January 26, 2009

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”

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/American Studies/History/North Carolina/TSoT/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
January 23, 2009

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

Categories Awards/UNC Press News
January 22, 2009

Does the Web Undermine Reading?

In a recent article by Naomi Alderman in The Guardian (UK) the author writes on “How the web is undermining reading.” In the article Ms Alderman writes: ” Reading has been on the decline for the past half-century – largely, it seems, because television has replaced reading in our leisure time. I love television: even with the slew of boring… Continue Reading Does the Web Undermine Reading?

Categories History/Media Studies/Music/The Book Biz
January 21, 2009

The Age of Obama

Things have been a bit on the busy side here at the Press lately. Add in our once-every-three-year dumping of snow and yesterday had all the makings of an ‘interesting’ day. Still, many of our staff took time at lunch to gather in our Boardroom, the largest room in the building, and the only room with a television set, to… Continue Reading The Age of Obama

Categories UNC Press News
January 13, 2009

From Macmillan Digital – “From the Typewriter to the Bookstore: A Publishing Story”

From the Typewriter to the Bookstore: A Publishing Story (via Macmillan USA on YouTube) Ever wondered how a manuscript becomes a book? Just what goes on with an author? What happens at a publishing house? Who does what? How does which? Where does what go when? And, most importantly, how much money does an Editorial/Acquisitions Assistant really make? Well wonder… Continue Reading From Macmillan Digital – “From the Typewriter to the Bookstore: A Publishing Story”

Categories The Book Biz
January 12, 2009

A Woodwright Considers the Axe

When Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine held their “Woodworking in America” workshop in November 2008 they called upon the one man who all woodworkers could admire and appreciate to deliver the keynote address: star of PBS’s The Woodwright’s Shop and author of our series of “Woodwrights” books, Roy Underhill. For the uninitiated, Roy Underhill is the modern-day woodworking guru for… Continue Reading A Woodwright Considers the Axe

Categories UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
January 9, 2009

New NC Governor Reaches Across the Table to Bridge Differences

While the rest of the country is awaiting January 20th to begin their (Presidential) Inaugural festivities, we in North Carolina have already begun our Inaugural celebrations with a series of celebrations in honor of our first woman Governor in the state’s history. Beverly Perdue may not be officially sworn in as Governor until Saturday morning, but the festivities started Thursday… Continue Reading New NC Governor Reaches Across the Table to Bridge Differences

Categories Cooking / Food/North Carolina/Politics/Public Policy/Southern Studies
January 8, 2009

Moving Forward by Looking Back: Enduring Editions

What better way of starting the New Year than by taking a giant step forward? And what better way of taking a giant step forward than by looking backwards? It is in this light that the UNC Press is proud to announce a new series that looks back at the rich history of books published by the UNC Press over… Continue Reading Moving Forward by Looking Back: Enduring Editions

Categories The Book Biz/UNC Press News
December 22, 2008

One last holiday wish

Last Friday, UNC Press held its annual holiday luncheon – with a budget-conscious twist: POTLUCK! Each department was asked to contribute a main course, and the rest was willy-nilly. (Except, is it still a potluck if you have a sign-up sheet? How about if you plead, “Please! No more desserts!”) We were overflowing with sweets, but not at the expense… Continue Reading One last holiday wish

Categories Cooking / Food/UNC Press News
December 17, 2008

Shoe Throwing: it means what you think it means

By now we’ve all seen the clips of the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush during a presser over the weekend. And in the aftermath, of course, the media started asking if we should apply some deeper symbolic meaning to the act, as if it were committed with some non-Western kind of anger, a super-duper Arab kind of… Continue Reading Shoe Throwing: it means what you think it means

Categories Current Events/Middle Eastern Studies
December 17, 2008

105th Anniversary of Wright Brothers’ Flight

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first two flights in their homemade aircraft on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Today the National Park Service hosts a celebration at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. At 10:35 a.m., there will be a military fly-over, with aircraft significantly more sophisticated than the Wright brothers’.… Continue Reading 105th Anniversary of Wright Brothers’ Flight

