Celebrating Black History Month

This week in North Philly Notes, we showcase some of our recent and deep backlist titles for Black History Month.

Recently Published

BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered!: Hidden African American Philadelphia of the Twentieth Century, by the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection. Foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III.

African American history has produced countless exceptional heroes, leaders, and role models. The graphic novel, BLAM! Black Lives Always Mattered!, tells the inspiring stories of 14 important Black Philadelphians, such as opera singer Marian Anderson, civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois, and “Father of the Harlem Renaissance,” Alain Locke. Every profile is vibrantly illustrated with facts and images that emphasize each individual’s life and accomplishments.

It Was Always a Choice: Picking Up the Baton of Athlete Activism, by David Steele

Using their celebrity to demand change, athlete activists like Colin Kaepernick inspired fans but faced great personal and professional risks in doing so. It Was Always a Choice shows how the new era of activism Kaepernick inaugurated builds on these decisive moments toward a bold and effective new frontier of possibilities.

If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress: Black Politics in Twentieth-Century Philadelphia, edited by James Wolfinger, with a Foreword by Heather Ann Thompson.

Philadelphia has long been a crucial site for the development of Black politics across the nation. If There Is No Struggle There Is No Progress provides an in-depth historical analysis—from the days of the Great Migration to the present—of the people and movements that made the city a center of political activism. The editor and contributors show how Black activists have long protested against police abuse, pushed for education reform, challenged job and housing discrimination, and put presidents in the White House.

Africana Studies: Theoretical Futures, edited by Grant Farred

As Africana Studies celebrates its fiftieth anniversary throughout the United States, this invigorating collection presents possibilities for the future of the discipline’s theoretical paths. The essays in Africana Studies focus on philosophy, science, and technology; poetry, literature, and music; the crisis of the state; issues of colonialism, globalization, and neoliberalism; and the ever-expanding diaspora. The editor and contributors to this volume open exciting avenues for new narratives, philosophies, vision, and scale in this critical field of study—formed during the 1960s around issues of racial injustice in America—to show what Africana Studies is already in the process of becoming.

From Our Backlist

The Civil Rights Lobby: The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Second Reconstruction, by Shamira Gelbman

As the lobbying arm of the civil rights movement, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR)—which has operated since the early 1950s—was instrumental in the historic legislative breakthroughs of the Second Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Lobby skillfully recounts the LCCR’s professional and grassroots lobbying that contributed to these signature civil rights policy achievements in the 1950s and ’60s.

Slavery and Abolition in Pennsylvania, by Beverley C. Tomek

Beverly Tomek corrects the long-held notion that slavery in the North was “not so bad” as, or somehow “more humane” than, in the South due to the presence of abolitionists. While the Quaker presence focused on moral and practical opposition to bondage, slavery was ubiquitous. Nevertheless, Pennsylvania was the first state to pass an abolition law in the United States.

Black Identity Viewed from a Barber’s Chair: Nigrescence and Eudamonia, by William E. Cross, Jr.

Cross connects W. E. B. DuBois’s concept of double consciousness to an analysis of how Black identity is performed in everyday life, and traces the origins of the deficit perspective on Black culture to scholarship dating back to the 1930s.

God Is Change: Religious Practices and Ideologies in the Works of Octavia Butler, edited by Aparajita Nanda and Shelby L. Crosby

Exploring Octavia Butler’s religious imagination and its potential for healing and liberation, God Is Change meditates on alternate religious possibilities that open different political and cultural futures to illustrate humanity’s ability to endure change and thrive.

The Black Female Body: A Photographic History, by Deborah Willis and Carla Williams

Searching for photographic images of black women, Deborah Willis and Carla Williams were startled to find them by the hundreds. In long-forgotten books, in art museums, in European and U.S. archives and private collections, a hidden history of representation awaited discovery. The Black Female Body offers a stunning array of familiar and many virtually unknown photographs, showing how photographs reflected and reinforced Western culture’s fascination with black women’s bodies.

