New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is No Planets Strike by Josh Bell. No Planets Strike, the debut collection of poetry by Josh Bell, reads as a playfully serious record of modernity. Subversive in their treatment of the contemporary voice, broad in their subject matter, and often delightfully funny, the poems in this collection have a brilliant ear language.This week Tuesday Trivia is going to test you on your poetry prowess. Try and match the famous poem with its equally famous writer. Good luck, reader! 1.    I, Too, Sing America2.    Where the Sidewalk Ends3.    If You Forget … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: December 23, 2008

Read the first chapter, "Restless Men", from The Enders Hotel: A Memoir by Brandon R. Schrand: "On a rain-soaked afternoon in August of 1975 my mother took her shift behind the counter in the bar of the Enders Hotel. It would have been an ordinary afternoon in Soda Springs, Idaho, if not for the sudden downpour in that stretch of summer’s furnace-breath. The rains drove farmers into the dank hollows of their Quonset huts that hugged the rocky landscape. And they sent, too, the ore-mine roughnecks scampering for cover. Some jobs shut down all together. Irrigation lines stopped surging their … Continue reading Off the Shelf: The Enders Hotel: A Memoir by Brandon R. Schrand

Well readers, another week has passed. There’s a lot happening in the news; Oprah apparently gained 40 pounds, a certain Illinois governor was arrested  for trying to sell President Elect’s Obama’s senate seat and a winter storm is on its way to our little town of Lincoln (which should make for a fun weekend!)…. but best of all its another installment of This Week in History! We’ve got France, and Alcatraz, and Space, oh my!   December 15, 1852: Henri Becquerel, French physicist and Nobel laureate is born. Onitsha by J.M. G. Le Clezio, while not related physics, was written by … Continue reading This Week in History: December 15-19, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is, Playing at Monarchy: Sport as Metaphor in Nineteenth Century France by Corry Cropper. Before the French Revolution sports were confined to the wealthy. One of the numerous changes that came along with the revolution was the ability, or accessibility, of these games to the wider public.  This week Linking in Lincoln will shed a bit more  light on the topics of social class, sports, games, and France. I promise it will be a revolutionary experience! 1.    What is monarchy? Well as always the fastest and most convenient place to look … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: December 18, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is The American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island: Red Power and Self-Determination by Troy R. Johnson. From November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971 the world focused its attention on Alcatraz Island and the American Indians who were occupying it. In this detailed recounting of the occupation, those who participated in it and those who organized it, Johnson explains how it was pivotal in developing “pan-Indian activism" as Americans rallied in support of the Indians. This week Tuesday Trivia will give you a few facts about this infamous island and give … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: December 16, 2008

Read from the introduction of Cinderella Ball: A Look Inside Small-College Basketball in West Virginia by Bob Kuska:

"If the French writer Alexis de Tocqueville had sailed to America in the early twentieth century to chronicle its love affair with the new sport of "Basket Ball," he would have spent months ensconced in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Nowhere was the game more a part of the popular culture than in these three roughly contiguous states that stretch from the beaches of Lake Michigan into the hills and hollers of Appalachia. As many of this passing generation have recalled, basketball was the perfect pastime for their modest rural lifestyles. The game was inexpensive, required just five stout men on each team, and produced more thrills than the annual town turkey shoot, once the highlight of the sporting year.

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: Cinderella Ball: A Look Inside Small-College Basketball in West Virginia by Bob Kuska”

 New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Northern Tales: Traditional Stories of Eskimo and Indian Peoples by Howard Norman. With tales from the tribal peoples of Greenland, Canada, Siberia, Alaska, Japan, and the polar region, told and retold during months-long winter nights, Northern Tales gathers together a rich diversity of traditions and cultures, spanning the Way-Back Time through the coming of the first white explorers. By turns tragic and comic, fantastic and earthy, frivolous and profound, this collection transports the reader to the haunting, little-known world of the far North, with all its fragile majesty and power. … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: December 11, 2008

    New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is The Real Thing by Kurt Andersen. You may already know that Belgium is the most boring country on planet Earth, but do you know why? From cities to sitcoms, from scotch to soda, from English monarchs to French movies, The Real Thing is a compendium of the quintessential, providing definitive answers to some of the most compelling questions of our time. Author Kurt Andersen’s pithy pronouncements sparkle with wit, sophistication, and a healthy dose of skeptical good humor as he strips world culture of accumulated hype and accepted wisdom. … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: December 8, 2008