Editor’s Favorites

‘Tis the Reading Season

Whether you’re shopping for a nature lover or a sports fan, we’ve got you covered with this book list for readers of every interest.

All of these books are part of our Holiday Sale. Enjoy 50% off selected New York State and regional books until December 31, 2016. Click here for more details.

For the Syracuse season-ticket holder:

Slices of Orange: A Collection of Memorable Games and Performers in Syracuse University Sports History by Sal Maiorana and Scott Pitoniak

Chronicling of the rich tradition of Syracuse University sports, this book recaptures heroics of running back Jim Brown’s 43-point performance against Colgate at old Archbold Stadium, the pain of Keith Smart’s jumper that denied Syracuse a national title in 1987, and the joy of forward Carmelo Anthony’s levitation act in the 2003 NCAA basketball championship game.

For the history buff:

Fanny Seward: A Life by Trudy Krisher

On April 14, 1865, the night of President Lincoln’s assassination, Booth’s conspirator Lewis Powell attempted to assassinate Secretary of State William Seward in his home just blocks from Ford’s Theatre. Seward’s beloved daughter, Fanny, recounts the night in poignant detail. Her diary entries from 1858 to 1866 offers her intimate observations on the people and events during one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.

For the Sunday comics reader:

Peanuts, Pogo, and Hobbes: A Newspaper Editor’s Journey Through the World of Comics by George Lockwood

In this memoir, Lockwood draws upon his forty years in the newspaper industry as a reporter and editor, offering a unique glimpse into the world of newspaper cartoon strips. He details the production and promotion of countless comic strips, while also providing his own assessments of the most iconic cartoonists.

For the nature lover:

Walking Seasonal Roads by Mary A. Hood

Having traveled nearly every seasonal road in Steuben County, New York, Hood finds they provide the ideal vantage to contemplate the meaning of place, offering intimate contact with plant and wildlife and the beauty of a rural landscape. Each road reveals how our land is used, how our land is protected, and how environmental factors have impacted the land. As a literary naturalist, Hood reflects on endangered and invasive species, as well as on issues of conservation and sustainability.

For the fiction enthusiast:

The Tumble Inn by William Loizeaux

Tired of their high school teaching jobs and discouraged by their failed attempts at conceiving a child, Mark and Fran Finley decide they need a change in their lives. Abruptly, they leave their friends and family in suburban New Jersey to begin anew as innkeepers on a secluded lake in the Adirondack Mountains. The Tumble Inn is a moving drama about home and about the fragility and resilience of love.

For the environmentalist:

The Great Experiment in Conservation: Voices from the Adirondack Park by Michael Pearson

Representing a remarkable achievement in environmental scholarship and drawn from decades of research, The Great Experiment in Conservation captures the wisdom born of the last thirty years of the park’s evolution. The editors bring together leading scholars, activists, and practitioners—those who know the Park’s origin and the realities of living in a protected area—to narrate this history.

For the film aficionado:

Our Movie Houses: A History of Film and Cinematic Innovation in Central New York by Norman O. Keim, with David Marc

Despite the tremendous contribution of both New York City and Hollywood to the evolution of American cinema, Syracuse and Central New York also played a strategic—yet little-known—role in early screen history. This book provides a highly readable and richly detailed account of the origins of American film in CNY, the colorful history of neighborhood theaters in Syracuse, and the famous film personalities who got their start in the unlikely snow belt of New York state.

For the aspiring artist:

Wild Exuberance: Harold Weston’s Adirondack Art by Rebecca Foster and Caroline M. Welsh

Early in his career, critics and collectors widely recognized that Harold Weston (1894-1972), was capturing and saying something unusual in his paintings. Along with 104 color and ten black-and-white plates of Weston’s works, the catalog includes essays that cover myriad aspects of Weston’s life and art.

November 30, 2016 | Categories: Holidays/National Months | Leave a comment

Native American Heritage Month

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush declared November to be National American Indian Heritage Month. Since then, this commemorative month formally recognizes the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of this country. It not only allows Native people to share their culture and traditions, but also encourages educational programs on Native American history, rights, and issues.

At Syracuse University, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and other student organizations have lined up several speakers, performances, and film screenings in November as part of Native Heritage Month.

“Native Heritage Month presents events and programs not only to celebrate the culture and many contributions of indigenous peoples, but also to generate important dialogue about indigenous peoples’ history and current issues affecting indigenous communities and our world,” says James Duah-Agyeman, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. “We invite, and encourage, all members of the campus community to participate and engage with these many opportunities.”

Upcoming events for Native Heritage Month include a New York State Education Department Native American Education Conference and a Sacred Lands Film Project Screening and Discussion with Toby McLeod, both on November 29. For the full schedule of events, access the Native Heritage Month calendar online.

Syracuse University Press also proudly publishes numerous books in Native American studies. We’ve compiled a list of just some of the contributions to the field.

