Read from the introduction of Why She Plays: The World of Women's Basketball by Christine A. Baker:

"One Friday night in July 2005, I walked out of the tunnel and onto the floor of Madison Square Garden moments before the New York Liberty basketball team did the same. I was aware of the lights behind me flipping on to illuminate the way for the players and the television cameras. I saw the electrical wires crisscrossing down the tunnel and underneath the hardwood floor. Only steps ahead of the team, I watched the fans look beyond me to the players they had paid to see. There was fanfare. There was noise, but it was not for me and it never will be. I am like a ghost forever hovering at the edges of the tunnel, riding the shadows of the players, trying to grasp the ball as it slips just out of reach of my fingertips.

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: Why She Plays: The World of Women’s Basketball by Christine A. Baker”

Hey readers, Thanksgiving is officially a week and a day away- hopefully your holiday plans are coming along! This week we have a plethora of topics, including communism, Mark Twain, and Vietnam… think we’re covered? Then go ahead and join me reader! November 17, 1865: The U. S. Screen Actors Guild implements an anticommunist loyalty oath. In Radio’s Revolution: Don Hollenbeck's CBS Views the Press edited by Loren Ghiglione, we see how much of this period was devoted to anti-communist agenda, and how even the media was not exempt from the frenzy. November 18, 1865: Mark Twain publishes his story “The Celebrated … Continue reading This Week in History: November 17-21, 2008

Will Work for Books blogger Jana recently posted an interview with University of Nebraska Press designer Joel Gehringer during which she asks him about his work on the cover design for the forthcoming book, The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession by Ken Alder. Read the interview on Jana's blog. Continue reading An interview with Book Designer Joel Gehringer

You don't need to take our word for it, there's a blog dedicated to promoting books as great holiday gifts, and it's conveniently called Buy Books for the Holidays. Posts vary on topic from how to find great used book sales to recommendations from The Book Lady, to many requests (and in turn helpful suggestions posted in the comments section) for particular gift ideas. Continue reading Buy Books for the Holidays

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg. It’s the twenty first century and a broken world is ruled an evil tyrant. Genghis II Mao IV Khan is 93 years old, and is having his brilliant young doctor, Mordecai Shadrach, replace his organs as they fail.  Shadrach then learns of a disturbing plot in which Khan plans to take over his young body. Risking everything, he embarks on a dangerous journey to change the world forever.     Ok guys, I know I am a loyal Science fiction fan but this book … Continue reading

Save 25% on your University of Nebraska Press book order! Browse our Web site, add books to your shopping cart, enter ZHL84 in the discount code field of your shopping cart, and click "apply". This offer is good on all regularly priced books purchased through our Web site.*Discount expires December 19, 2008. Don't know where to start? Browse our gift book guide: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/pages/giftbooks.aspx *excludes books published by the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. Cannot be combined with any other offer.          Continue reading University of Nebraska Press Holiday Web Sale has Arrived!

NEW this month from the University of Nebraska Press is The Global Game: Writers on Soccer edited by John Turnbull, Thom Satterlee, and Alon Raab "Translating the Global Game"by John Turnbull One would have good reason for believing that The Global Game: Writers on Soccer is about soccer. The word “soccer” appears in the title. The cover features a soccer player in Lichinga, Mozambique, competing in a Saturday morning match. From the first entry in the book, by Danish poet Klaus Rifbjerg, to the last, by Czech writer Miroslav Holub, poems, essays, memoir, letters, and oratory discuss “association football,” the formal … Continue reading Author Guest Blog: John Turnbull

 New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Pioneer Cemeteries: Sculpture Gardens of the Old West by Annette Scott. Illustrated with eighty-three striking photographs, this book shows how the pioneer cemetery emerged as a site of public sculpture and cultural transmission in which each carved or molded monument played dual (and sometimes conflicting) public and private roles, recording the community’s history and values while memorializing  individuals and events. This week Tuesday Trivia will ‘strike you dead’ with all the fun facts about cemeteries we got! Hope you’re not too scared to join us reader…. 1.    How long ago … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: November 18, 2008

 A reminder that University of Nebraska Press author Mimi Schwartz will be appearing in Lincoln, Nebraska on Tuesday, November 18 (that's tomorrow!) for a book signing, reading, and discussion of her recent memoir Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father’s German Village. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Dudley Bailey Library, 228 Andrews Hall, on the University of Nebraska−Lincoln campus. Mimi Schwartz recovers the history of a German Village and the journey into her family's past in her latest memoir, Good Neighbors, Bad Times. Schwartz grew up on her father's boyhood stories and rarely took them seriously. What … Continue reading Reminder: Author Mimi Schwartz Appearance is Tuesday night