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
1.Mainland2. 22 languages3.Mount Mckinley 20,3204.True5.570,380 square miles6.Killed 131 people and also destroyed many villages7. Petroleum8.False: It has the lowest9.2910.True Continue reading Tuesday Trivia Answers
The University of Nebraska Press seeks a graphic designer who can design 24 books and covers/jackets each year from manuscripts and design 10-12 Bison Book covers per year using InDesign. Minimum qualifications include bachelor’s degree in commercial art plus one year of experience in the graphic arts field required; equivalency considered. Experience using InDesign and Photoshop or similar design / graphics software essential. Must have portfolio demonstrating design ability, including solid typography and page layout skills and a good sense of composition and color. Excellent communications skills and the ability to take direction and critique of work in a positive, … Continue reading University of Nebraska Press Seeks Graphic Designer Applicants
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
Reaching for the Brass Ring
By Beth Boosalis Davis, author of Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother’s Life in Politics
Flat on my back and sick as I’d ever been, I managed to write on the back of a nearby dental reminder card a specific timetable to do something I’d never before considered – write a book about my mother, Helen Boosalis, and her political life. Days later, after I recovered, I studied my scratchy bedside notes expecting to dismiss them as some delusional sickbed rant. Instead, I realized writing my mother’s story had not come out-of-the-blue but rather from a desire buried deep within. Perhaps my illness had knocked me into a rare state of stillness, a state where something deeper than the next to-do item on my list could command my attention.
Even with clarity of purpose I still had practical matters to consider, such as the fact that I knew nothing about what was involved in writing a book. I may not have doubted the goal but I certainly doubted my ability to achieve it. That’s when I recalled advice my mother was given when she hesitated to jump into her first race for mayor: “the brass ring may not come round again.” I had my timetable, I had my parents still with me, I had my husband’s support. Time to reach for the brass ring.
I didn’t presume to think I could just sit down and type out a book, no matter how familiar the subject. First I converted a little-used 8 X 9 feet space to a “room of my own” for writing. I started journaling, and on my daily walks along Lake Michigan I practiced by writing three descriptions of the lake each day. I bought several books on writing and even read a few, hoping the rest would be absorbed through osmosis.
Linking the Bases! New this month from the University of Nebraska Press, is Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century by Allen Barra. I know at one time or another we have all asked ourselves who the greatest baseball player is in the last century? Ok, may not ALL of us (such as myself), but we cannot deny that someone, somewhere, has probably asked this at some time. We also cannot deny the pervasive influence sports … Continue reading Lincoln in Linking: July 17, 2008
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