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New in Softcover: Edwin Booth

Now available in softcover:

Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance History
Arthur W. Bloom

The great nineteenth-century stage actor Edwin Booth began his long career in 1849 as a young teenager, following in his father’s footsteps. This biography traces his life and career as a tragic actor, including his childhood; his early acting tours of California, Australia and Hawaii; his rise to fame as a touring star; his two marriages; his relationship with his brother John Wilkes Booth; his disastrous management of Booth’s Theatre in New York City; and his death in 1891. The book includes an extensive performance history detailing every known Edwin Booth performance during his more than 30 years on the stage, with reviews and other supplementary materials.

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Newly Published: Human Rights in Islamic North Africa

New on our bookshelf:

Human Rights in Islamic North Africa: Clashes Between Constitutional Laws and Penal Codes
E. Ike Udogu

It is one thing to craft superb human rights tenets in a constitution and another to enforce such policies in practice. This book explores the contradictions between interpretations of constitutional tenets and the dogmas contained in the penal code of Islamic North Africa—particularly in regard to Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Provided are brief histories of each country that connect the colonial past to present-day human rights records. The author also suggests ways in which to mitigate human rights infractions to advance peaceful coexistence that could promote political and economic development.

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Newly Published: The Davidson Family of Rural Hill, North Carolina

New on our bookshelf:

The Davidson Family of Rural Hill, North Carolina: Three Generations on a Piedmont Plantation
Jim Williams and Ann Williams

John Davidson came to the North Carolina back country circa 1751 as a young man, with his sister and widowed mother. Typical of Scots-Irish settlers, they arrived with little more than basic farming tools, determined to make it on their own terms. Davidson worked hard, prospered, married well and built a plantation on the Catawba River he called Rural Hill. The Davidson’s were loyal British citizens who paid their taxes and participated in colonial government. When the Crown’s overbearing authority interfered, independence became paramount and Davidson and his neighbors became soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

After the war Davidson managed his plantation, created shad fisheries, helped develop the local iron industry with his sons-in-law and was an early planter of cotton. His sons and grandsons, along with their slave families, continuously increased and improved the acreage and became early practitioners of scientific farming. Drawing on public documents, family papers and slave records, this history describes how a fiercely independent family grew their lands and fortunes into a lasting legacy.

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New in Softcover: Inside the Spanish-American War

Now available in softcover:

Inside the Spanish-American War: A History Based on First-Person Accounts
James M. McCaffrey

This is the story of the Spanish-American War, told not from the perspective of generals, policy makers, or politicians, but from that of the soldiers, sailors and marines in the field and the reporters who covered their efforts. Concentration on the daily lives of these people provides insight into the often overlooked facets of a soldier’s life, detailing their training and interaction with weaponry, their food, clothing, and medical supplies, and their personal interactions and daily struggles. While the Spanish-American War set the stage for America’s emergence as a global power, this is its history on an individual scale, as seen through the eyes of those upon whom the war had the most immediate impact.

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New in Softcover: Battle History of the United States Marine Corps, 1775–1945

Now available in softcover:

Battle History of the United States Marine Corps, 1775–1945
George B. Clark

Designed as a reference work for those interested in the combat history of the U.S. Marine Corps, this book describes the engagements from the formation of the Continental Marines to the Corps’ great exercise at the Battle of Okinawa. Organized chronologically, the individual skirmishes illustrate how each of the Marine Corps’ engagements contributed to the formation and evolution of the United States. Persons and divisions of note are mentioned, including key players, commanders and medal recipients.

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Newly Published: Children Beware!

New on our bookshelf:

Children Beware!: Childhood, Horror and the PG-13 Rating
Filipa Antunes

How does a culture respond when the limits of childhood become uncertain? The emergence of pre-adolescence in the 1980s, which is signified by the new PG-13 rating for film, disrupted the established boundaries between childhood and adulthood. The concept of pre-adolescence affected not only America’s pillar ideals of family and childhood innocence but also the very foundation of the horror genre’s identity, its association with maturity and exclusivity.

Cultural disputes over the limits of childhood and horror were explicitly articulated in the children’s horror trend (1980–1997), a cluster of child-oriented horror titles in film and other media, which included Gremlins, The Gate, the Goosebumps series, and others. As the first serious analysis of the children’s horror trend, with a focus on the significance of ratings, this book provides a complete chart of its development while presenting it as a document of American culture’s adaptation to pre-adolescence. Each important children’s horror title corresponds to a key moment of ideological negotiation, cultural power struggles, and industrial compromise.

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Newly Published: The Women of City Point, Virginia, 1864–1865

New on our bookshelf:

The Women of City Point, Virginia, 1864–1865: Stories of Life and Work in the Union Occupation Headquarters
Jeanne Marie Christie

After more than three years of grim fighting, General Ulysses Grant had a plan to end the Civil War—laying siege to Petersburg, Virginia, thus cutting off supplies to the Confederate capital at Richmond. He established his headquarters at City Point on the James River, requiring thousands of troops, tons of supplies, as well as extensive medical facilities and staff.

Nurses flooded the area, yet many did not work in medical capacities—they served as organizers, advocates and intelligence gatherers. Nursing emerged as a noble profession with multiple specialties. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, this history covers the resilient women who opened the way for others into postwar medical, professional and political arenas.

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Newly Published: The Athlete as National Symbol

New on our bookshelf:

The Athlete as National Symbol: Critical Essays on Sports in the International Arena
Edited by Nicholas Villanueva, Jr.

Examining the phenomenon of nationalism in the world of sport, this collection of new essays identifies moments when athletes became national symbols through their actions on and off the field. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and related global events of the 1980s and 1990s, scholars have explored how race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality shape and are shaped by nationalism and national participation.

Topics include: race, golf and the struggle for social justice in South Africa; sport as a battleground within the Israel/Palestine conflict; multiculturalism and the Olympic Games; and white privilege in sport. These case studies explore the strength (and fragility) associated with national identity, and how athletes become icons for their nations.

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Newly Published: The Italian Squad

New on our bookshelf:

The Italian Squad: How the NYPD Took Down the Black Hand Extortion Racket
Andrew Paul Mele

At the turn of the twentieth century, thousands of Italian immigrants left their home country for the United States and, particularly, New York City. A small minority of the immigrants were members of a criminal syndicate that largely victimized fellow immigrants. The most common crime was a type of extortion known as “Black Hand.” The methods of extortion were particularly violent, and included kidnapping, arson, and murder. The New York Police Department, unable to speak the language and unaware of the traditions of the immigrants, was virtually helpless in dealing with them. In 1904, Italian-American Lt. Detective Joseph Petrosino formed a group of Italian detectives to deal exclusively with the extortion crimes and the criminal underworld of Italian society in New York which had become known in the American press as “The Black Hand Society.” This book tells the story of The Italian Squad from its inception, through Petrosino’s death, to the squad’s expansion into Queens and Brooklyn.

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Newly Published: Lost to the Shoah

New on our bookshelf:

Lost to the Shoah: Eight Lives
Vera Schiff with Jeff McLaughlin

It is important to remember not just what the Holocaust was but the individuals who were the subjects of its unrelenting Nazi brutalities. Written by a survivor about the people she knew and cared for, these eight stories fight against the depiction of Jews as victims and victims only, and individualize a tragedy that is too often abstracted into dates and statistics.

Amidst the dramatic narrative, there is a brutal honesty and frankness that makes these stories far more infuriating, sad and shocking than any fictional attempt to convey what it was like to be human in such inhuman circumstances. These biographies remind readers of the consequences of hate upon the fragile beauty and complexity of human life.

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Newly Published: Joe Quigley, Alaska Pioneer

New on our bookshelf:

Joe Quigley, Alaska Pioneer: Beyond the Gold Rush
Cheryl Fair

In May 1891, Joe Quigley embarked on a journey north to try his luck prospecting for gold in Alaska. Although he had been wandering across America since leaving home at 15, this would be the biggest adventure, and the biggest risk, Quigley had ever taken. A project that began as genealogical research into a family’s history, this biography traces the life of a fascinating character before, during and after the great Klondike gold rush. Deeply researched, including quotes from Quigley and numerous photographs, this book is more than another tale of the Klondike Gold Rush. It is an intimate look at the inspiring life of a pioneer prospector, who witnessed the exploration and development of one of America’s most harsh, beautiful and captivating landscapes.

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Newly Published: American Indians of the Ohio Country in the 18th Century

New on our bookshelf:

American Indians of the Ohio Country in the 18th Century
Paul R. Misencik and Sally E. Misencik

In the mid–17th century, the Iroquois Confederacy launched a war for control of the burgeoning fur trade industry. These conflicts, known as the Beaver Wars, were among the bloodiest in North American history, and the resulting defeat of the Erie nation led to present-day Ohio’s becoming devoid of significant, permanent Indian inhabitants. Only in the first quarter of the 18th century did tribes begin to tentatively resettle the area.

This book details the story of the Beaver Wars, the subsequent Indian migrations into present Ohio, the locations and descriptions of documented Indian trails and settlements, the Moravian Indian mission communities in Ohio, and the Indians’ forlorn struggles to preserve an Ohio homeland, culminating in their expulsion by Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act in 1830.

