Short Takes

The first biography of William and Ellen Craft (for adults), LOVE, LIBERATION, AND ESCAPING SLAVERY is also the first telling of their story by a scholar. Complementing UGA Press's edition of the Crafts' 1860 memoir, RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES TO FREEDOM, Barbara McCaskill's new book examines the couple's two escapes from slavery, their activism on the transatlantic antislavery stage, and their work to assist the freed people in their birthplace in Georgia. To learn more about this new book, listen to the interview below.

Volume One Magazine interviews Debra Monroe about her memoir, ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NORMAL. Check out the interview here to find out about her forthcoming memoir, MY UNSENTIMENTAL EDUCATION, that we will be publishing next fall.

Storyville recently featured FAULTY PREDICTIONS author Karin Lin-Greenberg's short story, "Bread," via its app. In case you missed it, check out the website to learn the story behind the story.

According to Covington News, COURTHOUSES OF GEORGIA is a "vibrant new photography book. . . . Organized by the nine travel regions of Georgia, the book offers the perfect starting point for touring any of Georgia's counties and instills an appreciation for historic preservation." Curious about why the Bartow County courthouse graces the cover of the book? Check out this article by the Daily Tribune.

In an interview with the Macon Telegraph, Association County Commissioners of Georgia executive director Ross King and photographer Greg Newington explain some of the thought behind COURTHOUSES OF GEORGIA:

'I wanted to capture the character of the building. [The courthouse] is the center of the community and a driving force behind community involvement,' Newington said.

King echoed Newington's sentiments. The buildings, King said, are not just to hold court.

'They are the people's building,' he said.

In its review of the book, the Augusta Chronicle praises the photographs of the courthouses, suggesting folks buy the book "for the photos of these wonderful, historic buildings that represent their counties in the best of lights." Besides the beautiful photographs, COURTHOUSES OF GEORGIA also features brief histories of the 159 county courthouses. In an interview with WMAZ, former Georgia House Majority leader Larry Walker "says while helping with the book, he learned facts about his native Houston County courthouses."

In an interview with Island Packet and Beauford Gazette Reporter Erin Shaw, PENN CENTER author Orville Vernon Burton explains why the story behind Penn Center is "amazing."

Burton said he was drawn to Penn Center's story because it offers a different South Carolina history than most people are used to.

'Here was the alternate vision to segregation in South Carolina,' he said. Penn Center, originally called Penn School, 'allowed blacks and whites to treat one another as brothers and sisters.'

The Durham Herald-Sun has a round-up of new titles, including Melissa Estes Blair's new book, REVOLUTIONIZING EXPECTATIONS. "The history of feminism in Durham is unique, in that it did not arrive 'through marches or mass demonstrations' but through organizations like the YWCA, which made the goals of feminism acceptable for more people." To learn more about the book, check out this interview with Blair at Warren Wilson College.

CBS News recently aired a piece on the University of Georgia's mascot, Uga. (Did you miss it? If so, check out the video below.) Want to learn more about Uga? Be sure to pickup a copy of DAMN GOOD DOGS. Monica McFawn, author of BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE, explains why she does not write down stories in a guest post for the blog, Read Her Like An Open Book:

Despite the fact that I’m a writer, the majority of stories I’ve told won’t be committed to paper. It isn’t because I think the stories aren’t good enough. In fact, some of the stories I tell are polished to a sheen, any crude transitions or slow spots worn away by years of telling, of watching listeners’ faces. Still, I believe the fact that I don’t write them down has paradoxically helped me become a better writer.

Visit WKMS 91.3FM to hear an interview with Kate Sweeney about her book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE.  "The way I write always winds up having some irreverence in it. I always wind up finding humor in things," Sweeney says.

