The Charlie Poole Backstory

Last night as I was driving home I heard an NPR story about a new album by Loudon Wainwright III called High Wide & Handsome: A Tribute to Charlie Poole. Poole was among those early-twentieth-century musicians from Piedmont North Carolina mill villages whose hillbilly music and tunes from the textile mills helped shape what we now call country music. Wainwright… Continue Reading The Charlie Poole Backstory

UNC Press Goes West (And Likes It)

First, let’s set the scene: A little closer… Last Sunday, UNC Press held a book party at the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.  The event celebrated three of our fall 2009 titles: Foy Allen Edelman, author of SWEET CAROLINA, spent six years traveling every inch of North Carolina to collect the best in local dessert recipes; the result… Continue Reading UNC Press Goes West (And Likes It)

Don’t Ignore the Signs about Breast Cancer Awareness

Whether you or someone you know is battling breast cancer, or you are just going about your daily routine, breast cancer awareness is hard to miss.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it is nice to see support coming from everywhere–sidewalk signs to window displays to NFL football helmets–PINK is definitely the IT color this month, this year, anytime… Continue Reading Don’t Ignore the Signs about Breast Cancer Awareness

Canning Time

Speaking of the State Fair: Monday’s News and Observer highlighted burgeoning interest in canning over the past couple of years. State Fair contest entries of jams, jellies, salsas, chutneys, and an array of other preserved goodies have nearly doubled since 2007. Part of the increasing popularity may be a result of a sagging economy and increased home cooking. I suspect… Continue Reading Canning Time

Sweet Carolina and the Sweet State Fair

The call of carnies. The largest pig you’ve ever seen. The cotton candy. The midway. The chocolate-dipped bacon. The rides that click up, up, up, then, suddenly—drop—and the shrieks of the riders as they fall. And up they go again. All the many-colored lights—the fried food—the livestock clucking, hopping, mooing. And the crowds, crowds, crowds on these crisp October nights.… Continue Reading Sweet Carolina and the Sweet State Fair

Late Night with Roy + One Fantastic Ride = Tar Heel Basketball Heaven

It’s official! The University of North Carolina Tar Heels kick off their 2009-2010 Men’s Basketball season tonight with the annual “Late Night with Roy” festivities at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill. And that means UNC Press is off and running with the publication of One Fantastic Ride: The Inside Story of Carolina Basketball’s 2009 Championship Season!  As… Continue Reading Late Night with Roy + One Fantastic Ride = Tar Heel Basketball Heaven

Tom Bowers to speak about the early years of journalism education at UNC

Tom Bowers is author of Making News: One Hundred Years of Journalism and Mass Communication at Carolina, distributed by UNC Press for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Making News, Bowers relates the story of how the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina… Continue Reading Tom Bowers to speak about the early years of journalism education at UNC

Fall SALE: Hundreds of Books Half Price

1) Are the leaves half gone from the trees in your neighborhood? a. Yes. b. No, they’re all gone. c. Turning colors, but still hanging on. d. What trees? 2) Are sunny days half as warm as they were in July? a. Yes. And half again. b. No. We do not experience such fluctuations in temperature. c. Maybe today, but… Continue Reading Fall SALE: Hundreds of Books Half Price

North Carolina Pottery on PBS Tonight

The American craft tradition did not just appear, fully-formed and mature. Where have our craft practices come from? How does the tradition continue? Tonight at 8pm on PBS-TV, the Peabody award-winning series CRAFT IN AMERICA will feature several craft experts on the segment titled, “Origins.” Each of the artists featured in “Origins” ties their work to early craft techniques and… Continue Reading North Carolina Pottery on PBS Tonight

Sotomayor, baseball, and Hispanic heritage

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court began their annual session with the newest justice, Sonia Sotomayor, joining in for the first time. And she jumped right in with both feet, asking lots of questions of the lawyers appearing before the court that day. A couple of weeks ago, as part of the New York Yankees’ Hispanic Heritage Month, Sotomayor threw out… Continue Reading Sotomayor, baseball, and Hispanic heritage

Grab your bib and head to the North Carolina Seafood Festival!

