Tipping our cap to the great players of the Negro Leagues
The 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues has been a highly anticipated celebration, with plans for many MLB teams to honor the historic players throughout the 2020 baseball season. Although these plans are rescheduled until 2021, there has been no shortage of memorials from a wide variety of fans–including a few former presidents.
Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and columnist Joe Posnanski joined efforts to create the “Tipping Your Cap” campaign. Beginning in mid-June, the ‘TipYourCap2020’ Twitter account has gathered over 2,000 followers in about a month. Beginning with fans posting videos and photos, the campaign quickly caught the attention of former players and presidents, as well as the Hollywood community.
We joined the campaign on Twitter with a photo of our editor tipping her cap to the great Negro Leagues players and we’ve highlighted two SU Press books that honor these activists and their efforts. These books follow the Negro Leagues from their birth, highlighting many accomplishments, until their eventual collapse providing a history rarely discussed in such detail.
In Black Baseball Entrepreneurs 1860-1901, Lomax reflects on black baseball’s beginning as exercise or a pastime. He follows the incredible transition into a lucrative opportunity for black entrepreneurs as black baseball became an organization and commercialized amusement. The black baseball community began earning respect and paving the way for future athletes and activists with these originating efforts.
In the second and final book in the mini-series, Black Baseball Entrepreneurs 1902-1931: Operating by Any Means Necessary, Lomax continues with the development of black baseball as an organization and the way it was promoted. Focusing on how race influenced the institutional development of black baseball, Lomax discusses the decision made by Black baseball managers to distance themselves from white clubs and managers. This book is an informative and interesting take on the promotion of the Negro Leagues and how that influenced the success of this organization.
Two Days Until Race Day
The Belmont Stakes is coming up this weekend, and we’re all wondering the same thing. Will California Chrome win the Triple Crown? If California Chrome succeeds, he will be the first horse since 1978 and the 12th in American thoroughbred racing history to win the coveted honor. Many fans know the history of the successful, as well as the failed, attempts at the Triple Crown. But what about the history of the sport as a whole? Where and how did American thoroughbred racing begin?
We know you wish you could fast-forward to know whether California Chrome will pull off the win. But while you wait, become acquainted with the roots of horse racing in New York with The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913 by Steven A. Reiss.
Reiss explores the beginnings of horse racing through a detailed look into New York’s role as the sport’s capital in the early years of the industry. Examining the connections between horse racing, politics, organized crime, and gambling, Reiss offers a comprehensive account of one of America’s earliest major sports.
Whether or not California Chrome creates history at Belmont, The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime will give you a new appreciation for thoroughbred racing.
A New Season of Reading
Attention all readers! We are excited to share our new Fall 2014 catalog. We have a great lineup of books including biographies, short stories, literary translations, and many others.
Michael Long (author of Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life After Baseball) returns with another inspiring biography. In Gay is Good, Long collects the letters of gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny. These letters are lively and colorful because they in Kameny’s inimitable voice—a voice that was consistently loud, echoing through such places as the Oval Office, the Pentagon, and the British Parliament.
Our Director’s Choice book for this season is a fascinating exploration of sacred wampum belts. These belts depict significant moments in the lives of the people in Eastern Woodlands tribes, portraying everything from weddings to treaties. Reading the Wampum conveys the vitality and continuance of wampum traditions in Iroquois art, literature, and community.
We are thrilled to be publishing Monarch of the Square, the first anthology of Muhammad Zafzāf’s work to be translated into English. Regarded as “Morocco’s Tolstoy,” Zafzāf creates stories that bring to life the flavors and sites of Casablanca, and the daily struggle to survive in remote rural villages. Filled with irony, sarcasm, and sympathy, these tales offer profound reflections on the human condition.
View the full fall catalog to read about all of our upcoming books.
Top Ten Adventure Books to Read for Fall: Part I
For the chilly fall days when we long for the grandeur and exhilaration of exotic adventures but are unable to part from our daily routines at home, we’ve put together a list of our top ten favorite adventure books. In part one of the list, the adventurous SU Press authors will take you through a natural history of upstate New York, beyond the ornate island countries of Asia and to two unique learning settings, including the balmy city of Baghdad and a giant vessel passing through the world’s oceans.
