May 19, 2009

Eric Muller discusses Supreme Court ruling on profiling and detentions immediately following 9/11

From the Washington Post: The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III may not be sued by a Pakistani man who was seized in the United States after the 2001 terrorist attacks and who alleged harsh treatment because of his religion and ethnicity. The court ruled 5 to 4… Continue Reading Eric Muller discusses Supreme Court ruling on profiling and detentions immediately following 9/11

Categories American History/Asian Studies/Civil Rights/Current Events/Law / Legal History/Religion/UNC Press Authors
May 15, 2009

I would do aaaanything for you

. . . but I won’t do that. So, maybe (?) you’ve never greeted your spouse at the door wearing nothing but Saran Wrap. But what would you do if you thought it would help your relationship? What would you expect your partner to do to keep you around? Kristin Celello, author of Making Marriage Work and a guest blogger… Continue Reading I would do aaaanything for you

Categories American History/American Studies/Gender Studies/Interviews/Podcasts/UNC Press Authors/Women's Studies
May 13, 2009

The Long Civil Rights Movement conference videos now online

Last summer Rachel blogged about a new Mellon-funded project aimed at sharing scholarship on the civil rights movement. Last month, Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement (LCRM) sponsored a wildly successful conference here at UNC to discuss the project and possibilities for scholarly collaboration. LCRM director Sylvia Miller described the conference this way: All of the sessions made substantial efforts… Continue Reading The Long Civil Rights Movement conference videos now online

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/Education/Events/History
May 11, 2009

The Gasque backstory

As Townsend, Tennessee, gears up for Troutfest 2009, Knox.com features a story about the book that will be helping generate funds for the fly-fishing exposition, Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies, by Jim Gasque. Writer Chad Gay caught up with Dan Pitts, president of the Great Smoky Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited, who helped bring the out-of-print 1948 classic… Continue Reading The Gasque backstory

Categories Events/Nature/Sports
May 7, 2009

Obama’s foreign policy in light of ‘The American Ascendancy’

Today we welcome a guest post from Michael H. Hunt, author of The American Ascendancy: How the United States Gained and Wielded Global Dominance, a new paperback edition of which has just been published. In the book, Hunt gives a long historical view of what factors enabled the United States to evolve from colonial outpost to global preeminence and explores… Continue Reading Obama’s foreign policy in light of ‘The American Ascendancy’

Categories American History/Current Events/Guest Bloggers/History/Michael H. Hunt/Politics/UNC Press Authors
May 6, 2009

Authors speak: interviews, op-eds, and more

We’ve got several authors out there making appearances online in various forms. If you’ve missed some of the live appearances in this busy spring, take a moment to follow-up virtually. In history… Russell McClintock, author of Lincoln and the Decision for War, was interviewed recently by Michael Noirot over at This Mighty Scourge. An excerpt from Amy Wood‘s new book,… Continue Reading Authors speak: interviews, op-eds, and more

Categories African American Studies/American History/Civil War/Cuba/Current Events/History/Interviews/Islamic Studies/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Middle Eastern Studies/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Politics/Religion/UNC Press Authors
May 1, 2009

Call to action: buy indie today

Today is Buy Indie Day: a day to make a mass statement of support for independent booksellers. People all across the country will be making a special trip to their local bookstores to purchase a book. You can help make it a banner day for indies by buying just one book and spreading the word to your friends and family… Continue Reading Call to action: buy indie today

Categories Local Indy Booksellers/The Book Biz
April 30, 2009

Meet the Armchair Birder…dot com!!

What do you see when you look out your window? City-friendly pigeons? Meadow-loving bluebirds? John Yow, author of the fun and fantastic new book The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds, is now blogging! He talks about birds almost all of us have heard of and that many of us see on a regular basis. He’s watching… Continue Reading Meet the Armchair Birder…dot com!!

Categories Birds & Birding/Nature/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
April 29, 2009

Get satisfaction: the indy publisher blog feed

You may have noticed a new widget in the righthand sidebar over the last several weeks. (It was previously down under the categories and tag cloud; I just bumped it up to prime real estate today.) In the right column, just under the search box is a bigger box displaying current headlines from the blogs of dozens of other university… Continue Reading Get satisfaction: the indy publisher blog feed

Categories The Book Biz/UNC Press News
April 28, 2009

Big birthday wishes to 2 legendary UNC Press authors!!

