January 5, 2022

On the Occasion of Our Centennial Year, Happy New Year!

2022 marks the year of our centennial—100 years since our founding in 1922, in which we’ve constantly grown and evolved as an organization with our publishing!  Follow us throughout the coming year for a cornucopia of centennial-themed content that will include guest blog posts from current and previously published authors, as well as friends of the press; reflections from our… Continue Reading On the Occasion of Our Centennial Year, Happy New Year!

Categories UNC Press News
December 30, 2021

“A Nation of Descendants”, A conversation between author Francesca Morgan and Matt Rutherford for Newberry Library

Earlier this month, Newberry Library hosted a virtual “Meet the Author” event with Francesca Morgan, author of A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History. Morgan spoke about her book with Newberry Curator of Genealogy Matt Rutherford. From family trees written in early American bibles to birther conspiracy theories, genealogy has always mattered in the… Continue Reading “A Nation of Descendants”, A conversation between author Francesca Morgan and Matt Rutherford for Newberry Library

Categories American Studies/Video
December 29, 2021

Steel Closets: Setting The Scene

The following is an excerpt from Anne Balay’s Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. Even as substantial legal and social victories are being celebrated within the gay rights movement, much of working-class America still exists outside the current narratives of gay liberation. In Steel Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history interviews with forty gay, lesbian, and transgender… Continue Reading Steel Closets: Setting The Scene

Categories American Studies/Excerpts/Gender Studies/Labor Studies/LGBT Studies
December 28, 2021

Arise, Africa! Roar, China! Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century

The following is a guest blog post by Yunxiang Gao, author of Arise Africa, Roar China: Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century, reposted from Fairbank Center Blog. This book explores the close relationships between three of the most famous twentieth-century African Americans, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Langston Hughes, and their little-known Chinese allies during World War… Continue Reading Arise, Africa! Roar, China! Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/Asian American Studies/Asian Studies/Political Science
December 27, 2021

Tears, Fire, and Blood: No Premature Independence, 1941–1951

The following is an excerpt from James H. Meriwether’s Tears, Fire, and Blood: The United States and the Decolonization of Africa. In the mid-twentieth century, the struggle against colonial rule fundamentally reshaped the world and the lives of the majority of the world’s population. Decolonization, Black and Brown freedom movements, the establishment of the United Nations and NATO, an exploding… Continue Reading Tears, Fire, and Blood: No Premature Independence, 1941–1951

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Excerpts/Political Science
December 22, 2021

“Island Wildlife Reads: Saving the Wild South with Georgann Eubanks”, Author Georgann Eubanks speaks with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Last month, UNC Press author of Saving the Wild South Georgann Eubanks  sat with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation to discuss her book. The American South is famous for its astonishingly rich biodiversity. In this book, Georgann Eubanks takes a wondrous trek from Alabama to North Carolina to search out native plants that are endangered and wavering on the edge of erasure.… Continue Reading “Island Wildlife Reads: Saving the Wild South with Georgann Eubanks”, Author Georgann Eubanks speaks with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Categories Environmental Studies/North Carolina/Video
December 21, 2021

Civil Rights Unionism: Those Who Were Not Afraid

The following is an excerpt from Robert R. Korstad’s Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth-Century South. Drawing on scores of interviews with black and white tobacco workers in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Robert Korstad brings to life the forgotten heroes of Local 22 of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied Workers of America-CIO. These… Continue Reading Civil Rights Unionism: Those Who Were Not Afraid

Categories African American Studies/Excerpts/Labor Studies/North Carolina/Southern Studies
December 20, 2021

Senior Editor Lucas Church’s Interview with Author of White Philanthropy Maribel Morey

The following is an interview between UNC Press’ Senior Editor Lucas Church and Maribel Morey, author of White Philanthropy: Carnegie Corporation’s An American Dilemma and the Making of a White World Order. Since its publication in 1944, many Americans have described Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma as a defining text on U.S. race relations. Here, Maribel Morey confirms with historical evidence what… Continue Reading Senior Editor Lucas Church’s Interview with Author of White Philanthropy Maribel Morey

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Political Science
December 17, 2021

Author Fay A. Yarbrough’s Talk With the U.S. National Archives

Earlier this month, the U.S. National Archives hosted a talk with Fay A. Yarbrough, author of Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country. When the Choctaw Nation was forcibly resettled in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s, it was joined by enslaved Black people—the tribe had owned enslaved Blacks since the 1720s. By the eve of the Civil… Continue Reading Author Fay A. Yarbrough’s Talk With the U.S. National Archives

Categories African American Studies/Civil War/History/Military History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Video
December 16, 2021

Feminism for the Americas: A New Force in the History of the World

The following is an excerpt from Katherine M. Marino’s Feminism for the Americas: The Making of an International Human Rights Movement. This book chronicles the dawn of the global movement for women’s rights in the first decades of the twentieth century. The founding mothers of this movement were not based primarily in the United States, however, or in Europe. Instead,… Continue Reading Feminism for the Americas: A New Force in the History of the World

Categories Excerpts/Gender Studies/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Sociology/Women's Studies
December 15, 2021

Reacting to the Past ™ Game Books from the Reacting Consortium to be Co-Published by the University of North Carolina Press