Although we can’t guarantee you a one-way ticket around the world, these five books will provide you with enough excitement to satisfy your wanderlust until Part II of our list is released.
10) The Emperor Tea Garden by Nazli Eray
Through the lens of one of Turkey’s most celebrated writers, this story transcends traditional boundaries of time and place, propelling the reader on a philosophical odyssey to an imaginary realm filled with original lessons on friendship, love and life.
9) Living in Romantic Baghdad: An American Memoir of Teaching and Travel in Iraq, 1924–1947 by Ida Donges Staudt
Staudt’s memoir provides a unique account of life in Iraq during the first half of the twentieth century. Weaving together cultural history, detailed characterization and enticing travel narrative, this book will leave you with a widened appreciation for the country.
8) A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert Translated and Edited by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna
This journal of an explorer from the Dutch West India Company provides some of the first details of New York State’s landscape. The reader is sent on a historical journey through the life and language of the Mohawk and Oneida settlements in the seventeenth-century.
7) Walking Seasonal Roads by Mary A. Hood
Combining the primary elements of a nature narrative and an environmental call-to-action, this meditative book details an intimate walk along the back roads of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State, reminding people of the intimate and important connection between people and their surroundings.
6) Innocents Abroad Too: Journeys Around the World on Semester at Sea by Michael Pearson
Pearson documents his maritime journeys as a professor for Semester at Sea, filled with worldly descriptions of the exotic people, places and books that have inspired travel and exploration throughout literary history.
Summer Road Trip with Chuck D’Imperio: Northeast Classic Car Museum
Nothing fits a warm summer night better than a great old car show. Well the biggest and best old car show in Central New York takes place every day at the wonderful Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich (Chenango County).
When you first step in to one of their several large showrooms it is sensory overload. Cars are lined up as far as the eye can see: red, black, white, turquoise, brown, green. They look like Life Savers on wheels. It is positively dazzling!
There are more than 150 cars on display every day at this unknown museum in Norwich. From Model T and Model As, to big-finned classics from the 1950s, to the muscle cars of the 1960s they are all here. Of special note is the largest collection of Franklin Automobiles under one roof. These cars were made up until 1934 in Syracuse. Other local auto manufacturers are represented here as well.
Some of the surest head-turners are the giant, block-long cars of the 1920s and 1930s. There are several Dusenbergs, Packards and Cords here that are as long as boats and have every imaginable accessory to ferry around the rich and famous of the day.
The thing I like best about the Northeast Classic Car Museum is its multi-generational appeal. This is the perfect place for Grandpa to bring his grandson (or granddaughter) to and give them a lesson on yesteryear. Both generations will love it. Granddad will enjoy reminiscing about his first car and the kids will love all the fancy, colorful features that make almost every auto here look as if it sprang from one of today’s superhero movies.
This is a nice museum, a little off the beaten path, but certainly worth a couple of hours on a a warm sunny Saturday! It is also a chapter in my new book Unknown Museums of Upstate New York.
New Book In!
Sheva’s Promise: Chronicle of Escape from a Nazi Ghetto
By Sylvia Lederman
In this gripping memoir, Lederman tells her story of survival during one of the most horrific episodes in history. Beginning with Lederman as a young girl in Poland in 1941, Sheva’s Promise traces her experience in a Nazi ghetto with her mother and sister. Resolved that she must avoid the detention camp to help her family, Lederman obtains a false birth certificate and escapes the ghetto. Through the courage and humanity of a few individuals, she finds work in a hospital in Germany under an assumed identity. With fierce determination and resourcefulness, Lederman manages to elude Nazi capture and eventually immigrates to the United States with her husband.
Sheva’s Promise is not only an invaluable piece of historical record but also the work of a gifted writer whose keen eye for detail and skillful attention to language gives readers an unforgettable story.
“The author has strikingly portrayed the relationship between a hidden Jewish young woman and her rescuers. Her theological and psychological ruminations are heartbreaking and simultaneously portray her own coping skills and resilience. Time is running out and the story must be told before it is too late.”