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Newly Published: Quaker Carpetbagger

New on our bookshelf:

Quaker Carpetbagger: J. Williams Thorne, Underground Railroad Host Turned North Carolina Politician
Max Longley

J. Williams Thorne (1816–1897) was an outspoken farmer who spent the first half-century of his remarkable life in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he took part in political debates, helped fugitive slaves in the Underground Railroad and was active in the Progressive Friends Meeting, a national group of activist Quakers and allied reformers who met annually in Chester County. Williams and his associates discussed vital matters of the day, from slavery to prohibition to women’s rights. These issues sometimes came to Thorne’s doorstep—he met with nationally prominent reformers, and thwarted kidnappers seeking to enslave one of his free black tenants.

After the Civil War, Williams became a “carpetbagger,” moving to North Carolina to pursue farming and politics. An “infidel” Quaker (anti-Christian), he was opposed by Democrats who sought to keep him out of the legislature on account of his religious beliefs. Today a little-known figure in history, Williams made his mark through his outspokenness and persistent battling for what he believed.

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Newly Published: Escape from Cuba

New on our bookshelf:

Escape from Cuba: Personal Accounts of Those Who Fled Castro’s Regime
Edited by Eloy L. Nuñez and Ernest G. Vendrell

In 1959, Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba after overthrowing the government of Fulgencio Batista. In response, thousands of Cubans fled the island, mostly to the United States. This book tells the stories of these Cubans in exile, all of whom overcame great obstacles to escape the brutal Castro regime. Neither a history of Cuba nor of Castro, this book illuminates the underrepresented legacy of the Cuban Exile Community and celebrates their continued thriving in a new country.

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Newly Published: Jimmy Carter and the Restoration of Presidential Dignity

New on our bookshelf:

Jimmy Carter and the Restoration of Presidential Dignity
Jason Friedman

The office of the President of the United States was plagued by scandals in the early 1970s. When Jimmy Carter ran for office in 1976, the nation was still struggling to process the Vietnam War and Watergate. Questionable presidential decisions prolonged a quagmire in Asia, Richard Nixon’s illegal surveillance broke the people’s trust, and Gerald Ford’s subsequent pardon of Nixon irrevocably sullied his relationship with the American people. Jimmy Carter sought to be the transparent, trustworthy leader that the nation demanded.

Based on archival research and government documents, this book explores the steps Carter took during his presidency and how Congress reacted to them. Though Carter was not elected for a second term, this detailed history makes the case that his legacy has been misrepresented, and that he should not be remembered as a failed president, but as a man who restored dignity to an office burdened by controversy.

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Newly Published: Democracy’s Troubles

New on our bookshelf:

Democracy’s Troubles: Twelve Threats to the American Ideal and How We Can Overcome Them
John E. Miller

Evidence is accumulating that democracy is under siege—in the United States and around the world. This volume identifies and explains a dozen separate challenges threatening American democracy today. Sorting these challenges into political and social-cultural problems, each is placed in an historical context to describe how they work together to undermine the democratic underpinnings of the nation.

Opening with a sketch of the historical development of democracy, this book makes the case for improved civic education, rebuilding trust in institutions and leaders, promoting good character and the revitalization of the healthy community. A renewed commitment to governmental institutions is necessary for the people to fulfill democracy’s promise.

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Newly Published: American Zouaves, 1859–1959

New on our bookshelf:

American Zouaves, 1859–1959: An Illustrated History
Daniel J. Miller

The elite French Zouaves, with their distinctive, colorful uniforms, set an influential example for volunteer soldiers during the Civil War and continued to inspire American military units for a century. Hundreds of militia companies adopted the flamboyant uniform to emulate the gallantry and martial tradition of the Zouaves.

Drawing on fifty years of research, this volume provides a comprehensive state-by-state catalog of American Zouave units, richly illustrated with rare and previously unpublished photographs and drawings. The author dispels many misconceptions and errors that have persisted over the last 150 years.

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Newly Published: The New New Zealand

New on our bookshelf:

The New New Zealand: The Māori and Pākehā Populations
William Edward Moneyhun

Today’s New Zealand is an emerging paradigm for successful cultural relations. Although the nation’s Māori (indigenous Polynesian) and Pākehā (colonial European) populations of the 19th century were dramatically different and often at odds, they are today co-contributors to a vibrant society. For more than a century they have been working out the kind of nation that engenders respect and well-being; and their interaction, though often riddled with confrontation, is finally bearing bicultural fruit. By their model, the encounter of diverse cultures does not require the surrender of one to the other; rather, it entails each expanding its own cultural categories in the light of the other.

The time is ripe to explore modern New Zealand’s cultural dynamics for what we can learn about getting along. The present anthropological work focuses on religion and related symbols, forms of reciprocity, the operation of power and the concept of culture in modern New Zealand society.

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Newly Published: 4–31 Infantry in Iraq’s Triangle of Death

New on our bookshelf:

4–31 Infantry in Iraq’s Triangle of Death
Darrell E. Fawley III

The Iraqi Triangle of Death, south of Baghdad, was a raging inferno of insurgent activity in August of 2006; by November 2007, attacks had been suppressed to such an extent as to return the area to near obscurity. In the intervening months, the U.S. Army 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry (“Polar Bears”) employed a counterinsurgency approach that set the conditions for a landmark peace agreement that has held to the present.

With a focus on counterinsurgency, this book is the first to look at the breadth of military operations in Yusifiyah, Iraq, and to analyze the methods the Polar Bears employed. It is a story not of those who fought in the Triangle of Death, but of how they fought.

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Newly Published: Sailing Under John Paul Jones

New on our bookshelf:

Sailing Under John Paul Jones: The Memoir of Continental Navy Midshipman Nathaniel Fanning, 1778–1783
Nathaniel Fanning

Connecticut privateer Nathaniel Fanning (1755–1805) was captured by the British during the Revolutionary War. Upon his release, he joined the Continental Navy and sailed as a midshipman under Admiral John Paul Jones during his most famous battles. Fanning later obtained his own command, sailing from French ports to prey upon British warships.

This new edition of Fanning’s memoir—first published in 1806—provides a vivid account of wartime peril and hardship at sea, and a first-hand character study of Jones as an apparent tyrant and narcissist. Vocabulary, spelling and narrative style have changed in the more than two centuries since Fanning’s chronicle, and some details clash with historical and geographical data. The editor has updated and annotated the text for modern readers, but attempted to retain much of the original memoir’s style.

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Newly Published: Bromo-Seltzer King

New on our bookshelf:

Bromo-Seltzer King: The Opulent Life of Captain Isaac “Ike” Emerson, 1859–1931
Bob Luke

Captain Isaac “Ike” Emerson, riding high on the international success of his patent, Bromo-Seltzer, lived a storied life of opulence. This first biography of the “Bromo-Seltzer King” traces his path from North Carolina farm boy to Baltimore-based multimillionaire with a penchant for lavish entertaining.
Emerson is presented as an entrepreneur, patriot, civic leader, sportsman, and philanthropist. He was a phenom in his era, and this book, drawing from archival records, newspapers of the day, and interviews with descendants, details the ups and downs of his complex and indulgent life.

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Newly Published: The Civil War in the South Carolina Lowcountry

New on our bookshelf:

The Civil War in the South Carolina Lowcountry: How a Confederate Artillery Battery and a Black Union Regiment Defined the War
Ron Roth

Some of the most dramatic and consequential events of the Civil War era took place in the South Carolina Lowcountry between Charleston and Savannah. From Robert Barnwell Rhett’s inflammatory 1844 speech in Bluffton calling for secession, to the last desperate attempts by Confederate forces to halt Sherman’s juggernaut, the region was torn apart by war.

This history tells the story through the experiences of two radically different military units—the Confederate Beaufort Volunteer Artillery and the U.S. 1st South Carolina Regiment, the first black Union regiment to fight in the war—both organized in Beaufort, the heart of the Lowcountry.

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Newly Published: Greene and Cornwallis in the Carolinas

New on our bookshelf:

Greene and Cornwallis in the Carolinas: The Pivotal Struggle in the American Revolution, 1780–1781
Jeffrey A. Denman and John F. Walsh

The story of the Revolutionary War in the Northern colonies is well known but the war that raged across the South in 1780–1781—considered by some the “unknown Revolution”—included some of the most important yet least studied engagements.

Drawing extensively on their letters, this book follows the campaigns of General Nathanael Greene and Lord Charles Cornwallis as they fought across the Carolinas, and offers a compelling look at their leadership. The theater of war in which the two commanders operated was populated by various ethnic and religious groups and separated geographically, economically and politically into the low country and the simmering backcountry, setting the stage for what was to come.

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Newly Published: Disputed Decisions of World War II

New on our bookshelf:

Disputed Decisions of World War II: Decision Science and Game Theory Perspectives
Mark Thompson

A former Harvard professor of decision science and game theory draws on those disciplines in this review of controversial strategic and tactical decisions of World War II.