Congratulations Julian Hoffman and Joe Cook! Their books are two of this year's recipients of the 2014 National Outdoor Book Awards. Julian Hoffman's THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS won for Natural History Literature. "It is the small things that capture Hoffman’s attention, and through the simple power of his writing, they attract us as well." Joe Cook's THE CHATTHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE won for Outdoor Adventure Guidebook. "This guidebook . . . has everything a good guide should have: excellent maps, enticing photographs, and intelligent organization. And the writing? That's where this guide really shines."

Congratulations Kari Frederickson! Her book COLD WAR DIXIE has won the 2014 Bennett H. Wall Award from the Southern Historical Association. It is awarded to the best book published in southern business or economic history over a two-year period.

Short Takes

In a special Memorial Day episode, BackStory with the American History Guys explores Americans’ changing attitudes about death: historian Drew Gilpin Faust talks about how the Civil War altered the American way of dying; writer Kate Sweeney explores the 20th Century shift toward private, restrained mourning; and our own Ed Ayers tours Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery — and discovers his own gravesite. (Kate Sweeney talks about her book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, in the first segment.)


In a recent interview with Connect Savannah, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Sites for the Telfair Museums Tania Sammons says, "Most people associate slavery with rural environments and plantations. The truth is that slavery existed all over the Americas." More of this is addressed in the new book, SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH, that we published in partnership with the Telfair Museums. Sammons was also on WTOC's "Mid-Morning Live" last week to discuss SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH (book and exhibition), as well as some upcoming events. Watch the video here.

The Journal of Southern History calls Erica L. Ball's TO LIVE AN ANTISLAVERY LIFE a "gem of a book," while the Civil War Book Review claims that it has "critically filled a large gap in African American studies with deep research and elegant writing."

The Civil War Monitor recommends James Marten's AMERICA'S CORPORAL. "History enthusiasts whose interests have been confined to the Civil War years would do well to read this short book, for it shows how the conflict continued to affect America—and especially her veterans—for decades after the last shot was fired."

In A LATE ENCOUNTER WITH THE CIVIL WAR, "Michael Kreyling offers a probing examination of the complex ways Americans have grappled with the memory and meaning of the Civil War," according to the Civil War Book Review. "[N]o scholar with an interest in the war or the contours of American historical memory can afford to miss an encounter with this book."


Did you miss the "Exuberant, Elegant & Alive Old Louisville Homes Tour" of 10 sites included in David Domine's book, OLD LOUISVILLE? The tour was part of a benefit for the Conrad-Caldwell House in Louisville, KY. If you missed the event but are in the area, be sure to check out the "America’s Most Exuberant Neighborhood Tour," sponsored by the Old Louisville Information Center in Central Park. The tour is offered daily at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm; allow approximately 90 minutes for this walking tour. Cost: $20 per person. This tour stops in front of many of the homes featured in OLD LOUISVILLE. More information is available here.

Comparative Education Review offers a positve review of Marc Sommers's STUCK:

Marc Sommers’s account of the concerns and struggles of out-of-school youth opens a new vista into the lives of rural and urban youth in Rwanda. . . . The study constitutes a significant contribution to the international community’s understanding of the lives of “stuck” youth in this tiny but significant East African country. The challenges presented by a disaffected and underserved youthful majority are not exclusive to Rwanda. The results of Sommers’s work raise real concerns for continuing peace in Rwanda, as the challenges posed by an unsettled and desperate youth underclass threaten to derail the progress that has been achieved there since the end of the war and the genocide.

Congratulations, Larry B. Dendy! His book, THROUGH THE ARCH, is the recipient of a 2014 Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Preservation Award for Outstanding Publication or Program. This category honors outstanding publications, in the field of preservation and/or history, possessing a high degree of graphic design integrity and/or wide use or impact are also recognized by this award. The foundation’s award program has been recognizing Athenians for excellence in historic preservation since it was founded in 1967. All award winners will be recognized at the 45th Annual Preservation Awards on Monday, June 2nd at The Morton Theatre.