The Afrocentric Idea: Revised and Expanded Edition, by Molefi Kete Asante

Asante’s spirited engagement with culture warriors, neocons, and postmodernists updates this classic text. Expanding on his core ideas, Asante has cast The Afrocentric Idea in the tradition of provocative critiques of the established social order. This is a fresh and dynamic location of culture within the context of social change.

Mediating America: Black and Irish Press and the Struggle for Citizenship, 1870-1914, by Brian Shott

How black and Irish journalists in the Gilded Age used newspapers to recover and reinvigorate racial identities. As Shott proves, minority print culture was a powerful force in defining American nationhood and belonging.

Upon the Ruins of Liberty: Slavery, the President’s House at Independence National Historical Park, and Public Memory, by Roger C. Aden

A behind-the-scenes look at the development of the memorial to slavery in Independence Mall, Upon the Ruins of Liberty offers a compelling account that explores the intersection of contemporary racial politics with history, space, and public memory.

A City within A City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by Todd E Robinson

Examining the civil rights movement in the North, historian Todd Robinson studies the issues surrounding school integration and bureaucratic reforms in Grand Rapids as well as the role of black youth activism to detail the diversity of black resistance. He focuses on respectability within the African American community as a way of understanding how the movement was formed and held together. And he elucidates the oppositional role of northern conservatives regarding racial progress.

From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism, by Patricia Hill Collins

In this incisive and stimulating book, renowned social theorist Patricia Hill Collins investigates how nationalism has operated and re-emerged in the wake of contemporary globalization and offers an interpretation of how black nationalism works today in the wake of changing black youth identity. 

Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial EqualityFive Pioneer Stories of Black Manliness, White Citizenship, and American Democracy, by Gregory Kaliss

Gregory Kaliss offers stunning insights into Americans’ contested visions of equality, fairness, black manhood, citizenship, and an equal opportunity society. He looks at Paul Robeson, Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Jackie Robinson, Wilt Chamberlain, Charlie Scott, Bear Bryant, John Mitchell, and Wilbur Jackson to show how Americans responded to racial integration over time. 

Suffering and Sunset: World War I in the Art and Life of Horace Pippin, by Celeste-Marie Bernier

A majestic biography of the pioneering African American artist, Suffering and Sunset illustrates Horace Pippin’s status as a groundbreaking African American painter who not only suffered from but also staged many artful resistances to racism in a white-dominated art world.

Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop, by Cynthia R Millman

The autobiography of a legendary swing dancer, Frankie Manning traces the evolution of swing dancing from its early days in Harlem through the post-World War II period, until it was eclipsed by rock ‘n’ roll and then disco. When swing made a comeback, Manning’s 30-year hiatus ended. 

Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara, Edited by Linda Janet Holmes and Cheryl A. Wall

The extraordinary spirit of Toni Cade Bambara lives on in Savoring the Salt, a vibrant and appreciative recollection of the work and legacy of the multi-talented, African American writer, teacher, filmmaker, and activist. Among the contributors who remember Bambara, reflect on her work, and examine its meaning today are Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Pearl Cleage, Ruby Dee, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Nikki Giovanni, Avery Gordon, Audre Lorde, and Sonia Sanchez.

Philadelphia Freedoms: Black American Trauma, Memory, and Culture after King, by Michael Awkward

Philadelphia Freedoms captures the disputes over the meanings of racial politics and black identity during the post-King era in the City of Brotherly Love. Looking closely at four cultural moments, he shows how racial trauma and his native city’s history have been entwined.

Pimping Fictions: African American Crime Literature and the Untold Story of Black Pulp Publishing, by Justin Gifford

Gifford provides a hard-boiled investigation of hundreds of pulpy paperbacks written by Chester Himes, Donald Goines, and Iceberg Slim (aka Robert Beck), among many others. Gifford draws from an impressive array of archival materials to provide a first-of-its-kind literary and cultural history of this distinctive genre.

Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Live, by Tiffany Ruby Patterson

A historian hoping to reconstruct the social world of all-black towns or the segregated black sections of other towns in the South finds only scant traces of their existence. In Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life, Tiffany Ruby Patterson uses the ethnographic and literary work of Zora Neale Hurston to augment the few official documents, newspaper accounts, and family records that pertain to these places hidden from history.