Allied leaders—although outstanding in many ways—sometimes botched what now is termed meta-decision making or deciding how to decide. Operation Jubilee, a single-division raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, for example, illustrated the pitfalls of groupthink. In the Allied invasion of North Africa three months later, American and British leaders fell victim to the planning fallacy: having unrealistically rosy expectations of an easy victory. In Sicily in the summer of 1943, they violated the millennia-old principle of command unity—now re-endorsed and elaborated on by modern theorists. Had Allied strategists understood the game theory of bluffing, in January 1944 they might well not have landed two-plus divisions at Anzio in Italy.

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Newly Published: American Light Trucks and Utility Vehicles, 1967–1989

New on our bookshelf:

American Light Trucks and Utility Vehicles, 1967–1989: Every Model, Year by Year
J. “Kelly” Flory, Jr.

The truck’s role in American society changed dramatically from the 1960s through the 1980s, with the rise of off-roaders, the van craze of the 1970s and minivan revolution of the 1980s, the popularization of the SUV as family car and the diversification of the pickup truck into multiple forms and sizes. This comprehensive reference book follows the form of the author’s popular volumes on American cars. For each year, it provides an industry overview and, for each manufacturer, an update on new models and other news, followed by a wealth of data: available powertrains, popular options, paint colors and more. Finally, each truck is detailed fully with specifications and measurements, prices, production figures, standard equipment and more.

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Newly Published: Slavery and Racism in American Politics, 1776–1876

New on our bookshelf:

Slavery and Racism in American Politics, 1776–1876
Michael C. Thomsett

From the very inception of the United States, few issues have been so divisive and defining as American slavery. Even as the U.S. was founded on principles of liberty, independence and freedom, slavery advocates and sympathizers positioned themselves in every aspect of American influence. Over the centuries, the characterization of early American figures, legislation and party platforms has been debated.

The author seeks to clarify often unanswered–or ignored–questions about notable figures, sociopolitical movements and their positions on slavery. From early legislation like the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 to Reconstruction and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, this book explores some of America’s most controversial moments. Spanning the first American century, it offers a detailed chronology of slavery and racism in early U.S. politics and society.

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Newly Published: The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood

New on our bookshelf:

The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood: Crime, Scandal and Intrigue in the History of Lafayette Square
Edward P. Moser

Chronicling the sometimes outlandish, often tragic history of the environs of the White House, this book covers two centuries of assassinations, slave escapes, deadly duels, sex scandals, battles, brawls and spy intrigues that took place in the presidential neighborhood, Lafayette Square. The author recounts the triumphs and catastrophes of heroes and villains both famous and unsung, placing them in the context of contemporary world events of the day.

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Beer, Wine and Spirits Sale

While many of our readers, authors and staff have an appreciation for the drinking of beer, practically as many also have a fondness for the culture of beer.  Drink and culture converge at McFarland, where we have a small but growing line of books that look at the social and historical impact of beer, wine and spirits.  Now through January 15, get 30% off of these books with coupon code BEER30.  Grab a book, grab your beverage of choice, and kick back and enjoy two of life’s great pastimes!  Furthermore, if you’re an author with an idea for a book about beer culture, tell us what you’ve got on tap at proposals@mcfarlandpub.com.

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Newly Published: Manteo and the Algonquians of the Roanoke Voyages

New on our bookshelf:

Manteo and the Algonquians of the Roanoke Voyages
Brandon Fullam

When the English first arrived at the Outer Banks in the summer of 1584, they were greeted by native Algonquian-speaking people who had long occupied present-day North Carolina. That historic contact initiated the often-turbulent period of early American history commonly known as the Roanoke Voyages. Unfortunately, contemporary accounts regularly mischaracterize or marginalize the Algonquins, and their significance in this period is poorly understood.

This volume is a unique collection of narratives highlighting by name all of the Algonquians who played a role in the often-contentious attempts to establish the first permanent English colony in the New World. Starting with Manteo, the fascinating Croatoan Indian who traveled to England twice and learned to speak English, this book focuses on the identities and endeavors of each of these individual Algonquians and tells their stories.

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Newly Published: Formula for Failure in Vietnam

New on our bookshelf:

Formula for Failure in Vietnam: The Folly of Limited Warfare
William Hamilton

Drawing on a range of sources, including original interviews with the commanders ordered to fight a land war in Southeast Asia, former U.S. Army infantry officer recounts his experiences in Vietnam as a company commander and as a battalion- and division-level operations officer carrying out those orders. The crucial flaws of the Johnson Administration’s strategy of attrition are analyzed—the failure to seal off the theater of battle from Chinese and Soviet resupply, and allowing North Vietnamese forces to maintain sanctuaries in Laos, Cambodia and even North Vietnam.

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Books about the Holidays

Check out our latest catalog of books about the holidays—Jolly Elves with Hearty Beards—and get 20% off books about the holidays thru January 6 with coupon code MIDWINTER19!

Also, our catalog-wide Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale continues through December 2.  Use coupon code HOLIDAY19 to receive 20% off your entire purchase.

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Newly Published: Love in America

New on our bookshelf:

Love in America: A Cultural History of the Past Century
Lawrence R. Samuel

Widely considered the most complex of human emotions, romantic love both shapes and reflects core societal values, its expression offering a window into the cultural zeitgeist. In popular culture, romantic love has long been a mainstay of film, television and music. The gap between fictitious narratives of love and real-life ones is, however, usually wide—American’s expectations of romance and affection often transcend reality. Tracing the history of love in American culture, this book offers insight into both the national character and emotional nature.

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Newly Published: Peyton Randolph and Revolutionary Virginia

New on our bookshelf:

Peyton Randolph and Revolutionary Virginia
Robert M. Randolph

In 1763, King George III’s government adopted a secret policy to reduce the American colonies to “due subordinance” and exploit them. This brought on the American Revolution. In Virginia, there was virtually unanimous agreement that Britain’s actions violated Virginia’s constitutional rights. Yet Virginians were deeply divided as to a remedy. Peyton Randolph, Speaker of the House of Burgesses 1766–1775 (and chairman of the First and Second Continental Congresses), worked to unify the colony, keeping the conservatives from moving too slowly and the radicals from moving too swiftly. Virginia was thus the only major colony to enter the Revolution united. Randolph was a masterful politician who produced majorities for critical votes leading to revolution.

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Newly Published: The Trial of Emma Cunningham

New on our bookshelf:

The Trial of Emma Cunningham: Murder and Scandal in the Victorian Era
Brian Jenkins

The alleged 1857 murder of a wealthy Bond Street dentist by Emma Cunningham, a mature widow he was believed to be sexually involved with, served to distract many New Yorkers from the deepening national crisis over slavery in the United States. Public anxieties seemed well founded—domestic murders committed by women were believed to be increasing sharply, jeopardizing society’s patriarchal structure.

The penny press created public demand for a swift solution. The inadequacy of the city police, complicated by the state’s decision to install a new force, resulted in the rival forces battling it out on the streets. Elected coroners conducting inquests, and elected D.A.s prosecuting alleged culprits, fed a tendency to rush to judgment. New York juries, all men, were reluctant to send a middle class woman to the gallows. At trial, Cunningham proved a formidable and imaginative member of the so-called weaker sex and was acquitted. This reexamination places the story in its social and political context.

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Newly Published: Woodrow Wilson as Commander in Chief

New on our bookshelf:

Woodrow Wilson as Commander in Chief: The Presidency and the Great War
Michael P. Riccards and Cheryl A. Flagg

This first study on Woodrow Wilson as the commander in chief during the Great War analyzes his management style before the war, his diplomacy and his battle with the Senate. It considers the war as representing the collapse of Western traditional virtues and examines Wilson’s attempt to restore them. Emphasizing the American war effort on the domestic front, it also discusses Wilson’s rise to power, his education, career, and work as governor as necessary steps in his formation. The authors deal honestly and critically with the racism that characterized this brilliant but limited career.

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Newly Published: Seabee 71 in Chu Lai

New on our bookshelf:

Seabee 71 in Chu Lai: Memoir of a Navy Journalist with a Mobile Construction Battalion, 1967
David H. Lyman

Hoping to stay out of Vietnam, David Lyman joined the U.S. Naval Reserve to avoid the draft. By summer 1967 he was with a SeaBee unit on a beach in Chu Lai. A reporter in civilian life, Lyman was assigned to Military Construction Battalion 71 as a photojournalist. He documented the lives of the hard-working and hard-drinking SeaBees as they engineered roads, runways, heliports and base camps for the troops.

The author was shot at, almost blown up by a road mine, and spent nights in a mortar pit as rockets bombarded a nearby Marine runway. He rode on convoys through Viet Cong territory to photograph villages outside “The Wire.” The stories and photographs Lyman published as editor of the battalion’s newspaper, The Transit, form the basis of this memoir.