Short Takes

Gillian Hart argues, during a recent interview with KPFA 94.1's "Against the Grain," that the African National Congress's rule in South Africa has been disappointing to many since it began in 1994. Hart is the author of the new book, RETHINKING THE SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS. Listen to the podcast here.

Kate Sweeney answered questions about her new book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, during a recent interview with WFAE 90.7's "Charlotte Talks." Listen to the podcast here. Also be sure to check-out her recent television interview with GPB's "On the Story." Watch the video here. (Sweeney's segment begins around the 15:00 mark.)

Patricia Vasquez gave a talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC on March 21 related to her new book, OIL SPARKS IN THE AMAZON. Oil & Gas Journal has a write-up about the event and Vasquez's book. Watch the video below to see the full talk or watch the webcast of the talk on the Wilson Center website.

Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell discussed their book, MY DEAR BOY, on Channel 6 Lawrence's "The Not So Late Show." Watch the video here.

Los Angeles Review of Books calls Idra Novey's EXIT, CIVILIAN "imperative and timely."

The Santa Barbara Independent recommends Frank X Walker's TURN ME LOOSE as a must-read for National Poetry Month.

The Electronic Green Journal reviewed THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH, saying the author Charles Seabrook "makes an impassioned and impressive appeal in this book for the protection of the South Atlantic Bight."

Short Takes

Three Flannery O'Connor Award winners (Geoffrey Becker's BLACK ELVIS, Harvey Grossinger's THE QUARRY, and E. J. Levy's LOVE, IN THEORY) had an event at the Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore on Tuesday night. In advance of the event, the Baltimore Sun interviewed the three authors about short story writing.

You all have either written novels or are in the process of writing them. Can you talk about the difference between long-form and short-form writing?

Levy: The short story has a density and richness and beauty and intimacy that it's hard to find in any form of writing other than poetry. Writing a short story is a little bit like making love. There's an intense pleasure that may be brief and that leads to an illuminating conclusion.
I'm pregnant now with my first child, and it seems to me that writing a novel is more gestational than writing a short story. Reading a novel takes more time and writing one takes more time. It slowly reshapes your world.
Becker: I love E.J.'s metaphor. It's sort of the difference between making love and being in a long-term relationship. Writing a novel takes forever, and you're not the same person at the end. You've changed. You've moved. Real life tends to filter in when you're writing a novel in an ongoing way that it probably doesn't when you're writing a short story.
Grossinger: I don't consider myself a natural short-story writer. When I entered a graduate writing program in the '80s, my short stories were just novels in disguise. I had to keep chopping them down. I'm just more drawn to the long form. Short stories have a much narrower vision. They're a moment in time. You can't exfoliate the entire life of a character, with their beginnings and ends, in a short story in the same way you can in a novel.

Booklist reviews the two newest Flannery O'Connor Award winners: THEIVES I'VE KNOWN and THE VIEWING ROOM. According to Booklist, THIEVES I'VE KNOWN is "a memorable THE VIEWING ROOM is described as "hard-hitting."
collection," while

Flannery O'Connor Award winner, Alfred DePew (THE MELANCHOLY OF DEPARTURE) has a piece on e-books in the Vancouver Observer.

WUKY 91.3 features selections from TURN ME LOOSE, along with historical context commentary and music, to mark the 50th anniversary of Medgar Evers' passing.

Last Thursday, two UGA Press books, REMAKING WORMSLOE PLANTATION and ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY, received awards from the Georgia Historical Society during a ceremony held on the University of Georgia campus. The Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for best book on Georgia history went to Drew Swanson's REMAKING WORMSLOE PLANTATION and the Lilla M. Hawes Award for best local or county or history book pertaining to Georgia went to ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY by Ren and Helen Davis. For more on the event, including quotes from the Georgia Historical Society (GHS) President & CEO Todd Groce and GHS trustee Vince Dooley, read the article in the student newspaper, the Red & Black.

Right to left: Todd Groce, Ren and Helen Davis, Vince Dooley, Lisa Bayer. Not pictured: Drew Swanson.

