September 20, 2012

Beth Tompkins Bates: What is Society’s Obligation to Those in Distress?

Murphy attacked the tight-fisted policy of Ford Motor Company (FMC) and its indifference toward unemployed workers. Henry Ford publicly maintained he would never cut wages or jobs, even as he proceeded to do both. Employment at the largest facility of FMC in Dearborn, just outside Detroit, fell nearly 50 percent between 1929 and 1932. But the overwhelming majority of laid-off Ford workers resided in Detroit, raising the question, who bore responsibility for assisting them? Continue Reading Beth Tompkins Bates: What is Society’s Obligation to Those in Distress?

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Economics/Guest Bloggers/History/Politics
September 19, 2012

The UNC Press fall sale is underway! Save up to 50% on select titles

Throughout the fall, we’re offering 50% off selected titles in the disciplines listed below. Enter 01SALE12 at checkout. Spend $75.00 and the shipping is free. Continue Reading The UNC Press fall sale is underway! Save up to 50% on select titles

Categories African American History/American History/American Studies/Art / Architecture/Biography / Autobiography/Civil War/Craft/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Literature/Religion/Sale/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
September 17, 2012

Sarah E. Ruble: The Newsroom and American Exceptionalism

American exceptionalism, or the idea that the United States is somehow both different and better from all other nations, has a long history. From the decision to put novus ordo seclorum (a new order for the ages) on the back of the Great Seal of the United States to President Barack Obama’s claim during his 2008 inaugural that “we are ready to lead once more,” many Americans have believed that their country is something different from anything that has come before or that has arisen since. A leader. A new order. Continue Reading Sarah E. Ruble: The Newsroom and American Exceptionalism

Categories American Studies/Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Media Studies/Political Science/Religion/Video
September 13, 2012

Video: Brett Rushforth on Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France

Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France, by Brett Rushforth”On the one hand I knew that the French were known in North America for their success at forming Indian alliances and learning Native languages, intermarrying with Native women, and fairly successfully integrating themselves into the Native communities for the purposes of the fur trade. But on the other hand, I also knew that there were households in the St. Lawrence Valley and the French colonies that held Native Americans as slaves. And I was interested in how these two things worked together.”—Brett Rushforth Continue Reading Video: Brett Rushforth on Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France

Categories American History/History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/Video
September 12, 2012

Interview: Bland Simpson on Two Captains from Carolina

Bland Simpson, author of Two Captains from Carolina: Moses Grandy, John Newland Maffitt, and the Coming of the Civil War, reveals how the stories of two men can tell the saga of race in the antebellum and Civil War-era South. Continue Reading Interview: Bland Simpson on Two Captains from Carolina

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil War/History/Literature/North Carolina
September 11, 2012

North Carolina Icons: Muscadine Wine and Yadkin Valley Wine

This week for our North Carolina Icons series, we’re featuring Muscadine wine and Yadkin Valley wine. They are numbers 28 and 85 on Our State magazine’s 100 North Carolina Icons. Muscadine grapevines are native to the Southeastern United States and have been used to make wine since the sixteenth century. Yadkin Valley stretches from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the North Carolina Piedmont and is full of wineries and vineyards. Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: Muscadine Wine and Yadkin Valley Wine

Categories Cooking / Food/North Carolina/Travel
September 10, 2012

Kathleen Purvis: Preparations of a Book-Signing Novice

As a first-time book author facing book-signing events, I’m going to have to sign my name in books that people are buying. (At least I hope so. Otherwise, I’ll get a lot of practice sitting at little tables and smiling cheerfully while people ignore me.) Continue Reading Kathleen Purvis: Preparations of a Book-Signing Novice

Categories Author blog entry/Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers/The Book Biz
September 6, 2012

Gordon M. Sayre: The Founding of New Orleans: A City of Floods

A large portion of New Orleans lies below sea level, although the historic and touristic French Quarter, the part of the city that dates to the French period in the mid-eighteenth century, is just barely above sea level and suffered the least from Katrina. The reasons for New Orleans’ vulnerability, and the reasons why the city was established where it is, are revealed in the narrative of Jean-François Benjamin Dumont de Montigny. Continue Reading Gordon M. Sayre: The Founding of New Orleans: A City of Floods

Categories American History/Author blog entry/Biography / Autobiography/Environmental Studies/Geography/Guest Bloggers/History/Hurricanes/Weather
September 5, 2012

Debbie Moose: Confessions of a Crazed Cookbook Author: 7 Tips for Writing a Cookbook