UNC Press is proud to announce a new co-publishing partnership with the Reacting Consortium, Inc., based at Barnard College, for its acclaimed pedagogical role-playing game book series, Reacting to the Past ™, effective July 1, 2022. Reacting to the Past ™ was originally developed under the auspices of Barnard College and is sustained by the members of the Reacting Consortium.… Continue Reading Reacting to the Past ™ Game Books from the Reacting Consortium to be Co-Published by the University of North Carolina Press

Categories History/Reacting to the Past
December 15, 2021

Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. Fannie Lou Hamer December marks the annual celebration of Universal Human Rights Month. The observance of this month began in 1948 when the U.N. wrote a document called The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document was created after World War II and was used to “properly define what human rights would be protected universally”.… Continue Reading Universal Human Rights Month: A Recommended Reading List

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American Studies/American Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Gender Studies/History/Labor Studies/Latin American & Caribbean Studies/Latino Studies/Law / Legal History/LGBT Studies/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/North Carolina/Political Science/Reading Lists/Sociology/Southern Studies/Women's Studies
December 14, 2021

Pauli Murray: For All My Bravado, Deeply Engrained Notions of Respectability Filled Me With Distress, 1926 – 1940

Recently Pauli Murray: A Personal and Political Life by Troy R. Saxby was selected for North Carolina Reads, North Carolina Humanities’ statewide book club for 2022 that features five books that explore issues of racial, social, and gender equality and the history and culture of North Carolina. To celebrate this accomplishment, we’ve decided to share an excerpt from this book. The Rev. Dr.… Continue Reading Pauli Murray: For All My Bravado, Deeply Engrained Notions of Respectability Filled Me With Distress, 1926 – 1940

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Excerpts/Gender Studies/LGBT Studies
December 13, 2021

Author Book Events in the Time of Covid

The following is a guest blog post from Georgann Eubanks, author of Saving The Wild South: The Fight for Native Plants on the Brink of Extinction. The American South is famous for its astonishingly rich biodiversity. In this book, Georgann Eubanks takes a wondrous trek from Alabama to North Carolina to search out native plants that are endangered and wavering on the… Continue Reading Author Book Events in the Time of Covid

Categories Environmental Studies/Guest Bloggers/North Carolina
December 12, 2021

Staff Picks: 2021 UNC Press Holiday Gift Guide

We hope you’ve got your hot chocolate and eggnog ready for this winter season! Today we wanted to share some holiday gift recommendations from our staff. Don’t forget, we’re having a Holiday Sale too! Save 40% on any of these great stocking stuffers and all of our other UNC Press print books. You’ll also receive free shipping on orders of… Continue Reading Staff Picks: 2021 UNC Press Holiday Gift Guide

Categories African American Studies/Appalachian Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Biology/Birds & Birding/British History/Civil War/Cooking / Food/Creative Nonfiction/Environmental Studies/Gardening/History/Literature/Military History/Music/Nature/North Carolina/Political Science/Sports/Travel/UNC Press News
December 10, 2021

UNC Libraries’ Off The Shelf Author Talk with Dr. G. Samantha Rosenthal

Last month, Dr. G. Samantha Rosenthal, author of Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City, was featured on UNC Libraries’ Off the Shelf series. Off the Shelf is a collaboration between the University Libraries and UNC Press to present new works on racial and social justice in our history and our world. Queer history is a living practice. Talk to… Continue Reading UNC Libraries’ Off The Shelf Author Talk with Dr. G. Samantha Rosenthal

Categories Gender Studies/LGBT Studies/Political Science/Sociology/Video
December 9, 2021

“Julius Chambers: Child of the Jim Crow South”

The following is an excerpt from Richard A. Rosen and Joseph Mosnier’s Julius Chambers: A Life in the Legal Struggle for Civil Rights. Born in the hamlet of Mount Gilead, North Carolina, Julius Chambers (1936–2013) escaped the fetters of the Jim Crow South to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s as the nation’s leading African American civil rights attorney. Following… Continue Reading “Julius Chambers: Child of the Jim Crow South”

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Excerpts/History/North Carolina
December 8, 2021

New and Recently Released UNC Press Audiobooks

We are pleased to announce the availability of the following UNC Press titles in audiobook format (sample audio excerpts are available via the links below): Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State by Garrett Felber, published by Tantor Media Felber . . . examines how the Nation of Islam, and… Continue Reading New and Recently Released UNC Press Audiobooks

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Civil War/Cooking / Food/Creative Nonfiction/Cultural Studies/Islamic Studies/Labor Studies/Latino Studies/Military History/North Carolina/Political Science/Religion/UNC Press News
December 7, 2021

What Insurance Wants You To See

The following is a guest blog post by Hannah Farber, author of Omohundro Institute & UNC Press published Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding. Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled… Continue Reading What Insurance Wants You To See

Categories Business/Colonial, Revolutionary Era & Early American History/Guest Bloggers
December 6, 2021

“Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: Now Who Are Your People?”

The following is an excerpt from Barbara Ransby’s Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. A gifted grassroots organizer, Baker shunned the spotlight in favor of vital behind-the-scenes work that helped power the black freedom struggle. She was a national officer and key figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of… Continue Reading “Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: Now Who Are Your People?”

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Excerpts