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

The Slate Book Review names Frank X Walker's TURN ME LOOSE as one of the ten Best Books Poetry Books of 2013. "Walker’s ability to create a human voice of inhumanity—and to place it alongside other voices that struggle to remain human in the face of such devastation—revitalizes our history at a time when too many want us to live as though it were merely a thing of the past."

The Day has an article about Jacquelin Gorman and her new short story collection, THE VIEWING ROOM. In the article, Wally Lamb praises Gorman and THE VIEWING ROOM, saying:

I loved working with Jacquelin Gorman in the Praiano writers' group and was blown away when I read her unforgettable story collection, THE VIEWING ROOM. How did she do it? How did Jackie craft fiction about death and dying that is triumphantly life-affirming? I marvel at her achievement and hope that THE VIEWING ROOM finds the wide audience it deserves.

Publishers Weekly describes the poems in THE CLOUD THAT CONTAINED THE LIGHTNING as being "expertly crafted and chiseled to a brittle, often stinging essence. . . . Reading this book against the contemporary backdrop of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster and worries about mass destruction falling into the wrong hands gives the poems a deep resonance."

THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS is "remarkable," according to ForeWord. THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS is number four in ForeWord's list of top ten university press picks. Hoffman is "an intensely focused, curious, tireless, supremely gifted writer."

The Rumpus also praises THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS:

The book’s gift is its ability to capture a moment, to let the particulars contain the whole. If being present is the ultimate end, then it’s appropriate to stay lost in the forest. The focus of each essay is on the observed, not the observer. This isn’t a re-telling but a telling. And that’s Hoffman’s knack. He’s able to create a moment that feels like one. . . . THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS is a celebration of spaces and the hidden, miraculous lives within them, but it’s a quiet celebration, the pause after you open a gift, truly surprised, and inhabit a speechless moment.

"PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE is an excellent example of good scholarship. . . . Overall, Correia did an excellent job. Geographers, historians, and land use scholars with a focus on New Mexico and/or the American Southwest will find much to get excited about in this book. Perhaps the few ethical land and water attorneys, as well as the numerous unethical ones, will also find the book helpful in their practices."—Journal of Historical Geography

Terrain.org describes the strengths of THE INVISIBLES author Hugh Sheehy as "a combination of plotting and prose styling. . . . It’s a complicated, character-based tale, much more than a simple whodunit. What underlies the plotting is a well-crafted prose, a styling that feels, for the most part, crafted with the care a carpenter’s chisel: a word here, a word there, shaving by shaving until we’re just plumb."

The ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Booker T. Washington may have differed, but each made key contributions to the pan-Africanist project. In a recent interview on KPFA's "Against the Grain," IN SEARCH OF BRIGHTEST AFRICA author Jeannette Eileen Jones describes how these thinkers and others viewed Africa, and what role they saw blacks in the West playing in Africa's liberation and advancement. Also, Davarian Baldwin discusses the volume in which Jones's essay appears. Listen to the interview here.  

Congratulations, Marc Sommers! His book, STUCK, received an Honorable Mention award for the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize from the African Studies Association, which ended its assessment of the book in the annual meeting program as follows: "This is an incisive, eloquent and pioneering work on Rwanda's youth that shows them as a demographic majority, but unvalued and marginalized."

In this excerpt of his speech "U.S. Diplomacy in the Age of Obama," Ronald Angelo Johnson uses research findings from his forthcoming book DIPLOMACY IN BLACK AND WHITE to discuss exceptional early American diplomacy.

Short Takes

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an excerpt from Book 1 of Janisse Ray's DRIFTING INTO DARIEN (new in paperback). Check out the exclusive here.

Flannery O'Connor Award winner Margot Singer (PALE OF SETTLEMENT) was part of a literary salon event on September 10th, hosted by the Bexley Community Book Club. Along with a reading by several authors, the event also boasted a readers theatre performance by local actors. More information about the event is available here.

