July 14, 2021

Announcing the UNC Press Presents Podcast Network

We are excited to announce the newly launched UNC Press Presents Podcast website, a partnership with New Books Network. Featuring UNC Press authors that have been interviewed since the launch of the New Books Network podcast, and from across all the disciplines that UNC Press publishes, UNC Press Presents Podcast allows one to search for and listen to approximately 250… Continue Reading Announcing the UNC Press Presents Podcast Network

Categories UNC Press News
July 13, 2021

Harriet, the Moses of Her People: Preface

In celebration of Disability Pride Month, I decided to post an excerpt from one of the titles from our recommended reading list published last week. This excerpt is the preface from Sarah Hopkins Bradford’s Harriet, the Moses of Her People. The title I have given my black heroine, in this second edition of her story, viz.: THE MOSES OF HER… Continue Reading Harriet, the Moses of Her People: Preface

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography
July 12, 2021

Cuba’s Fight for Freedom: A Recommended Reading List

Due to the protests happening in Cuba currently, we’ve decided to publish a recommended reading list pertaining to Cuba’s fight for freedom. This isn’t the first time revolts have taken place in Cuba, but what’s going on now has been referred to as the biggest protests Cuba has seen in decades. When I began researching what was going on in… Continue Reading Cuba’s Fight for Freedom: A Recommended Reading List

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/American Studies/Cuba/Cultural Studies/Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Health / Medicine/Latino Studies/Political Science/Sociology/Theatre & Performing Arts
July 8, 2021

UNC Libraries’ Off The Shelf Author Talk with Finis Dunaway

In May, Finis Dunaway, author of Defending the Arctic Refuge: A Photographer, an Indigenous Nation, and a Fight for Environmental Justice, was featured on UNC Libraries’ Off the Shelf series. In the Author Talk below, Finis discusses how his book wasn’t exactly the book he planned to write, how one image sparked the concept for his book and other topics.… Continue Reading UNC Libraries’ Off The Shelf Author Talk with Finis Dunaway

Categories American Studies/Environmental Studies/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Public Policy
July 8, 2021

UNC Press Open Access Vision and Policy

“In an effort to clarify and explain the reasons behind our Open Access (OA) positions, we are publishing our Open Access Vision and Policy Statement. OA has multiple dimensions and means different things to many people, so we expect and encourage feedback and dialog. You can write to our director John Sherer (john.sherer@uncpress.org) or tweet to us @unc_press.” Open-access (OA)… Continue Reading UNC Press Open Access Vision and Policy

Categories UNC Press News
July 7, 2021

Happy Disability Pride Month! A Recommended Reading List

If you didn’t know already, July is Disability Pride month. The celebration of Disability Pride began in 1990 and has held on strong ever since. “This annual observance is used to promote visibility and mainstream awareness of the positive pride felt by people with disabilities.” Below are a few titles that align with that point of view; shedding light on… Continue Reading Happy Disability Pride Month! A Recommended Reading List

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/History/Labor Studies/Sociology/Women's Studies
July 6, 2021

Time to Reset Your Syllabi, Vast Early America

Guest blog post by Catherine E. Kelly of the Omohundro Institute I came to the project that would become Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence the hard way – through the college classroom. Before joining the Omohundro Institute, I taught American history first at Case Western Reserve University and then at the University of Oklahoma.… Continue Reading Time to Reset Your Syllabi, Vast Early America

Categories African American Studies/American History/History/Political Science/Politics
July 2, 2021

The Roanoke Voyages (A Series Culminating in The Lost Colony)

The introduction of a guest blog post series by Roger L. Payne, author of The Outer Banks Gazetteer: The History of Place Names from Carova to Emerald Isle The Roanoke Voyages took place between 1584 and 1590. Much has been written and documented regarding these voyages, which represent the first attempts at English colonies in North America before the first… Continue Reading The Roanoke Voyages (A Series Culminating in The Lost Colony)

Categories History/North Carolina
July 1, 2021

UNC Press Author Dr. Heather Berg in Conversation with femi babylon, Cassandra Troy, Kathi Weeks and Connor Habib

Hosted by Seattle-based community Red May (“Your one month vacation from capitalism”), Dr. Heather Berg, author of Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism, spoke on a panel recently about anti-work politics, sex work and some other great topics. Next Tuesday, catch Heather at Politics and Prose’ P&P Live! Work, Inequality, Gender, and Capitalism in Modern America Panel. Click here… Continue Reading UNC Press Author Dr. Heather Berg in Conversation with femi babylon, Cassandra Troy, Kathi Weeks and Connor Habib

Categories Gender Studies/Labor Studies/LGBT Studies/Sociology
June 30, 2021

Statement from Lisa Levenstein, Vice Chair of the Board, and John Sherer, Director of The University of North Carolina Press

Thank you to the individuals and organizations who have expressed concern about recent events surrounding the election of board members at UNC Press. Many of you rightfully voiced support for the reelection of Eric Muller to the Press’s Board of Governors. Eric served tirelessly and brilliantly as chair of the board during one of the most successful periods in the… Continue Reading Statement from Lisa Levenstein, Vice Chair of the Board, and John Sherer, Director of The University of North Carolina Press