Jookin’: The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture, by Katrina Hazzard-Gordon

Katrina Hazzard-Gordon offers the first analysis of the development of the jook—an underground cultural institution created by the black working class—together with other dance arenas in African-American culture.

University Press Week Blog Tour: Forward Thinking

University Press Week is November 8-12. The UP Blog Tour will feature entries all week long that celebrate this year’s theme, “Keep UP.” This year marks the 10th anniversary of UP Week, and the university press community will celebrate how university presses have evolved over the past decade.

 

We honor today’s theme of Forward Thinking by showcasing what other university Presses are doing.

University of Cincinnati Press Aligning with the university and the digital transformation.

Northwestern University Press The editorial vision of NUP’s new acquisitions editors.

University of Nebraska Press New series celebrating LGBTQ+ writers called Zero Street Fiction.

Yale University Press An introduction to the A&AePortal, an innovative, subscription-based platform that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design.

Wilfrid Laurier University Press A post from Senior Editor Siobhan McMenemy about future projects.

University of North Carolina Press A new book series is the focus.

University of Notre Dame Press To #KeepUP up with the highest standards of scholarship, an academic press must be committed both to the power of ideas and to forming the next generation of publishers. Christopher C. Rios-Sueverkruebbe, University of Notre Dame Press’s 5+1 postdoctoral fellow, represents its commitment to both. He looks forward to carrying on the Press’s forward-looking dedication to excellence as he pursues an impactful career in academic publishing.

University Press Week Blog Tour: Listicle

University Press Week is November 8-12. The UP Blog Tour will feature entries all week long that celebrate this year’s theme, “Keep UP.” This year marks the 10th anniversary of UP Week, and the university press community will celebrate how university presses have evolved over the past decade.  

Honoring today’s theme of Listicle, we provide a list of some of Temple University Press’ most influential books

Tasting Freedom This gripping biography of the extraordinary Octavius Catto and the first civil rights movement in America wasn’t just a critical and commercial darling, it helped get a the first statue on Philadelphia public property to recognize a specific African American. 

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts This Press bestseller, a veritable tour de force, asks: How do historians know what they know?  Now we know!

The Afrocentric Idea A groundbreaking book by the Dean of African American Studies at Temple University. Don’t just take our word for it, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. called it, “a major book.” 

The Man-Not Introducing the conceptual foundations for Black Male Studies series, this award-winning book has become a cornerstone of the Press’ list.

Envisioning Emancipation/The Black Female Body Two volumes that celebrate images of Black Americans, (both coedited by Deborah Willis) these elegant photographic histories speak volumes about Black life and culture throughout history.

The Possessive Investment in Whiteness A landmark book that has been widely influential in revealing racial privilege at work in the 21st century.

The Gender Knot/The Forest and the Trees Classroom favorites for decades, these books respectively address sociology as a way of thinking and how gender inequality can be dismantled.

Orientals This key title in the Press’ Asian American History and Culture series won multiple awards for its contributions to race and popular culture.

Unsettled A fascinating account about Cambodian refugees in New York City’s hyperghetto. Widely reviewed and adopted, this is a title that shows just how impactful a first book from a University Press title can be.

Cheap Amusements We are amused that this book, about working women and leisure in turn-of-the-century New York, published back in 1987, has been one of the all-time top-selling Press books. 

Eagles Encyclopedias/Finished Business These books are beloved by Philadelphians in particular, and sports fans in general, and by Temple University Press always and forever.  

The Disability Rights Movement An encyclopedic history of the struggle for disability rights in the United States, as told by two sisters, is a cornerstone of our list. 

Philadelphia Murals books A collaboration with one of Philadelphia’s greatest institutions, the Mural Arts Project, has yielded three inspiring volumes that speak not only to the importance of public art programs, but to themes of social justice and communal healing.

Engineering Culture A classic text on the sociology of management and organization.