Categories UNC Press News
December 16, 2008

Circa 1958 now showing at the Ackland

Ever had the urge to nail a strand of your hair into a mirror but thought, “Hey, if I nail anything into this mirror, it’s gonna shatter”?  Well, think again—in the ’50s anything was possible: they nailed human hair into faux mirrors, splotched paint across the canvas, and even put everyday chairs on display, all in the name of art. … Continue Reading Circa 1958 now showing at the Ackland

Categories Art / Architecture/Events
December 15, 2008

Chronicle offers audio slideshow of Allen & Son Barbecue

John Shelton Reed recently introduced the Chronicle Review to Allen and Son Barbecue in Chapel Hill. Their write-up, complete with a wonderful 3-minute audio slideshow of Keith Allen’s typical day cooking and serving ‘cue, is now available. The article appears in the Dec. 19 print issue. Ed. note: Thanks, commenter durhamfood, for pointing out that the article is behind a… Continue Reading Chronicle offers audio slideshow of Allen & Son Barbecue

Categories Cooking / Food/Southern Studies
December 12, 2008

LOLCats for “Pets in America”

o hai, so ise lokin on teh interwebs teh oder dae n i finds pikshur of grate-grate-grate-grate… well, waybaxs granma kitteh. her sittin in haichair waren a dress n axin bout din-din. vry silly pikshur, rlly. but bes kat site on allada interwebs! dey sez it vry 1st pikshur for dems! pikshur remines me of oder pikshurs hooman shows to… Continue Reading LOLCats for “Pets in America”

Categories American History
December 11, 2008

There Is Power in a Union

YouTube: Billy Bragg – There Is Power in a Union Laid off with a mere 3 days’ notice (instead of the legally required 60 days) and denied severance, health insurance, and earned vacation pay, about 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago have been peacefully occupying the Republic factory for five days. Last night their union agreed to… Continue Reading There Is Power in a Union

Categories American History/Current Events/Gender Studies/History/Labor Studies
December 10, 2008

UNC Press books making headlines (and airwaves)

We’ve got lots going on around here! Here’s a quick roundup of ways in which UNC Press books are making waves right now. . . . Patrick Huber’s Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South has just earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The review states, “With respect and passion, Huber puts these pioneering artists… Continue Reading UNC Press books making headlines (and airwaves)

Categories American History/American Studies/Environmental Studies/Events/History/Interviews/Juvenile/Music/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Nature/North Carolina/Podcasts/Reviews/Science/UNC Press News
December 8, 2008

Zubok among Washington Post’s Best Books of 2008

The Washington Post published its Holiday Guide yesterday, featuring the Best Books of 2008. Included in “The World” section is Vladislav Zubok’s A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. At the beginning of the year, Richard Rhodes reviewed Zubok’s book along with Melvyn Leffler’s For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the… Continue Reading Zubok among Washington Post’s Best Books of 2008

Categories History/Politics/Reviews/UNC Press News
December 4, 2008

Louis Perez is named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Louis A. Pérez Jr., a leading American scholar of Cuba and author of many prizewinning books on Cuban history — including his five most recent books published proudly by UNC Press — was celebrated by colleagues, friends, and family last month on his induction into the 2008 class of Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of… Continue Reading Louis Perez is named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Categories Awards/Cuba/Events/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./UNC Press News
December 4, 2008

UNCP books now available in small doses through DailyLit

It’s an old idea that now has a very modern twist, like a newspaper serial for the 21st century. . . . Want to read a book but don’t have large blocks of time for settling in and curling up? We’ve found a solution for you with DailyLit — the first e-book vendor to send easy-to-read segments of books to… Continue Reading UNCP books now available in small doses through DailyLit

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Appalachian Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Biology/Cooking / Food/Cuba/Fiction/Health / Medicine/History/Juvenile/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Nature/North Carolina/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
December 3, 2008

Reflections on “A life so noble,” The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers launch event

The following is a guest post from Michelle Lanier, curator of cultural history with the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties. Along with Historic Edenton Site Manager Linda Jordan Eure, Lanier helped to organize the launching of The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers (edited by Jean Fagan Yellin) on November 22, 2008. Photos and podcast links follow her… Continue Reading Reflections on “A life so noble,” The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers launch event

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Biography / Autobiography/Events/Guest Bloggers/History/North Carolina/UNC Press News