—Alan L. Berger, Florida Atlantic University
New Arrival!
Carmilla: A Critical Edition
By Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Edited by Kathleen Costello-Sullivan
First serialized in the journal “The Dark Blue” and published shortly thereafter in the short story collection In a Glass Darkly, Le Fanu’s 1872 vampire tale is in many ways the overlooked older sister of Bram Stoker’s more acclaimed Dracula. A thrilling gothic tale, Carmilla tells the story of a young woman lured by the charms of a female vampire.
This edition includes a student-oriented introduction, tracing the major critical responses to Carmilla, and four interdisciplinary essays by leading scholars who analyze the story from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Ranging from politics to gender, Gothicism to feminism, and nineteenth-century aestheticism to contemporary film studies, these critical yet accessible articles model the diverse ways that scholars can approach a single text. With a glossary, biography, bibliography, and explanatory notes on the text, this edition is ideal for students of Irish and British nineteenth-century literature.
“Costello-Sullivan’s exciting new edition of Le Fanu’s Carmilla, the sly 1872 Anglo-Irish vampire tale that laid the groundwork for the arguably less subtle Dracula, productively returns to the text’s original serialized publication format….This book is suitable for both undergraduates and advanced scholars of gender, sexuality, and Irish and film studies alike.”
—Mary Burke, author of‘Tinkers’: Synge and the Cultural History of the Irish Traveller
Book of the Month: Beyond Home Plate
Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life after Baseball
Edited by Michael G. Long
Jackie Robinson is one of the most revered public figures of the twentieth century. He is remembered for both his athletic prowess and his strong personal character. The world knows him as the man who crossed baseball’s color line, but there is much more to his legacy. At the conclusion of his baseball career, Robinson continued in his pursuit of social progress through his work as a writer. Beyond Home Plate, an anthology of Jackie Robinson’s columns in the New York Post and the New York Amsterdam News, offers fresh insight into the Hall of Famer’s life and work following his historic years on the baseball diamond.
Robinson’s syndicated newspaper columns afforded him the opportunity to provide rich social commentary while simultaneously exploring his own life and experiences. He was free to write about any subject of his choosing, and he took full advantage of this license, speaking his mind about everything from playing Santa to confronting racism in the Red Sox nation, from loving his wife Rachel to despising Barry Goldwater, from complaining about Cassius Clay’s verbosity to teaching Little Leaguers how to lose well.
Robinson wrote to prod and provoke, inflame and infuriate, and sway and persuade. With their pointed opinions, his columns reveal that the mature Robinson was a truly American prophet, a civil rights leader in his own right, furious with racial injustice and committed to securing first class citizenship for all. These fascinating columns also depict Robinson as an indebted son, a devoted husband, a tenderhearted father, and a hardworking community leader. Robinson believed that his life after his baseball career was far more important than all of his baseball exploits. Beyond Home Plate shows why he believed this so fervently.
“Beyond baseball, beyond race, beyond politics, Jackie Robinson stands as one of the most important figures in American history, and Beyond Home Plate shows us why. Michael Long’s terrific book is an indispensable addition to the story of Robinson’s incredible journey.”
—Jonathan Eig, author of Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season
Newest Issue of Stone Canoe Released, Number 7
Are you a fan of arts, literature, and social commentary? Then you’re in luck because the Stone Canoe journal has released its newest issue, Number 7, filled with unique new content! This year’s publication features over 60 artists contributing to a collection of poetry, fiction, drama, nonfiction, interviews, review, and visual arts. Syracuse University Press is proud to distribute such a refined journal showcasing the work of writers and visual artists with a connection to Upstate New York.
Since its conception, Stone Canoe has expanded its range to include articles on technology, film, video, and music, while maintaining its traditional focus on poetry, short fiction and nonfiction, drama and visual arts. The annual journal is published each spring by University College of Syracuse University and edited by Robert Colley. Stone Canoe, Number 6, won the Gold Medal in the Anthology category of the IPPY Awards last June. Visit the Stone Canoe website for additional content, along with e-book versions of current and past issues.
Stone Canoe, Number 7 will be available for purchase at the Syracuse University Press website. See the photographs below for a sneak peek inside the newest edition!