The book trailer for Julian Hoffman's THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS is now available for viewing. Watch it on YouTube or Vimeo. Or, check it out below.



The front page of the Saturday, September 14 edition of the Athens Banner-Herald featured an article about three classic UGA Press books that are now back in print and available for the first-time in paperback.

Barbara McKenzie didn't start out to become a photographer, much less produce one of the South's best-known documentary photography books--FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S GEORGIA, coming out next month in a new edition from the University of Georgia Press. It is one of eight books the press is reprinting to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

Northeast Georgia Living features a review of THE NATURAL COMMUNITIES OF GEORGIA, calling it "an exciting, detailed portrait of our state's natural environment."

Three UGA Press titles (ISLAND TIME, REMAKING WORMSLOE PLANTATION, and ON THE RIM OF THE CARIBBEAN) have been selected to receive awards from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board! The Awards program will be on October 22 at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, GA. The reception will start at 4:30, with the awards ceremony at 5:30, including a presentation by Steve Wrigley of the Board of Regents.

Congratulations to National Book Award nominee Martha Ronk! Ronk is the author of DESIRE IN L.A., which was published by UGA Press in 1990. Her NBA nomination is for her new book of poetry, TRANSFER OF QUALITIES.

Looking for more ways to connect with us? Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Goodreads, Instragram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Short Takes

Over on today's Wall Street Journal Japan blog, Japan Real Time, poet Cynthia Lowen talks about her new book, THE CLOUD THAT CONTAINED THE LIGHTNING.

JRT: What prompted you to write poetry about the atomic bomb?
Lowen: Initially, I thought I would be writing about my own family history. I knew from a very young age that my grandfather was involved with the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb–he was a nuclear physicist on the Project in the earlier phases, and I remember feeling terrible that my own family was part of something so horrific. As I started to uncover my grandfather’s history, I was looking for ways to write about it, ways to find out about the bomb, and the human feelings attached that led to the creation of this book.
My family history is what led me to write the material, but J. Robert Oppenheimer was the figure that I wanted to be the central force because he’s so emblematic. He became a metaphor for something much larger than he was, and I thought it would be a good way to enter the material. From there, I did extensive research into his life, and I got into the psychology of the bomb, using the splitting in fission as a way to talk about our own departures from our conscience.

Kirkus Reviews describes THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS as a "sharply observed" and "deeply felt book."

KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS is both a "tour de force" and "top-notch study," according to the Journal of American History.

ISLAND TIME author Jingle Davis had a talk and book signing at Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA this past Saturday. Athens Patch recommended the event to its readers, saying "If you love St. Simon’s, the beach, or just good writing, be there." Thanks to everyone who came and to Avid for hosting it!

"[Novey's] modes vary from flashes of anecdote to surreal narrative, from prose to brief lyrics to long-lined poems. The effect is one of an extended reach toward concretions, routines and environments that won't yield to mere wishes to understand or change them. . . . In Exit, Civilian, the thing is the prison, intractably present—and freedom, more than simply a life outside a jail, comprises an infinite speculation on the meaning of itself. The tonal gives way to the atonal, the fuzzy."—Ron Slate's review of EXIT, CIVILIAN on his website, On the Seawall.

WFPL 89.3 talks with Frank X Walker about his new book, TURN ME LOOSE. Listen to the interview here:

Southern Spaces features an excerpt from Candace Waid's new book, THE SIGNIFYING EYE.

CHICKEN DREAMING CORN author Roy Hoffman has a piece in the New York Times in which he comments on the experiences from his youth. In particular, he reminisces on hitchhiking in the 1970s.

From left to right: Saisha Grayson, Judy Chicago, and Jane Gerhard

A few weeks ago, the Brooklyn Museum of Art hosted an event for author Jane Gerhard and artist Judy Chicago to promote the new book, THE DINNER PARTY. Below is a YouTube video from Judy Chicago that features audio of the conversation between Chicago and Gerhard, moderated by Saisha Grayson, Assistant Curator.

