Books

The Search for a Shared National Narrative

Joshua A. Claybourn

“Edited by attorney Claybourn, this collection addresses the possibility of a shared narrative within a country divided by political polarization… A mixed-bag collection that finds the United States at a crossroads.”

Great Plains Weather

Kenneth F. Dewey

Editorial in the Omaha World-Herald:

“During March in Nebraska, observes Kenneth F. Dewey, a climatologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ‘it is possible to experience all four seasons of weather’… Dewey’s book contains information relevant in the wake of Nebraska’s current emergency from widespread flooding and blizzard damage.”

Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl:

How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought for New York’s Baseball Soul

Chris Donnelly

Review on Booklist Online:

“The author has done a thorough job exploring the intense rivalry between the talent-rich ‘85 Mets and the equally loaded Yankees for supremacy in the city during what were the generally bleak days of the mid-’80s… for New York fans, this is a generally entertaining trip down memory lane.”

Pastime Lost:

The Humble, Original, and Now Completely Forgotten Game of English Baseball

David Block

Reviewed by First Things:

“In his new book, Pastime Lost, published just in time for the opening of the 2019 Major League Baseball season, Block reports on his research in the intervening years, adding a good deal of new evidence… While I was reading Pastime Lost, I couldn’t help but think about how much baseball has changed just in my lifetime—for kids and professionals alike.”

The Three-Minute Outdoorsman Returns:

From Mammoth on the Menu to the Benefits of Moose Drool

Robert M. Zink

Feature in the Star Tribune:

“Have you ever considered the relative benefits of moose drool? (We’re not talking about the popular brand of beer.)… The book includes more than 70 essays—each readable in three minutes—in which Zink distills the latest scientific research and provides readers useful, entertaining and offbeat information about the natural world.”

Medical Imperialism in French North Africa:

Regenerating the Jewish Community of Colonial Tunis

Richard C. Parks

Review on Reading Religion:

“This book represents an attempt to reconstruct the social, cultural, and historical context of the Tunisian Jewish community under French protectorate, in particular the period between the two World Wars. It presents useful information for readers who may not be very familiar with the histories and complex ethnic and religious struggles which were at play in Maghrebi and Middle Eastern societies during the Ottoman and European empires.”

Courage and Grief:

Women and Sweden’s thirty Years’ War

Mary Elizabeth Ailes

Praised on H-Net:

“By illuminating the centrality of the home and household to the Swedish war effort, Ailes offers an important alternative to the traditional narratives of early modern warfare… Crucially, by highlighting the ‘home front,’ Courage and Grief charts a potential path forward for historians to reexamine the impact of early modern warfare on society that relies centrally on women’s experiences.”

Bold Venture:

The American Bombing of

Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945

Steven K. Bailey

Review by Stone & Stone:

“Bold Venture is more than the title of this book, and more than a description of the nature of the operations it describes… Bold Venture undoubtedly emerges as a catchy book focusing on a topic that has not been fully explored or beaten to death over the years.”

Here’s the Pitch:

The Amazing, True, New, and

Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising

Robert J. Newman

Review in the New York Journal of Books:

“The book’s strong point is in its critique of advertising and that industry’s relationship with baseball as a reflection of the changes, for good and bad, in American society. Those observations will stay with the reader long after reading its pages.”

Black Elk Speaks

The Complete Edition

John G. Neihardt

Praised in the Coastland Times:

“Neihardt does a superb job of capturing Black Elk’s voice…One feels that Black Elk is speaking directly to the reader. Part of this feeling probably comes from Black Elk’s simple and direct way of telling a story.”