Well bloggers, it’s very hot outside (and a little humid), it’s the middle of the summer, and there are no romantic holidays in sight. Now I don’t know if you lament the fact that only one day a year is targeted towards celebrating love, or if you think that’s really one day too many. If you’re the former than to remedy this I present to you a timeless romantic tradition encapsulated into book form for all the world to enjoy, albeit a little off season. If you’re the latter, then may I propose that you keep reading, as … Continue reading Tusday Trivia: July 29, 2008

When I left Omaha for Philadelphia in June to present a paper on place at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment symposium "Keyboard in the Garden," I couldn’t have selected a better, more appropriate book to take with me. Paradise is place, the environmental historian John Opie suggests in Virtual America: Sleepwalking through Paradise (UNP, June 2008), but Americans by and large have lost their sense of place–of rootedness–and belonging to and in place. This pervasive feeling of placelessness, as Opie terms it, isn’t new in American history, however. Questions about place have puzzled American artists and … Continue reading The Path Home, or Rediscovering Paradise in Authentic Place

Susan Brownell, author of the University of Nebraska Press title, The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games: Sport, Race, and American Imperialism, was featured this morning on NPR. Listen to the NPR broadcast as she discusses China and their efforts to enthusiastically support their country at this year’s summer Olympics. Brownell’s title, The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games, is due out this September.  Continue reading Author in the News

Well bloggers, it’s been awhile. You try and try, but sometimes life (or in this case summer classes) just gets in the way.  What’s important though, is that we’re together again and that even though we haven’t seen each other, history has prevailed. This week we’ve got everything from Jesse James to Praibha Patil, and a little Italian fascism just for fun.  Ready to pick up where we left off? July 21, 1873: Jesse James and the James-Younger gang attempted and succeeded in pulling off the first successful train robbery in the American West. Well I think it’s safe to … Continue reading This Week in History: July 21-25, 2008

New from the University of Nebraska Press, is Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star by Tom Swift.  Charles Albert Bender was the greatest American Indian Baseball Player of all time. His career unfolded in a time of great prejudice but his reputation for possessing an “unflappable demeanor” garnered him respect from the sporting world. This remarkable story told by journalist Tom Swift is sure to show you a side of baseball that is often overlooked, and his talent of utilizing both storytelling and the objectiveness of journalism recreates the “silent struggle” this sports hero endured. This … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: July 24, 2008

A PATHWAY TO PUBLISHING When I was a kid I loathed reading.  Couldn’t understand how anyone could have the patience to read two hundred or a thousand pages of . . .  words.  My minimally schooled parents each bore the emblem of being readers—namely, excellent grammar and usage, and familiarity with a wide range of topics.  But I didn’t get it.  To me life was roaming the fields and woods with a rifle or fishing rod, playing baseball, or building model airplanes and radios.  I did whatever reading was required for school (almost nothing in those days), but basically books … Continue reading Guest Blog: Kevin H. Siepel

Well bloggers it hotter than … (well, you know) outside. So to try and get our minds out of the heat this week’s Tuesday Trivia is going to take a look at UNP’s new book, Authentic Alaska II: Voices of the Far North, edited by Susan B. Andrews and John Creed.  Showcasing writers from the Arctic Ocean to the Southeast Alaska rainforests, their stories account for the diverse and unique culture this state has to offer. Their sometimes intimate pieces touch on everything from Global Warming to a mothers fight for her son to go to college. This sequel to … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: July 21, 2007