Tayler Lord and Anna Weir are publicists at UNP who share a cubicle currently filled with cardboard boxes. Today they also share their thoughts about a few upcoming titles they’re particularly excited about as readers. The books in this discussion will be published in February.

Anna Weir: ME FIRST!

Struck by a collection of photographs of extinct animals—specifically birds—Hollars was inspired to begin birding, taking solace in the birds that still exist. More than just an outdoor memoir or a history of bird watching, the story delves into what the loss of birds means for humanity. It isn’t until we realize our impact on even the smallest of our feathered friends that we realize our ecological responsibilities.

Okay Tayler, what has you excited for our next month of books?

Tayler Lord: I’m super excited for Plotting to Kill the President: Assassination Attempts from Washington to Hoover by Mel Ayton. I was reading the first couple of chapters and learned, aside from the intrigue of conspiracy and murder, the book is full of interesting information about the nature of presidential protection in the United States.

Apparently while the White House was being built, “the public wandered in and out without being challenged.” Can you imagine?! The level of protection around the president these days is so great, probably even greater than we’ll ever know. It’s wild to think that anyone could easily get to the president, and kind of makes you wonder how more presidents weren’t assassinated. I’m excited to read more and see how protecting the president evolved during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in response to the assassination attempts.

I’m also amazed that we had more than one book this season about murdering presidents. Okay, what’s next for you?

AW: I’m also looking forward to Separation Scenes: Domestic Drama in Early Modern England. Focusing on five plays written circa 1600, Ann Christensen attempts to fill a gap in Early Modern feminist studies. Separation Scenes demonstrates how domestic drama played an active, dynamic, and critical role in deliberating the costs of commercial travel as it disrupted domestic conduct and prompted realignments within the home.

Early Modern plays and the role of  men and women in domestic and public spheres—this is the kind of thing my roommate in college (an English and Theater major) and I would talk about late into the night. I’m excited to work on this book for the nostalgia, but also because UNP hasn’t published many books on this subject before. It’ll be new terrain for us, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

What’s another book you’re excited for?

TL: I’m pretty excited to be working on At the First Table: Food and Social Identity in Early Modern Spain by Jodi Campbell. At the First Table shows how food choices and dining customs helped to convey a person’s gender, age, status, occupation, and religion in early modern Spain, and how that affected their relationships with others.

I’ve been watching a lot of Chef’s Table and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on Netflix lately, so I’ve got international food and food history on the brain. It’ll be fun to bring that sort of culinary enthusiasm to my work on this book.

Anna, I’d like to congratulate us on our first full season as publicists. Seems like we were just celebrating the Fall/Winter 2016 catalog and now we’re already moving on to the next season!

AW: (pulling party poppers) YEAH BOOKS! So proud of the books we’ve published this year. Here’s to 2017!