The Invention of Kool-Aid and Other Nebraska Moments New this month from the University of Nebraska Press, Nebraska Moments, New Edition by Donald R. Hickey, Susan A. Wunder, and John R. Wunder. This literary ode to the Cornhusker State showcases triumph, tragedy, comedy, and accomplishments that could have happened nowhere else and that reveal the rich culture and history under the state’s deceptively quiet surface. How much do you know about our nation’s 37th state? Here’s an interesting tidbit: Kool-Aid was invented in 1927 by Edwin E. Perkins of Hastings, Nebraska. Thirsty for more interesting Nebraska facts? Attempt the Nebraska-related … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia

post composed by David Shields On the occasion of the University of Nebraska Press’s reissue of Body Politic, I was interviewed by the Mariners Radio Network; Patrick Lagreid asked me what I thought about the recently completed 2007 Major League Baseball Season. I started laughing, because I realized I didn’t even know who had won the World Series. I don’t follow sports really, and I haven’t for a very long time. What I follow instead are the crises in and around sports: The Oklahoma State football coach who berated a female sports reporter for not only writing an article that … Continue reading Fear and Fantasy Realized in Sports

Living Blue in the Red States edited by David Starkey “[R]eveals the sensitivity, openness, and respect which the best (blue or red) minds can offer. . . . David Romtvedt’s ‘Red Politics and Blue in Wyoming,’ Robin Hemley’s ‘Control Issues,’ Jim Peterson’s ‘The Kreskin Effect,’ and Starkey’s ‘Writing the Personal Political Essay’ are all flat-out excellent writing, regardless (but not ignorant) of politics. That’s a real accomplishment. The best of these essays—and there is a lot of great work beyond what I mention above—acknowledge the false dichotomy of red and blue, confront personal biases, and outline the disillusionment of the … Continue reading More Praise for Living Blue in the Red States

The Year the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at the Smithsonian edited by Candace S. Greene and Russell Thornton “In this wonderful book, readers are presented with more than 900 individual pictographs signifying several centuries of tribal knowledge. . . . Taken together, these fascinating images provide an alternative history of the American West as written by those who were there in the beginning and remain there now. Like the Bayeux Tapestry—the embroidered cloth that preserves a visual history of the Battle of Hastings—these images challenge written recollection and revisit history in a way that takes us away from our … Continue reading More Praise for The Year the Stars Fell

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody “The story of the Moody family is told without embellishment in a simple, straight-forward style. It is especially suited for reading aloud as a family. The difficulties Ralph faces, the mishaps and consequences, will provoke quality discussions with middle schoolers and older students, although children as young as third grade will enjoy and benefit from the story.”—Homeschooling Today Continue reading Praise for Little Britches

In Praise of Flattery by Willis Goth Regier “[T]he book contains many gems: exquisite, entertaining, carefully chosen words by the obscure . . . and the mighty.”—Christine Schwartz Hartley, Bookforum To read earlier praise for In Praise of Flattery, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/11/praise-for-in-p.html. Continue reading More Praise for In Praise of Flattery