University of Nebraska Press

University of Nebraska Press in (cyber)space

It is a most unusual Donner Party narrative, for rather than writing a narrative of the Donner’s cross-country journey, Gabrielle Burton takes her husband and five daughters on a road trip, visiting spots that Tamsen Donner lived in along the way. The catch? The road trip was in 1977, when Burton was trying to write a novel that touched, but did not focus, on Tamsen Donner. … The result is part memoir, part historical recreation, part travelogue.

This is from the blog Ghost Word, which today features a post on University of Nebraska Press author Gabrielle Burton and her newest book, Searching for Tamsen Donner. The post also includes an in-depth Q&A with Burton, in which she reveals where her fascination with Tamsen Donner, wife of George Donner (George being, of course, the leader of the small group of covered wagons stranded in the Sierra Nevadas during the winter of 1846-47).

In other online news, our Bison Books editor Tom Swanson was mentioned on ForeWord Magazine’s Web site today (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the part about Tom). Tom will talk about Ted Kooser’s new book, Lights on a Ground of Darkness, at Book Expo America later this month.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned Lights on a Ground of Darkness on this blog before, and I suppose now would be a good time to do so. Lights on a Ground of Darkness is a memoir of Ted’s childhood in Iowa. More specifically, it’s a collection of Ted’s memories of his mother’s family, and the simple – yet often surprising – rural life they led. It’s a beautiful book, one that’s tender and beautifully written without being sappy or too sentimental. It’s also, I think, a snapshot of what life was like in many rural areas on the Great Plains 50 years ago. Plus it contains some cute photographs of Ted as a little boy.

One last note for the blog today: East Coast readers, you can hear an interview with Tom Swift, author of Chief Bender’s Burden, which won the Seymour Medal (a big, prestigious, sports book prize) will be on WSVA (550 AM) in Harrisonburg, VA at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday. Tune in.

Off the Shelf: Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer by Robert Cochran

Read from the first chapter of Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer by Robert Cochran:

"And here is a place, less arbitrary than most, to begin the story of Louise Pound. She was by any measure an extraordinary woman. In the academic world she was a pioneering scholar who made important contributions to at least three disciplines. In the world of sports she was an outstanding athlete who would have been at one point the nation’s top-ranked woman tennis player had such listings been compiled at the time. She excelled at every sport she attempted, and she attempted them all. She was a passionate supporter, both as a player and as a coach, of high-level athletic competition for women; Title IX legislation, had she lived to see it, would have seemed to her the restoration on a national scale of a golden age for women’s athletics at the University of Nebraska in which she played a central role. She fought (and lost, in the short term) her life’s bitterest battle in support of women’s athletics at the University of Nebraska. But such gender-based commitments extended far beyond the playing fields—Louise Pound was throughout her long career as a teacher and scholar a dedicated advocate of opportunities for women in general and more especially for their educational and professional advancement. No cause—and she was active in many—gained her greater loyalty.

Off the Shelf: Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother's Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis

In honor of Women's History Month and our Women's History Month sale, today's excerpt comes from a book published in 2008, Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother's Life in Politics by Beth Boosalis Davis:

"An unfamiliar voice at the other end of the phone asked, "Is this Mary Beth?" Immediately the question engaged my Nebraska self—Nebraska, where I was known for eighteen years as Mary Beth before going off to college, where I was M.B., and eventually dropping Mary altogether by the time I married. Mary Beth had always sounded southern to me anyway, though I liked being named after my grandmothers, Mary and Bertha (Beth and Bertha are the same in Greek: Panayiota).

This disembodied phone voice was calling me by my familial, familiar, Nebraska name—and not my grown-up name, Beth. Who was it? "You don't know me. My name is Neil Oxman and I'm working with your mother's campaign."

"Oh hi," I managed to interrupt the increasingly emphatic, eastern-accented caller.

"Look, you don't know me. I don't know you. But everyone I've talked to here in Nebraska agrees that you need to come home. Your mom needs your help and people say you'll know what to do. Besides, you're the only child, so it's up to you."

Tuesday Trivia: February 17, 2009

New from the University of Nebraska Press: Queens and Power in Medieval and Early Modern England, edited by Carole Levin and Robert Bucholz.