Don't forget about our Flannery O'Connor Award 30 Years | 30 Books Giveaway!

Sign up for our newsletter and qualify for our Flannery O’Connor Award 30 Years | 30 Books Giveaway! Stop by our booth at the Decatur Book Festival to enter in person or sign up online by noon EDT September 1st—winners will be announced later that day. You need not be present to win.

Prize includes:
• 30 titles from the acclaimed short fiction series
• Our great new UGA Press canvas tote

Winners will be announced at 2 pm and notified by telephone and email.

Short Takes

Pomegranate Books lists NORTH CAROLINA'S AMAZING COAST in their Summer Reading List 2013 for Our State Magazine. The book is a "delightful . . . resource for the amateur naturalist."

Make sure to pick up a copy of the latest issue of Victorian Homes. It features a multi-page spread of OLD LOUISVILLE, along with tips on how to achieve these looks in your own home. For example, "Dial up the details on [staircase] rails, flooring on stairs, or windows over the landing for a grand entrance."
photos from

Counterpunch reviews BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES in an article on incarceration in the United States. "This is a radical book that strips away any pretense that prisons and policies designed to place as many people as possible in them can be humane. The writers herein issue a clear and thoughtful call to reconsider the entire concept of prisons."
 
Southern Spaces features an excerpt from Jon Smith's FINDING PURPLE AMERICA. In the excerpt and newly written afterword, Smith tells of his efforts to create a garden in Birmingham, AL.

The Springfield News-Leader features a condensed version of Eileen Crist's chapter in LIFE ON THE BRINK, arguing that humans must be environmentally-conscious in order to survive.

Listen here for PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE author David Correia's Santa Fe Radio Cafe, KSFR 101.0 FM interview about his new book.

You can also check out this video interview with David Correia on the New Mexico Mercury website.

SHORT STORIES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT editor Margaret Earley Whitt has a Letter to the Editor in a recent issue of the New Yorker.

The Bowling Green Daily News summarizes several essays from SIGNPOSTS, calling them "a sample of the high caliber of research studies included in this comprehensive work."

The Monroe News Star selects NATHALIE DUPREE'S COMFORTABLE ENTERTAINING as one of the recent must-have Southern cookbooks of the summer. "Now reissued in paperback, the cookbook that allowed people to be comfortable while entertaining will reach a whole new audience."

Over on his Inside Higher Ed blog, John Griswold announces the forthcoming publication of his new book, KILLING PIRATES, due out this spring.

Short Takes

The Summer 2013 issue of Emory Magazine features an article on ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY, highlighting the recent awards it has received.

Are you a resident of St. Simons, GA? A frequent visitor? Or, have you never been but would like to visit? Then ISLAND TIME is the book for you! Flagpole Magazine backs up that claim in a recent review of the book: 

If you don’t know St. Simons, this book is like a visit needing no sunscreen or mosquito repellant. Every period in the island’s history is fascinating, all the way up to modern times, and Ben Galland’s camera catches it all: the ruins, the marshes, the beach and, yes, the sunsets, which we have all tried to photograph.

If you do know St. Simons, you know how, when you are there, you feel surrounded by history, and it makes you want to know more about this beautiful and mysterious place of moss and marshes and scattered, nameless ruins.