People often ask me how to write cookbooks and where I get my recipes from…. As with all writing, there’s a certain amount of mystery involved. A high number of trips to the kitchen for snacks and other attention-diverting activities are also critical. After writing five cookbooks, I believe I’m qualified to offer seven tips for creating them. Feel free to take notes. Continue Reading Debbie Moose: Confessions of a Crazed Cookbook Author: 7 Tips for Writing a Cookbook

Categories Author blog entry/Cooking / Food/Guest Bloggers
September 4, 2012

North Carolina Icons: Asheville and the Biltmore House

This week in our North Carolina Icons series we’re featuring Asheville and its most famous residence, the Biltmore House. Our State describes Asheville as “A different kind of place. Unless you’re a little different yourself. Make a visit and see.” Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: Asheville and the Biltmore House

Categories Art / Architecture/North Carolina/Travel
August 30, 2012

Lara Putnam: Children of Immigrants, the American Way: Mitt, Gwen, and Barack

In some unexpected ways, it is Mitt and Gwen who have the most in common. For both of them are not only children of immigrants, but children of parents who were themselves children of immigrants. Continue Reading Lara Putnam: Children of Immigrants, the American Way: Mitt, Gwen, and Barack

Categories American Studies/Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Politics
August 29, 2012

Anne M. Butler: Sisterhoods and Habits

Most sisters do not wear the once ubiquitous garb any more; many bishops yearn to see the gender-weighted tradition reinstated; nostalgic lay people reminisce about the habit along with such Catholic signposts as fish on Friday or parish bingo. It is time to drop the overdone fascination with the antiquated clothing of an earlier era—the long black veils, starched bonnets, and sweeping serge skirts—that supposedly measured the holiness of cloistered women, or at least made nuns easy to identify. Continue Reading Anne M. Butler: Sisterhoods and Habits

Categories American History/American Studies/Author blog entry/Christian Studies/Guest Bloggers/History/Religion
August 28, 2012

North Carolina Icons: The Great Dismal Swamp

This week in our North Carolina icons series we’re featuring the Great Dismal Swamp, which stretches from Norfolk, Virginia to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It’s number 80 on Our State magazine’s 100 North Carolina Icons list, where it’s described: “Birds don’t find the swamp dismal at all. More than 200 species of birds can be spotted there during the year. Grab your binoculars and go.” Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: The Great Dismal Swamp

Categories African American Studies/Fiction/Literature/Nature/North Carolina
August 27, 2012

Excerpt: With a Sword in One Hand and Jomini in the Other, by Carol Reardon

Military theory is an intellectually sophisticated and complex form of cultural expression. At the start of the Civil War, the U.S. Army and the people it defended barely had begun to demonstrate an interest in developing a capacity to think about war as an element of national life. They had done little to institutionalize such study. As a consequence, when the Civil War broke out, Northerners had few resources to turn to for insights on an American way of war, and they had no choice but to look to the military classics from across a cultural divide for the intellectual authority they sought. Continue Reading Excerpt: With a Sword in One Hand and Jomini in the Other, by Carol Reardon

Categories American History/Civil War/Excerpts/History/Military Studies
August 24, 2012

Jay Barnes: Hurricanes and Politics

Much of the news coverage for Issac has focused on Tampa, host city for the Republican National Convention set to get underway on Monday. There’s good reason to focus attention on Tampa too, because along with the entire Tampa Bay area, it is the U.S. city most vulnerable to a major hurricane. Continue Reading Jay Barnes: Hurricanes and Politics

Categories Author blog entry/Guest Bloggers/Hurricanes/Weather
August 23, 2012

Excerpt: The House on Diamond Hill, by Tiya Miles

It was lovely, this old plantation house, perched, as it was, atop a hillside. Striking in its grandeur. Alluring in its light. I could almost believe, staring up at the glowing, Palladian window panes, that the year was 1806, that Cherokees still possessed the lands of northern Georgia, that the wealthy Cherokee family who once dwelled in this home would appear at a doorway in waistcoats and bustles. Continue Reading Excerpt: The House on Diamond Hill, by Tiya Miles

Categories African American Studies/American History/American Studies/Excerpts/History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies
August 21, 2012

North Carolina Icons: Longleaf Pine

This week in our North Carolina Icons series, we jump to #94 on Our State Magazine’s list of 100 North Carolina Icons: the Longleaf Pine. Our book recommendations are to be enjoyed with your favorite beverage, a glass of which you should raise high as you recite the North Carolina State Toast (yes, we have one!). Continue Reading North Carolina Icons: Longleaf Pine

Categories Environmental Studies/Nature/North Carolina