know and enjoy about music from the Dirty South?  Well, to answer that I’d have to go back to the days of my youth.  Way back. I’ve long been a… Continue Reading The Dirty South: Why It’s on MY Pop Culture Radar

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Music/Southern Studies
February 24, 2011

David Stowe: Larry Norman, the Bad Boy of Christian Rock

We welcome a guest post today from David Stowe, author of the forthcoming book No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism. In his cultural history of evangelical Christianity and popular music, Stowe demonstrates how mainstream rock of the 1960s and 1970s has influenced conservative evangelical Christianity through the development of Christian pop music.… Continue Reading David Stowe: Larry Norman, the Bad Boy of Christian Rock

Categories American Studies/Author blog entry/Christian Studies/Guest Bloggers/Music/Religion
February 23, 2011

Shawn Smallman on The Concept of Security: The U.S. Drug War, Mexico, and Portugal

We welcome a guest post today from Shawn Smallman, coauthor (with Kimberley Brown) of Introduction to International and Global Studies.  Their new book is a thematic introduction to the intellectual and structural underpinnings of globalization.  Here, Smallman shows how increased regulation and security can actually exacerbate the issues of the international drug war that those measures try to quell. -Alex… Continue Reading Shawn Smallman on The Concept of Security: The U.S. Drug War, Mexico, and Portugal

Categories Author blog entry/Current Events/Global Studies/Guest Bloggers/Health / Medicine/Military Studies/UNC Press Authors
February 21, 2011

Chris Myers Asch on one of George Washington’s greatest contributions

Happy Presidents’ Day everyone! Today’s federal holiday treat is an article at History News Network by author Chris Myers Asch.  He muses on how our first President has saved the United States from needing to overthrow any leaders.  In light of the recent events in Egypt, Asch discusses how stepping down peacefully after two terms (and the eventual passing of… Continue Reading Chris Myers Asch on one of George Washington’s greatest contributions

Categories American History/Current Events/Politics/UNC Press Authors
February 18, 2011

James Wolfinger: A Tale of Two Levittowns: Race and Housing in Suburban Philadelphia

Today we welcome a guest post from James Wolfinger, author of Philadelphia Divided: Race and Politics in the City of Brotherly Love. Here, Wolfinger sheds light on the rocky beginnings of the Levittown in Bucks County outside of Philadelphia, which was fraught with racial tension and forced segregation by Bill Levitt himself, even years after its 1951 opening. But seven… Continue Reading James Wolfinger: A Tale of Two Levittowns: Race and Housing in Suburban Philadelphia

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Guest Bloggers/History
February 17, 2011

Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

As you probably know, February is African American History Month, when we celebrate the countless contributions of African Americans to our country and recognize the struggles of generations past and present.  Titles that treat the many facets of African American culture and history have always been one of the strongest and most important components of UNC Press’s list.  Here are… Continue Reading Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Civil Rights/Civil War/Current Events/Southern Studies
February 16, 2011

Skillet Apples and Miracle Drop Biscuits

Two mouth-watering recipes that go great together – from Sheri Castle’s forthcoming book (coming in April!), The New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers’ Markets, Roadside Stands, & CSA Farm Boxes. Continue Reading Skillet Apples and Miracle Drop Biscuits

Categories Author blog entry/Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers/Recipes/Sheri Castle
February 14, 2011

Interview: Diane Daniel on Agritourism in North Carolina

Diane Daniel, author of Farm Fresh North Carolina: The Go-To Guide to Great Farmers’ Markets, Farm Stands, Farms, Apple Orchards, U-Picks, Kids’ Activities, Lodging, Dining, Choose-and-Cut Christmas Trees, Vineyards and Wineries, and More sat down to talk more about her book and and the agritourism scene in North Carolina. Here she shares her wealth of knowledge on agricultural destinations across… Continue Reading Interview: Diane Daniel on Agritourism in North Carolina

Categories Cooking / Food/Interviews/North Carolina/Travel/UNC Press Authors
February 11, 2011

Great news: Funding renewed for Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement

We recently learned the great news that the LCRM Project has received funding from the Mellon Foundation for the next phase of its work. Here is the full press release. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL February 10, 2011—The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced today that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of $500,000… Continue Reading Great news: Funding renewed for Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement

Categories African American History/American History/Civil Rights/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
February 9, 2011

The DNC and the National Media—Bringing Southern Stereotypes to a City Near You

As you know by now, Charlotte, North Carolina was selected to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and between Michelle Obama’s email announcing the decision and the national media’s comments on said decision, there’s a lesson or two in how the South continues to elicit both positive and negative statements about its character that are drawn from the same tired… Continue Reading The DNC and the National Media—Bringing Southern Stereotypes to a City Near You

Categories American Studies/Columnists/Guest Bloggers/Karen L. Cox/North Carolina/Southern Studies
February 4, 2011

Shane Maddock on the Persistent Nuclear Myths of the Cold War

Shane Maddock, author of Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present blogs for the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations at SHAFR.org. In his most recent post, after the ratification of the New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia, Maddock addresses some Cold War-era myths about American nuclear hegemony that… Continue Reading Shane Maddock on the Persistent Nuclear Myths of the Cold War

Categories American History/Current Events/History/Military History/Political Science