Upcoming events:

August 14, time tba
Fountainhead Bookstore
Hendersonville, NC
A MESS OF GREENS by Elizabeth Engelhardt
Talk and signing

August 20, 10:30am

St. Simons Literary Guild
St. Simons, GA
ISLAND TIME by Jingle Davis, photographs by Benjamin Galland
Talk and signing with both Jingle Davis and Benjamin Galland at the casino

August 24, 6:30-7:30pm
Avid Bookshop
Athens, GA
ISLAND TIME by Jingle Davis, photographs by Benjamin Galland
Talk and signing with Jingle Davis

August 31, 3:00-3:45pm
Decatur Book Festival
Decatur, GA
REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS by Minrose Gwin
Presentation and signing in the Marriott Conference Center Ballroom B

September 1, 12:00-12:45pm
Decatur Book Festival
Decatur, GA
EAT DRINK DELTA by Susan Puckett
"Have Food, Will Travel" panel with Christopher Bakken, author of HONEY, OLIVES, OCTOPUS; followed by book signing

September 3, 7:00pm
The Ivy Bookshop
Baltimore, MD
THE QUARRY by Harvey Grossinger, BLACK ELVIS by Geoffrey Becker, and LOVE, IN THEORY by E. J. Levy
Flannery O'Connor Award 30th anniversary event

Congratulations to our business manager, Phyllis Wells, for winning the "Other Duties, As Assigned" award on July 24 at the 2013 Asset Awards! Phyllis was nominated primarily because of her leadership as Interim Director of the Press from December 2011 to June 2012.

The Asset Awards Program (Acknowledging Staff Skills, Effort and Time) began in 1992 to provide UGA Libraries with a way to formally recognize staff and faculty for contributions that have kept both the core functions and the innovative endeavors of the University Libraries on target over the past year. UGA Press is part of the University Libraries.

Elizabeth Engelhardt, author of A MESS OF GREENS, has a series of video interviews related to food studies. Check out the ones below for a taste of what her forthcoming book, THE LARDER, will feature. THE LARDER is edited by John T. Edge, Elizabeth Engelhardt, and Ted Ownby.
 

Short Takes

Publishers Weekly calls Gary Gallagher's BECOMING CONFEDERATES "[a]n excellent addition to Civil War scholarship."

The Tenured Radical blog gives a shout-out to THE DINNER PARTY and explains its connection to Pussy Riot: "Two members of the Moscow-based feminist punk rock collective Pussy Riot have been spotted in New York City in the last week. . . . According to The New York Times, the pair . . . 'receiv[ed] a guided tour of  'The Dinner Party,' Judy Chicago’s feminist installation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.'"

Thinking about purchasing a copy of THE NATURAL COMMUNITIES OF GEORGIA but not sure if it is right for you? Then check out this YouTube video for an in-depth review of the book.



Vincent Carretta's PHILLIS WHEATLEY is reviewed in the latest issue of Reviews in American History:

Histories of the heroic come with unique challenges. In penning the first full-length biography of Phillis Wheatley, Vincent Carretta had a tall order. Known for his scholarly editions of the writings of Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, among others, and his EQUIANO, THE AFRICAN: BIOGRAPHY OF A SELF-MADE MAN (2005), Carretta is no stranger to celebrated figures of African descent in the Atlantic World. In this monograph, however, he reveals a fresh perspective on this figure at once known and unknown, one whose symbolic meaning obfuscates the alternately unsettling and inspiring circumstances of her lived experience.

RUIN NATION author Megan Kate Nelson discusses her book on Civil War Talk Radio with host Gerry Prokopowicz. Listen to the interview here.

Short Takes

Susan Puckett will be traveling from Ocean Springs, MS up to Memphis, TN over the next week and a half to promote her book, EAT DRINK DELTA. Her first stop is at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education in Ocean Springs. She will be there from 6:00-8:00pm on June 8 for "A Trip to the Delta" cooking class.

"The menu includes Chicken Brined in Sweet Tea, Mississippi Grits with Shrimp and Tomato Confit and Lemon Ice Box Pie. The cost is $69 per person for members and $79 for nonmembers. She also will be signing copies of the book at the Ocean Springs Fresh Market in the Depot parking lot earlier that day while the Mary C. staff serves samples of Craig Claiborne's mother's Hot Cakes with Orange Syrup." For more on the event and an interview with Puckett, check out this article in the Sun Herald.