Acres of Diamonds Temple University founder Russell H. Conwell’s influential speech about finding riches in one’s own backyard.

University Press Week Blog Tour: Active Voices

It’s University Press Week and the Blog Tour is back! This year’s theme is #RaiseUP. Today’s theme is Active Voices

University of Chicago Press @UchicagoPress
An excerpt from Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History by historian and disability activist Jaipreet Virdi.

University of Notre Dame Press @UNDPress
A blog post about the value of university press publishing from Friends of Notre Dame Press.

University of Alberta Press @UAlbertaPress
Highlighting the active voice and work of Valerie Mason-John in her new book of poetry, I Am Still Your Negro.

University Press of Florida @floridapress
Activist Archaeology: A Reading List.

University of South Carolina Press @uscpress
Daniel M. Harrison, author of Live at Jackson Station, considers how his work exploring the south’s music gives us clues for understanding the culture of the south generally–and why it matters.

Bristol University Press @BrisUniPress
A blog post from Alison Shaw, Chief Executive of Bristol University Press, on actively engaging with social issues.

Amsterdam University Press @AmsterdamUPress
Guest post ‘Enter the Ghost: Haunted Media Ecologies’ by Paula Albuquerque, a visual artist and scholar living and working in Amsterdam. Her work is informed by intersectional decolonial practices, focusing on visual technologies both analog and digital, surveillance and the construction of operative imagery.

University of Toronto Press @utpress
Rae André, a climate change educator and the author of Lead for the Planet: Five Practices for Confronting Climate Change. In this post she will discuss the importance of leadership in activism.
University of Toronto Press Journals Guest post by Henry Tran, editor of the Journal of Education Human Resources.

Bucknell University Press @BucknellUPress
A Q&A with the contributors to the edited collection African American Arts: Activism, Aesthetics, and Futurity.

Vanderbilt University Press @vanderbiltup
A post about the new Policy to Practice book series, which provides critical perspectives on how global health policy becomes practice.

University of Minnesota Press @uminnpress
Featuring our podcast’s Mental Health Series with former state representative Mindy Greiling.

Harvard University Press @harvard_press
A look at how the contributors to our special free volume, Racism in America, would like to see the book used and read during these challenging times

Columbia University Press @columbiaUP
Dana Fisher, author of American Resistance on political activism.

University Press Week Blog Tour: Scientific Voices

It’s University Press Week and the Blog Tour is back! This year’s theme is #RaiseUP. Today’s theme is Scientific Voices

Johns Hopkins University Press @jhupress
A post on centering women’s voices in science.

University of Alabama Press @univalpress
An interview with our NEXUS series editors.

Purdue University Press @purduepress
A post about the work being done to learn the science behind the human-animal bond.

Oregon State University Press @OSUPress
A post from author Bruce Byers about lessons for the biosphere from the Oregon Coast.

Princeton University Press @PrincetonUPress
Physical Sciences editor Ingrid Gnerlich will write about the unique challenges of Science publishing and the reality that Science thrives on a diversity of views and voices.

Bristol University Press @BrisUniPress
A blog post from Claire Wilkinson, editor of the new Contemporary Issues in Science Communication series, on the contemporary relevance of science communication in the era of COVID

Indiana University Press @iupress
An excerpt from Weird Earth: Debunking Strange Ideas About Our Planet by Donald R. Prothero.

University of Toronto Press @utpress
Mireille F. Ghoussoub, co-author of The Story of CO2: Big Ideas for a Small Molecule, will talk about the importance of university press publishing.
University of Toronto Press Journals Guest post by Lacey Cranston, managing editor of the Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health.

Vanderbilt University Press @vanderbiltup
A post about Between the Rocks and the Stars, a book that presents scientific research and observation about the natural world for a general audience, plus a new trailer for the book.

Columbia University Press @ColumbiaUP
Ashley Juavinett, author of So You Want to Be a Neuroscientist? offers practical advices to those looking to enter a career in Neuroscience.

