University of Nebraska Press

This Week in History: November 25-30, 2007

The weather outside is indeed frightful. Here in Lincoln, Nebraska we’re looking at the possibility of freezing rain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing_rain) on Saturday—a scary meteorological phenomenon which is essentially a mad hybrid of snow, rain, and ice. Sounds like the perfect excuse to stay inside with a fire roaring in the fireplace, curled up with a laptop (fully charged in case of a power outage due to aforementioned freezing rain) and read about…

This Week in History

November 25, 1914: The “Yankee Clipper,” Joe DiMaggio, was born in Martinez, California. DiMaggio led the Yankees to nine titles in thirteen years.

Are you a Yankees fan? If so (or if you just love baseball) stay tuned for the April 2008 publication of Ed Barrow: The Bulldog Who Built the Yankees’ First Dynasty by Daniel R. Levitt (University of Nebraska Press).

November 26, 1940: Nazis forced the half million Jews of Warsaw, Poland to live within a walled ghetto.

Want to know what life was like for Jews in Poland prior to the Holocaust, before their lives were changed forever by the horrors of the Nazi regime? Then you must read The Life of Jews in Poland before the Holocaust: A Memoir by Ben-Zion Gold (University of Nebraska Press, 2007).

November 27, 1874: The Zionist pioneer and first president of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, was born.
Pick up Essential Readings on Jewish Identities, Lifestyles, & Beliefs: Analyses of the Personal and Social Diversity of Jews By Modern Scholars edited by Stanford M. Lyman (University of Nebraska Press, 2003) for a convenient, single source for better understanding Jewish diversity in America, Israel, and other societies. The author explores, among other topics, the facets of Zionism.

November 28, 1895: The first automobile race took place, between Chicago and Waukegan in Illinois.

Do you have the need for speed? Sam Moses has you covered. Read his book, Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots: A Racing Odyssey on the Border of Obsession, published this year by the University of Nebraska Press. Also, check out his contribution to this blog at http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/09/my-first-and-la.html.

November 29, 1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson named a commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy rocked our nation to its core. Why do such violent acts occur? Is there any escape from violence? What is its place in a civilized world? Marco Abel tackles these tough questions and more in Violent Affect: Literature, Cinema, and Critique after Representation, scheduled for publication in January 2008 by the University of Nebraska Press.

November 30, 1864: The Civil War’s Battle of Franklin took place as the Army of Tennessee, led by General John Bell Hood, mounted a hugely unsuccessful frontal assault on Union troops in Franklin, Tennessee.

Do you have a Civil War buff in your family? If so, you’ll want to pick up UNP’s latest Civil War title, Counter-Thrust: From the Peninsula to the Antietam by Benjamin Franklin Cooling. It would make an intelligent gift and show that you were listening when Uncle Stuart droned on endlessly over Thanksgiving about Richard E. Lee and the Battle of…um…something or other.

Cookbook Reviewing

On this last Thursday of November, I'm sitting here wishing I ate breakfast, especially after perusing the blogosphere for recipe reviews and experiments.  Admittedly, and as most of you may know, I am a vegetarian, so my ventures tend to fall on the non-meat pages.  Nonetheless, I think I came up with an eclectic list of food sites this week.

I begin with Paper Palate, a blog collective that looks at food and wine in printed sources (such as magazines and cookbooks).  You can find the list of all blogs associated with the Paper Palate on their About page.

The Ethicurean is a blog about all things food--from growing, to production, to plate.  They ("a writer, an engineer, an editor, a graphic designer, a couple of techies, and a speech-pathologist-in-training") write cookbook reviews and post lovely pics of organic farm life on their sidebar.

Curious Cooks looks at food from a scientific point of view.  Harold McGee also writes a New York Times column called "The Curious Cook."  His blog includes recipes!

I think I linked to this cookbook blog before, but I really adore it. 

Finally for this week, visit The Cook's Kitchen: What you need, what to buy and where to buy it.  Editor Cate O'Malley is very clear about recipes and directions.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

More Praise for Living Blue in the Red States

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 left at both the right and itself. Most importantly, they are vivid and eloquent.”—Andy Fogle, PopMatters

To read earlier praise for Living Blue in the Red States, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/08/praise-for-livi.html.

More Praise for The Year the Stars Fell

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 own age and out into the greater world of ideas and images. In such works we can begin to recover a portion of that which has been obliterated by time.”—The Bloomsbury Review

To read earlier praise for The Year the Stars Fell, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/07/praise-for-th-1.html.

Praise for Little Britches

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

More Praise for In Praise of Flattery

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.