Grab your oyster knives and crab crackers! This weekend, Morehead City will be hosting the 23rd annual North Carolina Seafood Festival. Friday through Sunday, October 2-4, locals and out-of-towners can enjoy all the Crystal Coast has to offer. Events include the Outer Banks Boat Show, cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs, live music, rides, an open air market with arts and… Continue Reading Grab your bib and head to the North Carolina Seafood Festival!

Pouring Tea: The Fall 2009 Tour Begins

I know we’re not supposed to have favorite authors here at the Press, but since I live in the IT World and rarely interact with our authors, I’ll provide myself with something of an exemption. Last September I wrote about E. Patrick Johnson’s newly released book, titled Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South. At that time I had… Continue Reading Pouring Tea: The Fall 2009 Tour Begins

Nick Syrett on the Greek System, Then and Now

It’s mid-September and many of us are now back in the swing of the school year; we are surrounded by the sights and sounds of new and returning students, not just in class but all across campus. Among these students at many colleges and universities are the conspicuous members of fraternities wearing their T-shirts advertising last year’s luau, Greek week,… Continue Reading Nick Syrett on the Greek System, Then and Now

LaGarrette Blount, Video Games, and Athletes’ Rights

We welcome a guest post today from Michael Oriard, whose most recent book is Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era, which we will publish this November. He recently blogged about the scholarly obligation of the “scholar-athlete” arrangement in college sports over at the New York Times’ college sports blog, The Quad. In this post,… Continue Reading LaGarrette Blount, Video Games, and Athletes’ Rights

Books + Free Entertainment = Great Weekend Plans

If you are like me, you look forward to the weekends, but dread spending the annoying amounts of money that usually accompany your weekend entertainment. Well, this weekend, you are in luck.  If you are going to be in or around Chapel Hill this weekend, you MUST check out The North Carolina Literary Festival on the UNC campus. Here’s  a… Continue Reading Books + Free Entertainment = Great Weekend Plans

Celebrating the “other” Labor Day…

This Labor Day, I spent some time thinking not only about the dismal state of the unemployed, the underemployed (whether by furlough, reduced hours, part-time work that has replaced full-time, or a job below the worker’s experience and capabilities) and the discouraged worker (who has given up even looking for work), to contemplate another kind of Labor Day–the day that… Continue Reading Celebrating the “other” Labor Day…

Come sing your birdsong for the Armchair Birder

“Drink your teeeeee!” That would be the song of the male Eastern Towhee, according to the Learn Bird Songs! website. You can hear the songs of nearly three dozen species there, and hone your imitation on the way to Atlanta this weekend. John Yow, the Armchair Birder, will be at the Decatur Book Festival Sunday afternoon at 2:30, and he’s… Continue Reading Come sing your birdsong for the Armchair Birder

What we’ve saved by going green

Long concerned with the environmental impact involved in the making of books, UNC Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since the program’s founding in 2001. This means we’re committed to recycling at the office and we give preference to postconsumer and chlorine-free papers in our book manufacturing. You can read more details about our environmental policy… Continue Reading What we’ve saved by going green

The Calley Apology: What Does It Mean?

We welcome a guest post today from historian and Vietnam veteran Ron Milam, author of Not a Gentleman’s War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War. In his book, Milam debunks the view of the junior officer typified by Lt. William Calley of My Lai infamy, demonstrating instead that most of the lieutenants who served in combat… Continue Reading The Calley Apology: What Does It Mean?

Better Barbecue Through Chemistry!

As I have written here before, I’m a Yankee Vegetarian who came to the South too late to discover the taste of North Carolina Barbecue (in any of its varieties). However, as a self-proclaimed Foodie and something of a geek, if there’s one thing that brings out my inner Alton Brown it’s some good old Food Science. And I don’t… Continue Reading Better Barbecue Through Chemistry!