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A collection of blogs from non-profit and university publishers.
Parrot Culture--Now in Paperback
Parrot Culture: Our 2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird Bruce Thomas Boehrer 224 pages | 6 x 9 | 49 illus. Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2104-6 | $22.50 | £15.00 Exploring the presence and meanings of these bi ... [read more]
Run for your lives! eBooks are the future (and the now)!
Today I attended a UIP brown bag lunch about social media sites and how we can use these sites to better promote UIP and its books and journals (and, in turn, its authors and editors).* Of course the talk eventually came around to the s ... [read more]
Samuel Eldersveld, former Ann Arbor mayor, U-M professor, and Press author, dies at 92
Ann Arbor lost a former mayor and longtime University of Michigan professor when Samuel Eldersveld died Friday of congestive heart failure. He was 92. [read more]
Local author Sue Leaf up for Minnesota Book Award -- your vote counts!
The Press is happy to announce that Minnesota author Sue Leaf's memoir The Bullhead Queen: A Year on Pioneer Lake has been nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. [read more]
Congrats to Carolyn Merchant, winner of ASEH’s Distinguished Scholar Award
We are happy as clams—and horses and chickens and goats and all creatures, really—to announce that today, at the American Society for Environmental History’s annual meeting in Portland, our author Carolyn Merchant, receives the Distingu ... [read more]
Short Takes
Lori Ostlund's short story "All Boy" (which appears in THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD, and was originally published in the New England Review) has been selected by Richard Russo for Best American Short Stories 2010. [read more]
The 59th Annual Jewish Book Awards
My goodness, what a week: first, the Oscars on Sunday night, and then the Jewish Oscars on Tuesday! The Jewish book Oscars, that is: the 2009 National Jewish Book Awards... It was quite a night for JPS, with more award winners than any ... [read more]
China Marine: A Son’s Perspective
John Sledge reflects on his father's book. [read more]
On the Origins of Comics
Brian Boyd's fascinating essay in the inaugural issue of The Evolutionary Review is now available online for you to read—for free! Here's the opening two paragraphs, to set the scene a bit: Comics can have almost no mass and yet be the ... [read more]
Book on Gullah Geechee culture launches March 18 in Savannah
AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE IN THE GEORGIA LOWCOUNTRY, a new edited collection of essays on Gullah Geechee culture, will launch Thursday, March 18 at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum at 460 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Savannah. [read more]
"The Greatest Event Since It and the World Began"
So now that the Best Translated Book Awards are over, I can fully concentrate on the next event—one for Macedonio Fernandez’s The Museum of Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel) that is taking place tonight at the Americas Society tonig ... [read more]
The Confessions of Noa Weber
   The Confessions of Noa Weber by Gail Hareven; trans. by Dalya Bilu There are few things more exciting than an outstanding international author’s first English translation, and the opportunity for more than 400 million new readers t ... [read more]
The Oxford Companion to the Book
Taking a look at how the ebook format compares and contrasts with various book formats throughout history. [read more]
David Chura: Juvenile Justice? Send ‘Em to Boot Camp!
Today's post is from David Chura, author of I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup. Chura has worked with at-risk teenagers for forty years. His writing has appeared in the New York Times and multipl ... [read more]
Celebrating Semiotext(e)
Semiotext(e) is the topic of tonight's 2010 Fales Lecture at NYU. The Fales Library & Special Collections is home to rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, and collections such as the Food and Cookery Collection ... [read more]
Required Reading on Dreams
At Blog o’ Gnosis, Minister Ann Hill reviews Kelly Bulkeley’s Dreaming in the World’s Religions: A Comparative History. Dreaming in the World’s Religions finally answers the basic question: how did people in ancient cultures view dream ... [read more]
Collector Donates Tubman Artifacts to Smithsonian
Collector and author Charles L. Blockson has donated a treasure trove of artifacts relating to Harriet Tubman to the Smithsonian Institution for display in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. According to Washin ... [read more]
Role – Podictionary Word of the Day
The podictionary word of the week is "role." [read more]
Siobhan Phillips: “Poems and Everyday Reading”
The following post is by Siobhan Phillips author of The Poetics of the Everyday: Creative Repetition in Modern American Verse. When I wrote The Poetics of the Everyday, I wanted to learn how quotidian experience could foster rather tha ... [read more]