Two well-loved and renowned authors are celebrating major birthdays this month. On 4/11, Mama Dip turned 80 years old (Photo Ann Hawthorne) Mildred Council, aka “Mama Dip,” has won the hearts of Chapel Hillians for decades as a restaurateur and community builder. In 1999 we published her first cookbook, Mama Dip’s Kitchen, which became a runaway bestseller and made her… Continue Reading Big birthday wishes to 2 legendary UNC Press authors!!

Categories Cooking / Food/History/North Carolina/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
April 27, 2009

Baby/bathwater proposal, or a much-needed revolutionary idea?

As an interesting follow up to Friday’s post, in which I talked about publishing as one of those industries going through major shifts right now, Mark C. Taylor’s op-ed from Sunday’s New York Times, “End the University as We Know It,” proposes a BIG shake-up for universities in general. Taylor, chair of the religion department at Columbia, offers six big… Continue Reading Baby/bathwater proposal, or a much-needed revolutionary idea?

Categories Education
April 24, 2009

A post I didn’t see coming: on the last days of the printed catalog

I was going to offer a roundup of book news today and started writing out a brief intro for it. Then the intro became the post, and well, the news roundup will come another day. We’ve just received a few advances of our Fall 2009 catalogs, and will see the rest of the shipment arrive next week. As the person… Continue Reading A post I didn’t see coming: on the last days of the printed catalog

Categories The Book Biz
April 21, 2009

Upcoming events, 4/21 – 4/27

New York, NY – Today! Tuesday 4/21 at 6 pm – Ann Marie Stock, author of On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition (hot off the press!), will be speaking at the Havana Film Festival at the King Juan Carlos Center. Raleigh, NC – Wed., 4/22 at 11 am – Rob Christensen, author of The Paradox of… Continue Reading Upcoming events, 4/21 – 4/27

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Birds & Birding/Cooking / Food/Cuba/Events/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/History/Local Indy Booksellers/Media Studies/Military Studies/Nature/North Carolina/Politics/Southern Studies/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
April 20, 2009

Those Who Don’t Learn From History Are Doomed to Repeat it….

April 14, 2009 proved to be a dark day for progress and equality in, ironically, one of the most liberal collegiate atmospheres in the country. Forty-six years after the highly controversial Speaker Ban law was passed, it seems that the UNC Chapel Hill finds itself once again in the spotlight. In 1963, the Speaker Ban prohibited members of the Communist… Continue Reading Those Who Don’t Learn From History Are Doomed to Repeat it….

Categories American History/Current Events/Law / Legal History/UNC Press News
April 15, 2009

SIBA book award finalists include Holy Smoke & biography of Susie Sharp

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is narrowing in on the year’s best southern books. Here’s how they describe the process: Each year, hundreds of booksellers across the South vote on their favorite hand-sell books of the year. These are the Southern books they have most enjoyed selling to customers; the ones that they couldn’t stop talking about; the ones most… Continue Reading SIBA book award finalists include Holy Smoke & biography of Susie Sharp

Categories American History/Awards/Biography / Autobiography/Cooking / Food/Law / Legal History/Local Indy Booksellers/North Carolina/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
April 14, 2009

Upcoming events 4/14 – 4/20

Upcoming author events, including a C-SPAN taping tonight! Today, Tuesday, 4/14: John & Dale Reed in Kernersville, NC –  Shakespeare & Company Books in Kernersville hosts the authors of Holy Smoke at 6 pm. Lars Schoultz in Durham, NC – The author of That Infernal Little Cuban Republic will read and speak at the Regulator Bookshop at 7 pm .… Continue Reading Upcoming events 4/14 – 4/20

Categories American History/Birds & Birding/Cooking / Food/Events/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Law / Legal History/Military History/Nature/North Carolina/Politics/UNC Press Authors/Women's Studies
April 8, 2009

Glue Sticks & Glitter: Art talk from two people who know very little about art

The Ackland Art Museum’s current exhibition At the Heart of Progress: Coal, Iron, and Steam since 1750 – Industrial Imagery from the John P. Eckblad Collection is a worthwhile venture into the dark world of progress. The artwork vacillates between hard, industrial imagery and intimate views of man’s relation to the hard work of a new world. Though often downtrodden,… Continue Reading Glue Sticks & Glitter: Art talk from two people who know very little about art

Categories UNC Press News