University of Nebraska Press

This Week in History: July 21-25, 2008

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 say that Jesse James was a rebel of sorts (rebel, robber, murderer…you know) but if you’re interested in another kind of “bad boy” then please check out REBEL: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby by Kevin H. Siepel, which chronicles the life of this bipartisan Commander.

July 22, 1882: American Painter Edward Hopper was born today.
If you fancy yourself an art connoisseur   then please take a look at Beyond Madness: The Art of Ralph Blakelock by Norman A. Geske.

July 23, 1929: Fascist Italy bans the use of foreign words.
In the wake of a burgeoning bilingual culture, Americans are well versed in the foreign word controversy. If you find that you’re an advocate of words, regardless of their origin, then you may enjoy the book of poetry Modern Archaist by Osip Mandelstam.

July 24, 1783: Simon Bolivar, the South American liberator is born today.
There is so much to South American culture, the politics, literature, food, entertainment and sports. If the latter is what really appeals to you the please take a look at Venezualen Bust Baseball Boom: Andres Reiner scouting on the New Frontier by Milton H. Jamil.

July 25, 2007: Pratihba Patil is sworn in as the first women president in India.
The position of women in politics has risen considerably in the past 50 years. For a look at Lincolns first female mayor please take a look at Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother’s Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis.

Ok, bloggers that’s enough history for today check out the UNP website for more titles.  Join us next week for a little Trivia and a few Links!

Linking in Lincoln: July 24, 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 week Linking in Lincoln will take a closer look at the player, the writer, and all the things in between!

Care to brush up on your Chief Bender bio?  If so then do it here at Wikipedia.

For you sports fanatics out there, you can take a look at his stats here.

Tom Swift is an award winning journalist and freelance writer. For more info take a look at his website, “Writers Notebook”.

Curious about other American Indian baseball players? Check out Baseball Almanac for a more comprehensive list.

There are numerous sports heroes out there, but My Hero-sports gives bios and introductions to who they consider to be the most significant.

Chief Bender grew up on the White Earth Reservation. Go to their website for a closer look at their significant history.

Hope you enjoy bloggers! Join us tomorrow for a little TWIH

Guest Blog: Kevin H. Siepel

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 formed no part of life as I saw it.

Just out of my teens, I went away to a Catholic seminary to study for the priesthood, an endeavor that was to last a few years.  Once the path of deep learning was opened to me, I came to see what an ignoramus I was, and that the only way out was to embrace the printed word beyond what was required.  I eased into my new program with historical novels, was surprised to find them enjoyable, and soon moved into the Great Books series, in addition to other sources of literature, history, and science.  Beyond the required Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French, I started studying Spanish and German.  Later, upon giving up the seminary life, I tackled biology.

In the mid-1970s, chance threw this somewhat better educated humanist into a job in northern Virginia.  The job was unattractive, but northern Virginia history proved magnetic.  I was drawn to the story of Confederate partisan commander John Singleton Mosby.  I noted that his life—except for his service during the Civil War—had been neglected by biographers, and decided that I could be not only a reader but possibly even a writer.  Believing strongly in my ability to get a book published simply because, well, because it would be so good, I persevered through three years of research and two years of writing, and voilà—the first publisher to whom I submitted the Rebel manuscript (St. Martins Press) took it.  I thought this was normal.  It’s since been through a second publisher (Dacapo Press), and I’m proud to say it’s now with the University of Nebraska Press.

Success with this particular project bred a confident attitude toward writing, and has helped me to create, among life’s other tasks, a very modest string of publications of which I’m proud.  Along the way I’ve given many booktalks, the thought of which would have sent the 15-year-old I once was into a tizzy.  I’ve exchanged the rifle and fishing rod for the computer keyboard, but only sandwiched in among other duties.

What does all this signify?  Well, I think at least this:  if you’re open to learning, and to following some sort of dimly perceived spirit, unsuspected abilities can bubble to the surface, and you wind up in a place where you never expected to be.  Those unsuspected abilities, however, will not prove to be in the writing line if you haven’t become a reader first.

Kevin H. Siepel
Author of:
Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby
Joseph Bennett of Evans and the Growing of New York’s Niagara Frontier

Author Guest Blog: Beth Boosalis Davis

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. 

Tuesday Trivia: July 15, 2008

                                                         IT’S A REBEL TUESDAY!

New from the University of Nebraska Press is Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby by Kevin H. Siepel. Rebel is the first complete biography of the Confederacy’s best-known partisan commander, John Singleton Mosby, the “Gray Ghost.” A practicing attorney in Virginia and at first a reluctant soldier, in 1861 Mosby took to soldiering with a vengeance, becoming one of the Confederate army’s highest-profile officers, known especially for his cavalry battalion’s continued and effective harassment of Union armies in northern Virginia. Although hunted after the war and regarded, in fact, as the last Confederate officer to surrender, he later became anathema to former Confederates for his willingness to forget the past and his desire to heal the nation’s wounds. Appointed U.S. consul in Hong Kong, he soon initiated an anticorruption campaign that ruined careers in the Far East and Washington. Then, following a stint as a railroad attorney in California, he surfaced again as a government investigator sent by President Theodore Roosevelt to tear down cattlemen’s fences on public lands in the West. Ironically, he ended his career as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.

    This week Tuesday Trivia is going to take a look at Rebels down the years, and these bad boys may not be who you think.