Susan Puckett's upcoming events:

• Saturday June 8, 2013 9am-1pm: The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education Snacks & Signing, Ocean Springs Fresh Market, Ocean Springs, MS

• Saturday June 8, 2013 6pm-8pm: The Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts and Education Cafe Cooking Class, Ocean Springs, MS

• Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 12-1pm (at the library): Table Talk, Friends of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library & Hitching Lot Farmers' Market, 314 7th Street North, Columbus, MS

• Thursday, June 13 5-7pm, 2013: Talk & Signing, Oxbow Market, Clarksdale, MS

• Friday, June 14, 2013 12pm-2pm: Lunchtime Celebration of Mississippi Flavors, The Neon Pig, 1203 N Gloster St, Tupelo, MS

• Monday, June 17, 2013, 7pm: Dinner & Signing, ACRE Restaurant, 690 S Perkins Rd, Memphis, TN

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/06/01/4704664/author-to-bring-tales-tastes-of.html#storylink=cpy

Congratulations to Nathalie Dupree! She received a James Beard Award for her new book, MASTERING THE ART OF SOUTHERN COOKING (Gibbs Smith). Dupree is the author of several UGA Press books, including NATHALIE DUPREE'S SOUTHERN MEMORIES, NEW SOUTHERN COOKING, and NATHALIE DUPREE'S COMFORTABLE ENTERTAINING.

In a recent KY Forward article, University of Kentucky Biology Department chair Vincent Cassone said, "Let's hope THE EMBATTLED WILDERNESS by Erik Reece and Jim Krupa opens at least a few eyes to the urgency of preserving our wild heritage in Kentucky and elsewhere for 'those who come after us.'"

WAVE Country with Dawne Gee interviewed David Domine about his new book, OLD LOUISVILLE. Check out the interview below.

wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather 
 
The latest issue of Southern Historian features a positive review of Arthur Remillard's SOUTHERN CIVIL RELIGIONS. "This is a book recommended for all historians of the post-war South and highly recommended for those particularly interested in religion, race, and gender." Remillard also has a post about religion and Boston over on the Religion in American History blog. Check out the post here.

The Chattanoogan calls THE NASHVILLE WAY a "well-written history" and a "thorough and engaging account of the historical drama that unfolded in Nashville."

Calvin Johnson Jr. was on today's "Morning Express with Robin Meade" on CNN as part of their week-long "American Behind Bars: Stolen Lives" series. Johnson is the author of Exit to Freedom. The book is the only firsthand account of a wrongful conviction overturned by DNA evidence.

Minrose Gwin, author of REMEMBERING MEDGAR EVERS, and Frank X Walker, author of TURN ME LOOSE, will be speaking at Jackson State University on June 13 at 5:00pm.

Short Takes

The Lexington Herald Leader talks to Erik Reece and James Krupa about their new book, THE EMBATTLED WILDERNESS, which columnist Tom Eblen calls "engaging." Erik Reece will sign copies of the book at Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville, KY next Wednesday (5/22).

The authors of NORTH CAROLINA'S AMAZING COAST will launch their book at a program at Duck's Cottage Downtown Books in Manteo, NC next Tuesday (5/21). For more on the book and the launch, check out this press release from the NC Sea Grant. Co-author Terri Kirby-Hathaway also discusses the book in an interview with News 14 Carolina. Watch the video here.

OLD LOUISVILLE author David Domine and photographers Franklin and Esther Schmidt appeared on WHAS 11 last week. Missed the interview? Catch it below or here.



A story about our 75th anniversary appeared on the front-page of the Athens Banner-Herald. "'The press has a very strong reputation for publishing serious but accessible history, and that brand extends to our other disciplines as well,' said UGA Press director Lisa Bayer."

Savannah Morning News interviews Paul Pressly about his new book, ON THE RIM OF THE CARIBBEAN.