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Newly Published: Rhode Island’s Civil War Dead

New on our bookshelf:

Rhode Island’s Civil War Dead: A Complete Roster
Robert Grandchamp

Rhode Island sent 23,236 men to fight in the Civil War. They served in eight infantry regiments, three heavy artillery regiments, three regiments and one battalion of cavalry, a company of hospital guards and 10 batteries of light artillery. Hundreds more served in the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Rhode Islanders participated in nearly every major battle of the war, firing the first volleys at Bull Run, and some of the last at Appomattox.

How many died in the Civil War is a question that has long eluded historians. Drawing on a 20-year study of regimental histories, pension files, letters, diaries, and visits to every cemetery in the state, award-winning Civil War historian Robert Grandchamp documents 2,217 Rhode Islanders who died as a direct result of military service. Each regiment is identified, followed by the name, rank and place of residence for each soldier, the details of their deaths and, where known, their final resting places.

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Newly Published: Deep Space Warfare

New on our bookshelf:

Deep Space Warfare: Military Strategy Beyond Orbit
John C. Wright

Since the Cold War, outer space has become of strategic importance for nations looking to seize the ultimate high ground. World powers establishing a presence there must consider, among other things, how they will conduct warfare in orbit. Leaders must dispense with “Buck Rogers” notions about operations in space and realize that policies there will have serious ramifications for geopolitics.

How should nations view space? How should they fight there? What would space warfare look like and how should strategists approach it? Offering critical observations regarding this unique theater of international relations, a military professional explores the strategic implications as human affairs move beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

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Newly Published: Women in the Struggle for Irish Independence

New on our bookshelf:

Women in the Struggle for Irish Independence
Joseph McKenna

Women have too often been written out of history. This is especially true in the fight for Irish independence. The women’s struggle was three-fold, beginning with the suffragettes’ fight to win the vote. Then came the push for fair pay and working conditions. Binding them together became part of the national struggle, first for home rule, then for the establishment of an Irish Republic.

The Easter Rising of 1916 brought them together as soldiers of the Republic. Through the terrible years that followed, they became the conscience of Republicanism. Following independence, they were betrayed by the men they had served alongside. DeValera and the Catholic Church restricted their roles in society—they were to be wives and mothers without a voice. It was not until Ireland’s entry into the European community and the self destruction of a corrupt Church that Irish women were acknowledged for what they had achieved.

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Newly Published: The Cossack Struggle Against Communism, 1917–1945

New on our bookshelf:

The Cossack Struggle Against Communism, 1917–1945
Brent Mueggenberg

The downfall of tsarism in 1917 left the peoples of Russia facing an uncertain future. Nowhere were those anxieties felt more than among the Cossacks. The steppe horsemen had famously guarded the empire’s frontiers, stampeded demonstrators in its cities, suppressed peasant revolts in the countryside and served as bodyguards to its rulers. Their way of life, intricately bound to the old order, seemed imperiled by the revolution and especially by the Bolshevik seizure of power.

Many Cossacks took up arms against the Soviet regime, providing the anticommunist cause with some of its best warriors—as well as its most notorious bandits. This book chronicles their decades-long campaign against the Bolsheviks, from the tumultuous days of the Russian Civil War through the doldrums of foreign exile and finally to their fateful collaboration with the Third Reich.

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Newly Published: Vikings and the Vikings

New on our bookshelf:

Vikings and the Vikings: Essays on Television’s History Channel Series
Edited by Paul Hardwick and Kate Lister

This essay collection is a wide-ranging exploration of Vikings, the television series that has successfully summoned the historical world of the Norse people for modern audiences to enjoy. From a range of critical viewpoints, these all fresh essays explore the ways in which past and present representations of the Vikings converge in the show’s richly textured dramatization of the rise and fall of Ragnar Loðbrók—and the exploits of his heirs—creating what many viewers label a “true” representation of the age. From the show’s sources in both saga literature and Victorian revival, to its engagement with contemporary concerns regarding gender, race and identity, via setting, sex, society and more, this first book-length study of the History Channel series appeals to fans of the show, Viking enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in medievalist representation in the 21st century.

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Newly Published: The British Military Revolution of the 19th Century

New on our bookshelf:

The British Military Revolution of the 19th Century: “The Great Gun Question” and the Modernization of Ordnance and Administration
Daniel R. LeClair

From the Crimean War through the Second Boer War, the British Empire sought to solve the “Great Gun Question”—to harness improvements to ordnance, small arms, explosives and mechanization made possible by the Industrial Revolution. The British public played a surprising but overlooked role, offering myriad suggestions for improvements to the civilian-led War Office.

Meanwhile, politicians and army leaders argued over control of the country’s ground forces in a decades-long struggle that did not end until reforms of 1904 put the military under the Secretary of State for War. Following the debate in the press, voters put pressure on both Parliament and the War Office to modernize ordnance and military administration. The “Great Gun Question” was as much about weaponry as about who ultimately controlled military power.

Drawing on ordnance committee records and contemporary news reports, this book fills a gap in the history of British military technology and army modernization prior to World War I.

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Newly Published: Ancient Roman Sports, A–Z

New on our bookshelf:

Ancient Roman Sports, A–Z: Athletes, Venues, Events and Terms
David Matz

Chariot races. Gladiatorial combat. Fishing. Hunting. Swimming. The ancient Romans enjoyed these sports—sometimes with fanatical enthusiasm. This reference book contains more than 100 entries covering sporting events and activities of the era, and the Romans who sponsored, competed in and attended them.

Charioteer Appuleius Diocles, in a career spanning 24 years, competed in 4,257 races, winning an astounding 1,462 of them. Alypius, the young friend of St. Augustine, was both drawn to and repulsed by gladiatorial battles and struggled to shake his mania for the spectacle of blood sport.

Brief abstracts of the entries are included for quick reference, along with an expansive glossary and biographical notes on the ancient authors cited.

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Newly Published: The United States and the Rise of Tyrants

New on our bookshelf:

The United States and the Rise of Tyrants: Diplomatic Relations with Nationalist Dictatorships Between the World Wars
Lawrence E. Gelfand and John Day Tully

Nationalist dictatorships proliferated around the world during the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s. Policymakers in Washington, D.C., reasoning that non-Communist regimes were not necessarily a threat to democracy or national interests, found it expedient to support them. People living under these governments associated the United States with their oppressors, with long-term negative consequences for U.S. policy.

American policymakers were primarily concerned with fostering stability in these countries. The dictatorships, eager to maintain political order and create economic growth, looked to American corporations and bankers, whose heavy investments cemented the need to support the regimes. Through an examination of consular records in nine countries, the author describes the logistics and consequences of these relationships.

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Newly Published: Arkansas, Forgotten Land of Plenty

New on our bookshelf:

Arkansas, Forgotten Land of Plenty: Settlement and Economic Development, 1540–1900
Ronald R. Switzer

In the first decades of the 1800s, white Americans entered the rugged lands of Arkansas, which they had little explored before. They established new towns and developed commercial enterprises alongside Native Americans indigenous to Arkansas and other tribes and nations that had relocated there from the East.

This history is also the story of Arkansas’s people, and is told through numerous biographies, highlighting early life in frontier Arkansas over a period of 200 years. It provides a categorical look at commerce and portrays the social diversity represented by both prominent and common Arkansans–all grappling for success against extraordinary circumstances.

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Newly Published: The USS Swordfish

New on our bookshelf:

The USS Swordfish: The World War II Patrols of the First American Submarine to Sink a Japanese Ship
George J. Billy

Among the more than 260 American submarines that patrolled the Pacific during World War II, the USS Swordfish in 1941 was the first to sink a Japanese armed merchant ship, marking the beginning of the submarine’s colorful history. A series of seven commanders led Swordfish’s 13 war patrols. Each skipper had a distinct leadership style. Some were successful in sinking enemy ships; others returned to port empty-handed. Yet all patrols risked dangerously close encounters with the enemy and the unforgiving nature of the open sea.

Drawing on archival sources and interviews with veteran sailors, this first full-length history of the Swordfish provides detailed accounts of each patrol and covers the mysterious disappearance of the legendary submarine on its final mission.

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Newly Published: No Vote for Women

New on our bookshelf:

No Vote for Women: The Denial of Suffrage in Reconstruction America
Bernadette Cahill

From 1865, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led campaigns for equal rights for all but were ultimately defeated by a Congress and reformers intent on applying suffrage established with constitutional amendments and legislation to men only. Ignoring all women, black and white, advocates argued that enfranchising black men would solve race problems, masking the effect on women. This book weaves Anthony’s and Stanton’s campaigns together with national and congressional events, in the process uncovering relationships among these events and revealing the devastating impact on the women and their campaign for civil rights for all citizens.

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Newly Published: What Happened to the Hippies?

New on our bookshelf:

What Happened to the Hippies?: Voices and Perspectives
Stewart L. Rogers

Peaceniks. Stoners. Tree huggers. Freaks. For many, the hippies of the 1960s and early 1970s were immoral, drug-crazed kids too spoiled to work and too selfish to embrace the American way of life. But who were these longhaired dissenters bent on peace, love and equality? What did they believe? What did they want? Are their values still relevant today?

