UncategorizedLeave a comment

Friday the 13th

univnebpress

Today is Friday the 13th, which means it’s either a day of good luck or bad luck, depending on how you look at it. Yes, it’s associated with bad luck, but according to various web sites I found during a short Google-fueled research session, some research shows there are fewer car accidents (and other accidents) on Friday the 13th than other days because some people are so superstitious about the date that they avoid driving (or taking part in other potentially dangerous activities). So there you have it. A number of semi-significant historical events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including … Continue reading Friday the 13th

AwardsLeave a comment

Awards, Awards, Awards!

univnebpress

Good news here at the University of Nebraska Press. In the past few days, we’ve learned that no less than SIX of our titles are up for various awards: — The Great Plains During World War II by R. Douglas Hurt, and Bright Epoch: Women and Coeducation in the American West, by Andrea G. Radke-Moss, have been both been selected as finalists for the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize. — Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees' First Dynasty by Dan Levitt, Chief Bender's Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star by Tom Swift, are two of the … Continue reading Awards, Awards, Awards!

EventsLeave a comment

Baseball books, baseball song, and plain old baseball

univnebpress

As the end of college basketball season (which I’ve devoted much space to on this blog in recent weeks) draws near, baseball season is in full force. And the University of Nebraska Press LOVES baseball season. NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture holds an annual conference each spring, and this year, two of our authors will be featured speakers there. Lee Lowenfish, author of Branch Rickey, will give a presentation on his book – which is now out in paperback – on Friday, and Monica Nucciarone, author of Alexander Cartwright, will speak on Saturday. The conference is in … Continue reading Baseball books, baseball song, and plain old baseball

Uncategorized1 Comment

Wine, March Madness and a smidge of soccer

univnebpress

Good Tuesday morning! I have four University of Nebraska Press-centric links for you today: Robert Camuto, author of Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French Wine Country, met with Huffington Post blogger Louise McCready during his book tour last month. To read about Robert’s history with wine, the concept of wine as food and the way the terrain and climate in France affects its wines, read Louise’s blog post about Robert. Speaking of blogs, Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, spent this weekend at the CAA men’s basketball tournament, and he blogged up a … Continue reading Wine, March Madness and a smidge of soccer

ExcerptsLeave a comment

Off the Shelf: Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother’s Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis

univnebpress

Mayror Helen Boosalis cover image In honor of Women's History Month and our Women's History Month sale, today's excerpt comes from a book published in 2008, Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother's Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis:

"An unfamiliar voice at the other end of the phone asked, "Is this Mary Beth?" Immediately the question engaged my Nebraska self—Nebraska, where I was known for eighteen years as Mary Beth before going off to college, where I was M.B., and eventually dropping Mary altogether by the time I married. Mary Beth had always sounded southern to me anyway, though I liked being named after my grandmothers, Mary and Bertha (Beth and Bertha are the same in Greek: Panayiota).

This disembodied phone voice was calling me by my familial, familiar, Nebraska name—and not my grown-up name, Beth. Who was it? "You don't know me. My name is Neil Oxman and I'm working with your mother's campaign."

"Oh hi," I managed to interrupt the increasingly emphatic, eastern-accented caller.

"Look, you don't know me. I don't know you. But everyone I've talked to here in Nebraska agrees that you need to come home. Your mom needs your help and people say you'll know what to do. Besides, you're the only child, so it's up to you."

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother’s Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis”

UncategorizedLeave a comment

This week in history, and tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

univnebpress

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any this day in history news. A few tidbits for today: On this day in history in 1927 novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist Gabriel García Márquez was born in Columbia. Among his most famous books are One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.  Sharing his birthday is Alan Greenspan, who was born a year earlier, in 1926. On this day in history in 1931, the first radio newsreel debuted. On this day in history in 1981, Walter Cronkite … Continue reading This week in history, and tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

UncategorizedLeave a comment

New March books available now, plus a nice Waberi review and some e-reader news

univnebpress

March is the first month our spring season, and the University of Nebraska Press has more than a dozen new books out this month. You can visit the new titles page at the UNP web site for a full list of our March titles. Among our new releases is In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi. This is a story in which Africa is a rich and powerful nation, and the Unites States, Canada and the Europe are third-world slums. It’s also the story of a young white girl, who was adopted as a baby by an … Continue reading New March books available now, plus a nice Waberi review and some e-reader news

Uncategorized1 Comment

Spring means basketball tournament time

univnebpress

It’s finally beginning to feel that spring is just around the corner. And it is, as two major spring events occur this weekend: The beginning of Daylight Savings Time and the NCAA men’s basketball conference tournaments. What does a basketball tournament have to do the the University of Nebraska Press? More than you might think. Alan Zaremba, author of The Madness of March: Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, will be at the CAA tourney, and will post about the games, the fan and more on his blog. He’ll be in Richmond, Va., from March 7-9, so … Continue reading Spring means basketball tournament time

UncategorizedLeave a comment

On Statehood Day and Women’s History Month

univnebpress

The beginning of March means two things to us here at the University of Nebraska Press. One, it’s Nebraska’s birthday! Nebraska turned 142 years old yesterday, on March 1. Two, the beginning of March marks the beginning of Women’s History Month. Many of our best known, most acclaimed titles were written by women, about women, or, often, both. We’re celebrating by offering a 25 percent discount these 16 titles. Sale titles include those written by famous Nebraska authors Willa Cather and Bess Streeter Aldrich, as well as about famous Nebraskans like Grace Abbott and former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis. Today … Continue reading On Statehood Day and Women’s History Month

ExcerptsLeave a comment

Off the Shelf: Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books by Ilana M. Blumberg

univnebpress

Houses of Study cover image Now available in a paperback edition, read from the Preface of Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books by Ilana M. Blumberg:

"The story I tell in the pages to come begins in 1988, when I landed in Israel, eighteen years old and female. My crosscultural education began with a lesson in language. The term ‘‘yeshiva’’ (seminary), I quickly learned, did not apply to girls or women. In America, our teachers had talked about our year of study in ‘‘yeshiva’’ without distinguishing between male and female students and institutions. But when I got to Israel, conversations in Hebrew came to a standstill when Jews, both religious and secular, asked me why I’d come to Israel and I explained that I’d come to learn in ‘‘yeshiva.’’ I’d used the wrong term, they explained. Girls and young women went to mikhlala (women’s college), not yeshiva.

Continue reading “Off the Shelf: Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman among Books by Ilana M. Blumberg”