University Press Week Blog Tour: Creative Voices

It’s University Press Week and the Blog Tour is back! This year’s theme is #RaiseUP. Today’s theme is Creative Voices

Northwestern University Press @NorthwesternUP
A post that highlights Art Is Everything by Yxta Maya Murray

University of Notre Dame Press @UNDPress
A post about the value of university press publishing from our Notre Dame Press Colleagues.

University of Michigan Press @uofmpress
Highlighting voices in the music and performance studies spaces in new and exciting ways.

Athabasca University Press @au_press
A discussion about the importance of publishing creative work alongside scholarly monographs.

University of Toronto Press @utpress
Charlotte Corden is an illustrator and fine artist who often works in the realms of anthropology. Charlotte is the illustrator of Light in Dark Times, a new graphic novel from UTP written by Alisse Waterston. Charlotte will write about the creative process involved in creating this stunning and important new book.
University of Toronto Press Journals: Guest blogger Thalia Gonzalez Kane is an Online Features Editor for Canadian Theatre Review.

Bristol University Press @BrisUniPress
Author Rob Kitchin on research creation and creative practice in critical data studies.

Bucknell University Press @BucknellUPress
One of our most prolific authors, Kevin Cope, will share his thoughts on creative approaches to studying and writing about 18th-century literature.

UBC Press @ubcpress
A Q&A with Gerilee McBride, Catalogues and Advertising Manager, about the design behind our open-access book, It’s All Good.

University Press Week Blog Tour: New Voices

It’s University Press Week and the Blog Tour is back! This year’s theme is #RaiseUP. Today’s theme is New Voices

University of Illinois Press @illinoispress
An interview with newly promoted acquisitions editor, Alison Syring

Georgetown University Press @Georgetown_UP
An interview with our newest GUP acquisitions editor, Hilary Claggett

Duke University Press @DukePress
Acquisitions and journal editors discuss why we value working with first-time authors

University of Wisconsin Press @UWiscPress
Our press committee members share their perspectives and experiences.

Wilfred Laurier University Press @wlupress
Maia Desjardins, Digital Project Coordinator, is new to publishing and also involved in some of our newer ventures like audiobooks and podcasting. She will share her experience and perspective on working at the press and on these initiatives.

University of Toronto Press @utpress
Jodi Litvin, Inside Sales Representative, is new to publishing. She will share her experience working at UTP for the last 2 months.
University of Toronto Press Journals Amanda Buessecker, new marketing coordinator for the University of Toronto Press Journals, discusses her thoughts on academic publishing.

University of Missouri Press @umissouripress
Amy Laurel Fluker is a first-time author whose blog about Kansas City’s Veteran Company A provides further insight into her recently published book, Commonwealth of Compromise: Civil War Commemoration in Missouri, on Civil War memory and the collaborative commemoration efforts undertaken in Missouri.

Bucknell University Press @BucknellUPress
Guest blogger Shanee Stepakoff, author of the forthcoming poetry collection Testimony: Found Poems from the Special Court for Sierra Leone, will share her experience working with a UP for the first time.

University of Manitoba Press @umanitobapress
An excerpt from Brittany Luby’s academic debut, Dammed: The Politics of Loss and Survival in Anishinaabe Territory.

Amherst College Press @AmCollPress
An introduction to ACP’s internship program and new community page featuring blog posts and resources created by Amherst undergrads

Our Next Big Political Challenge (It’s Not the One You’re Thinking Of)

This week in North Philly Notes, John Kromer, author of Philadelphia Battlefields, writes about the upcoming elections.

The November 3 presidential election will continue to capture our attention, as it should, until the votes are counted and the (possibly inevitable) legal challenges are resolved. Whenever that happens, however, another big challenge awaits us.

Whichever way the presidential election turns out, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll be entering into a period of national stability and widespread harmony anytime soon. The polarization that we’re experiencing now has been years in the making, and it will take years for our country to heal.

This doesn’t mean that nothing good can happen after November 3—it just means that restoring tolerance, civility, and compromise to our political environment won’t be quick or easy. And it’s important to recognize that much of the constructive political change that needs to happen is not likely to originate in the White House or the Capitol. At the federal level, bipartisanship has been a rare phenomenon, and gridlock may continue to be Washington’s default position for the foreseeable future.