Match the rebel to their legacy:
1.    Pancho Villa
2.    Robert E. Lee
3.    Emiliano Zappata
4.    George Washington
5.    Geronimo
6.    Leon Trotsky
7.    Spartacus
8.    Che Guevara
9.    Michael Davitt

A.    Decorated Southern General who supported Pres. Andrew Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction.
B.    Apache leader who defended his tribe against the advance of the US on his land.
C.    Roman slave who lead an uprising in 73-71 BC.
D.    An Irish politician was pivotal in the Land Act of 1881.
E.    Mexican Revolutionary General but violence prevented him from true hero representation.
F.    Bolshevik revolutionary who was a founding member of Politburo.
G.    First President of the United States
H.    Marxist and Cuban guerrilla leader who was executed in Bolivia in 1967.
I.    Prominent figure in the Mexico Revolution in 1910

Ok, bloggers check back tomorrow for the answers!!!

Tuesday Trivia: July 7, 2008

New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is, Their Own Frontier: Women Intellectuals Re-Visioning the American West edited by Shirley A. Leckie and Nancy J. Parezo is dedicated to the female pioneers of the Twentieth Century.  Their philanthropic efforts, study into native studies, folklore, and ethnology have all retained their significance and are pervasive to modern day research.  This week Tuesday Trivia is going to see how much you know about these amazing women.

Match the Woman to her accomplishment:

Annie Heloise Abe
Gertrude Simmons Bonnin
Angie Debo
Isabel T. Kelly
Majorie Ferguson Lambert
Dorothea Cross Leighton
Alice Marriot
Mari Sandoz
Ruth Underhill

A.    Wrote Southern Paiute Shamanism
B.    Is best known by the name Zitkala-Sa
C.    Studied the Navajo, Inuit in Alaska, Papago, Hope and Sioux children.
D.    Is co-founder of the Marriot Hotel Chain
E.    Won the Justin Winsor Prize in 1906 for “The History of Events Resulting in Indian Consultation west of the Mississippi River.
F.    Served as a pastor at her local Methodist church during WWII
G.    Wrote the Ist life history of a Southwestern Indian woman
H.    Was one of the first woman curators in the country at the museum of New Mexico
I.    Won the Indian Achievement award in 1943.
J.    Is famous for her book Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas.

Check back tomorrow for the answers!!!

This Week in History: June 16-10, 2008

What do Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Abraham Lincoln, and Juliano Belletti all have in common? Well, other than This Week in History, not a whole lot. They are all, however, very significant to our humble blog as their endeavors give us reason to exist. So in honor of their efforts, we will proceed with another session of This Week in History.

June 16, 1859: Abraham Lincoln gives his famous speech House Divided in Springfield, Illinois.

Whether you are a fan or not, the legacy President Lincoln has left on this country has been considerable to say the least. For a look at an equally important figure on the opposite side, check out Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby, by Kevin H. Siepel

June 17, 1631: Mumtaz Mahal dies giving birth. Her husband, Mughal  Emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends the next twenty years building her tomb. We know this as the Taj Mahal.

Now THAT is a love story, and if romance is your thing you might be interested in Valentines, by Ted Kooser.
June 18, 1981: The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by the medical professionals of San Francisco.

The tragedy of disease has had its affects all over the world, and we are weighted down with the stories of loss. The miracles are less frequent, however,  so if you’re in the mood for one then please check out  It’s Good to Know a Miracle: Dani’s Story, by Jay and Sue Shotel.

June 19, 1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are put to death at Sing Sing in New York.

Their tale of Soviet espionage, with regards to the Atomic Bomb, gained international attention during the cold war. If seedy crime, and even seedier trials are your thing then have a look at Atrocities on Trial, by Patricia Herbre and Jurgen Matthaus.

June 20, 1976: Today Brazillian Juliano Bellitti was born.

Are you a fan of South America, and perhaps also athletics? If so, then Venezuelan Bust, Baseball Boom by Milton H. Jamail may just be the book for you!

You can find all these and more at the University of Nebraska Press website. Otherwise, we’ll see you on Tuesday for a little trivia!

More Praise for Chief Bender's Burden

Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star by Tom Swift

“A gem. . . . Swift’s mission is to reassert Bender as an important figure in the history of the game, both as a player and a groundbreaking figure. His book does well in both ways.”—Kevin Canfield, Chicago Sun-Times

To read earlier praise for Chief Bender's Burden, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2008/02/starred-review.html.

Continued Praise for Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish

“The book title captures the complexity of the man who ‘made a spark that helped shape three cultures—black, white and American.’ Rickey III attended a book signing and lecture by Lee Lowenfish at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Lowenfish wrote the latest book about baseball’s integration pioneer. Rickey III calls it the best of three books about his grandfather, who as an executive with the Dodgers brought Jackie Robinson to the Major Leagues in 1947. ‘It’s a more comprehensive character study with the benefit of insight, the distillation of time, events and history’ grandson Branch Rickey III said.”—Max Utsler, MLB.com

View a complete listing of praise for Branch Rickey at http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2007/02/praise_for_bran.html.

More Praise for Chief Bender's Burden

Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star by Tom Swift

“A fascinating study of the hardship and prejudice Bender endured, and the character he showed in the face of it all.”—Pat Borzi, MinnPost.com

“A substantial, vivid story of one of the best pitchers of the game’s early years.”—Mike Miliard, Boston Phoenix

To read earlier praise for Chief Bender's Burden, please visit http://nebraskapress.typepad.com/university_of_nebraska_pr/2008/02/starred-review.html.