Queens and Power provides a forum for the underexamined, anomalous reigns of queens in history. These regimes, primarily regarded as interruptions to the “normal” male monarchy, have been examined largely as isolated cases. This interdisciplinary study of queens throughout history examines their connections to one another, their constituents’ perceptions of them, and the fallacies of their historical reputations.

You’ve probably already guessed the topic of this week’s Tuesday Trivia....queens.  Our focus is a bit broader than just those of medieval and early modern England. Ready?

1. Helen the Tough ruled which country from 1395, after her husband’s death, to 1398, when she ceded power to her stepson? Hint: She was the only queen to rule this country.

2. Which ancient Egyptian queen is best known for her iconic bust, which is currently on display at Egyptian Museum of Berlin?

3. Which U.K. queen became known as the Grandmother of Europe after arranging marriages for her children and grandchildren with other young royals from throughout the continent?

4. Queen Elizabeth ruled Russia from 1741 to 1762. Her reign was unique, in part, for the number of executions during her tenure as queen. How many executions were there?

5. Which queen, who ruled Poland from 1384, when she was just 12, until she died of complications from childbirth in 1399 is the patron saint of queens?

6. Empress Go-Sakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1771, is the most recent reigning queen of which country?

7. Lady Jane Grey ruled England and Ireland for just nine days in 1554, when she was not yet 20 years old. The brevity of her reign led to Grey being known as what?

8. Queen Maria, was also known as Maria the Pious, Maria the Mad because of her intense religious beliefs and her struggle with melancholia. What country did she rule?

9. How old was Mary, Queen of Scots, when she became queen?

10. Bonus question: What is the name of the evil queen in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty?

Do you know as much about queens as you thought you did? Check back tomorrow for the answers, and be sure to check out Queens and Power for a more in-depth look at some of England’s most influential women leaders.

Community organizers in the White House and in Lincoln, too

All eyes are on Barack Obama today (or at least on HBO) as the nation’s most famous community organizer prepares to take office.

In keeping with his community organizer roots, Obama declared yesterday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- a day of service. Listening to the news last night, I found the interviews with people who spent the holiday cleaning up parks, volunteering at shelters and even giving haircuts to those in need pretty inspiring.

No doubt former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis would find such service inspiring, too. Before she was mayor, Boosalis was a volunteer and community organizer herself. Boosalis was also the first woman president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, as well as an outspoken advocate for economically distressed cities. Read all about Lincoln’s most famous community organizer in Mayor Helen Boosalis: My Mother's Life in Politics, by her daughter, Beth Boosalis Davis.

And speaking of, the January/February issue of the AARP's magazine has this to say about Mayor Helen Boosalis: A true pioneer in American politics, Helen Boosalis moved from being a housewife and volunteer to being elected the first female mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1975—then she became a nationally prominent advocate for troubled U.S. cities. Her inspiring story is told through the eyes of her daughter. 

This Week in History: January 5-9, 2009

The first full week in January is always the official week of buckling down, returning to pre-holiday routines and hunkering down for another few months of winter (let’s hope we don’t see a return to the sub-zero temps we had here in Nebraska in the weeks before the holidays). January may not be as crazy as December, but over the years many important events have still happened this month. Let’s take a look, shall we?

January 5, 1972 - President Richard Nixon orders the development of an organized space shuttle program.

Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story, by David Hitt, Owen Garriott, and Joe Kerwin, tells the story of what happened next, after astronauts stopped merely exploring space and began also living there.

January 6, 1912 – New Mexico becomes the the 47th U.S. state.

The states and regions in which Americans live can affect their accents, their preferences for certain foods and types of entertainment, the styles of homes they live in, the way they dress and, of course, which sports teams they cheer for. Likewise, the place in which an author lives often affects the way he or she writes, as detailed in Regionalism and the Humanities, edited and with an introduction by Timothy R. Mahoney and Wendy J. Katz.

January 7, 1789: The United States of America holds its first presidential election.

We all know how that election turned out, just as how we all know about that before he was president, George Washington was the leader of American forces during the Revolutionary War. But what many of us don’t know is that as American forces were fighting the British, they were also fighting the Native Americans who Washington thought stood in the way of white settlement, a topic explored in George Washington’s War on Native America by Barbara Alice Mann.