Instead, the best new public policies are likely to emerge as initiatives that are introduced and tested at the state and local level, then authorized by the federal government and expanded on a national basis. The best-known example of this policy development sequence is the Affordable Care Act, modeled after the 2006 health care reform law that was approved in Massachusetts during the administration of then-governor Mitt Romney.

In addition, more state governments are taking the initiative to formulate new policies that don’t require federal-government authorization or conflict with federal mandates. For example, New Jersey and other states are creating health insurance exchanges that are fully administered by state agencies, using their own enrollment platforms in place of the HealthCare.gov platform established by the federal government.

Some policy innovations have emerged at the local and county level as well. To address widespread concerns about health and safety problems associated with blighted vacant properties that had proliferated in many urban and rural communities in Michigan, the state legislature authorized the creation of county and municipal land banks to facilitate vacant property acquisition and development. After witnessing the positive results that land banks had produced in Michigan, many other states subsequently adopted land bank legislation, giving themselves a more systematic approach for rehabilitating or eliminating blighted properties. In Pennsylvania, some of the leaders who were most responsible for securing land bank authorizations were Republican elected officials representing largely rural districts.

The months and years following the presidential election are not likely to be easy—but there’s good news: some of the changes that need to happen in order to enable our society to improve and prosper are already beginning to take place. While staying focused on the need to improve governance at the federal level, we as citizens also need to look for opportunities to bring about constructive changes closer to home.

Meet the Press

This week in North Philly Notes, we participate in an AAUP Blog Tour where we celebrate the staff of Temple University Press: Who we are, what we do, what we read, and what we love.

Temple University Press began publishing 50 years ago with books about urban studies, labor studies, as well as women’s studies, ethnic studies. We’ve since grown to include books on Asian American, Latina/o and African American studies as well as gender and sexuality, law and criminology, animal rights, sports, and regional studies. Our titles showcase our proud commitment to social sciences and the humanities.

But Temple University Press is more than just the books we publish. It’s about the people at the press and the knowledge, skills, and talent they bring to help our authors’ words and ideas into print.

To show that the Press is more than just a sum of its parts, we focus this blog on the people at the Press and what they are passion about.

Mary Rose Muccie, Director, has worked in publishing for over 30 years. Thanks to over a dozen summers working on the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk, Mary Rose counts among her skills the ability to make a perfect soft-serve ice cream cone and dip it in chocolate. A lifelong Philadelphia sports fan, she has high hopes that the Flyers will win another Stanley Cup in her lifetime. She finds inspiration and hope in the Press’s titles on women and politics, such as Navigating Gendered Terrain and The Gendered Executive.

Aaron Javsicas, Editor-in-Chief, has worked in academic book publishing for 19 years, including almost six at Temple. Aaron pays far too much attention to politics for his own good, though it may benefit his political science list. He’s a fan of cooking, Philadelphia, the films Dr. Strangelove and Flash Gordon (the one with the Queen soundtrack), and he takes any opportunity to get outdoors with his two sons and his wife, Lucinda.

Like the Duke Ellington book title “Music Is My Mistress,” Marketing Director Ann-Marie Anderson rocks when the Press has music and dance titles on the list. From saxophonist Jimmy Heath and composer Benny Golson to swing dancers Norma Miller and Frankie Manning, she’s a closeted jazz vocalist who lives vicariously through their stories. And on the side Ann-Marie loves marketing books, all books, well sorta.

Karen Baker, Associate Director and Financial Manager, doesn’t manage the press like she’s scheming for power on Game of Thrones, but that’s because she’s a softie for animals and the press’s list in Animal and Society—If You Tame Me in particular. Karen is also the queen of the gif.

Gary Kramer, Publicity Manager, has honed his media experience since he started working at the press 20 years ago. The development of social media has been particularly exciting to embrace. He also manages the press blog. An avid reader, he has a special appreciation for the Press’s cinema studies, Latin American studies, and sexuality studies lists. A foodie and professional film critic, he is quick with a restaurant or movie recommendation, too.