The Lives of the Pennine Miners
Geoff Coyle tells us about the lives of the miners who worked in the Pennines. [read more]
60 Days of Giveaways: Day 14
The answer to yesterday's trivia question was C. Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Today's trivia question also relates to The Addict and the Law: Upon learning that the Press intended to publish the book, The Federal Bureau of Narcotics inv ... [read more]
Best Translated Book Award Winners [BTBA 2010]
Approximately five minutes, the winners of this year’s Best Translated Book Awards were announced at a special celebration at Idlewild Books in New York City. Hopefully the party is raging, and the winners are enjoying themselves . . . [read more]
Being "smart on crime," Mona Lynch on Arizona's corrections budget
With the economic pitfalls of the past few years still tightening state budgets across the U.S., every dollar counts. There are many factors contributing to state budgets, and in Arizona, prison sentencing has become a hot topic in budg ... [read more]
Dictionary of the Ancient Near East--Now in Paperback
Dictionary of the Ancient Near East Edited by Piotr Bienkowski and Alan Millard 352 pages | 7 x 10 | 350 illus. Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2115-2 | $34.95 | £23.00 Not for sale outside North America and the Philippines... [read more]
Anton Treuer Speaking Thursday Night
Anton Treuer will read from his new book, Ojibwe in Minnesota tomorrow at the Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church, hosted by Birchbark Books. The Pipestone Singers will also be there, along with Anton’s mother, Margaret Treuer, Minnesota’ ... [read more]
UH Press Distributing the Cornell East Asia Series and KITLV Press
University of Hawai‘i Press is pleased to announce it is now a distributor for the Cornell East Asia Series (excluding North America) and KITLV Press (North America only). The Cornell East Asia Series is produced by the Cornell Univers ... [read more]
New UH Press Catalog Available for Download: Asian Studies 2010
The UH Press 2010 Asian Studies catalog is now available! To download the 5.1M PDF, click on the catalog cover image to the left. [read more]
Happy birthday, Lillian Wald
Today we celebrate the birthday of Lillian Wald (1867-1940), founder of Henry Street Settlement on New York’s Lower East Side as well as the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Wald was a second-generation German Jewish immigrant who de ... [read more]
Science on Film
The Smithsonian Institution has more than thirteen million images in some seven hundred collections throughout its network of museums, research centers, and the National Zoo. The Bigger Picture is a blog that takes a closer look at the ... [read more]
Did you catch that? John Cage's 4'33" performed live
John Cage's silent masterpiece 4'33" is one of classical music's most controversial compositions. In his new book, No Such Thing as Silence, musician and critic Kyle Gann not only explains why the piece incited such a stir but also why... [read more]
National Jewish Book Award
Last night was the ceremony honoring the winner’s of this year’s National Jewish Book Awards, sponsored by the Jewish Book Council. The University of Nebraska Press is honored that one of our books was among the winning titles. The Holo ... [read more]
March is Women's History Month
March is Women’s History Month, celebrating the myriad achievements and struggles of women around the globe. Fordham is proud to present several upcoming and backlist titles that give voice to women’s history. American Woman, Italian S ... [read more]
The Moment of Caravaggio Has Come
After nearly 500 years spent lurking in the shadows of Florentine Golden Boy Michelangelo, Caravaggio is having his moment in the spotlight.   Thanks in part to this front page piece in the New York Times and a flurry of media attention ... [read more]
Man in the Mirror
Today’s Inside Higher Ed featured a story about the quarterly journal, The Mariner’s Mirror (published by the British-based Society for Nautical Research), and its honorary editor’s dissatisfaction with the quality of recent submissions ... [read more]
Piratical acts and the shaping of modern IP law
Toronto's The Globe and Mail published a review of Adrian Johns's Piracy in Monday's edition of the paper. In the review Grace Westcott takes special note of Johns's unique approach to the history of intellectual property debates— a fea ... [read more]
The first college radio station?
Hugh Slotten, author of the recent book Radio’s Hidden Voice: The Origins of Public Broadcasting in the United States, was interviewed by Jennifer Waits for the Radio Survivor site. Jennifer: There’s a great deal of conflicting informa ... [read more]
Queer Jews on BBC, University Reform on NPR
Two podcasts! Cary Nelson (No University is an Island) on Baltimore NPR. David Shneer (Torah Queeries) on BBC’s The World Today (starts at minute 32). [read more]
Off With Their Heads!
