Interview with Diane Mutti Burke about her book, On Slavery’s Border

ON SLAVERY'S BORDER is a bottom-up examination of how slavery and slaveholding were influenced by both the geography and the scale of the slaveholding enterprise. Diane Mutti Burke focuses on the Missouri counties located along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to investigate small-scale slavery at the level of the household and neighborhood.

The Early American Places (EAP) series focuses on historical developments in specific places of North America. Though these developments often involved far-flung parts of the world, they were experienced in particular communities—the local places where people lived, worked, and made sense of their changing worlds. By restricting its focus to smaller geographic scales, but stressing that towns, colonies, and regions were part of much larger networks, EAP will combine up-to-date scholarly sophistication with an emphasis on local particularities and trajectories. 

This interview with Diane Mutti Burke is the first in a series of videos with EAP authors. In each video, the authors are asked three questions:
1) Why did you focus your research on this particular place/area/region?
2) Please tell us a little more about your book.
3) Is your study specific to your area or is it applicable to other places/area/regions?

UGA Press Author on "Who Do You Think You Are?"

Photo by Abraham Sheppard

Eva Sheppard Wolf, author of the forthcoming book, ALMOST FREE, will be on tonight's episode of NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" Airing at 8/7c, the episode will follow actor Blair Underwood as he traces his family tree. An article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch shows a photo of Eva Sheppard Wolf with Blair Underwood as he traces his family's ancestry to west Central Africa. "Who Do You Think You Are?" traces the family history of celebrities. More information about the show and past episodes can be found on the show's website.

Event Highlights for Black History Month

Watch for these events to actively engage in rounding up this year's Black History Month while supporting our Press authors:
 
February 23, 2012
 

ACCIDENTAL SLAVEOWNER by Mark Auslander

Location: Eagle Harbor Books 

Bainbridge Island, WA

Time: 7:30pm

 February 25, 2012


RUMOR, REPRESSION, AND RACIAL POLITICS by G. Derek Musgrove
Location: ASALH Authors Event
Washington, D.C.
Time: 10:00am

RUMOR, REPRESSION, AND RACIAL POLITICS by G. Derek Musgrove
Location: Hutchins' Black History Party
Washington, D.C.
Time: 6:00pm


February 26, 2012

PHILLIS WHEATLEY by Vincent Carretta
Location: Enoch Pratt Free Library
Poe Room
Baltimore, MD 21201
Time: 2:30pm


February 27, 2012

ACCIDENTAL SLAVEOWNER by Mark Auslander
Location: Agnes Scott College
Atlanta, GA
Time: 7:00pm




February 28, 2012

STUCK by Marc Sommers
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center
Washington, D.C.
Time: 3:00pm






 
February 29, 2012

AT-RISK by Amina Gautier
Location: University of Richmond
Richmond, VA
Time: TBA

Short Takes

George Derek Musgrove is interviewed on 88.1 WYPR The Signal for his new book RUMOR, REPRESSION, AND RACIAL POLITICS (listen here), as well as on The Root.

Vincent Carretta is interviewed on the New Books Network (listen here) for his book PHILLIS WHEATLEY.

UPHEAVAL IN CHARLESTON was one of four finalists for the South Carolina Historical Society's  2011 George C. Rogers Jr. Award.

Susan Millar Williams and Stephen G. Hoffius are commended by Chronicles Magazine for their book UPHEAVAL IN CHARLESTON, in which they have "created a narrative history, intricate and meticulously documented, that reads like a well-plotted novel, largely avoiding the tedium of far to many academic histories."

The London Review of Books includes a review covering four books about Samuel Johnson's life, including Sir John Hawkins' THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. edited by O M Brack, Jr.

University of Georgia's Columns newspaper writes that "In evocative photography and elegant prose, [ALTAMAHA] captures the distinctive beauty of this river and offers a portrait of the man who has become its improbable guardian." 

Booklist includes two Press author's highlights this week. One for Janisse Ray's DRIFTING INTO DARIEN and one for Mark Hersey's MY WORK IS THAT OF CONSERVATION.

A review of JOHN BACHMAN in Choice praises editor Gene Waddell, who "has skillfully compiled portions of Bachman's writings on the title's three topics."

The Journal of Southern History applauds several Press authors this week. Catherine Lynn and Carie Penabad are praised for their "deeply researched and carefully constructed life-and-works study of Miami's first woman architect, Marion I. Manley" entitled MARION MANLEY, while Chistopher Waldrep is compared to "John Steinbeck, who used 'interchapter' in Grapes of Wrath" and "William Faulkner, who wrote The Wild Palms as alternating chapters of two separate stories" for the "interesting structure" of his book JURY DISCRIMINATION.

Charles Seabrook's THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH is described as "another excellent wake-upcall about the need to prevent the destruction of our natural environment" by Kirkus Reviews.

Environmental History calls Mark Hersey's book MY WORK IS THAT OF CONSERVATION a "well written and researched book" that "reminds us yet again that modern environmentalist had many fathers."

In a review of ROPPONGI CROSSING in The Journal of Urban Affairs Roman Adrian Cybriwsky is lauded for his "keen insight into the [Roppongi District] that most foreign observers are unable to provide."

H-Environment releases a Roundtables Review on David Zierler's INVENTION OF ECOCIDE, saying that the book "fills an important hole in the existing historiography, while also building valuable connections to related historical work on war and environment and on environment and science policy" and that Zierler "will prove a leader in the history of American environmental diplomacy."

Amina Gautier's book AT-RISK is called an "update" to "the usual Flannery O'Connor winner's content: citified, frisky, adventurous and redolent of social concerns" in a review by Notre Dame Reviews

The Chronicle of Higher Education includes a highlight of Kathryn Newfont's BLUE RIDGE COMMONS in this week's booklist.