Irene Imperio, Advertising and Promotions Manager, started at the Press as a student and advanced her way up to being the Press database master and a master crafter. Among her many talents, Irene made a Rocky statue cutout for the recent Organization of American Historians conference here in Philadelphia to promote a book about Philadelphia public artworks, Contested Image.

Dave Wilson, Senior Production Editor, loves his book projects almost as much as he loves his three cats. He truly enjoys reading and working on the Press’s regional titles and working with various book printers.

Joan Vidal, Production Editor, manages in-house book projects and oversees TUP’s pool of freelance copyeditors. She enjoys international folk dancing and holds a special place in her heart for the TUP title Klezmer, by Hankus Netsky. A firm believer in the morale-boosting power of sweets, she helps stock TUP’s communal snack area and keeps track of staff birthdays so everyone has cake!

Kate Nichols, Art Manager, enjoys designing the covers and interiors of Temple University Press books. But she especially enjoys working on the press’s journal, Kalfou, When she is not at the press, she can be found tending her garden or walking her dogs.

Sarah Munroe, Editor and devoted dinosaur lover, acquires all things humanities and is pumped to herald Quynh Nhu Le’s Unsettled Solidarities, the first book in the new Critical Race, Indigeneity, and Relationality series. Her personal bookshelves reflect her expansive curiosity and background in poetry, and she likes to balance the more literary and deep-thinking endeavors with true crime and crime fiction. Years down the road she may leave publishing to become a paleontologist or a forensic geographer.

Ryan Mulligan, Acquisitions Editor, acquires the Press’s titles in sociology and criminology. He also acquires Temple’s sports books, so he is always eager to get his colleagues excited about sports, including running the Press’s interoffice March Madness bracket contest, to the bemusement of his colleagues. One of Ryan’s proudest moments in the office was suggesting the copy for the Press’s first billboard ad, a promotion for Boathouse Row that ran alongside the perpetually traffic jammed Schuykill Expressway near the iconic riverside landmark, reading “You’d Get There Faster By Rowing.”

Ashley Petrucci, Editorial Assistant and Rights and Contracts Coordinator, assists acquisitions editors, creates book contracts, and reviews permissions for Temple University Press. She likes people, places, and things (credit: April Ludgate, Parks and Recreation, 2009 / permission form from NBC incoming), along with the Press’s more ghostly titles, like The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History.  She is the Press’s resource on all things Gen Z—despite actually being a Millennial—and is always up to date on the latest memes.

 

University Press Week Blog Tour: Science

It’s University Press Week and the Blog Tour is back! This year’s theme is #TurnItUP. Today’s theme is Science

Johns Hopkins University Press @JHUPress

To Be Determined

Princeton University Press @PrincetonUPress

Our director Christie Henry will be writing about the evolution of science publishing at university presses, with a focus on how the evolution and long-term sustainability of these programs depend on the ability to create equitable and inclusive populations of authors.

Rutgers University Press @rutgersupress

We’ll post about Finding Einstein’s Brain by Frederick Lepore, MD.

University Press of Colorado @UPColorado

Imagination requires hope: at once a mode of survival and a form of resistance. A post from UPC author Char Miller.

Columbia University Press @ColumbiaUP

Our new acquisitions editor in the sciences, Miranda Martin, will write a guest blog post about why it’s important for University Presses to publish in the sciences and what her vision is for a list moving forward.

University Press of Toronto @utpress

We reach back to the archives of The Heritage Project at UTP to highlight some key titles from our backlist on the history of science.

University of Georgia Press @ugapress

The post will be of the latest episode of our podcast and it will feature a talk William Bryan gave recently at the Decatur Book Festival for his book The Price of Permanence: Nature and Business in the New South. Bryan’s book is in our Environmental History and the American South series and is about the efforts business leaders in the post-civil war south took to promote environmental stewardship through something they called “permanence,” which is a sort of precursor to what we think of as sustainability.