Bringing together the personal accounts and perspectives of 54 “old hippies,” this book illustrates how their lives and outlooks have changed over the past five decades. Their collective narrative invites readers to reach their own conclusions about the often misunderstood movement of ordinary young people who faced an era of escalating war, civil turmoil and political assassinations with faith in humanity and a belief in the power of ideas.

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Newly Published: John Reed

New on our bookshelf:

John Reed: Radical Journalist, 1887–1920
Kenneth Z. Chutchian

John Reed was one of America’s most dynamic journalists during the World War I decade. An unabashed advocate for the working class and an outspoken critic of capitalism, Reed was a star reporter before his relentless crusade turned him into a target of the U.S. government. Reed set the standard for descriptive writing at labor strikes in New Jersey and Colorado, in Mexico while riding with Pancho Villa, in Germany’s trenches, and in Russia. America had no shortage of rebels, socialists, anarchists and revolutionaries at that time—but with his outsized personality and command of language and audiences, Reed may have been the most dangerous rebel of them all.

Neither adversaries nor allies expected Reed to go the distance (or to Russia) with his convictions. He seemed to enjoy life and merriment too much to sacrifice everything for a second American revolution. But they all underestimated the anger that fueled him, the memory of a father who sacrificed his reputation to fight white-collar crime. This career biography details Reed’s extraordinary decade before his death at age 32—a chaotic period of constant movement and remarkable accomplishment—while placing him in context among those who shaped him and touching upon the people with whom he worked.

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Newly Published: Arctic Mirage

New on our bookshelf:

Arctic Mirage: The 1913–1920 Expedition in Search of Crocker Land
Winton U. Solberg

In 1913, an expedition was sent to the Arctic, funded by the American Museum of Natural History, the American Geographical Society and the University of Illinois. Its purpose was twofold: to discover whether an archipelago called Crocker Land—reportedly spotted by an earlier explorer in 1906—actually existed; and to engage in scientific research in the Arctic.

When explorers discovered that Crocker Land did not exist, they instead pursued their research, made a number of important discoveries and documented the region’s indigenous inhabitants and natural habitat. Their return to America was delayed by the difficulty of engaging a relief ship, and by the danger of German submarines in Arctic waters during the World War I.

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Six New Titles Recommended in October Issue of Choice

Black Baseball, 1858–1900: A Comprehensive Record of the Teams, Players, Managers, Owners and Umpires
“Brunson delivers an extraordinarily well researched guide…the level of detail and commitment to this research is impressive…ideal for accessing primary sources or teaching material…highly recommended.”

Fat Talk: A Feminist Perspective
“An engaging exploration…this book is an important read for women…recommended.”

The Polo Grounds: Essays and Memories of New York City’s Historic Ballpark, 1880–1963
“The essays flow smoothly from one topic to the next, making this an easy read from cover to cover. This book should be a welcome addition to most sports history or stadium architecture collections…recommended.”

Phinally!: The Phillies, the Royals and the 1980 Baseball Season That Almost Wasn’t
“The book is well researched and entertaining, and Daniel provides a behind-the-scenes story that transforms a straightforward historical account into an extremely detailed yet quick-moving read for die-hard baseball fans…recommended.”

Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete
“Heavily researched and detailed study…an important contribution to understanding Ruth’s prominent place in American cultural and marketing history…recommended.”

The Electric Car in America, 1890–1922: A Social History
“Segrave brings together a great deal of information about many short-lived electric car models, for which documentation is scant; this text therefore represents a substantial amount of archival research…recommended.”

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Newly Published: Early U.S. Navy Carrier Raids, February–April 1942

New on our bookshelf:

Early U.S. Navy Carrier Raids, February–April 1942: Five Operations That Tested a New Dimension of American Air Power
David Lee Russell

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s fast carrier task forces, with their aircraft squadrons and powerful support warships, went on the offensive. Under orders from Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, the newly appointed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, took the fight to the Japanese, using island raids to slow their advance in the Pacific.

Beginning in February 1942, a series of task force raids led by the carriers USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, USS Lexington and USS Hornet were launched, beginning in the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands. An attempted raid on Rabaul was followed by successful attacks on Wake Island and Marcus Island. The Lae-Salamaua Raid countered Japanese invasions on New Guinea. The most dramatic was the unorthodox Tokyo (Doolittle) Raid, where 16 carrier-launched B-25 medium bombers demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was open to U.S. air attacks.

The raids had a limited effect on halting the Japanese advance but kept the enemy away from Hawaii, the U.S. West coast and the Panama Canal, and kept open lines of communications to Australia.

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Newly Published: Colonels in Blue—Missouri and the Western States and Territories

New on our bookshelf:

Colonels in Blue—Missouri and the Western States and Territories: A Civil War Biographical Dictionary
Roger D. Hunt

This biographical dictionary catalogs the Union army colonels who commanded regiments from Missouri and the western States and Territories during the Civil War. The seventh volume in a series documenting Union army colonels, this book details the lives of officers who did not advance beyond that rank. Included for each colonel are brief biographical excerpts and any available photographs, many of them published for the first time.

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American Folklore Society 2019

McFarland is exhibiting at the annual conference of the American Folklore Society October 16-19 in Baltimore, Maryland.  You are invited to meet with senior acquisitions editor Gary Mitchem.  Schedule an appointment by emailing us in advance (gmitchem@mcfarlandpub.com) or stop by the McFarland booth in the exhibit room for a casual conversation with Gary.

Instructors are welcome to examine books for potential adoption, whether at the McFarland booth at AFS or electronically, by submitting a request via our web form.

 


Folklore

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Newly Published: PT Boat Odyssey

New on our bookshelf:

PT Boat Odyssey: In the Pacific War with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 16, 1943–1945
Robert P. Gelzheiser

During the Pacific War between the United States and Imperial Japanese navies, the author’s father, Francis Gelzheiser, deployed with Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 16A, from New Orleans to Panama to Seattle and to Attu Island in the Aleutians. After their return voyage, the PT boats journeyed to New Guinea, then battled Japanese kamikazes for the Philippine Island of Mindoro.

Like many World War II veterans, Gelzheiser only shared his recollections of combat later in life. The author chronicles his father’s experience, details the roles PT boats played in the war and examines why, despite America’s overwhelming wartime manufacturing capacity, the Japanese believed they could still win the war.

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CONFERENCES: Upcoming MLA and PCA events

McFarland is exhibiting at a number of regional and national conferences in the coming months, and conferees are encouraged to take the opportunity to peruse our books and meet an editor.  Schedule an appointment by emailing us in advance (Layla Milholen, Gary Mitchem, or Dré Person), or stop by the McFarland booth in the exhibit room for a casual conversation with an editor.

Popular Culture Association in the South Sept 26-28, Wilmington, NC, Layla Milholen
Association for the Study of African American Life and History Oct 3-5, Charleston, SC, Dré Person
Midwest Popular Culture Association Oct 10-13 Cincinnati, OH, Layla Milholen
American Folklore Society Oct 16-19, Baltimore, MD, Gary Mitchem
South Central Modern Language Association Oct 24-26, Little Rock, AR, Gary Mitchem
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association Nov 7-9, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA, Gary Mitchem
Film and History Nov 13-17, Madison, WI, Dré Person
National Women’s Studies Association Nov 14-17, San Francisco, CA, Layla Milholen
South Atlantic Modern Language Association Nov 15–17, Atlanta, GA, Gary Mitchem
American Philosophical Association Jan 8-11, Philadelphia, PA, Dré Person
Modern Language Association Jan 9-12, Seattle, WA, Gary Mitchem


Cinema & Media Studies


Comics & Graphic Narratives


Literature

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Association for the Study of African American Life and History 2019

McFarland is exhibiting at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History October 3-5 in Charleston, South Carolina.  You are invited to meet with editor Dré Person.  Schedule an appointment by emailing us in advance (dperson@mcfarlandpub.com) or stop by the McFarland booth in the exhibit room for a casual conversation with Dré.

Instructors are welcome to examine books for potential adoption, whether at the McFarland booth at ASALH or electronically, by submitting a request via our web form.

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September Journalism Books Sale

These books discuss a wide range of topics about journalism, the only profession protected by the Constitution. Investigative reporting, social media, the First Amendment, ethical conundrums, history of the media, advertising, news entertainment, civics, writing, reporting and pop culture, among other topics, are covered here. Through September 30, get 20% off journalism books with coupon code JOURN19.

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Newly Published: My Soviet Youth

New on our bookshelf:

My Soviet Youth: A Memoir of Ukrainian Life in the Final Years of Communism
Irina Rodríguez

Putting on gas masks and learning how to shoot Kalashnikov rifles in grade school made Soviet children fear possible attack by Cold War enemies. But a more prosaic invasion of Colorado beetles in the 1980s turned out to be a far more real threat to Soviet families. Many had to master farming when the state, near its demise, no longer had the finances to pay salaries.

One of the last generation of Soviet teenagers who tasted the political restrictions and propaganda, and the benefits and deficits of the communist state, the author recalls her early years in a Soviet school, a Young Pioneer inauguration ceremony, work on a collective farm, her family’s plot of land and their fights against invasive insects, and her first breaths of post-Soviet freedom, which brought economic havoc and bitter disappointments, along with new hopes.