How does Alice in Wonderland mirror our own political world? [read more]
Thomas Espenshade at the Princeton Public Library tonight
Just a reminder that Tom Espenshade will be presenting from his book No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal: Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life at the Princeton Public Library tonight. The event starts at 7:30 PM. Rea ... [read more]
Unpleasant People. Part 2: Scoundrel
In this post, the second part in his Unpleasant People series, Anatoly Liberman considers the word "Scoundrel." [read more]
Two Heads Are Not Always Better Than One: Labour’s Poster attacking David Cameron
James Hall, author of The Sinister Side, on the left-right symbolism in one of the Labour Party's new election posters. [read more]
60 Days of Giveaways: Day 13
The answer to yesterday's trivia question was B. The schlemiel. Inspired by The Dude's penchant for White Russians and another not-so-legal substance, today's question focuses on a book we published in the '60s called The Addict and the ... [read more]
UPM Turns 40
On Saturday, March 6, the University Press of Mississippi celebrated its 40th anniversary with an afternoon picnic held during the Oxford Conference for the Book. The day’s events culminated with a book signing and toast to UPM at Squar ... [read more]
Nebraska Stories and an LA Times review
Nebraska readers of this blog can celebrate Nebraska’s birth month by tuning into NET Television tonight at 8 p.m. for Nebraska Stories, a magazine-style news program highlighting notable Nebraskans, ideas and events that contribute to ... [read more]
Book Launch: Blazing Figures
We’re thrilled that Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle is in print and we’re throwing a party to prove it! On Thursday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. please join us at Ben McNally Books (366 Bay St) in Toronto to celebrate this publicatio ... [read more]
Robert Lombardo on WGN-TV
  Robert Lombardo, author of the new book The Black Hand: Terror by Letter in Chicago, was interviewed March 5, 2010, on WGN-TV’s Midday News. [read more]
April 29, 2010Sam Munsonat 57th Street Books
Date & Time: Thursday, April 29th at 6.00pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street A darkly funny, pot-infused novel of teenage maladjustment in the tradition of Beautiful Children from a compelling new voice in American fic ... [read more]
April 24, 2010Craig Robinsonat International House
Date & Time: Saturday, April 24th at 2.00pm Location: International House, 1414 E. 59th Street [read more]
April 22, 2010Writers on the Record:Peter Carey
  Date & Time: Thursday, April 22nd at 6.00pm Location: Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State Street From the two-time Booker Prize–winning author comes an irrepressibly funny new novel set in early nineteenth-century America. Oli ... [read more]
April 20, 2010Jonathan Metzlat 57th Street Books
Date & Time: Tuesday, April 20th at 6.00pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street Revolution was in the air in the 1960s. Civil rights protests demanded attention on the airwaves and in the streets. Anger gave way to revolt, ... [read more]
April 16, 2010Alison LaCroixat 57th Street Books
Date & Time: Friday, April 16th at 6.00pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street Federalism is regarded as one of the signal American contributions to modern politics. Its origins are typically traced to the drafting of the ... [read more]
April 15, 2010Jacqueline Winspearat 57th Street Books
  Date & Time: Thursday, April 15th at 6.00pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime love and death—an investigatio ... [read more]
Jonathan M. Metzl: The Language of Addiction in the Bombast of the Right
Analyzing the colorful language of two of the right's loudest voices is Jonathan M. Metzl, author of The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease. Metzl is associate professor of psychiatry and women's studies and dir ... [read more]
April 13, 2010Vivian Paleyat 57th Street Books
Date & Time: Tuesday, April 13th at 6.00pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street Four-year-old Eli plays alone at the shore, inventing dramas out of sand and water. He is Builder, Fireman, Protector, and Scout, overcoming w ... [read more]
April 6, 2010Elif Batumanat 57th Street Books
  Date & Time: Tuesday, April 6th at 6.30pm Location: 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street No one who read Elif Batuman’s first article (in the journal n+1) will ever forget it. “Babel in California” told the true story of various ... [read more]
Thursday at Magers & Quinn: Discuss the future of the Twin Cities—neighborhoods, job growth—with local community leaders
This Thursday, Minneapolis bookseller Magers & Quinn will be hosting an open forum led by author and community leader Myron Orfield. Orfield will be joined by Meg Tuthill, the new council member for Ward 10; Dave VanHattum of the nonpro ... [read more]
The Complete JPS Audio Bible is Finally Here!
* [read more]
“Never-judge-a-book-by-its-cover”, yeah right.