The Decatur Book Festival was held in Decatur, GA over the Labor Day weekend. Here are some photos from the event:

Short Takes

A review of Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES appears in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"Left behind, the characters in THE INVISIBLES try to make sense of what remains. . . . [Y]ou’ll remember them all — Sheehy’s finely crafted genre-bending mash-up of thrillers, fairy tales, realism and children’s stories makes sure of it. . . . Fairytale and folkloric elements create a timeless, mythical atmosphere more Grimm than grits, a place where even the most contemporary characters, teens desperate to stand out from the crowd, come across like a gothy Hansel and Gretel."
A slightly revised version of the review also appears on reviewer Gina Webb's book blog.

PLOP! Review names THE INVISIBLES as a noteworthy book for 2012. "Sheehy has done his homework, and this collection is a sharp, relevant, and exquisite first entry that deserves what critical acclaim it can muster.  I am on the edge of my seat for Sheehy’s next book – a novel, I suspect – but for now, THE INVISIBLES is hands down my recommendation of the year."


Michele Gillespie received a "key to the city" of Mount Airy, NC. The key was presented to Gillespie "in appreciation of the courtesy that she has shown to local collections and collectors of historical materials including the Mount Airy Public Library, the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, and the Raven Knob Boy Scout Museum. The presentation honored Dr. Gillespie's application of serious, academic, historical research skills to local topics during the writing of her book, KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS."

On behalf of Mayor Deborah Cochran, Librarian Pat Gwyn (second from left) in addition to staff and friends of the Mount Airy Public Library present a "key to the city" of Mount Airy to Michele Gillespie (third from left). Photo by Ken Badgett for the Mount Airy Public Library.

An interview with THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS author David Holmes appears in the November issue of U.S. Catholic magazine.

What role is religion playing in the current presidential campaign?

It’s less important than I thought it would be. At first it looked like Mitt Romney’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be a major issue, but we’re far enough into the campaign now to see that it’s not going to be.

I thought Barack Obama’s lack of consistent church attendance might become an issue, too, but no. Traditional values and social values are important, and they spring out of religion, but not religious affiliation itself.

The Civil War Monitor interviews WAR UPON THE LAND author Lisa Brady about her book and the future of environmental studies of the Civil War. The video interview is available here.

Interview with Robert Paulett about his new book, An Empire of Small Places

Britain's colonial empire in southeastern North America relied on the cultivation and maintenance of economic and political ties with the numerous powerful Indian confederacies of the region. Those ties in turn relied on British traders adapting to Indian ideas of landscape and power. In AN EMPIRE OF SMALL PLACES, Robert Paulett examines this interaction over the course of the eighteenth century, drawing attention to the ways that conceptions of space competed, overlapped, and changed. He encourages us to understand the early American South as a landscape made by interactions among American Indians, European Americans, and enslaved African American laborers.

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 is the fourth video featuring an EAP author. In each video, the author is 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?

Short Takes

"The most endangered species native to Florida’s Panhandle and Alabama’s Gulf Coast might just be the redneck. . . . . THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE REDNECK RIVIERA is a fun romp through a place that has long been dedicated to fun but it also dips its toes into the cultural conflicts the region has experienced—a bit history, a bit social commentary and a good read."—Miami Herald

Your Day Radio recently interviewed THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH author, Charles Seabrook. Listen to the interview available here.

According to the Post and Courier, THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH "is highly recommended to anyone who shares our respect of the salt marsh and would like to learn about its biology and culture."

Want to know more about ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY? Check out the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Q&A with the authors.

Paranormal Georgia Investigations recommends ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY on their website and encourages readers to pick-up a copy of the book, especially if they are unable to visit Oakland Cemetery in person. "[A] wonderful journey through Atlanta’s history. . ."

