Summer author events to remember

While the the summer is a quiet time for most of us, there are still a few author events this summer we're excited about. So get out your calendars and mark these down. 

June 21 @ 2pm 

Jeffrey Leak, author of Visible Man 

Talk and signing at Park Road Books, Park Road, Charlotte, NC

Event details here

June 24 @ 7pm 

Kate Sweeney, author of American Afterlife

Talk and signing at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, Haywood Street, Asheville, NC

Event details here

July 15 @ 7pm 

Maurice C. Daniels, author of Saving the Soul of Georgia 

Talk and signing at First Iconium Baptist Church, Moreland Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA

Part of the B*ATL Battle of Atlanta commemoration—event details here 

August 20 @ 7pm 

Dr. Louis W. Sullivan author of Breaking Ground

Talk and signing at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Main Street, Vineyard Haven, MA

 

A special note about UGA Press at the Decatur Book Festival, August 30-31. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, Kate Sweeney, and Glenn T. Eskew (Johnny Mercer) will all be featured speakers at this year's festival. Times, dates, and stage locations to be announced. 

Grab a Paddle: Exploring with the CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE

Running almost the full length of the state of Georgia, the Chattahoochee River is not only the longest river in Georgia, but as Joe Cook puts it, Georgia's "most important, most celebrated, and most fought over body of water." Though the Chattahoochee provides much of Georgia with water, energy, and sanitation, it provides beauty, peace, and activities to all who choose to visit its waters. It begins as a trickle in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, and quickly grows, traveling south past Atlanta and following the Georgia-Alabama state line all the way to the Florida border.

Shoals Near White Creek, White County. Photo by Joe Cook.
From The Chattahoochee River User's Guide, 2014.

The Chattahoochee River is not only known for its natural majesty, but also its diverse wildlife. In the Georgia River Network Guidebooks, the CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE explains just how vast its biodiversity is:

[I]t gives life to an incredible variety of aquatic animals, including 104 fish species, 24 species of aquatic turtles, 37 species of salamanders and sirens, about 30 species of frogs and toads, and, historically, as many as 45 species of freshwater mussels (Cook 2).

Along with information of the Chattahoochee's many plants and animals, the waterproof CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE follows the river mile by mile, giving travelers a riverside tour guide on their voyage down the river's winding path. This excerpt from the book describes a mile near Alaga, AL:

MILE 403.3 (31.083554, -85.025357) Kirkland Creek. A 0.2-mile journey up this tributary on river left leads you to a beautiful "blue hole"—a spring issuing forth clear, cold water from the Upper Floridan aquifer. This vast underground "lake" provides much of the irrigation water used for agriculture in southwest Georgia, the bread basket of the state. Excessive pumping from this aquifer that feeds south Georgia waterways, especially the Flint River to the east, threatens adequate flows and endangered species—and has exacerbated water conflicts with Florida.

Blue Hole at Kirkland County Creek, Early County. Photo by Joe Cook.
From The Chattahoochee River User's Guide, 2014.

Short Takes

Kirkus Reviews has given Sarah Gorham's forthcoming creative nonfiction book, STUDY IN PERFECT, a starred review! "Fear during a daughter's life-threatening illness, grief over her mother's death, nostalgia for family gatherings in summers past: All lead Gorham to consider how perfection is interlaced with pain, desire and even sin. A contemplative, lyrical, splendid collection."

THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH by Charles Seabrook is a "delightful read," according to Georgia Library Quarterly. "Seabrook's love for these areas is abundantly clear . . . in this beautiful elegy to the important and endangered salt marshes found on our southeastern coast."

On last Tuesday's (June 3) program of "Against the Grain," Sebastian Kaempf answered questions about the chapter he contributed to the volume THE FUTURE OF JUST WAR on KPFA-FM in Berkeley. Listen and/or download the program here.

Dr. Louis Sullivan, founding dean and first President of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former Secretary of Health and Human Services says the VA Hospital problem is fixable. Find out how and more about his new book, BREAKING GROUND, on Doc Talk.

USCatholic.org recommends Lawrence J. McAndrews' WHAT THEY WISHED FOR as a good summer read. "WHAT THEY WISHED FOR maps these movements [by Catholics] of presidential policies and politics, and shows how American Catholics have successfully shaped the political dialogue starting with the election of President John F. Kennedy."

In David Correia's PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE, "[o]ne of the book's strengths lies in its ability to deconstruct the social production and articulation of property rights as a set of privileges conferred by a particular nation-state," according to a recent review in Western Historical Quarterly. The Journal of American History call it a "must-read for historians of the American Southwest."

The Journal of American History names SIGNPOSTS "a worthwhile collection" and praises co-editors Sally E. Hadden and Patricia Hagler Minter for "help[ing] generate new ways of thinking about southern legal history that are sure to yield similarly fascinating efforts in the future."

The Journal of American History also reviews Robert J. Cottrol's THE LONG, LINGERING SHADOW:

This book represents the most coherent, lucid, and explicit update of Frank Tannenbaum's famous thesis concerning comparative slavery and race relations in the Americas to date. . . . THE LONG, LINGERING SHADOW is an important, ambitious, and thought-provoking book that offers a comprehensive comparison of slavery, race, and the law in the Americas. For scholars and students of race and inequality. . .this book is a must-read.

Co-editors Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell were interviewed about their book, MY DEAR BOY, by Hopeton Hay Monday (June 9) morning for the KAZI Book Review on KAZI 88.7FM in Austin. A link to the interview will be available soon.

Congratulations, Jingle Davis! Her book, ISLAND TIME, is the winner of the 2014 Georgia Author of the Year Award in the Specialty Book category given by the Georgia Writers Association. Winners were announced at Saturday night's banquet at Kennesaw State University.

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

Our spring 2014 newsletter is now available for viewing on our website. Check it out here.

Gillian Hart, author of RETHINKING THE SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS, has an op-ed in Al Jazeera on the turmoil in South Africa leading up the May 7 elections. Read the piece here.

James A. Marten will be speaking about his new book, AMERICA'S CORPORAL, at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, WI on June 17 at 7:00pm. Please be sure to attend!


On May 2, UGA Press, the Atlanta History Center, and the Southern Foodways Alliance co-sponsored an evening with John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. The event was held at the Smith Family Farm at the Atlanta History Center. Here are some photos from the event.

Congratulations to Clarence Major! His book of poetry, DOWN AND UP, has been selected for the 2014 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence for Previous Finalists of the Paterson Poetry prize given by The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College.


Congratulations to Frank X Walker! His book, TURN ME LOOSE, is the 2014 poetry winner of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards. The award will be presented on June 29 at the Bally Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

Congratulations to Southern Territory Associates representative, Teresa Rolfe Kravtin! She has been named the Publishers Weekly 2014 Rep of the Year.

UGA Press was saddened to hear of the passing of Stephanie M. H. Camp. Camp was the co-editor of NEW STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN SLAVERY and advisory board member for the Early American Places series. Camp passed away on April 2 at the age of 46. The University of Washington Department of History will be hosting a memorial service and reception for her on June 8. More information is available here.

Email Problems at UGA Press

Press Friends:

We've been having email problems over the past few days.  If you've contacted us and haven't gotten a reply, please stand by while we find a solution.

Customers: Our "books@ugapress.uga.edu" email address is temporarily inactive.  Until further notice, please direct inquiries to 800-266-5842 or headrick@uga.edu.

Thanks for your patience!