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Newly Published: George Humphrey, Charles Wilson and Eisenhower’s War on Spending

New on our bookshelf:

George Humphrey, Charles Wilson and Eisenhower’s War on Spending
James Worthen

The first Republican president since the Great Depression, Dwight Eisenhower was the victorious supreme allied commander of World War II’s European theater, but a political novice when he moved into the White House in 1953. To help make domestic policy, he recruited two of the country’s richest businessmen—Cleveland industrialist George Humphrey and General Motors president Charles Wilson—with the goals of ensuring American postwar prosperity and developing a defense posture against the nuclear threat of the Soviet Union.

This book provides the first detailed examination of how Humphrey and Wilson helped shape Eisenhower’s policies and priorities. Persuasive and charming, Treasury Secretary Humphrey was obsessed with cutting spending. Defense Secretary Wilson—whose departmental funding comprised most of the federal budget—bore the brunt of Humphrey’s anti-spending campaign, while struggling to master his brief and control the restive military bureaucracy. The frugality of the Humphrey-Wilson years manifested in an unambitious domestic agenda and a military that seemed to lag behind the Soviets in key areas, leading to disastrous Republican losses in the elections of 1958 and 1960.

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Newly Published: Elbridge Durbrow’s War in Vietnam

New on our bookshelf:

Elbridge Durbrow’s War in Vietnam: The Ambassador’s Influence on American Involvement, 1957–1961
Ronald Bruce Frankum, Jr.

Elbridge Durbrow served as the third United States ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam from 1957 to 1961. His relationships with Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm and members of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Saigon helped to shape his tenure in office, which ultimately concluded with his decision to end his support for the Vietnamese leader as well as turn away from the American military representatives who had earned Ngô Đình Diệm’s trust.

This triangular relationship was mired in clashes of ego and personality that often interfered with the American decision making process. Durbrow and his embassy staff, rather than work with the Vietnamese leadership, chose to focus on the negative and reported to Washington only those items that reinforced this perspective. They created an atmosphere of distrust and anxiety that neither the Americans nor Vietnamese could overcome in the 1960s and helped to create the conditions for greater United States involvement in Southeast Asia.

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Newly Published: How the Left and Right Think

New on our bookshelf:

How the Left and Right Think: The Roots of Division in American Politics
Bill Meulemans

Emerson said of the left and right, “Each is a good half, but an impossible whole.” In public affairs, the left traditionally pushes for political, economic and social progress, while the right steers towards individual opportunity, stability, tradition and the maintenance of gains already made. Their disagreement is the basis of most of our political discourse.

Drawing on four decades of field research on partisan conflicts in the U.S., Northern Ireland and Israel, the author provides a clear, concise explanation of how the left and right think and why their respective philosophies reflect competing views of human nature.

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Four New Titles Reviewed in September Issue of Choice

Snakes in American Culture: A Hisstory
“This book offers a valuable perspective on snakes that would be a welcome addition to any library collection. Excellent references and the careful consideration of historical topics are of particular merit…recommended.”

The Body, the Dance and the Text: Essays on Performance and the Margins of History
“An informative collection that can be used in composition, criticism and aesthetics, and pedagogy courses…recommended.”

Bobby Maduro and the Cuban Sugar Kings
“Relying on contemporary newspaper accounts, baseball archives, and interviews with surviving players and members of the Maduro family, this book is both thoroughly researched and engaging…recommended.”

Professionalizing Medicine: James Reeves and the Choices That Shaped American Health Care
“This well-researched biography makes a positive contribution to the history of medicine…offers inspiration for today’s medical professionals confronting problems in health care by affirming that moral decisions should determine the path of the politics, economics, and science that may drive modern health care…recommended.”

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Newly Published: South Africa’s High Treason Club

New on our bookshelf:

South Africa’s High Treason Club: The White Separatist Boeremag Conspirators on Trial
Karin Mitchell

In the early 2000s, a few years after becoming a democracy, South Africa saw the rise of a white separatist militia known as the Boeremag. Convinced that their existence was under threat, they devised a coup and planted bombs across the country while evading the authorities. This book chronicles the longest running criminal trial in South African history, piecing together court transcripts and interviews through in-depth journalism to explore the dynamics and ideals at the source of the movement and the coup. A firsthand look is offered at the dark consequences of nationalism and populism.

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Newly Published: Presidents by Fate

New on our bookshelf:

Presidents by Fate: Nine Who Ascended through Death or Resignation
F. Martin Harmon

Throughout the history of the United States, only nine men were elevated to the White House by the death or failure of a sitting president, and their legacies are as mixed as their circumstances. This book evaluates the similarities and distinct differences of these men, their varying degrees of ambition and readiness, and how each handled their suddenly enormous duties. Some became presidential legends, while others are counted among the worst. Their shared stories shed light on America’s political development during the last two centuries.

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Newly Published: Civil War Taxes

New on our bookshelf:

Civil War Taxes: A Documentary History, 1861–1900
John Martin Davis, Jr.

During the Civil War, both the North and South were challenged by fiscal and monetary needs, but physical differences such as gold reserves, industrialization and the blockade largely predicted the war’s outcome from the onset. To raise revenue for the war effort, every possible person, business, activity and property was assessed, but projections and collections were seldom up to expectations, and waste, fraud and ineffectiveness in the administration of the tax systems plagued both sides. This economic history uses forensic examination of actual documents to discover the various taxes that developed from the Civil War, including the direct and poll taxes, which were dropped; the income tax, which stands today; and the war tax, which was effective for only a short time.

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Newly Published: Coins and Currency

New on our bookshelf:

Coins and Currency: An Historical Encyclopedia, 2d ed.
Mary Ellen Snodgrass

During ancient times currency took varied forms, including beaver skins, bales of tobacco, and sea salt blocks. As art and technology advanced, monetary systems and currencies altered. Today, coins and currency provide an historical and archeological record of culture, religion, politics, and world leaders.

This updated second edition offers numerous entries of historical commentary on the role of coins and currency in human events, politics, and the arts. It begins with the origin of coins in ancient Sumer, and follows advancements in metallurgy and minting machines to paper, plastic, and electronic moneys designed to ease trade and halt counterfeiting and other forms of theft. A timeline of monetary history is provided along with a glossary and bibliography. Numerous photographs of coins and bills provide an up-close look at beautiful and ingenious artifacts.

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Plants Go to War Reviewed in Booklist

Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II
Judith Sumner

“In this impressively researched exploration, esteemed ethnobotanist Sumner takes a scholarly yet totally accessible approach to the myriad ways plant materials were critical to both Allied and Axis war efforts. With balanced attention to domestic sacrifices and ingenuity, Sumner’s astonishing discoveries make this a fascinating read for botany buffs and those steeped in military history.”—Booklist

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Newly Published: Navigating the C-124 Globemaster

New on our bookshelf:

Navigating the C-124 Globemaster: In the Cockpit of America’s First Strategic Heavy-Lift Aircraft
Billy D. Higgins

The C-124 Globemaster—a U.S. military heavy-lift transport in service 1950 through 1974—barreling down a runway was an awesome sight. The aircraft’s four 3800 hp piston engines (the largest ever mass-produced), mounted on its 174-foot wingspan, could carry a 69,000-pound payload of tanks, artillery or other cargo, or 200 fully equipped troops, at more than 300 mph.

The flight crew, perched three stories above the landing gears in an unpressurized cockpit, relied, like Magellan, on celestial fixes to navigate over oceans. With a world-wide mission delivering troops and materials to such destinations as the Congo, Vietnam, Thule, Greenland and Antarctica, the Globemaster lived up to its name and was foundational to what Time magazine publisher Henry Luce termed the “American Century.”

Drawing on archives, Air Force bases, libraries and accident sites, and his own recollections as a navigator, the author details Cold War confrontations and consequent strategies that emerged after Douglas Aircraft Company delivered the first C-124A to the Military Air Transport Service in 1949.

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Newly Published: A U.S. Army Medical Base in World War I France

New on our bookshelf:

A U.S. Army Medical Base in World War I France: Life and Care at Bazoilles Hospital Center, 1918–1919
Peter Wever

Nothing in the small village of Bazoilles-sur-Meuse in the northeast of France bears witness today to the 13,000–bed Bazoilles Hospital Center located there during World War I. Yet in 1918–1919 more than 63,000 American soldiers received treatment there—three out of every 100 U.S. servicemen and women who served in Europe.

This richly illustrated history describes daily life and medical care at Bazoilles, providing a vivid picture of the conditions for both patients and personnel, along with stories of those who worked there, and those who were treated or died there.

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Newly Published: Pinkertons, Prostitutes and Spies

New on our bookshelf:

Pinkertons, Prostitutes and Spies: The Civil War Adventures of Secret Agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton
John Stewart

Hattie Lawton was a young Pinkerton detective who with her partner, Timothy Webster, spied for the U.S. Secret Service during the Civil War. Working in Richmond, the two posed as husband and wife. A dazzling blonde from New York and a handsome Englishman, both with checkered pasts, they were matched in charm, cunning, duplicity and boldness. Betrayed by their own spymaster, Allan Pinkerton, they fell into the hands of the dictator of Richmond, the notorious General John H. “Hog” Winder.