The book launch event for ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY will be this Sunday, July 1st, from 5:00-7:00pm at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. The event is free and open to the public, and it will feature a brief presentation, book signing, and guided tours.

On Saturday, June 30th, the Altamaha Riverkeepers will be hosting a launch event for the new book, ALTAMAHA. The event will feature a reception, reading, and book signing at historic Ashantilly in Darien at 2:00pm. Authors James Holland, Dorinda Dallmeyer, and Janisse Ray will be there to sign books. More information about tickets for the event can be found here.

Idra Novey, author of EXIT, CIVILIAN, will be reading at the Poets House Showcase on Saturday, June 30th. The event is free and open to the public, and it will start at 1:00pm. More information can be found here.

The literary magazine, Circumference, features a podcast with Idra Novey, focusing mainly on her translation practice. You can listen to the podcast here.

The San Antonio newspaper Plaza de Armas cites EXIT, CIVILIAN as the columnist describes what is like for a relative to be in prison. Conversations during a poetry workshop with Idra Novey both "influenced and informed" the column.

Interview with Paul Harvey about his new book, Moses, Jesus, and the Trickster in the Evangelical South

In his new book, MOSES, JESUS, AND THE TRICKSTER IN THE EVANGELICAL SOUTH, Paul Harvey uses four characters that are important symbols of religious expression in the American South to survey major themes of religion, race, and southern history. Through his cast of four central characters, Harvey reveals diverse facets of the southern religious experience, including conceptions of ambiguity, darkness, evil, and death.

In the video below, Harvey explains the four figures (Moses, Jesus, Trickster, and Absalom) in his book, and the different literary and artistic examples he uses to explore these characters. He also states why it makes for a compelling read, particularly for students.

Book Trailer for Megan Kate Nelson's new book, Ruin Nation

Megan Kate Nelson's RUIN NATION is the first book to bring together environmental and cultural histories to consider the evocative power of ruination as an imagined state, an act of destruction, and a process of change. During the Civil War, cities, houses, forests, and soldiers' bodies were transformed into "dead heaps of ruins," novel sights in the southern landscape. RUIN NATION examines the narratives and images that Americans produced as they confronted the war's destructiveness. This is the second book in the UnCivil Wars series.

UNCIVIL WARS is a series dedicated to new ways of seeing and telling the American Civil War. Authors in the series are encouraged to focus on unconventional social types and to think deeply about narrative strategy, telling their stories through memory, reverse chronology, snapshots and glimpses, multiple perspectives, or microhistory.

In the video below, Megan Kate Nelson gives a sneak-peek of her book. The video contains brief summaries of each of the chapters and features excerpts from historical documents. RUIN NATION will be available in May.

Interview with Renee C. Romano about the new book, Doing Recent History

DOING RECENT HISTORY, edited by Claire Bond Potter and Renee C. Romano, is the definitive guide to the practice of recent history. It explores the challenges of writing histories of recent events where visibility is inherently imperfect, hindsight and perspective are lacking, and historiography is underdeveloped.

SINCE 1970 focuses on U.S. history since the 1970s, with a particular emphasis on books that either connect that decade to a longer trajectory or focus entirely on the last quarter of the twentieth century.

In the video below, Renee Romano discusses the challenges of studying recent history. She explains that the very issues that make recent history challenging can also lead to exciting possibilities. DOING RECENT HISTORY will be available in April.

Interview with Michele Reid-Vazquez about her book, The Year of the Lash

THE YEAR OF THE LASH reveals the untold story of the strategies of negotiation used by free blacks in the aftermath of the “Year of the Lash”—a wave of repression in Cuba during the mid-1800s that had great implications for the Atlantic World for two decades. Drawing on archival material from Cuba, Mexico, Spain, and the United States, Michele Reid-Vazquez provides a critical window into understanding how free people of color challenged colonial policies of terror and pursued justice on their own terms using formal and extralegal methods.

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 is the second video featuring an EAP author. In each video, the author is 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?

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?