• Who Are These People Anyway? By Chief Irving Powless Jr. of Onondaga Nation
• Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership by Lauren M. Hauptman
• The Reservation (40^th Anniversary Edition) by Ted Williams
• A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function: Poems and Paintings by Eric Gansworth
• An Oneida Indian in Foreign Waters: The Life of Chief Chapman Scanandoah, 1870-1953 by Laurence M. Hauptman
• The Thomas Indian School and the “Irredeemable” Children of New York by Keith R. Burich
• The Rotinonshonni: A Traditional Iroquoian History Through the Eyes of Teharonhia:wako and Sawiskera by Brian Rice
• Corey Village and the Cayuga World: Implications from Archaeology and Beyond edited by Jack Rossen
• Laura Cornelius Kellogg: Our Democracy and the American Indian and Other Works edited by Kristina Ackley and Cristina Stanciu
• Reading the Wampum: Essays on Hodinöhsö:ni’ Visual Code and Epistemological Recovery by Penelope Myrtle Kelsey
• Planning the American Indian Reservation by Nicholas Christos Zaferatos

For more Syracuse University Press books on Native American studies, click here.

November 14, 2016 | Categories: Holidays/National Months | Leave a comment

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

Today, we honor those have courageously risked their lives in order to serve our country and protect our freedom.

Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day, was first celebrated on November 11, 1919 to pay tribute to the soldiers who fought in World War I. It was on this day in 1918 at 11:00 AM, the Allied Nations and Germany reached a ceasefire, which ultimately ended the First World War. After World War II and the Korean War, the holiday was changed to Veterans Day, in order to honor all military personnel.

Here are a few books that offer a glimpse into the sobering and chilling effects of war.

Thom Rooke’s Gene Basset’s Vietnam Sketchbook: A Cartoonist’s Wartime Perspective

In 1965, Gene Basset, a will-known political cartoonist, was sent to Vietnam by his newspaper to sketch scenes of the war in order to help the public better understand the events occurring in Southeast Asia. He came back with sketches that portrayed the everyday, often mundane, aspects of wartime with an intimate touch that eases access to the dark subject matter.

Andrew J. Dunar’s America in the Teens

As part of his America in the Twentieth Century series, Dunar examines the social, political, and economical events and trends beginning in 1910. He covers the election of 1912, World War I, social change in the late Progressive Era, the influence of war on women and minorities, and changes in the motion picture industry.

D.H. Melhem’s Art and Politics / Politics and Art

Melhem’s collection of poetry offers a unique voice for the individual triumphs and ongoing catastrophic conflicts of our world, such as the Trojan War, World War I, the Gulf War, the Iraq war, and the conflict over Palestine. Her background as a painter and sculptor brings a visual and tactile quality to her work.

November 11, 2016 | Categories: Holidays/National Months | Leave a comment

National Poetry Month is Here

April is an exciting time in the literary world. In these 30 days, poetry is given center stage in the hearts and minds of poets and readers across the globe. We, at SU Press also bring poetry to the forefront by featuring inspirational selections from our favorite collections. In 2015, we celebrate National Poetry Month by highlighting the work of 2011 Nobel Prize winner Tomas Tranströmer. His Inspired Notes captures facets of life that are mysterious yet familiar, possessing the same timelessness that has allowed his work to be nominated for this prestigious award for 18 consecutive years. Tranströmer , in his subtle intensity, transforms the common meanderings of life into complex experiences that beg our attention and awareness.

A Woman’s Portrait, 19th Century

The voice is smothered in her clothing. Her eyes

Follow the gladiator. Then she herself

Stands on the arena. Is she free? A gilt frame

Constricts the picture.

Medieval Motif

Beneath our enchanting play of features waits

Always and ever the skull, the pokerface.

While the sun rolls slowly on across the sky.

The chess game proceeds.

A hairdresser’s clippers sound from the thicket.

And slowly the sun rolls on across the sky.

The game of chess comes to a halt, it’s drawn. In

The rainbow’s silence.

During this month, we would also like to acknowledge the work of early 20th century, Irish poet Francis Harvey. Collected Poems is a beautifully written anthology, showcasing the best of the poet’s scenic lyricism. Much like the work of Tranströmer, we gain new insights of the simplicities of life, seeing within and outside Harvey’s personal and environmental experiences. Needless to say, the read is worthwhile.

Consider

Consider the unblinking perfection

Of this utterly pitiless eye.

An eye being an eye to the heart of stone.

Consider an eye that has never shed a tear

For being what it is and for what others are.

Consider a piece of matter ground out of a glacier.Consider the eye of this falcon and the world as it is

And the eye of God flinching at the peephole of a star.

Enjoy, Happy Poetry Month!

April 20, 2015 | Categories: Holidays/National Months | Leave a comment