Field of Schemes: Congress Probes How New Sports Stadiums Turn Public Money into Private Profit Yesterday author Neil DeMause was a guest, along with Representative Dennis Kucinich and Bettina Damiani (Project Director of Good Jobs New York), on Democracy Now! The transcript of the show and links to the audio are at: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/30/field_of_schemes_congress_probes_how Continue reading Neil De Mause on Democracy Now
"MazdaSpeed Motorsports billed our duel as Fact vs. Fiction, and now we see why fact wins. You made being a racer up. I am a racer." Sam Moses, author of Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots raced against author Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain) in the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland and WON the "Fact verses Fiction" battle. Here are the pictures: Continue reading Fact Versus Fiction Battle
New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is, Coincidence and Counterfactuality: Plotting time and space in narrative fiction by Hilary P. Dannenberg. This groundbreaking analysis of plot answers the pivotal question of how do we tell good stories? By charting the development of fiction over history, from the renaissance to today, Dannenberg explores how the novel has changed over time and authors develop complex strategies for piercing the cognitive stricture of the reader with real life experiences. This week Linking in Lincoln will take a look at both coincidence and counterfactuality (as in defining it) and see what … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: July 30, 2008
1.True2.80%3.264.Want to be rid of their partners.5. True, 35% more ill in fact.6.True7. 2 weeks8. True9.85% 10. Ages 8 and 9, and lived in China around 1910 Continue reading Tuesday Trivia Answers
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
Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, author of Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off and Other Lessons Learned from the Lewis and Clark Trail, spoke to a crowd of 50 Lewis and Clark enthusiasts at the Great Plains Art Museum last week. Tubbs discussed the extraordinary symbolism that has been attached to Sacagawea’s legacy as well as the importance of the Lewis and Clark expedition to capturing and developing the lifelong environmental interest of young readers, answered questions from the audience, and read from the title chapter of Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off:
"Again I ask that we reconsider the historical Sacagawea and give her credit for who she was. For 
example, although in popular culture she is celebrated as a guide, we do not celebrate her greater genius, which would seem to be her memory for landscapes, her ability to translate between highly different languages and worldviews, and her understanding of harvesting foods and moccasin reading. In modern times she might have been an engineer or a crime scene investigator or a foreign correspondent with those skills. In her world landmarks told stories and because of that they stayed fixed in her mind. Think of Beaverhead Rock. She remembered those places because as a young child she would travel there with her people looking for bison and roots. These travels were based on the seasons and the stories associated with the places they went. The landmarks told stories, and Sacagawea must have been a very good listener."
Continue reading “Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs Discusses Her New Lewis and Clark Book”
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
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