More Praise for Unlearning to Fly

Unlearning to Fly by Jennifer Brice

“Like a pilot photographing terrain for a map, [Brice] captures her family . . . and friends in a broad and clear vision. . . . Indeed, every person who graces the pages of her narrative is writ generously, fairly and kindly, with a fascination that rekindles our own sense of wonder at the lives we think we know most intimately— those of our parents, close friends, co-workers, but also the collective lives of our homes and our environment.”—Nina Murray, Lincoln Journal Star

To read earlier praise for Unlearning to Fly, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/10/praise-for-unle.html.

Author Events November 29 through December 05, 2007

It's almost December.  Hm.  This month went by really fast.  The temperatures dropped almost without warning.  Almost all of the trees here in Nebraska are without their leaves. The people outside no longer linger on the sidewalks now that it's cooler--they hurry from cars to buildings or from buildings to cars.

Did you shop last week?  Did you hustle off to your nearest indy bookstore or one of the popular chains to satisfy the book lover on your list, or a book for yourself, or a book just because?  Or did you stay home and eat left overs?

Well, here's to December, and these last few days of November, and author events.

On the first day of December, author Joanne Wilke will be at the Montana Writers Roundup.  She will be signing copies of Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West from 12:00pm- 5:00pm. 

Nebraska Moments, New Edition's authors Donald R. Hickey, Susan A. Wunder, and John R. Wunder will be at Barnes and Noble in Lincoln, also on December 1st.  They will be signing books at 2:00pm.

Jacqueline Fear-Segal, author of   White Man's Club, will be at the Cumberland County Historical Society on December 4 for a talk and book signing.

Tuesday Trivia

Westward Thinking

In honor of one of our new November books, The American West, Second Edition: A Modern History, 1900 to the Present by Richard W. Etulian and Michael P. Malone, this installment of “Tuesday Trivia” will test your knowledge of the Western states. Determine whether each statement below is true or false. If you answer them all correctly, we won’t send you on an all-expense paid trip out west to California, but we will send you on a “virtual pictorial tour.” (See picture below at right.) Not enough of an incentive? Well, let's see how you do, anyway...

True or False?

1.     More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.

2.     One out of every ten United States residents lives in California.

3.     California produces more than 27 million gallons of wine each year.

4.     Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.

5.     Arizona's most abundant mineral is copper.

6.     Alaska's most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry.

7.     Ice fishing is the official state sport of Alaska.

8.     The United States federal government owns more than 1/3 of the land in Colorado.

9.     Colorado has the highest mean altitude of all the states.

10.  Under Idaho law only two forms of city government are allowed: a mayor/councilor or a council/manager form.

11.  In Idaho law forbids a citizen to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 75 pounds.

12.  Oregon's state birthday is on December 25^th, Christmas.

13.  Tillamook is home to Oregon's largest cheese factory.

14.  The hazelnut is Oregon's official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut.

15.  Apple Inc. is located in Redmond, Washington

16.  Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle.

17.  The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president.

18.  Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in the nation. It is second in the world behind South Africa.

19.  The only Nevada lake with an outlet to the sea is man-made Lake Mead.

20.  New Mexico was named by 16th century Spanish explorers who hoped to find gold and wealth equal to Mexico's Aztec treasures.

21.  1 out of 2 workers in New Mexico work directly for the Federal Government. State and local governments are also major employers.

22.  Wyoming was the fourth state to give women the right to vote.

23.  Wyoming has the lowest population of all 50 United States.

24.  The federal government owns 35% of the Utah’s land.

25.  Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation.

Answers: 1-T; 2-F (one in every 8); 3-F (17 gallons); 4-T; 5-T; 6-T; 7-F (dog mushing is); 8-T; 9-T; 10-T; 11-F (more than 50 pounds); 12-F (it’s Valentine’s Day, February 14^th); 13-T; 14-T; 15-F (Microsoft is located there); 16-T; 17-T; 18-T; 19-T; 20-T; 21-F (1 out of every 4); 22-F (it was the first); 23-T; 24-F (the government owns 65%); 25-T

Want more fabulous fast facts about our states? Visit http://www.50states.com/facts/.

For more information on The American West, Second Edition please visit http://nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/The-American-West-Second-Edition,673338.aspx.

Problems and Solutions

Chefs Maggie Pleskac and Sean Carmichael will be on KFOR's (1240AM, Lincoln, NE) award winning "Problems & Solutions" radio program Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:00am.  They will be discussing their book Dueling Chefs: A Vegetarian and a Meat Lover Debate the Plate with "Problems & Solutions" host Cathy Blythe.