April 28, 2014

Excerpt: Stories of the South: Race and the Construction of Southern Identity, 1865-1915, by K. Stephen Prince

When it was published in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin quickly became the most inflammatory, explosive, and politically significant literary text of the antebellum period. Adapted to the stage shortly thereafter, Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s moral fervor, emotional power, and iconic characters soon made it a theatrical institution. Continue Reading Excerpt: Stories of the South: Race and the Construction of Southern Identity, 1865-1915, by K. Stephen Prince

Categories African American Studies/American History/Civil War/Excerpts/History/Literature/Southern Studies/Theatre
April 15, 2014

Angie Maxwell: The Long Shadow of Scopes

When Bryan agreed to assist the prosecution in the 1925 Scopes trial that would test the Butler Act’s ban of the teaching of evolution in Tennessee, he was anything but new to the debate. Despite his progressive political record on issues such as women’s suffrage, Bryan’s swan song as an anti-evolution crusader was zealous and emphatic. He argued, wrote, and perhaps believed, that this single issue would erode American faith. For Bryan there was no middle, and his readers need only choose sides. His widespread essay on the subject was titled “The Bible and its Enemies,” and he considered the cause the greatest reform of his life. Science and even the experts who defense attorney Clarence Darrow had attempted to call at the trial, were adversaries in a zero-sum game that the world was watching. Continue Reading Angie Maxwell: The Long Shadow of Scopes

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Political Science/Religion/Science
April 10, 2014

Zandria F. Robinson: OutKast Reunion Tour: After Twenty Years, the South Still Got Something to Say

I grew up watching OutKast videos on the now-defunct Video Jukebox Network, affectionately known as “The Box.” Although OutKast received some play on MTV and BET in the early 1990s, it was on The Box, which featured a range of underground southern hip-hop artists, where I could be sure to see André “André 3000” Benjamin, Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, and other southern rappers in regular rotation. Although initially record labels largely ignored southern artists, through homegrown ingenuity, southern rappers soon emerged as a formidable force in the global music industry. By 2005, top spots on music charts were regularly held by southern hip-hop artists, southern R&B singers, or hits produced by southern artists. As Memphis rapper Project Pat noted in 2006: “Now y’all was thinkin’ Dirty South was like, ‘hee-haw, hee-haw’/Is you worth over a hundred mil? We are, we are.” Indeed, the South had something to say. Continue Reading Zandria F. Robinson: OutKast Reunion Tour: After Twenty Years, the South Still Got Something to Say

Categories African American Studies/Author blog entry/Current Events/Guest Bloggers/Music/Sociology/Southern Studies
April 8, 2014

Interview: Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser on the Dialects of North Carolina

Language and dialects are culture, but like other aspects of our heritage, they have sometimes existed under the cultural radar. In part, this is due to the historical and political subordination of the South. Southern speech has become increasingly different from Northern speech since the Civil War, but it was interpreted as inferior due to the stereotypes of the South by outsiders. The effects of linguistic prejudice are just as harmful as other types of prejudicial attitudes, perhaps more so because their workings are often invisible. It takes time to raise linguistic awareness by countering myths and stereotypes with formal and informal education about the legacy of dialects. North Carolinians deserve to know and understand the truth about its distinct dialect and language legacy. Continue Reading Interview: Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser on the Dialects of North Carolina

Categories Anthropology/Interviews/North Carolina
April 7, 2014

Anne Balay: Queer Steelworkers and Labor Unions

I asked him to recall all the people he has worked with—all his union brothers and sisters, down through the years—and count the gay ones. Almost surprised, he said there were none. Of course, he knew as well as I do that there have been many, but that they did not identify themselves as such. My task is then to convince him that their silence was not simply a choice, but rather that it was made in fear, and comes with crippling consequences. Continue Reading Anne Balay: Queer Steelworkers and Labor Unions

Categories American Studies/Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/Guest Bloggers/Labor Studies/Women's Studies
April 3, 2014