Categories UNC Press News
June 30, 2021

Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

For our last bit of JuneTeenth celebration this month, I decided to pull an excerpt from one of the books featured in our two part commemorative JuneTeenth recommended reading list (Part One, Part Two). This excerpt is from Eric Williams and Colin A. Palmer’s Capitalism and Slavery, Third Edition.  The negro slaves were “the strength and sinews of this western world.”… Continue Reading Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American History/African American Studies/American History/Business/Economics/Latin American/Caribbean Hist.
June 29, 2021

Gender and the Past and Future of Palm Oil

Guest blog post by Jonathan E. Robins, author of Oil Palm: A Global History The modern palm oil industry has a masculine face. Visitors to plantations can see men wielding wobbly cutting tools as they slice fruit from palm trees, and heave the spiky bunches of fruit into trucks. Men drive the bulldozers and excavators clearing forest to make way… Continue Reading Gender and the Past and Future of Palm Oil

Categories Diplomatic History / International Affairs/Environmental Studies/Labor Studies
June 28, 2021

Princess Noire: We Knew She Was a Genius

With a few more days left to celebrate Black Music Month, we chose to post this excerpt from Nadine Cohodas’ Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone. This book and a few other titles were featured on a recommended reading list commemorating some of the incredible things black people have brought to music as a whole. John Irvin sang… Continue Reading Princess Noire: We Knew She Was a Genius

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Music
June 25, 2021

Pauli Murray: A Child of Destiny or A Nobody Without Identity, 1910–1926

To further celebrate Pride Month, the following is an excerpt from Troy R. Saxby’s Pauli Murray: A Personal And Political Life. This book is one of five titles from a reading list we created in commemoration of Pride Month; view the entire reading list here. Pauli Murray long believed that she was born on November 20, 1910, and named Anna Pauline Murray.… Continue Reading Pauli Murray: A Child of Destiny or A Nobody Without Identity, 1910–1926

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Gender Studies/LGBT Studies
June 24, 2021

Author B. Brian Foster in Conversation with Author William Ferris, Hosted by Square Books

In late January, Oxford, MS-based indie bookstore Square Books hosted a virtual conversation between B. Brian Foster, author of I Don’t Like The Blues: Race, Black and Backbeat of Black Life, and William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. Watch as Foster and Ferris discuss a history of black people’s involvement in sociology,… Continue Reading Author B. Brian Foster in Conversation with Author William Ferris, Hosted by Square Books

Categories African American Studies/Anthropology/Music/Sociology/Southern Studies
June 23, 2021

A Volcano in Asheville

Guest blog post by Jonathan Todd Hancock, author of Convulsed States: Earthquakes, Prophecy, and the Remaking of Early America In December 1811, a volcano erupted in Asheville.  An eyewitness named John Edwards reported the disturbing details to the Raleigh newspaper The Star.  After an unusual earthquake, a mountain burned “with great violence,” and cooling lava had dammed up the French Broad River.  The din… Continue Reading A Volcano in Asheville

Categories American History/Environmental Studies/Guest Bloggers/History/Native American History
June 22, 2021

Happy Black Music Month: A Recommended Reading List

Fresh off the heels of our JuneTeenth reading lists (Part One and Part Two) , I’m back with another celebration of black culture; Black Music Month. “Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, this month celebrates the African American musical influences that comprise an essential part of our nation’s treasured cultural heritage.” Black people have had a hand in basically… Continue Reading Happy Black Music Month: A Recommended Reading List

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Music
June 21, 2021

Deer Don’t Eat Camellias and Other Lies I’ve Told Myself

Happy National Pollinator Week! “Pollinator Week is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health. “ Guest blog post by Roxann Ward, author of Color-Rich Gardening for the South: A Guide For all Seasons There is nothing more heart-breaking than walking through your garden with a glass of wine at the end of a long workday, and realizing that… Continue Reading Deer Don’t Eat Camellias and Other Lies I’ve Told Myself

Categories Gardening
June 19, 2021

Juneteenth, Our Newest National Holiday: A Recipe for Celebration

Happy Juneteenth! This recipe from Adrian Miller’s 2014 Beard Foundation Award winning Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time also appears in Southern Holidays: a Savor the South Cookbook by Debbie Moose, whose headnote from that book follows. Adrian Miller’s book Soul Food is a detailed and fascinating exploration of the history and… Continue Reading Juneteenth, Our Newest National Holiday: A Recipe for Celebration

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Food Studies
June 18, 2021

Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part Two

Happy early JuneTeenth again! I’m back with part two of the recommended reading list in celebration of JuneTeenth, “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.” Part one of the recommended reading list focused on the experiences of black American slaves whose labor helped shape the fabric of America. Part two of the reading… Continue Reading Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part Two

Categories African American Studies/Environmental Studies/Gender Studies/Literature/Music/Political Science/Politics/Sociology/Southern Studies/Women's Studies