January 8, 1877: Crazy Horse fights his last battle, losing to U.S. Calvary in Montana.

The University of Nebraska Press first published Mari Sandoz’s famous biography of the Oglala Sioux leader in 1942. The New York Times praised the book, titled simply Crazy Horse, as “a glorious hero tale told with beauty and power . . . the story of a great American.” The University of Nebraska Press published a third edition of the book in 2008, and has published other books about Crazy Horse as well.

January 9, 1908: Simone de Beauvoir, a French philosopher, feminist and writer perhaps best known for her 1949 book Second Sex, is born.

Views from the Margins, edited and with an introduction by Kevin J. Callahan and Sarah A. Curtis, explores what it means to be French, and how class, gender, nationality, religion and other factors play into the French identity. 

I hope this week’s edition of This Week in History taught you something new (or at least brought back memories from high school history classes). Remember you can find all of these titles and more at the University of Nebraska Press website.

This Week in History: September 8-12, 2008

It’s a new week, bloggers! I don’t know about you but I’ve been enjoying the new cooler weather (though not all the rain) and the series premieres of all my favorite shows! I’m not going to lie, Gossip Girl has become a guilty pleasure…..the couture is just so beautiful but lets face it, what high school kid dresses like that?  This week we’ve got a real variety for you guys! Starting with Star Trek and ending with a tribute to those lost in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Ready to start bloggers?

Sept 8, 1966: The first Star Trek premieres on NBC.
    Are you a science fiction lover? I’m a secret one…though not now, I suppose. If you are then may I present The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories by classic Scifi author Miles J. Breuer.

Sept 9, 1543: A nine month old Mary Stuart is crowned “Queen of Scots”.
    Powerful women in the government- it’s one of the great gifts the generations before us paved the way for. For a more local legend, please check out Mayor Helen Boosalis by Beth Davis Boosalis about the first female mayor or Lincoln, NE.

Sept 10, 1945: Mike the headless chicken is decapitated, but will survive for another 18 months before choking to death.
    Now I have no book to connect this to. I can only appeal to your general sense of wonderment and hope you recognize the sheer greatness of this little story. Here is a link to miketheheadlesschicken.org for more info.

Sept 11, 2001: I can assume this date needs no introductions. Rather than focusing on the horror of this event, may I suggest following this link to the memorial and putting our efforts towards remembering those who lost their lives.

Sept 12, 2005: Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny’s Bay Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

I LOVE Disney movies! Beauty and the Beast was the first movie I saw in theatres, and the whole experience has always stayed with me. Now this new book from UNP, Cinderella Ball: A Look Inside Small College Basketball in West Virginia by Bob Kuska, is not the same kind of fairy tale, but I can assure you that you will walk away with the same inspiration.

Ok bloggers another week down! Be sure to take a look at the University of Nebraska Press website for these books and more. Please join us next Tuesday for a little trivia!!

This Week in History: May 26-30, 2008

Well bloggers, it’s about that time again, yep, This Week in History! Children’s stories, the holocaust, and we’ll catch back up with our favorite womanizer King Henry VIII. And now for the events…..

May 26, 1830: The Indian Removal Act is passes by Congress.

The Indian Removal Act suggested (strongly) that many Native Americans surrender their land. For a closer, more autobiographical look at the Native community today, please check out American Indian Autobiography by H. David Brumble III.

May 27, 1933: Walt Disney releases the Three Little Pigs, featuring the hit song “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”

If kiddie tales is your idea of quality literature (and to all those with young children, then I understand that it may be…) then please check out the best UNP has to offer with Twinkle Tales by L. Frank Baum, renowned author of The Wizard of Oz.

May 28, 1952: The women of Greece are given the right to vote.

The independence of women has long been a hot issue, and reading Eight Women, Two Model T’s, and the American West, by Joanne Wilke is a perfect way to celebrate it.

May 29, 1940: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp called Auschwitz.

The Holocaust is an appalling time in our history, yet there were moments of true goodness going on amidst it. Good Neighbors, Bad Times by Mimi Schwartz, chronicling the good deeds done by one village, may shed some light on this dark story.

May 30, 1536: King Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour preceding this execution of Anne Boleyn.