K. Stephen Prince: Thinking about Reconstruction at 150 Years

Reconstruction remains one of the most widely misunderstood eras in United States history. Though historians have largely discredited the white supremacist interpretations of William A. Dunning and his students, the Dunning School lives on in the public at large. Otherwise informed and well-meaning individuals unthinkingly parrot early-twentieth-century critiques of Reconstruction, casually dismissing it as an era of federal overreach, northern cruelty, and cynical corruption. My own experience bears out this observation: a friend who claims that Reconstruction failed because it was “too harsh,” or a student who labels the period a “tragedy” without being able to provide a single reason for this characterization. I expect other scholars of the period have had similar experiences. It seems that on an instinctive, knee-jerk level, many Americans respond negatively to Reconstruction, though most could not explain why. The 150th anniversary of Reconstruction offers a perfect opportunity to set the record straight, or at least to give the public a fair accounting of the period’s challenges, its successes, and its failures. Continue Reading K. Stephen Prince: Thinking about Reconstruction at 150 Years

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Civil War/Guest Bloggers/Southern Studies
April 2, 2014

NC Literary Festival Featuring Appearances from UNC Press Authors

The North Carolina Literary Festival is a free public event presented on a rotating basis by the Duke University Libraries, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, and the NCSU Libraries. This year, the festival will be hosted at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library of NC State University in Raleigh. The festival is for people of all ages from all over the state and beyond. Every year the festival includes author readings and discussions, performances, book signings, children’s activities, book sales and much more. Among the varied participants, several UNC Press authors will be at this year’s NC Literary Festival. Continue Reading NC Literary Festival Featuring Appearances from UNC Press Authors

Categories Events/North Carolina/The Book Biz/UNC Press Authors/UNC Press News
March 31, 2014

Interview: Blain Roberts on the Intersection of Beauty and Race in the South

The image of the beautiful southern belle/lady was, by definition, racially exclusive, and many black women would have keenly felt its discriminatory power. There were occasions, however, when individuals and institutions attempted to claim the image for black women, to challenge its underlying racial assumptions and reframe its meaning. An interesting example is a photo spread that ran in Ebony magazine in 1971 entitled “Belles of the South” that featured young women from southern historically black colleges. The magazine said very explicitly that it wanted to prove that not all southern beauties were white—that black women were belles of the South, too. Continue Reading Interview: Blain Roberts on the Intersection of Beauty and Race in the South

Categories African American History/American History/Civil Rights/Southern Studies/Women's Studies
March 28, 2014

UNC Press & NCPedia Launch Free Online Edition of The North Carolina Gazetteer

In partnership with NCPedia and the N.C. Government and Heritage Library, UNC Press is now making the entirety of The North Carolina Gazetteer available online at ncpedia.org. The North Carolina Gazetteer documents and defines North Carolina’s geographical places by describing their location, history, and origins. UNC Press first published the encyclopedia, compiled by noted North Carolina historian William S. Powell, in 1968. Michael Hill of the N.C. Office of Archives and History updated and expanded the volume in a revised edition in 2010. Hill explains, “The key is that, whereas other sources list just the name, Powell’s book included the stories and derivations behind the names. No other state has anything like it.” Continue Reading UNC Press & NCPedia Launch Free Online Edition of The North Carolina Gazetteer

Categories North Carolina/Southern Studies/UNC Press News
March 27, 2014

2014 Women’s History Month Reading List

UNC Press has a long history on publishing outstanding work in the field of Women’s Studies. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’d like to highlight some of the great work we’ve been proud to publish in the past year. Click on an image below to start the slideshow. During our American history sale you can save 40% on all… Continue Reading 2014 Women’s History Month Reading List

Categories Gender Studies/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
March 25, 2014

Interview: Johnny Molloy on Hiking North Carolina’s National Forests

As we continue to bind ourselves to the electronic universe it is more important than ever to reconnect with nature, and North Carolina’s national forests are an ideal destination to enjoy the the scenic splendor included within. So make some time to get back to nature on nature’s terms. Not only will it refresh your mind and exercise your body, it is a spiritually renewing experience to see the unimproved works of God laid out before us. Continue Reading Interview: Johnny Molloy on Hiking North Carolina’s National Forests