“Most historians stand on the Georgia coast and look west,” Pressly said. “I decided to take a new perspective and I looked east and south.”

Pressly uncovered something no other historians had ever written about.

“I asked the question, ‘How did an economic backwater like Colonial Georgia become an economic success?” Pressly said. “My research showed Colonial Georgia wasn’t just a fledging province, but an active force in overseas trade in the British Atlantic and the Caribbean.”

“Georgia’s role in the Atlantic has always been overlooked,” Pressly explained. “The colony was viewed as an extension of the Carolinas, so I had to ask myself, ‘How did Georgia develop a sense of identity?’”

The Daily Tribune interviews Joe Cook about his new book, ETOWAH RIVER USER'S GUIDE.

“It’s a great place to visit and the guidebook is a way to try to promote use of the river and hopefully then they become stewards of the river.”

Cook will also be talking about his book and signing copies at the Georgia Center for the Book next Tuesday (5/21) at 7:15pm as part of the Decatur Arts Festival.

Jane Gerhard, author of THE DINNER PARTY, is interviewed for the Popaganda podcast for Bitch media. Listen to the interview here.

 David Correia will be signing copies of his book, PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE, at Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque, NM this Sunday (5/19) at 2:30pm.

Susan Puckett, author of EAT DRINK DELTA, will be speaking at the Georgia Center for the Book next Wednesday (5/22) as part of the Decatur Arts Festival. The event will be at 7:15pm in the Decatur Library Auditorium, and she will be joined by Atlanta Journal-Constitution dining critic John Kessler for an engaging talk.

Short Takes

KPFA's "Against the Grain" recently interviewed Rashad Shabazz, assistant professor of geography at the University of Vermont and contributor to BEYOND WALLS AND CAGES. The interview can be listened to here. Shabazz contends that "prisons are in fact porous in a way that threatens the lives of many people living in poor neighborhoods and communities of color."

La Jicarita reviews David Correia's PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE: "Correia'sremarkable book is not just about New Mexico, not just about land grants. PROPERTIES OF VIOLENCE presents a way of conceiving of property as a mobile, fungible, plastic set of social relations."

TURN ME LOOSE author Frank X Walker was inducted as Kentucky's poet laureate on April 24. At the ceremony, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear spoke highly of Walker and his work: "He helps you recognize things about yourself, including things you'd rather not embrace. And he does this in the context of Kentucky's complex history." For more on the induction ceremony, check out WFPL 89.3's coverage of the event.

Poet Kyle Dargan was a guest on a recent episode of Bill Moyers and Company. Watch the interview here. Dargan is the author of three UGA Press books: THE LISTENING, BOUQUET OF HUNGERS, and LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA.

Robert Cornwall reviews THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS on his blog, Ponderings on a Faith Journey. He calls the book "excellent" and "fascinating" and describes Holmes as the perfect guide for understanding the complex relationship of faith and political office.

The Louisville Courier-Journal calls OLD LOUISVILLE "a joyous celebration . . . of breathtaking beauty." For more on OLD LOUISVILLE, be sure to stop by Barnes & Noble on South Hurstbourne Pkwy on Friday, May 10 at 6:00pm for a book signing with author David Dominé and photographers Franklin and Esther Schmidt. More information here.

The newly released ETOWAH RIVER USER'S GUIDE is making its debut at the Coosa River Basin Initiative's WATERFEST event happening this Friday and Saturday (May 3 & 4). CRBI Executive Director and Riverkeeper, Joe Cook, is the author of the book and will be signing copies at the event. Be sure to find a moment during the many activities to pickup a copy! (It's printed on waterproof paper, so you can take it with you while you paddle.) The Rome News-Tribune has more information about WATERFEST and the ETOWAH RIVER USER'S GUIDE.

Friends and fans of TURN ME LOOSE author Frank X Walker created a tribute video for him, in celebration of his inauguration as Kentucky's new poet laureate. Check out the heartwarming and entertaining video here.

