News Bytes

Vol. 4, No. 2                                    April 15, 1997

          I cannot live without books.--Thomas Jefferson

News Bytes is UNC Press's quarterly online newsletter. Watch this space for announcements about newsworthy books (or books that ought to be newsworthy).

Contents:


Note: You can order any of the books mentioned in News Bytes by calling 1-800-848-6224, or you can print out an order form to fax. We hope to accept secure email orders in the near future.

UNC Press Garners LMP Award

UNC Press has long been recognized for its excellence in scholarly publishing; the latest recognition came on March 11, 1997 as the Press received the LMP Award for Scholarly Publishing. Sponsored by R.R. Bowker, publishers of Literary Market Place, the L MP Awards recognize individual and corporate achievement in a number of fields. Receiving the award was a particularly felicitous way to launch our 75th anniversary year.


75 Years of Publishing Excellence

And speaking of our anniversary, the celebration has begun in earnest. On April 3, the Friends of the UNC Libraries hosted an opening reception for the exhibit "Celebrating 75 Years of Publishing History." The exhibit is mounted in the Rare Book Collection Exhibition Area at UNC's Wilson Library, and it will be open to the public through the end of June.

Other anniversary events will a gala reception on the UNC campus in October. The Press will also be working with bookstores and libraries throughout the year on special displays and events. We have also developed a website that includes material from the Wilson Library exhibit.


The Black Bard of North Carolina

George Moses Horton's story is an extraordinary one. He taught himself to read when the education of slaves was forbidden. Horton was the first American slave to protest his bondage in verse; the first African American to publish a book in the South; the only slave to earn a significant income by selling his poems; the only poet of any race to produce a book of poems before he could write; and the only slave to publish two volumes of poetry while in bondage and another shortly after emancipation. Last May, Horton was one of the inaugural inductees into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.

Horton's life and poetry are celebrated in The Black Bard of North Carolina: George Moses Horton and His Poetry, edited by Joan Sherman, an authority on nineteenth-century African American poetry. The book includes 62 of Hortonís poems in addition to a biographical and critical essay by Sherman. It will be published in April by the University of North Carolina Press.

A special website devoted to this book includes sample poems, a long excerpt from the introduction, and links to other Horton-related sites on the internet.

The book is available now for $12.95 (paperback) and $29.95 (hardcover).


Coming This Spring - Georgia Bonesteel's Latest Quilting Book

For fans of the PBS series "Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel," it's an eventful spring. The popular show's ninth season premiered in April, followed quickly by Bonesteel's seventh book, Georgia Bonesteel's Patchwork Potpourri. The book includes directions for many exciting new quilting projects, from a holiday-inspired woolen wreath to a sophisticated Greek Shepherd's coat.

The book, with 39 color and 197 black-and-white illustrations, will be available paperback at $21.95 in May. A special website devoted to this book provides more details.


Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks

If you have ever spent time on North Carolina's Ocracoke Island, you will probably recognize "hoi toide" as Ocracoker for "high tide." The island's vibrant dialect--with its unusual pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax--is one of Ocracoke's most distinctive features. Linguists Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes set out to research the Ocracoke brogue and encourage its preservation. Their work is presented in Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue.

Here's a brief vocabulary lesson:

  • dingbatter: A non-native of Ocracoke. Sometimes used somewhat negatively to refer to someone ignorant of island life.
  • face'n'eyes: Face, often used with derision. (I don't want to see your face'n'eyes right now!)
  • O'cocker: A person born and raised on Ocracoke.
  • offshore: Crazy, silly, or outlandish. If someone is particularly outlandish, Ocracokers might say "He's offshore and can't get back in."

    Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks is available in paperback ($14.95) and hardcover ($29.95). Visit Natalie Schilling-Estes's website for more information about the book and to take the Ocracoke I.Q. test.


Two Great Gardening Books

Two UNC Press books were selected by the American Horticultural Society to appear on its list of 75 Great Gardening Books: A Southern Garden, by Elizabeth Lawrence, and Growing and Propagating Wild Flowers, by Harry R. Phillips. The AHS developed this list in conjunction with its 75th anniversary.

Originally published in 1942, A Southern Garden was one of the first gardening books specific to the South, which encompasses zones 7 and 8. It is still in print ($16.95 paperback, $24.95 hardcover.)

Growing and Propagating Wild Flowers, published in 1985, has long been considered the best book available on the propagation of native plants. It is available in paperback ($16.95).


And Two New Books for Gardening and Wildflower Lovers

A Southern Garden established Elizabeth Lawrence's reputation as a top garden writer. She was well known for her magazine and newsletter articles as well as her books and newspaper columns. Two gardening sleuths spent many years collecting L awrence's short pieces, and they appear in A Garden of One's Own: Writings of Elizabeth Lawrence, edited by Barbara Scott and Bobby J. Ward. The book will appear in June in hardcover ($24.95). Scott and Ward will discuss their work on the book on the following dates:

For those who would rather look at plants than dig around in the backyard, Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway is a handy guide. Hundreds of species of colorful wildflowers thrive among themisty glades, open fields, and marshy streambanks along the Parkway. J. Anthony Alderman tell how to identify them and where to find them. The field guide covers roughly 250 species, with color photographs and clearly written descriptions. In addition, Alderman includes a tour guide and map that identify 75 of the best, most easily accessible sites for viewing wildflowers along the Parkway. Alderman will discuss his book on the following dates:


Book Club Adoptions

The Scotch-Irish: A Social History, by James G. Leyburn, is a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club

Toward an Intellectual History of Women, essays by Linda K. Kerber, is a selection of the History Book Club

Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America, by Linda K. Kerber, is a selection of the History Book Club and the Book-of-the-Month Club

The Wilderness Campaign, edited by Gary W. Gallagher, is a selection of the History Book Club


Award-winning books

Lafayette in Two Worlds: Public Cultures and Personal Identities in an Age of Revolutions, by Lloyd Kramer won the 1996 Gilbert Chinard Prize from the Society for French Historical Studies

Beyond the Broker State: Federal Policies toward Small Business, 1936-1961, by Jonathan J. Bean won the 1997 Henry Adams Prize from the Society for History in the Federal Government

Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912, by Aline Helg won the 1997 Elsa Goveia Prize from the Association of Carribean Historians

The Fatal Knot: The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain, by John Lawrence Tone won the 1996 International Napoleonic Society Literary Award


Links to previous features and excerpts

In previous issues of News Bytes, we have featured excerpts or detailed information about selected UNC Press books. We will maintain those links with each new issue of the newsletter.


Bookstores that carry UNC Press books

Exhibits attended by UNC Press staff members


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