This lively history, scrupulously researched from all available sources, corrects the record on many points and definitively answers the long-standing question of Hattie Lawton’s true identity.

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Newly Published: Nittany Nightmare

New on our bookshelf:

Nittany Nightmare: The Sex Murders of 1938–1940 and the Panic at Penn State
Derek J. Sherwood

As the Great Depression hit, Penn State College was cash-strapped and dilapidated. Cuts to athletic scholarships left the football program a shambles and the school a last resort for many students. In 1937, underfunded state police, fighting a losing battle against striking miners and steel workers in Johnstown, called in the National Guard.

There were not enough police to cover the state, and it showed. Then someone started killing young women in the area. Between November 1938 and May 1940, Rachel Taylor, Margaret Martin and Faye Gates were abducted and sexually assaulted, their bodies dumped within 50 miles of the college.

As the school grew into Pennsylvania State University and the Nittany Lions became a world-class team, two demoralized police agencies were merged, forming the precursor of the Pennsylvania State Police. Gates’s murderer was captured and convicted. The killer(s) of Taylor and Martin, however, have gone unidentified to this day.

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Newly Published: Madeleine Smith on Trial

New on our bookshelf:

Madeleine Smith on Trial: A Glasgow Murder and the Young Woman Too Respectable to Convict
Brian Jenkins

In 1855, Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith began a flirtation with Pierre L’Angelier, a handsome clerk—for her a mere diversion. But L’Angelier sought social mobility. Their class disparity gave her control of the intrigue but when the relationship turned sexual, the power imbalance shifted. The Scots recognized irregular unions in certain cases. L’Angelier considered Smith his wife, a part she at first discreetly played. When he refused to step aside and allow her a more socially acceptable marriage, his removal became necessary. Smith’s sensational murder trial captivated both Britain and America. Despite compelling evidence of guilt, various factors led to her acquittal—her class and gender, the peculiarities of Scottish law—and many believed the case went to trial only because the Crown feared blatant confirmation that justice was not blind.

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Newly Published: The Traveling Chautauqua

New on our bookshelf:

The Traveling Chautauqua: Caravans of Culture in Early 20th Century America
Roger E. Barrows

Before radio and sound movies, early 20th century performers and lecturers traveled the nation providing entertainment and education to Americans thirsty for culture. These “chautauquas” brought politicians, activists, scholars, musical ensembles and theatrical productions to remote communities. A conduit for global perspectives and progressive ideas, these gatherings introduced issues like equal suffrage, prohibition and pure food laws to rural America.

This book explores an overlooked yet influential movement in U.S. history, capturing the vagaries of speakers’ and performers’ lives on the road and their reception by audiences. Excerpts from lectures and plays portray a vibrant circuit that in a single summer drew 20 million in more than 9,000 towns.

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Newly Published: Trail of Shadows

New on our bookshelf:

Trail of Shadows: The Unsolved Murders of Prohibition Agents Dale Kearney and Ray Sutton
Chuck Hornung and B. Lee Charlton

In the Summer of 1930, two federal prohibition agents were murdered. The first died in a hail of buckshot on a dark street in Aguilar, Colorado. Six weeks later, the second agent and his vehicle disappeared on a sunny afternoon along a New Mexico state highway south of Raton. These events occurred during the era when the government legislated a ban on alcohol manufacture, distribution, and sales within the United States. During their 50-year search, the authors sought answers to why no one was ever prosecuted for these crimes. This is the first book to correlate the two murders, identify how and why they occurred, name the parties involved and the roles they played. The authors interviewed many individuals associated with the events and discovered a trove of National Archives files containing incident reports, suspect interview notes, the dead agents’ daily activity logs and their personnel files. Building upon this base, they located the remaining documents generated by state and local law enforcement officers and additionally data mined private and public contemporary newspaper collections. The shadows along the trail lift as the light of truth is shown upon this mystery. Two federal agents can now rest in peace.

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Newly Published: Plants Go to War

New on our bookshelf:

Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II
Judith Sumner

As the first botanical history of World War II, Plants Go to War examines military history from the perspective of plant science. From victory gardens to drugs, timber, rubber, and fibers, plants supplied materials with key roles in victory. Vegetables provided the wartime diet both in North America and Europe, where vitamin-rich carrots, cabbages, and potatoes nourished millions. Chicle and cacao provided the chewing gum and chocolate bars in military rations. In England and Germany, herbs replaced pharmaceutical drugs; feverbark was in demand to treat malaria, and penicillin culture used a growth medium made from corn. Rubber was needed for gas masks and barrage balloons, while cotton and hemp provided clothing, canvas, and rope. Timber was used to manufacture Mosquito bombers, and wood gasification and coal replaced petroleum in European vehicles. Lebensraum, the Nazi desire for agricultural land, drove Germans eastward; troops weaponized conifers with shell bursts that caused splintering. Ironically, the Nazis condemned non-native plants, but adopted useful Asian soybeans and Mediterranean herbs. Jungle warfare and camouflage required botanical knowledge, and survival manuals detailed edible plants on Pacific islands. Botanical gardens relocated valuable specimens to safe areas, and while remote locations provided opportunities for field botany, Trees surviving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki live as a symbol of rebirth after vast destruction.

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Newly Published: Words of a Monster

New on our bookshelf:

Words of a Monster: Analyzing the Writings of H.H. Holmes, America’s First Serial Killer
Rebecca Frost

Decades before the coining of the term “serial killer,” H.H. Holmes murdered dozens of people in his now-infamous Chicago “Murder Castle.” In his own autobiography, Holmes struggled to define himself in the language of the late nineteenth century. As the “first”—or, as he labeled himself, “The Greatest Criminal of the Age”—he had no one to compare himself to, and no ready-made biographical structure to follow. Holmes was thus nearly able to invent himself from scratch. This book uses Holmes’ writings and confessions to inspect how the Arch Fiend represented himself. Although the legitimacy of Holmes’ personal accounts have been called into question, his biography mirrors the narrative structure of the true crime genre that emerged decades after his death.

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McFarland 40th Anniversary Sale

We’re turning 40, and we’re celebrating with a special fortieth anniversary sale! Through June 30, get a 25% discount on ALL books when you use the code ANN2019. And if you’ll be in our area (Ashe County, North Carolina, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains), we’d love to see you at our open house event on Friday, June 14. Thank you for supporting our first 40 years—we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you.

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Newly Published: Vietnam Veterans Unbroken

New on our bookshelf:

Vietnam Veterans Unbroken: Conversations on Trauma and Resiliency
Jacqueline Murray Loring

For 50 years, civilians have avoided hearing about the controversial experiences of Vietnam veterans, many of whom suffer through post-traumatic stress alone. Through interviews conducted with 17 soldiers, this book shares the stories of those who have been silenced. These men and women tell us about life before and after the war. They candidly share stories of 40–plus years lived on the “edge of the knife” and many wonder what their lives would be like if they had come home to praise and parades. They offer their tragedies and successes to newer veterans as choices to be made or rejected.

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McFarland Turns 40

On June 14, 2019, McFarland will celebrate its fortieth anniversary with an open house party. From noon to five, our campus at 960 Hwy 88 W, Jefferson, NC will be open to the public with finger food, conversation and tours available, and many of our authors will be in attendance. To stay up-t0-date with event information, follow our event page. Below is a brief company history, with personal thoughts, by founder and editor-in-chief Robert Franklin.

McFarland Publishers Now Forty Years Old
by Robert Franklin

McFarland’s history (founder, Robbie Franklin, me): My close friends Biff and Alicia Stickel were burned out special ed teachers in Connecticut, early 70’s.  What to do?  Back to the land!  They (and their little daughter Maranatha Shone Stickel) drove south till they loved the vibe and the scenery and wound up living on Peak Road from 1972 through part of 1978 (and birthing Micah Stickel).  Alicia played piano at the local Baptist church and they were cofounders of the Creston Co-op.  I visited them in ’72 (instantly fell for the land and people, the forefinger car salute, the almost drinkable river) and again every year after, and when wife Cheryl Roberts came into my life in 1975, we visited.  Soon I was bragging about Ashe County to everybody – “If your car breaks down, the very next person to come along will stop and ask if you need help.”  I hope a few readers can recognize the Stickels’ name (he goes by Richard now; they live in Toronto).  They are the reason McFarland was begun in Ashe County.  We present band of publishers, about fifty in number, owe them great honor.

I did not learn till after we moved here in 1979 that my Revolutionary War ancestor Lieutenant Robert McFarland, after whupping the king at Kings Mountain, lived up here in the 1790s.  He then went overmountain to become the first ever sheriff of Greene/Washington County, Tennessee.  (I was born in Memphis.)