Several of our books have recently won awards. Here's a list of some of the recent winners:
- Congratulations to Benjamin Houston! His book, THE NASHVILLE WAY, won the Tennessee  History Book Award, sponsored by the Tennessee Library Association and the Tennessee Historical Commission. (We last won the award in 2004 with the book BEFORE SCOPES by Charles A. Israel.) THE NASHVILLE WAY also won the British Association of American Studies' Arthur Miller Centre First Book Prize.
- Congratulations to Julie Armstrong! Her book, MARY TURNER AND THE MEMORY OF LYNCHING, won Honorable Mention for the Society for the Study of Southern Literature's 2012 C. Hugh Holman Award.
- Congratulations to Drew A. Swanson! His book, REMAKING WORMSLOE PLANTATION, won Georgia Historical Society’s 2013 Malcolm Bell, Jr., and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history published in 2012. (John Inscoe's WRITING THE SOUTH THROUGH THE SELF was last year's recipient.)
- Congratulations to Ren and Helen Davis! Their book, ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY, won Georgia Historical Society’s 2013 Lilla M. Hawes Award for the best book in Georgia local or county history published in 2012.

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.

Short Takes

THE INVISIBLES author Hugh Sheehy has a guest post over on Five Points (the blog). The Kenyon Review features both a story by Sheehy and an interview with him. "I have to keep working until there is a day when the story looks finished without my making any changes. Maybe then it is finished, but most likely not. These things take time, and it seems one must both remember this and learn it in a new way with each new big project." (Hugh Sheehy, Kenyon Review)

According to Donna Seaman for the Kansas City Star, Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES is "the beginning of what promises to be a brilliant writing career."

"[D]oes the faith of the president really matter?" The Washington Independent Review of Books reviews THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS by David L. Holmes.

COMPANION TO AN UNTOLD STORY author Marcia Aldrich reads selections from her new book in her recently released book trailer. Check it out below!

 

Coleman Hutchison's new book APPLES AND ASHES is "highly recommended" by Choice for being "the first volume devoted exclusively to [the] subject" of examining the literary history of the American Civil War.

Jeremy Vetter, of Environmental History, calls Albert G. Way's CONSERVING SOUTHERN LONGLEAF a "lively, readable book" that is "essential reading" for anyone "interested in changing models of land conservation and forestry during the twentieth century." He even describes Way's work as a "wonderful example of the insights that can be gained by situating the history of scientific knowledge production in its environmental context."

In a recent issue of Early American Literature, Gordon Sayre says of Thomas Hallock and Nancy Hoffmann's book WILLIAM BARTRAM, THE SEARCH FOR NATURE'S DESIGN, "Colleagues, cease for a moment your anxious complaints about the crisis in scholarly publishing, and bu and enjoy this book!" 

The American Book Review raves about Melinda Moustakis' debut collection, BEAR DOWN, BEAR NORTH: "Superbly crafted and trimmed to the nub. . . . Hope and truth shine through in this work, and it isn't the bleak, hard-white truth (the kind you'd expect to find in the hard white snow of Alaska) of the most minimal of minimalisms. It's a soft and human truth that overcomes the wild and the hard edge of the form she's chosen."

Short Takes

RUIN NATION author Megan Kate Nelson will be on C-SPAN3 on Saturday, August 25th discussing battlefield photography at the Battle of Antietam. The episode will air at 6:00pm and 10:00pm. Be sure to tune in!

North Country Public Radio interviews BLACK NATURE editor Camille Dungy about black poets writing about nature. "The fabulous editor at the University of Georgia Press just mentioned in passing, ‘I’d never really thought about African-Americans writing about the natural world. So this is the acquisitions editor of a press who had not seen, who had not been conscious of this presence. He said ‘do you think you can pull together a few more poets?’ There are 90 poets in this book, almost 200 poems, and there are more that I could have had." Listen to the interview here.