Oh, will his antics never end! King Henry VIII may be famous for falling in love (also for being crazy, ruthless, and violent), but having 8 wives and executing two of them has never made for an ideal man. If romance happens to be up your alley, then may I introduce Mr. Ted Kooser and his book of poetry, Valentines. Read it, and even a King won’t be able to hold a candle to him.

Well, bloggers thanks for checking us out! See you next week for Tuesday Trivia.

Praise for Women, Marriage, and Wealth

Women, Marriage, and Wealth: The Impact of Marital Status on the Economic Well-Being of Women Through the Lifecourse by Joyce A. Joyce

“A comprehensive, credible analysis of the patterns and variations in the likelihood that women will spend their elderly years in poverty. . . . Joyce makes an accessible case that the economic infrastructure of old age support—including attitudes toward women in their families—must change to reduce the risk of poverty for older widows or divorced and never-married women.”—CHOICE

Ancestral Adventures

An Interview with Joanne Wilke, Author of Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West

In 1924 eight young women drove across the American West in two Model T Fords. A group of farm girls who met while attending Iowa’s Teacher’s College, they shared a sense of adventure and a “yen to see some things.” In nine weeks they traveled more than nine thousand unpaved miles on an extended car-camping trip through six national parks, “without a man or a gun along.” Joanne Wilke’s grandmother and great-aunt were among the fearless females who embarked on this rousing expedition. Now Wilke is the author of a new book detailing their unique journey, Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West (University of Nebraska Press). We chatted with her about the book, the challenges she faced in her research, and what she gained from the experience of chronicling a piece of her family’s history.

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

JW: I wrote Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West because I was intrigued by the trip in 1924 and by the women’s stories. I thought it was a unique bit of history that could easily be lost. Additionally, two of the women, Marie and Laura, had a big impact on me personally—not only their strength and intelligence, but their zest and humor. I wanted to do them justice. Although the backbone of the book is the Model T trip, the family stories, essays, and memoirs are the heart.

Q: Do you have any tips or suggestions for writing a book based on a family history? How did you go about doing your research? What were the biggest challenges and how did you tackle them?

JW: My biggest challenge in research was the aging minds of my subjects. I was able to interview four of the women, but they were so old that their memories came in snippets. They couldn’t remember what happened where or what route they took, and sometimes they confused this trip with other trips. But as the travelers passed away, their heirs sent me diaries and letters that they found. These were indispensable. In the future, I would certainly ask interview subjects directly if they had journals, letters, or pictures saved. My main advice in researching family history is to maintain optimistic patience, thoroughness, and good record-keeping, but also to maintain correspondence with other family members. Don’t be afraid to contact people, even total strangers, and be willing to let the story take on a life of its own. I would also advise some research into what constitutes nonfiction (as opposed to fiction, or even creative nonfiction), just to be clear in your mind as you work.

Q: In researching and writing Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West, what did you learn about your grandmother and great-aunt that you did not know before setting out on this journey?

JW: In the process of writing Eight Women, my youthful, somewhat mythic, impressions of Marie and Laura coalesced into a fuller picture of them as human beings. I also found my connection to them was deeper than I realized.

Q: Your grandmother, great-aunt, and their cohorts set out on a long, difficult journey "without a man or a gun along" at a time when this was not at all common. How has their conviction and sense of independence inspired you in your personal and professional life? 

JW: When I was a child, I listened as my grandmother’s and great-aunt’s conversations strayed into various youthful adventures, including this trip. To me it just seemed normal. I thought all grandmothers had such stories. But I was so young and the stories came in such a natural way that it is hard to determine the impact—to separate nature from nurture. I believe that my own curiosity, sense of adventure, ability to think for myself, and a certain willful confidence expanded in their presence. Perhaps that was their true gift to me.

Joanne Wilke’s work has appeared in the Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West and Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West anthologies. She has also written pieces for the Montana Quarterly, the Pacific Review, and the Christian Science Monitor.

To read a recent article on Joanne Wilke and Eight Women, Two Model Ts, and the American West in the Billings Gazette at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/10/14/features/magazine/18-wilkie.txt.

For more information on the book, please visit http://nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Eight-Women-Two-Model-Ts-and-the-American-West,673240.aspx.