Categories Hiking/Interviews/North Carolina/Travel
March 21, 2014

Michael H. Hunt: The Ukraine Crisis and the Rules Great Powers Play By

The United States has championed a values-based approach with a strong missionary impulse behind it. Woodrow Wilson provided its first full-blown articulation, and post-World War II policy saw to its full-blown application. Holding a dominant global position, Washington sought with varying degrees of urgency and determination to advance a basket of ideological goods. U.S. leaders have articulated these goods in a variety of ways such as “democracy,” “free-market capitalism,” and “human rights.” But underlying all these formulations is a strong and distinctly American belief in the autonomy of the individual and a commitment to political liberty and limited state power. In the rhetoric of American statecraft these notions are a leitmotiv. They have generally set the direction of U.S. policy responses to problems of the sort that Ukraine poses. Continue Reading Michael H. Hunt: The Ukraine Crisis and the Rules Great Powers Play By

Categories Author blog entry/Current Events/Michael H. Hunt/Politics
March 19, 2014

Shane J. Maddock: The Case for Nuclear Zero

U.S. military dominance in both the quantity and quality of its weapons has reached a point where it has stopped increasing the nation’s security and has begun to erode it instead. Unable to match the conventional might of the United States, nations who fear American coercion can either seek nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack or use the threat of retaliatory terrorist attacks to make Washington pause. U.S. fear that its enemies will resort to either of these two options, in turn, leads to pressure to increase military spending to even higher levels. Continue Reading Shane J. Maddock: The Case for Nuclear Zero

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Military History/Military Studies/Political Science/Politics
March 18, 2014

Video: Amrita Chakrabarti Myers: “Making a Way out of No Way: Black Women in the Old South”

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, author of Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston, recently gave a talk for the James A. Hutchins Lecture at the Center for the Study of the American South entitled “Making a Way out of No Way: Black Women in the Old South.” In this lecture, she expands upon ideas discussed in her book about how black women fought for freedom in their oppressive environment. Continue Reading Video: Amrita Chakrabarti Myers: “Making a Way out of No Way: Black Women in the Old South”

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Video
March 17, 2014

Interview: Jodi Helmer on Farming and Agritourism in Georgia

We’ve become so disconnected from the source of our food! While I was traveling through Georgia, several farmers told me that kids who visited their farms had no idea that chickens laid eggs and carrots came out of the soil. Agritourism provides a great opportunity to learn where our food comes from and meet the farmers who grow and raise it. Farmers work incredibly hard to put food on our tables; visiting farms shows that we value their dedication to growing fresh, local foods and want to support their work. If we want small farms to survive, we need to support the farmers. Continue Reading Interview: Jodi Helmer on Farming and Agritourism in Georgia

Categories Cooking / Food/Interviews/Travel
March 13, 2014

Announcing a new book series: Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges

Under the editorship of Mart A. Stewart and Harriet Ritvo, Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges seeks book projects that explore the cross-border movements of organisms and materials that have shaped the modern world, as well as the varied human attempts to understand, regulate, and manage these movements. Although the series will emphasize scholarship whose analysis is transnational in scope, it will also include scholarship that explores movement across intranational boundaries. The core discipline of the series will be environmental history, but authors might also engage with scholarship in such allied fields as agricultural and rural development history, urban history, political ecology, the history of science and technology, historical geography, and natural resource policy. Continue Reading Announcing a new book series: Flows, Migrations, and Exchanges

Categories Environmental Studies/UNC Press News
March 12, 2014

Anne Balay: The Consequences of Marriage Inequality

For my narrators—the forty transgender, lesbian, and gay steelworkers I interviewed—marriage is complicated. Insurance and survival benefits are not just theoretical issues for them. Continue Reading Anne Balay: The Consequences of Marriage Inequality

Categories Author blog entry/Civil Rights/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/Guest Bloggers/Women's Studies