University of Nebraska Press

Happy Halloween

The Black Stranger and Other American Tales

By Robert E. Howard
Edited and with an introduction by Steven Tompkins

In Howard's Gothic America, dominion goes hand in hand with damnation and the present never ceases to writhe in the grip of the past.

The Mystery of Hunting's End

By Mignon G. Eberhart

The Sand Hills of Nebraska, where Mignon G. Eberhart lived as a newlywed, inspired the setting of this 1930 chiller.

The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy

By Francis Stevens
Edited and with an introduction by Gary Hoppenstand
Illustrations by Thomas Floyd

Slithering from these pages are never-before-collected tales of suspense and wonder by the woman who invented modern-day dark fantasy.  Read an excerpt.

More Praise for The Blizzard Voices

The Blizzard Voices by Ted Kooser

“It’s the little details that make the stories vivid. . . . In just 64 pages, Kooser brings the people of the great blizzard back to life. You can feel the chill in these pages, hear the voices as if you and the speaker are huddled next to the stove, talking of recent events while the windows rattle in the January wind.”—Nebraska Life

Read More Praise for The Blizzard Voices.

More Praise for Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward

 

Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward by Charlyne Berens

“[A] fascinating and complex portrait. In Hagel’s case, such a portrait is indeed timely.”—Nebraska Life

Read more praise for Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward.

Baseball Fix

Whether it's the Cardinals or the Tigers, baseball season is almost over.  To tide you over to the next season, try these baseball books from the University of Nebraska Press:

Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend
By Timothy M. Gay
Visit the bookpage to read an excerpt

Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's First Spring Training
By Chris Lamb
Visit the bookpage to read an excerpt

The Boys Who Were Left Behind: The 1944 World Series between the Hapless St. Louis Browns and the Legendary St. Louis Cardinals
By John Heidenry and Brett Topel
Visit the bookpage to read an excerpt

Miracle Collapse: The 1969 Chicago Cubs
By Doug Feldmann
Foreword by Don Kessinger
Visit the bookpage to read an excerpt

Baseball without Borders: The International Pastime
Edited by George Gmelch
Visit the bookpage to read an excerpt

Announcing Journal of Sports Media Blog

The Journal of Sports Media now has its own blog!  Brad Schultz, the editor of Journal of Sports Media, began the blog this month. 

 

"Question" awakens my motivation

his may be one of the shortest books I have ever read, has taken the longest time to get through, and even longer to mentally digest.  The Question , by Henri Alleg, was challenging for me to read.  I love fiction and I love poetry.  This was NONFICTION to the highest degree.  So real it felt surreal.  I tried and tried to put myself in his position to imagine what I would do - - the only conclusion I came to is that I am a much weaker person than I hoped I would be.  Mr. Alleg endured tortures that no human should have ever even heard mentioned.  I would have sold out many a friend upon the mere thought of my child experiencing even an iota of his tortures.  But for him to stay so strong, come bluff or beating, is absolutely amazing.   

I still haven't fully wrapped my head around the atrocities endured in this book, but I stand firm in believing that it should be read by all who can.  People need to know that if this can happen once, it surely can happen again.  (Naive to think it isn't happening already.)  Given the current political climate, I will make this short, sweet, and not about personal political stance - - I am glad that this book is being published again and I can only hope that people read it and take a part of it with them through life.  To remember what we have as far as freedom goes,  remember not to take it for granted, and hopefully reinstate a feeling of appreciation that will motivate the masses to not sit idly by and watch it be stolen from us without a fight.

More Praise for The Question

The Question by Henri Alleg

“The Question remains a political touchstone in France, and Mr. Alleg, who is still active in his mid-80s, is a familiar commentator there on the past crimes of French colonialism. But in the English-speaking world, the book has been largely forgotten. Now Bison Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, has published a new American edition, the first since 1958. It includes an afterword in which Mr. Alleg draws parallels between French conduct in Algeria and the American treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.”—The Chronicle of Higher Education

Read More Praise for The Question

More Praise for Nocturnal America

Nocturnal America by John Keeble

“Keeble’s Pacific Northwest [is] a rich and desolate landscape that yields a limitless trove of both peril and passion. . . . Keeble is adept at speaking from either the male or female point of view. . . . Daily existence is a wild and precarious dance in Keeble’s world, where lives gingerly balance between hope and grief.”—Booklist

Read More Praise for Nocturnal America

October Podcast: Louise Barnett Reads from Touched by Fire

his month's podcast features UNP author Louise Barnett reading from the new preface to Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer.

Barnett describes some of the fascinating and slightly unusual experiences--including adopting the persona of Custer for a battery of psychological tests--that have arisen from her fascination with the (in)famous general. Her work proves that George Armstrong Custer remains a national historical obsession.

For more than a century, Americans have been captivated by the legend of General George Armstrong Custer. But the various truths of Custer’s life and last stand prove elusive. Why are we so taken with the myth and the so-called mystery behind the man?

In a field teeming with highly partisan and wildly speculative treatments of Custer, Louise Barnett enters with a volume widely acclaimed by both military and cultural historians as the most balanced account of his life and legend. Custer's life spans two great eras of American history, and Barnett's commanding work pushes beyond the existing literature to a comprehensive view of this controversial figure.

 

Pamela Joern Appearance

Pamela Joern, author of The Floor of the Sky, will appear at
Magers & Quinn Booksellers on Thursday, November 30, 7:00 p.m.  She will be appearing with
author Alicia Conroy,

Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 
612.822.4611