Be sure to check out the Late Night Library's close examination of Iain Haley Pollock's 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize winning collection SPIT BACK A BOY. In the show, guest co-hosts Doug Cornett and DJ Dolack interview Pollock while also discussing the themes of identity and in-betweenness, death and ritual, and connections between past and present that pervade his poems. Listen to the show here.

A recent review in the Greensboro News & Record lauds Karen Kruse Thomas for her book DELUXE JIM CROW: "Thomas traces in detail--minute, eye-watering detail with charts, tables and graphs--the history of this aspect of segregation. . . . surely the definitive [book] on this aspect of segregation. . . .This is outstanding scholarship."
Author Linda LeGarde Grover is venerated for her collection of short stories, DANCE BOOTS (re-released as a paperback this year), in a recent issue of Studies in American Indian Literatures. Michael Wilson writes, "Dance Boots is an elegantly written and often deeply moving collection of short stories. Like O'Connor's fiction these stories are regional, focusing on members of an Ojibwe community in northern Minnesota. And like O'Connor's fiction, very little in these stories is untouched by the history of racism in American. . . .When it comes to fiction, this is not just good manners—this is good art."

Jack E. Davis of The Civil War Monitor praises Lisa Brady's book WAR UPON THE LAND in a recent book review: "Brady's fine book. . . looks at the role nature played in the Civil War. . . . no one [else] has offered a comprehensive examination of the subject."

Books & Culture calls Vincent Carretta's PHILLIS WHEATLEY "simply superb--a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on key 18th-century evangelicals."

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

Julian Brash, author of BLOOMBERG'S NEW YORK, comments on Michael Bloomberg's decision to have the city of New York enter into a "social impact bond" with Goldman Sachs. "Goldman Sachs has been very adept at getting involved in government policy that clearly serves its own self-interest. . . . It sees this as a way to develop a market in these bonds at a time when financial capital is having a hard time finding profitable investments, banks are sitting on huge amounts of money, and everyone is looking for the next bubble."—The Nation

The latest issue of The Living Church has a review of THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS by David L. Holmes. "THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS is easy, informative, interesting, and a balanced presentation of each president."

The largest Burmese python in Florida was recently discovered. At 17.7 feet, the python was also found carrying a record-breaking 87 eggs. National Geographic interviewed two University of Georgia Press authors about the story. "A Burmese python as big as the new titleholder 'should be able to eat nearly any native animal in South Florida'—even Florida panthers," said INVASIVE PYTHONS IN THE UNITED STATES co-author J.D. Willson. SNAKES OF THE SOUTHEAST co-author and UGA professor Whit Gibbons is also quoted.

The Civil War Monitor has a new video interview series, and RUIN NATION author Megan Kate Nelson is one of their first participants. Check out the video here!

The staff at ForeWord This Week recommend Linda M. Rupert's CREOLIZATION AND CONTRABAND, calling it "superb."

Short Takes

Hugh Sheehy's THE INVISIBLES receives a starred fiction review in Publishers Weekly which proclaims him "a wicked new talent."

The video trailer for Megan Kate Nelson's RUIN NATION is featured on Cosmic America.

Megan Kate Nelson contributes to the discussion on BackStory Radio's recent episode, "Beach Bodies: A History of the American Physique."

Congratulations to John Inscoe for winning another award! His book, WRITING THE SOUTH THROUGH THE SELF, has just been announced as one of the 2012 Lillian Smith Award winners.

In a recent article, the Oxford American explains the connections among CORNBREAD NATION 6, Vietnamese cuisine, and New Orleans' restaurants.

Marcia Aldrich, author of the forthcoming COMPANION TO AN UNTOLD, has been working on a video trailer for her book. Check out her blog to learn about her experience.

A columnist for the Anniston Star quotes a passage from ALABAMA GETAWAY by Allen Tullos in his column about the current movement in Anniston, AL to change its reputation.