As part of the run-up to the annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses, the program committee is posting Essential Reading and provocative links for publishers. This link to BBC News struck me in particular becaus ... [read more]
Pootwattle and Smedley have at it…
Do academics get an unfair rep for speaking (and writing) in academic gobbledygook? If you are undecided, stop by The Virtual Academic for a taste of REAL jargon courtesy of the virtual academic Pootwattle and the virtual critic Smedley ... [read more]
An American Aristocracy
Elvin Lim reflects on politics and the Oscars. [read more]
Finally, a Taliban Crackdown in Pakistan
Recent months have seen an increase in Pakistani involvement in the fight against the Taliban in the Middle East, including a sudden surge in arrests of the terrorist network's top leaders. Although Pakistan's motives behind this policy ... [read more]
Best Translated Book Award Ceremony
Tomorrow is the big day: We’ll be announcing the winners of the 2010 Best Translated Book Award! [read more]
The words and will of Tony Judt
Over the course of his career historian Tony Judt has become one of the nation's most "famously tough-minded and combative" public intellectuals, writes Wesley Yang for the current edition of New York Magazine. The director of NYU's Eri ... [read more]
New York's Indie and Small Press Book Fair
Check out this LA Times article about last weekend's New York Indie and Small Press Book Fair. Author Binnie Klein (Blows to the Head) is featured prominently in the piece. Here's another picture of Binnie, relaxing at the Excelsior Edi ... [read more]
Louisa May Alcott and the Godmother of Punk
We love it when new UNC Press books seem to be in conversation with other books of the moment.  Take Patti Smith’s acclaimed new memoir, Just Kids (HarperCollins 2010), which offers an inside look at the punk pioneer’s artistic influenc ... [read more]
At long last, the 2nd edition of Birds of Europe publishes
For years, we have fielded calls from birders asking when the new edition of Birds of Europe will publish. Well, it is finally here and hopefully it lives up to the hype. [read more]
And the Oscar goes to “Up,” of course.
Kathryn Kalinak reflects on the the 2010 Oscar “Original Score” presentations and results. [read more]
Five Books
Not sure if I missed this earlier, but I ran across Five Books because of this interview with Jeremy Mynott.  What a terrific site. Click through and read their interviews, loosely arranged around various authors' five books lists. What ... [read more]
Stitching Identities in a Free Trade Zone--Now in Paperback
Stitching Identities in a Free Trade Zone: Gender and Politics in Sri Lanka Sandya Hewamanne 296 pages | 6 x 9 | 10 illus. Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4045-0 | $59.95 | £39.00 Paper 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2112-1 | $24.95... [read more]
Two critically acclaimed novelists speak at March 19 UMP Author Series event
Debra Spark set her novel in Madison, Wis. Susan Messer placed hers in downtown Detroit the summer of the 1967 riots. Both make you feel as if you actually stepped into those cities. And both will be in Ann Arbor... [read more]
Alex Vraciu Biography Released
On the morning of June 19, 1944, as U.S. troops were battling Japanese forces on Saipan in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, American pilots based on aircraft carriers offshore rushed to their planes to protect their fleet from an ene ... [read more]
Billy Collins and David Allen Sibley discuss Bright Wings
In anticipation of tomorrow’s reading from Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds the American Museum of Natural History, the museum’s Web site has posted interviews with the book’s editor Billy Collins and illustra ... [read more]
The Paradox of Employment: The Reality Behind Youth Labor Market Statistics in Egypt and the United States
As Vice President Biden travels to the Middle East, Ragui Assaad and Samantha Constant analyze employment prospects for young people in both the United States and the Middle East, with a special focus on Egypt. Both the United States an ... [read more]
Census 2010: Counting for Dollars
The 2010 Census will not only change the way Americans view their nation, but it will also be a factor in how federal assistance funds are dispensed across the country. Counting for Dollars: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Distr ... [read more]
60 Days of Giveaways: Day 12
The answer to yesterday's trivia question was D. All of the above. Today's question focuses on our dudely study of the movie: In his essay, "The Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van Winkle", Fred... [read more]
New Book: Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine
Anthony Slide's Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers provides the definitive history of a little known artifact. The book charts the development of the fan magazine from the gold ... [read more]
New Video from Girldrive author Nona Willis Aronowitz!
