Month: March 2009

AwardsLeave a comment

Review of Searching for Tamsen Donner, one award winner, and one nominee

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The Buffalo News (in Buffalo NY) recently ran a fantastic review of Searching for Tamsen Donner, by Gabrielle Burton. Here’s an excerpt of what writer R.D. Pohl has to say: The portions of the book that recount the Burton family trek across the Rockies and High Sierras are written with a deft comic touch and the plucky, feminist bravado that made “Heartbreak Hotel” such a crossover hit. What may surprise readers is the author’s intuitive gifts as a researcher and narrative historian. She succeeds where other historians and biographers have failed in uncovering and publishing here all 17 of Donner’s … Continue reading Review of Searching for Tamsen Donner, one award winner, and one nominee

Events, Guest blogsLeave a comment

Christgau on Capitol Hill, and Kokomo Joe events

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Kokomo joe A little over a week ago, John Christgau (author of Tricksters in the Madhouse, The Gambler and the Bug Boy, the upcoming Kokomo Joe and others), testified before Congress, and we here at the University of Nebraska Press asked him to write a guest blog about his experience doing so. Here’s what he had to say:

The weekend before last, I testified with others at a hearing in DC before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.  The issue was H.R. 1425, or the “Wartime Treatment Study Act,” a proposed and long-overdue bill that would establish two fact-finding commissions. The first would study the internments and restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on certain European Americans and European Latin Americans during World War II. The second would study government policies limiting the ability of Jewish refugees to come to the United States before and during the war.  I was asked to testify because my book ENEMIES (which will be republished by Bison Books this September) was the first book on the subject of so-called “enemy aliens” during World War II.  The hearing was a gratifying yet disturbing experience. 

Continue reading “Christgau on Capitol Hill, and Kokomo Joe events”

ExcerptsLeave a comment

Off the Shelf: How to Cook a Tapir: A Memoir of Belize by Joan Fry

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How to Cook a Tapir Read from Chapter 1, "Hurricane" from How to Cook a Tapir: A Memoir of Belize by Joan Fry:

"When I had announced my wedding plans to my parents, they were appalled. They disapproved of Aaron's politics. They disapproved of the fact that he, an older man—he was a graduate student—was taking me, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, on a "working honeymoon" for a year in the jungle. Like most people, they had no idea where British Honduras was. Africa? An island off the coast of China? Only my German-born grandfather, who had run away to sea at fourteen, knew it was a tiny Central American country the size of Massachusetts, south of Mexico and east and north of Guatemala. Its entire eastern border faced the Caribbean as though the country were sprawled on its side, facing the azure half-moon of the earth's second-largest barrier reef. Along its spine grew some of Central America's most pristine rainforest. That's where Aaron and I were going—where the Maya lived.

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: How to Cook a Tapir: A Memoir of Belize by Joan Fry”

UncategorizedLeave a comment

Flood Stage and Rising

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The perilously high Red River in Fargo is all over the news today. The National Guard is on the ground there, patrolling the 43-foot-high dike for leaks and breaches. Several neighborhoods have been evacuated, as have jails and hospitals. The river is expected to crest tomorrow. One of my coworkers said today that she can’t read or listen to anything about Fargo without thinking about Flood Stage and Rising, published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2005. The author, Jane Varley, lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota, which is also on the banks of the Red River. In 1997, … Continue reading Flood Stage and Rising

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Terese Svoboda in the New Yorker, Kiyosaki book free online, and oddest book title award

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I was flipping through the March 23 issue of the New Yorker last night and happened upon a poem by Terese Svoboda, titled Mom as Fly. For those of you unfamiliar with Svoboda, she is the author of Tin God, which was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2006. Her short story collection, Trailer Girl and Other Stories, will be released as a Bison paperback this fall. And her poem is on the New Yorker Web Site. In addition, I have two interesting bits of general publishing news for our readers this Friday: 1. Publishers Weekly Online had an … Continue reading Terese Svoboda in the New Yorker, Kiyosaki book free online, and oddest book title award

ExcerptsLeave a comment

One last March Madness excerpt

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But first, a note to regular visitors of this blog: You may notice a change to the blog banner today. That's because we have a new logo, which I think jazzes up our blog's home page a bit, don't you? Moving on, Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, returned from his annual trip to Las Vegas days ago, but he's still updating his blog often. Yesterday, he wrote this post, which is about basketball, betting AND a radio call-in show, all in one: One of the perks of writing … Continue reading One last March Madness excerpt

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The University of Nebraska Press and the Sandhill Cranes

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Like a lot of native Nebraskans, I remember a few spring mornings when my parents woke us kids in what felt like the middle of the night and loaded us into the family minivan so we could see the Sandhill Cranes. I remember watching the sunrise from the car, and I remember how quiet it was along I-80 until we reached the birds. I remember talking to my friends at school about their own family trips to see the cranes; to grow up in rural Nebraska was to make your own family migration – perhaps not every year, but at … Continue reading The University of Nebraska Press and the Sandhill Cranes

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Searching for Tamsen Donner in the L.A. Times

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One hundred sixty three years ago this May 12, the Donner Party left Independence, Mo., and set out toward California. I imagine that this time of year 163 years ago, the members of the Donner Party were already busily making preparations for the journey they expected would last just four months. And contrary to popular belief, the Donners were prepared for that trip. They had all the necessary staples – loads of food, good, sturdy transportation, warm clothes. Tamsen Donner, wife of party leader George Donner and the subject of Gabrielle Burton’s new book Searching for Tamsen Donner, also brought … Continue reading Searching for Tamsen Donner in the L.A. Times

ExcerptsLeave a comment

Your Monday morning dose of March Madness

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Today's excerpt from the blog of Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas: On several occasions in the book I mention how people I have met in Las Vegas have come for March Madness annually for many years. On Saturday I watched nearly all of the games with terrific viewing companions from Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. I found out that four of the thousands who were in Las Vegas for the games this weekend were two father and son tandems. A brother and brother-in law and their respective dads … Continue reading Your Monday morning dose of March Madness

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Today’s excerpt from Alan’s blog

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(For the uninitiated, we're posting excerpts from Alan Zaremba's blog each day — Alan is the author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, which is new this month from the University of Nebraska Press). Alan's fully immersed in March Madness mania now. Behold: Today I met a person who had come to Las Vegas for 36 years. There was a father and son team from St. Louis where the son was likely in his mid forties. The mean age seemed to me to be no less than mid 30s. As I have … Continue reading Today’s excerpt from Alan’s blog