Book Birthdays celebrate one year of a book’s life in tweets, reviews, and more. This month we’re saying Happy First Book Birthday to Mud, Blood, and Ghosts (Nebraska, May 2023) by Julie Carr.
About the Book:
Populism has become a global movement associated with nationalism and strong-man politicians, but its root causes remain elusive. Mud, Blood, and Ghosts exposes one deep root in the soil of the American Great Plains. Julie Carr traces her own family’s history through archival documents to draw connections between U.S. agrarian populism, spiritualism, and eugenics, helping readers to understand populism’s tendency toward racism and exclusion.
A Word from the Author:
Nothing beats the experience of researching and writing a book, especially one that challenges the author to read, write, and think in a new way. That is where the true mind and heart-expansion happens. And yet, coming in a very close second is the pleasure and honor of talking with people about what you have written. Over the past year, I’ve given over a dozen podcast and print interviews about Mud, Blood, and Ghosts, and have given an equal number of presentations for live audiences. All of these experiences have been rewarding, but a few stand out: In Brooklyn, the poet Mónica de la Torre interviewed me live in the enchanting Black Spring Books; in Portland, I gave a presentation to a large audience of serious history buffs in a refurbished movie theater from the 1910s; Anthony Ballas asked me hard and necessary questions on his De Facto Podcast, which has at its mission, “exploring the intersection of radical politics, philosophy, history, theory and culture”; and the April Institute for Antifascist Research and Education (of which I am a member) created a short film in which I speak about the legacy of U.S. eugenics and its links to European and American fascism. I’ve been surprised and excited that so many people have wanted to engage with me about this book, querying me brilliantly and generously about Populism, spiritualism, settler-colonialism, and eugenics, as well as about the book’s (unusual, as I’m told) style and genre.
But truly, the most magical outcome of the book has been that the poet and filmmaker Carolina Ebeid created a gorgeous film from the book’s visual archive (for which my son Benjamin Roberts composed a score). This film is its own creative project; it’s both for the book and far beyond it. Screening the film has allowed me to offer the book’s true argument: that history is always with us, in the air we breathe, in the objects we touch, in the choices we make, in our language and in our bodies. The film makes all of this evident through its visual and musical languages in ways that mere text cannot. It’s sometimes said that imitation is the best compliment. For me, the best compliment, the greatest honor and joy, is instead collaboration.
A final shoutout here to UNP for being such an excellent home for this book and to superior designer, HR Hegnauer, who created the final version of the book’s rich and intricate website. I especially want to draw people’s attention to the “further reading” page on which I was able to pay some tribute to all the authors in whose debt I, and my book, remain.
Reviews:
“What makes this book particularly compelling is Carr’s honest yet complicated experience with honoring her ancestors while holding them accountable for their diabolical actions towards communities that have been historically abused by those in power. Her endeavor is not merely a personal reckoning but a larger commentary on society’s need to scrutinize its historical figures.” —Gabriela Corona Valencia, Center for Genetics and Society
“Part autobiography, biography (her great-grandfather, Omer Kem), history (populism, the Eugenics movement) and personal essays, this book offers insights into American society from the 1870s to the present day . . . It’s a compelling narrative – describing ordinary people encountering often extraordinary circumstances – not usually found in other works of Western History.” —Abraham Hoffman, Roundup Magazine
“This is an important and moving analysis of the development of a formal Populism movement in the United States, also important for understanding lowercase-p populism in today’s politics.” —Rebecca Mugridge, Library Journal
“[Mud, Blood, and Ghosts] is so bold and asks such serious questions about political motivation that it demands reading and rereading.” —Spencer Davis, Nebraska History Magazine
“Written with the prowess of a scholar and full of the insightfulness and precision of a poet, Mud, Blood, and Ghosts takes us simultaneously back to the nineteenth-century family origins of this story and into our turbulent present, where the urgent beating of land taken reverberates aloud, reminding us of the structural inequality of this country. Carr visits with ghosts and delivers their truth: the past is never the past. The future, if there is one, is up to us. Frankly: a must-read.”—Cristina Rivera Garza, distinguished professor of Hispanic studies and creative writing at the University of Houston
“Carr’s work reminds us, though, that our individual stories contribute to the larger narrative of our communities, country, and world. These histories are multifaceted and are shaped by the context of the times. Most importantly, they matter.” —Sunu Kodumthara, The Chronicles of Oklahoma
Interviews:
Confronting the American Eugenics Movement: A Conversation with Julie Carr
UNP blog 