Girldrive author Nona Willis Aronowitz was here in the Bay Area last week, and she (and a couple of us from here at Seal Press) spent an afternoon on Telegraph Avenue doing some free word association--with a feminist slant, of course--w ... [read more]
Things We Didn’t See Coming
Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam As we enter the second decade of this new millennium, Steven Amsterdam welcomes us with an eerily humorous dystopian future. Things We Didn’t See Coming is a series of discrete stories in ... [read more]
Paved with Poetry
Now that we can actually see the sidewalks in the Twin Cities, if you are poetically inclined, consider entering the Annual St. Paul Sidewalk Poetry Contest. Winning poems will be permanently published in city sidewalks. Submissions are ... [read more]
On the Move for Love: Migrant Entertainers and the U.S. Military in South Korea--Now Available
On the Move for Love: Migrant Entertainers and the U.S. Military in South Korea Sealing Cheng 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 8 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4217-1 | $55.00 | £36.00 A volume in the Pennsylvania Studies... [read more]
The real Hurt Locker
Last night, Kathryn Bigelow took home the Oscar for Best Director (the first for a woman) and her film, The Hurt Locker, topped a field of ten Best Picture nominees (beating out the highest grossing film of all time, directed by Bigelow ... [read more]
Life behind a badge in Chicago
John Kass's column in yesterday's Chicago Tribune discussed Chicago police officer Martin Prieb's forthcoming book The Wagon and Other Stories from the City—an authentic chronicle of life behind the badge on the gritty streets of Chicag ... [read more]
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia--Now Available
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia: Bioarchaeological Studies of Past Life Ways Edited by Andrzej Weber, M. Anne Katzenberg, and Theodore G. Schurr 344 pages | 6 x 9 | 63 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-1-934536-11- ... [read more]
Silje Bekeng on the Modern Norwegian Novel
Norwegians are said to be born with skis on their feet—ready from birth for a life in harmony with the inhospitable Nordic nature. [read more]
Celebrate International Women's Day
Today, March 8th 2010, women worldwide will unite to literally bridge the gap between their countries and demand the peace they deserve. In honor of International Women’s Day, author of A Thousand Sisters, Lisa Shannon, will be joining ... [read more]
Derek Bok on NH Public Radio talking about happiness
Derek Bok appears on New Hampshire Public Radio's Word of Mouth as part of their ongoing series on Governance to discuss how the government can make us happier. [read more]
Joan Waugh on Grant v. Reagan (yes, as in Ulysses S. and Ronald)
Have you heard? Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has sponsored a bill to replace U.S. Grant on the $50 bill with Ronald Reagan. In an op-ed for the LA Times, Grant biographer Joan Waugh offers a brief history lesson in defense of the Union g ... [read more]
Our Oscars segment on WCCO + a look behind the Hollywood scenes
Some say the battle for Best Actor was a neck-and-neck race between Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges. No matter how close the call, the Academy ultimately chose Bridges' Crazy Heart performance over Firth's in A Single Man. While happy for ... [read more]
Carole Joffe: The Billboard Circus and the Abortion Wars
On International Women's Day, we offer this post from Carole Joffe, author of Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us. Joffe is professor of sociology at the University of Cali ... [read more]
What Is It You Do?
Alexandra D’Arcy explains what she does. [read more]
Reading the World Podcast #2: Susan Harris
This month’s episode features Susan Harris of Words Without Borders, who came on to talk about WWB’s educational programs and the Ecco Anthology of International Poetry that she edited along with Ilya Kaminsky. [read more]
Charles Kupchan discusses his new book on ABC Radio National’s “Saturday Extra”
Charles Kupchan, professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, talked about his new book HOW ENEMIES BECOME FRIENDS: The Sources of Stable Peace on ABC Radio National' ... [read more]
International Women’s Day 2010
March 8 is International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate the accomplishments of women, which are many. More women than ever are serving in government, training as scientists and doctors, and leading local, national, and international or ... [read more]
Off the Shelf: Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus by Ana Maria Spagna
Read from Chapter 1, "In Front of Speed's" in Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey by Ana Maria Spagna: "The paint-peeling sign above the door is barely legible: Speed’s Grocery. I stand on the sidewalk... [read more]
The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Transgressor
While discussion of Kathryn Bigelow’s work is sure to grow following last night’s win at the Oscars, currently one of the few books to give serious consideration to her films is The Cinema of of Kathryn Bigelow, edited by Deborah Jermyn ... [read more]
Rising to the Challenge of Change: An Address by Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou
On March 8, the Center on the U.S. and Europe at Brookings welcomed Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou for a public address on how Greece, the United States and Europe can reinvigorate their cooperation to confront common challe ... [read more]
Statement on Justice Department Attorney Representation of Guantánamo Detainees
In response to a recent campaign demanding that the Justice Department release the names of attorneys defending Guantánamo detainees, a group of attorneys, former officials and policy specialists who have worked on detention issues—incl ... [read more]
60 Days of Giveaways: Day 11
The answer to last Friday's trivia question was C. $6.00. All this week, you'll be playing for a chance to win a copy of The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies. Today's question has to do with The Dude: What name... [read more]
Battle Without End: Raúl Ramos on the politics of Texas history
Today brings us a guest post from Raúl Ramos, author of Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861. In his book, Ramos introduces a new model for the transnational history of the United States as he focuses o ... [read more]
Oscar watch 2010
Although I've only seen two of the ten (Ten? Is that right? That seems like a lot more than usual!) films nominated for best picture, I'll be tuning into the Oscars this Sunday (and not just for the hosts, Alec... [read more]