Former Poet Laureate Rita Dove provides her "List of Young Poets to Watch" for Bill Moyer. Her list includes Dave Lucas, author of WEATHER, and Kyle Dargan, author of three collections of poetry including LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA, BOUQUET OF HUNGERS, and THE LISTENING. 

Short Takes

Robert Hirschfield, of the Jerusalem Report, praises David Caplan's first book of poems, IN THE WORLD HE CREATED ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, in what at times reads like half obituary and half review. Calling for the second life of this splendid collection of poems where "[r]eality is hardedged, varied, [and] seriously explored," Hirschfield decries the neglect of Caplan's book and even challenges it by saying that "[t]he complexity of the poet's Biblically-based worldview may come as a surprise to the literary secularist."

Nancy Lord, of the Orion Magazine, writes that "We're lucky that the fresh, original voice of Melinda Moustakis has arrived to speak to us from her heart's home." For Lord, BEAR DOWN, BEAR NORTH is a wonderful addition of "imaginative fiction" amidst a "surge of well-regarded literary non-fiction" concerning Alaska.

Story Circle Book Reviews describes Jill Christman's book DARKROOM: A FAMILY EXPOSURE as "[a]lternately humorous, sensitive, intellectual, evocative and eye opening. . . . a written collage that will touch and enlighten readers."

A reviewer in the Arkansas Review wrote that John C. Inscoe's WRITING THE SOUTH THROUGH THE SELF "is without a doubt a valuable contribution to the field of southern studies."

The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society calls Diane Mutti Burke's book ON SLAVERY'S BORDER "a significant contribution toward [the] understanding" of the different practices, the "very different experiences," that slaves encountered in the Upper South, where plantation life was less common, and the plantation-ridden Lower South. The reviewer says that Mutti Burke's research into the contrasts between each distinct region of the south "make[s] a significant contribution toward such understanding."

The American Historical Review slates CONTENTIOUS LIBERTIES as "a major contribution" to the "literature on Christian missions in Jamaica," and the Midwest Book Review calls it "[a] fascinating, in depth account of conflicts between disparate cultures in the 1800's. . . .highly recommended as an excellent pick for international history shelves."

The American Historical Review praises Alexander Macaulay's MARCHING IN STEP as "an authoritative institutional history based on Macaulay's perceptive understanding of his alma mater."

Somebody Else, Somewhere Else: The Raymond Andrews Story

The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and the Morgan County African-American Museum are collaborating to present Somebody Else, Somewhere Else: The Raymond Andrews Story, an independent documentary film by Jesse Freeman, about the life of Georgia writer Raymond Andrews (1934-1991). The film will be shown at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center auditorium on Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 pm. A question and answer session with the filmmaker and a reception will follow the screening. There is a suggested donation of $5.00 at the door.

Andrews is best known for his novel, APPALACHEE RED, a riotous tale of racial redemption set in the fictional Muskhogean County, a location modeled after Andrews’ birthplace, Morgan County, Georgia. APPALACHEE RED was followed by ROSIEBELLE LEE WILDCAT TENNESSEE and BABY SWEET'S. All three novels, known collectively as the Muskhogean Trilogy, are available from the University of Georgia Press. Andrews other works include a memoir, The Last Radio Baby, and a collection of novellas called Jessie and Jesus and Cousin Claire.

Raymond Andrews was one of ten children born into a sharecropping family in Morgan County. He was part of the great intellectual migration of African Americans away from the rural South to the urban North. After fighting in the Korean War, Andrews studied at Michigan State University and later moved to New York City. Raymond Andrews was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2009.

Somebody Else, Somewhere Else features archival footage of interviews with the writer, as well as original interviews with his friends, family members, fellow writers, and literary scholars. The film includes an interview with Raymond’s brother, Benny Andrews, who was a renowned visual artist. Benny and Raymond shared a close but complicated relationship that informed each of their bodies of work. Other interviewees include the novelists Philip Lee Williams, Terry Kay, Tony Grooms, Richard Bausch, and Gary Gildner.

The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center is a non-profit performing and visual arts center located at 434 S. Main Street in historic Madison, Georgia.

Other resources on the life and work of William Andrews include the New Georgia Encyclopedia and a special issue of the Georgia Review published to coincide with "Once Upon a Time in Athens," the journal's two-day appreciation of Andrews in fall 2010.

In the News: Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson Share New Findings on Pythons

INVASIVE PYTHONS PYTHONS IN THE UNITED STATES authors Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson are part of a new study that was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Dorcas is the lead author on the paper.) The study has found that the overabundance of Burmese pythons has led to a significant decrease in the number of mammals in the Florida Everglades. The study has drawn much attention from many news outlets over the last couple of days, including USA Today, NPR, BBC, and National Geographic.

For more information on the study's findings, check out some of the news links below. Also, be sure to pick up a copy of INVASIVE PYTHONS IN THE UNITED STATES to learn more about this predator and how it is affecting Florida and the rest of the United States.

Miami Herald: "Pythons likely wiping out Glades mammals, new study finds"
USA Today: "Pythons have stranglehold on Florida Everglades ecosystem"
Associated Press: "Pythons apparently wiping out Everglades mammals"
BBC: "Pythons linked to Florida Everglades mammal decline"
NPR: "Invasive Pythons Put Squeeze On Everglades' Animals"
National Geographic: "Pythons Eating Through Everglades Mammals at 'Astonishing' Rate?"
Washington Post: "In Florida Everglades, pythons and anacondas dominate food chain"
CNN (blog): "Pythons Wiping Out Mammals in Everglades, Researchers Say"
Time (blog): "Invaders: How Burmese Pythons Are Devouring the Everglades"