The Spring/Summer 2013 Catalog is Now Available!
Attention all readers! The Syracuse University Press Spring/Summer 2013 book catalog is now available on our website. This season we offer a wide array of new titles in series such as Sports History, Middle East Literature and Irish Studies, among others. There is sure to be a book of interest for all!
If you’re a baseball fanatic, we have the perfect read for you. Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life after Baseball, edited by Michael G. Long, is an anthology of the baseball legend’s columns in the New York Post and the New York Amsterdam News discussing his insights on his professional career and the years following. Most of you remember Jackie as the star athlete who crossed baseball’s color line, but what you don’t know is what happened after those historic years. For a look inside the full story of the Hall of Famer’s life, be sure to pick up Jackie Robinson’s story, Beyond Home Plate, this April.
Another interesting title coming out this March is Steel’s: A Forgotten Stock Market Scandal From the 
1920’s by Dave Dyer. This historic story takes you back into the rise and fall of the retail empire, created by Leonard Rambler Steel. After finding thousands of original documents and photos from the L.R. Steel Company, Dave Dyer provides a first-hand account on the uncovering of a massive stock market scandal that had been forgotten by history. With no other published accounts of this scandal, you must get your hands on Steel’s to learn the truth about the fascinating story of Buffalo-based Steel’s department store.
View the full Spring/Summer 2013 book catalog for more information on these two books and any of the other new SU Press books coming this spring!
SUP Spook-tacular Read!
This Halloween, we have a special treat for all you scary book lovers! Ghost Dance by Gregory O’Donoghue is a vibrant book of poetry with symbolic depth. Poet and long-time friend of the author, Maurice Riordan, describes Gregory as “sensitive to the preternatural and the ghostly presences.” This eerie Dedalus Press title is sure to put you in the holiday spirit. For more information on this book visit the Syracuse University Press website.
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Take a Look at Lockerbie!
Looking for Lockerbie, edited by Lawrence Mason, Jr. and Melissa Chessher, provides a visual and engaging introduction to the small Scottish town of Lockerbie with a big story. Below we give you a peek inside the book through some of Lawrence Mason, Jr.’s scenic photographs.
Lawrence Mason, Jr. is professor of visual and interactive communications in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Visit our website for more information on this title.“Happy Campers”
For over a century of summers, boys and girls have been packing up and heading out for the week-long, wilderness adventure we call summer camp. Hallie E. Bond, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, and Leslie Paris, provide a detailed chronicle of this American tradition in their book, A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children’s Camps in the Adirondacks. Not only does this descriptive documentary provide a directory of Adirondack camps, but it also explores the history of the camps, their influence on the lives of the campers, and their impact on the local community. With years of Adirondack experience as a curator of the Adirondack Museum since 1987, Bond, along with her co-authors, share their seasoned understanding of camps in the area, documented with rich essays and pictorial evidence dating back to 1886.
“This lavishly illustrated book included historic photos and “‘A Paradise for Boys and Girls’ will thrill any ‘child’ who was lucky enough to go to camp in the Adirondacks—and even those who still wish they had.”
—Jewish Exponent
“The trio began their research in 1998 to learn more about the influence of the Adirondacks on camping. Their work yielded an exhibit on display at the Adirondack Museum. . . . One of the most fascinating aspects of the book concerns use of American Indian rituals. . . . The authors describe a variety of other experiences and approaches to camping. Some were academically oriented. Paris’ research suggests that the first girls camp in the Adirondacks was the French Recreation Class for Girls on Lake Placid, formed around 1896. Other camps supported young musicians or ballet dancers. Modern camps bring the experience to people with disabilities, or in the case of the Double H — Hole in the Woods Camp near Lake Luzerne, seriously ill children. . . . The authors have an eye for excellent anecdotes amid a massive amount of research material.”
—The Sunday Gazette (Schenectady)
Whether your children are already signed up for summer camp or you’re searching for a woody place to send them next summer, Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children’s Camps in the Adirondacks is the perfect guide. With a directory of 331 camps in the Adirondack Park, it shouldn’t be difficult to turn your young ones into “happy campers!”
