The Society for American Baseball Research has a new award, and two University of Nebraska Press authors are among the inaugural class of recipients. The Henry Chadwick Award honors researchers, historians and others who have contributed to the understanding of the game and history of baseball. Nine honorees shared the first award, and among them are UNP authors Peter Morris and the late Jules Tygiel. Morris is the author of Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball, which tells the story of Tom and Jack Murphy, brothers and Irish immigrants who tirelessly crafted home-field advantages for some … Continue reading New SABR award honors two UNP authors

This year’s One Book One Nebraska selection was announced a few weeks ago, and once again, it’s a book by a Nebraska author published by the University of Nebraska Press. This year’s selection is The Home Place, by Wright Morris, which recounts, in both words and pictures, the one-day visit of Clyde Muncy to "the home place" at Lone Tree, Nebraska. Wright called his style of mixing words and photographs “photo-text,” and the style was revolutionary, even if few books are published in the “photo-text” style today. A Central City native, Wright Morris won the National Book Award twice, for … Continue reading One Book One Nebraska 2010

It’s been quite a week at the University of Nebraska Press, as all sorts of our authors are all over the Web this week. I’ll cut right to the chase: A review of Taste of Cherry (winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry), interview with author Kara Candito and original poem by Kara Candito are featured on The Rumpus, in what the Web site calls “a super-sized combo.” It’s a beautiful review of Candito’s vivid book of poems. And in the interview, Candito discusses what it’s like to read aloud from the racier passages of her book, among … Continue reading UNP in the news: A recent roundup

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Driving with Dvorak, an essay collection by Fleda Brown. This collection examines a broad spectrum of themes: Feminism, education, the treatment of the developmentally disabled in the 1950s and 1960s, and the author’s father’s likely autism. In this guest post, Brown discusses why she decided to write about her father, and how the book came together: You can track the events in Driving With Dvořák by my father’s age, which I mention in a number of essays. He ages almost ten years during the book. I thought I might change … Continue reading Guest blogger: Fleda Brown

The National Jewish Book Awards were announced this morning, and the University of Nebraska Press has a winner. The Holocaust in the Soviet Union, written by Yitzhak Arad and translated by Ora Cummings, won in the Writing Based on Archival Material category, one of 18 categories in which awards were given. In The Holocaust in the Soviet Union, Arad uses documents previously unavailble in English to trace the Holocaust in the German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union through three separate periods in which German political and military goals in the occupied territories dictated the treatment of Jews. It's a complete … Continue reading An award and a UNP author in the Washington Post

Hello UNP blog readers! Posting has been light lately because of a) Winter Break and b) a very busy December here at the University of Nebraska Press headquarters. But it’s a new year, and time to celebrate with a new post. First things first: Our spring books are just now starting to arrive in stores and assorted book reviewers are already taking notice. Just yesterday, Publishers Weekly reviewed one of this season’s fictional offerings, Lamb Bright Saviors, by Robert Vivian. I was so gripped by Vivian’s beautiful, unique, almost experimental prose that I read this in one sitting. Publishers Weekly … Continue reading A good start to the new year

As I was drinking my morning coffee and getting ready for work today, I checked one of my very favorite   book blogs and found a review of TWO University of Nebraska Press titles featured prominently on the homepage. Which was a great way to start the day. In her short story collection Call Me Ahab, Anne Finger explores disability and the way it affects (and doesn’t) art, relationships, legacy and a host of other topics. It’s a powerfully and beautifully written book, which has gained it much notice.  Including from Millions reviewer Amy Halloran, who calls Finger “a talented … Continue reading UNP on the WWW – A round-up

Halloween, to me, signals the arrival of an annual event I think of as The Official Two Months of Eating Well. It begins with apple cider and popcorn balls, moves into apple cake and pumpkin bread territory, before arriving in full-fledged Thanksgivingland, then giving way to peanut brittle, fancy holiday breads with raisins, currants and nuts, and, of course, cookies. Being The Official Two Months of Eating Well are rooted in tradition, the potential for falling into a rut (albeit a savory rut) runs high. But the University of Nebraska Press is here to help. On sale through November are twelve … Continue reading In time for Thanksgiving, cooking titles on sale

Happy halloween, blog readers! A a tidbit of supernatural (though not especially scary) trivia in honor of Halloween tomorrow…… In 1922, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), best known as the author of Sherlock Holmes stories but also a devout spiritualist, published a book called The Coming of the Fairies in which he contested that fairies are real. Doyle was convinced of this by a set of photographs apparently showing two young girls from Cottingley in Yorkshire playing with a group of tiny, translucent fairies. Doyle’s book lays out the story of the photographs, their supposed provenance, and the implications of their existence. … Continue reading Today’s treat (no tricks): A story and a link