This Father’s Day Give the Gift of a Book!
W
ith 
Father’s Day approaching on June 17th, it can be challenging to scramble together a last minute gift. What’s a better way to honor your father than with a great field guide he can take on a hike or a historic journey he can immerse himself in before drifting to sleep? Luckily with the help of SU Press you can pick out a great book or two from our list. Whether your dad is nature lover, a sports fanatic, or just loves poetry, we’ve got you covered.
F
or the adventurous dad:
1.) Boldt Castle: In Search of the Lost Story By Paul Malo
2.) From Abbotts to Zurich: New York State Placenames By Ren Vasiliev
For the nature lover:
1.) Walking Seasonal Roads By Mary A. Hood
2.) The Great Experiment in Conservation: Voices from the Adirondack Park Edited by William F. Porter, Jon D. Erickson, and Ross S. Whaley
3.) Freshwater Fishes of the Northeastern United States: A Field Guide By Robert G. Werner
4.) Trees of New York State: Native and Naturalized By Donald J. Leopold
For the sports fanatic:
1.) The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913 By Steven A. Riess
2.) Black Baseball Entrepreneurs, 1860-1901: Operating by Any Means Necessary By Michael E. Lomax
3.) Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd By Earl Lloy
d and Sean 
Kirst
4.) Muscle and Manliness: The Rise of Sport in American Boarding Schools By Axel Bundgaard
5.) Anything for a T-Shirt: Fred Lebow and the New York City Marathon, the World’s Greatest Footrace By Ron Rubin
Forthe NY history buff:
1.) Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six Nations since 1800 By Laurence M. Hauptman
2.) The End of the Innocence: The 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair By LawrenceR. Samuel
3.) Monumental New York! A Guide to 30 Iconic Memorials in Upstate New York By Chuck D’Imperio with a Foreword by Senator James L. Seward
For the creative soul:
1.) Gin Before Breakfast: The Dilemma of the Poet in the Newsroom By W. Dale Nelson
2.) Like a Man Gone Mad: Poems in a New Century By Samuel Hazo
3.) Finding the Jewish Shakespeare: The Life and Legacy of Jacob Gordin By Beth Kaplan
Fo
r more information on a specific book, clic
k on the book image to link to our website. Find the perfect book th
is year for your special dad!
Now Available! Fall/Winter 2012 Book Catalog
For those of you who have been patiently waiting for Syracuse Univer
sity Press’ new book list, the time has come! Our Fall/Winter 2012 book catalog is now available on our website. This season, we are pleased to announce a variety of different books, ranging from topics such as Television and Pop Culture to Peace and Conflict Resolution. There is sure to be a read of interest out there for everyone!
If you’re
looking for an award-winning title, make sure to check out “Tree of Pearls, Queen of Egypt,” translated from Arabic by Samah Selim. This classic novel, originally published in 1914, unravels the adventurous story of a famous Arab queen. As the winner of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies Translation of Arabic Literature Award, this book is without a doubt an irresistible read.
If you are an Upstate New York native or, like us, reside in Syracuse, you must rea
d “Lake Effect: Tales of Large Lakes, Artic Winds, and Recurrent Snows.” Mark Monmonier, a Syracuse University professor, offers a detailed examination of Lake Effect Snow and the social impacts of extreme weather. Scientific American reviews it as “an artful and funny book, which like any good map, packs plenty in little space.”
View our full Fall/Winter 2012 Catalog on our website to find these two books, as well as many other new titles.
Enjoy one of our Irish Studies books for St. Patty’s Day!
With St. Patrick’s Day approaching this weekend, take a peek at our wonderful Irish Studies Series. We have many great Irish literature titles available to put you in the holiday mood. Some of our newer titles featured are Collaborative Dubliners, Memory Ireland Volume 1: History and Modernity, Memory Ireland Volume 2: Diaspora and Memory Practices, The Midnight Court: A Critical Edition, Samuel Beckett in the Literary Marketplace, and Dance Lessons: A Novel.
Get started by visiting the Syracuse University Press Irish Studies Series at: http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/books-in-print-series/irish-studies.html
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