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers is our official name.  Founded in April 1979 right here.  I had been the executive editor of a smallish scholarly publisher in New Jersey; my mentor/boss/friend Eric Moon (a charismatic Brit) knew before I did it was time for me to go off on “my own” (very misleading words!).  The local Ashe County newspaper was failing by 1978 and at first I thought, o.k., I’m an editor type, maybe I can start up a new one.  Between summer and Christmas the local fellow David Desautels decided the same thing and very successfully started The Jefferson Times.  We became friends and McFarland’s earliest two or three books (including a biography of Soviet leader Brezhnev) were typeset using off-hours time on that new newspaper’s equipment.  Katy Zell Taylor was our first fulltime employee (Ashe Central H.S. yearbook editor!) and did a lot of typesetting and correcting.  Dental Care in Society was our first published book, in 1980 (ask me some day).

After deciding up in New Jersey to stay with book (versus newspaper) publishing, I phoned the Jefferson Post Office in February 1979 to set up a box number mailing address – they said people had to apply in person.  Whew!  So I flew from Newark to Tri-Cities, Tennessee (what did I know?), rented a car, drove to Jefferson (hours!), filled out a form, got back in the car, drove back to Tri-Cities, and got back home not long before day was done.

A couple of months later, on April 1, 1979, Cheryl and I packed our former life stuff (including hundreds of books—heavy!) in a small U-Haul, attached it to our VW bug, and  began to drive south, the Stickels’ Ashe County on our minds.

My ninth-grade homeroom friend (Toledo, Ohio), Mike Strand, had helped with some financial and emotional support and we stopped at his place in Maryland overnight.  Armed with an Ashe return address, I had written several hundred letters (yes!) on a yellow pad on my knees in the front seat while Cheryl drove, and Mike arranged for a nearby university used-to-weird-hours thesis typist to type them all overnight; we mailed them April 2 and drove on.  We were headed to my parents’ (retired librarians) house in Charlottesville, with me again writing several hundred short letters on my lap. We had arranged for a similar heroic overnight typing fest (the two days: 905 letters to all the authors I had addresses for, saying my former employer will take good care of you, they’re wonderful publishers—But if by any chance they turn you down for something, give us a shot!).

The U-Haul was too much for the Bug and our left rear wheel came OFF 20 miles north of Charlottesville—but stayed in the wheel well (having nowhere else to go), behaving violently.  Definitely exciting (it was my stint at the wheel).  We lost two or three days; I split logs for my parents’ fireplace.

In Ashe County finally, we scooped up some reply mail from authors.  Already!  And we soon secured a sweet farmhouse in Dillard Holler (landlord Jesse Dillard; Mom-figure Clyde Dillard; horse-plus-himself quarter-acre-garden plower Jones Dillard).  The Dillard families taught us a great deal about what being “conservative” actually means.  (One day Jesse turned up with several hundred fence rails he stored near “our” (his) house; no immediate need, but “I got ’em for 25¢ each.”  They stayed stacked for years…)  The birth of our sons Charles (in ’81), Nicholas (’85) and William (’89) certainly emphasized the Dillards’ lessons.  (Jesse routinely tossed hay bales up into pickup trucks in his 80’s.  Lemme be him!)

McFarland itself started out next to the H & R Block office, near the florist, in Jefferson, a small space but enough for our first couple of years.  The Jefferson Post Office turned out, under our loyal friend Charles Caudill, to be one of our greatest early assets.  He was so supportive as McF struggled through ignorance of mass mailings, foreign registered packages (we learned together!), “library rate” book mailings, etc.  McFarland moved in 1981 or ’82 to the Mountain View shopping center between the towns and quickly expanded there.  In 1982 we lucked out by having Rhonda Herman agree to join the tiny staff, doing all the “business” stuff while I coddled authors, edited manuscripts and coached the typesetters.  High school senior Cynthia Campbell became a stalwart and sixteen year old Cherie Scott was a wow of a typesetter, along with Katy Taylor, on our new typesetting equipment.  Within three years we were producing 40 or so new books a year (in 2018 the total was nearly 400).

Meanwhile, the people of Ashe County all around us showed interest, great surprise (“A Publisher in Ashe County?” read one huge Jefferson Times headline), and affection.  Highly significant was Hal Colvard, repeatedly trusting us, at Northwestern bank, another wonderful early friend of McFar.  We warmly greeted each other on Saturday mornings at the post office for many years after he retired.

By 1984 we’d moved to our present location, which became five buildings on both sides of the road.  We’re technically inside Jefferson town limits.  We took Mackey McDonald’s trim brick ranch house, whacked walls left and right, pushed out here, there… Years later we added a second floor – my joke is, the main building now has more roof lines than an Italian hill village.

We are, or were, a library-oriented scholarly and reference book publisher.  (We’ve grown much more into a straight-to-people operation today but libraries are still a critical component of our efforts.)  Two of our earliest works were Library Display Ideas by my sister Linda Franklin and Free Magazines for Libraries, by Adeline Mercer Smith: they were terrific sales successes.  Another 1982 biggie was Anabolic Steroids and the Athlete by William M. Taylor, M.D.  We hit that topic just as it exploded nationwide.  One of the most memorable early works was Keep Watching the Skies! by Bill Warren (1982).  This huge book expertly, humorously covers in amazing depth every American science fiction movie of the 1950s and a lot of Hollywood Big Names spoke highly of it in print.  We were famous!  (Well, the author was…)

McFarland was an early strong supporter of the local arts scene.  (There are hundreds of paintings hanging in four of our buildings.)  Cheryl Roberts and I founded the publication ARTS/DATES for the Arts Council in 1980 or 1981, and for more than a decade paid all its expenses as it grew grander and ever more useful.  Loyal Jane Lonon (Arts Council head) wangled twice for us an N.C. Governor’s Business Award for the Arts and Humanities (go to Raleigh; shake hands; pose for photos; eat dinner).

I joined the strong, active Ashe County Little Theatre and played Dracula for them in 1981, sporting fangs crafted by the late Brett Summey, who became a good friend, now truly missed.  Jane Lonon and I wowed the crowd in The King and I and Tom Fowler and I rolled them in the aisles in Greater Tuna.  When I played Macbeth, the high school English teacher promised extra credit to student attendees.

McFarland’s output grew rapidly—by the 1990s we were producing hundreds of new titles each year and our staff had doubled, then tripled in size.  Margie Turnmire had arrived in the mid–’80s, a beautiful soul and a very smart lady:  director of finance and administration.  In 1995 the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce honored us with a Business of the Year award (I believe we were the third such) and in 1998 The Wall Street Journal ran a feature article on us, showing that we are a bit unusual in our range of offerings.  We have a commanding position in, for example, Vietnam combat memoirs, chess history, baseball (teams, eras, bios), automotive history and popular culture (film, TV, comics, literature…).  We’ve done many reference books (though with Wiki-Google etc. now such works are uneconomical to produce); a Library Journal book of the year was local John Stewart’s African States and Rulers in 1989.  Lots of Civil War, World War II, American/European/World history, literary criticism.  Authors from all over the world.  That part’s fun!  As I write this we have published 7,800 titles.

We had busted out of our onsite warehouse and used the old Ashe County Jail on Buffalo Road for several years in the 80s!  Ultimately we had to move our shipping operation into the building next to the Arts Council owned by Jim Reeves.  On its outer wall facing the Arts Center we had Jack Young do the town’s first mural (now painted over):  “Ashe County through the Ages.”  Finally, Mike Herman built us an entirely new warehouse across the road from our main building in about 1990.  Fourteen years later, then-vice-president Rhonda Herman (now president) moved the company onto firmer financial footing by arranging to install state-of-the-art printing equipment in that warehouse (we’d always used out-of-house printing firms).

Cheryl and I love Ashe County.  We love the people.  We love the trees, the river.  (We came in first in the Mixed Expert class canoe race four or five years ago!)  I even like the curves driving 23 miles to and fro our home to work (we live practically on the Tennessee line, up in the Flatwoods).  The finger salute still works and the tire zing helps me think through business challenges.  Our three boys, Charles, Nicky and William, also revere their place of birth.  McFarland has about 50 employees, all of whom are exceptionally talented.  When I got here to start the company, I truly had my pick of some of the best talent available anywhere, and I mean Anywhere.  Our typesetters know every Hungarian or Swedish accent mark there is!

The local merchants have become business partners.  Local artists have paintings hanging in our offices.  The restaurants are great for business lunches.  The weather—sublime (I learned to fell trees and the art of minimizing the lifting and stacking of logs our first year here); I like winter!  Mike Herman built our house and the numerous renovations of our current space—impossible to imagine a better job.  Stan Barker did some fabulous stone walls at our home.  I feel both cozy and exhilarated just getting up in the morning!  Ashe County, we’re for you!

McFarland is having an open house (snacks, drinks, tours) starting at noon on Friday, June 14th.  We want to show our thanks to a community that has nurtured us for 40 years.  Come one, come all!

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Author Charles “Jerry” Juroe Receives France’s Legion of Honor

Charles “Jerry” Juroe, who ran publicity on 14 James Bond movies, starting with Dr. No in 1962, will be awarded France’s prestigious Legion of Honor award for excellence in military conduct on June 6th, 2019 during D-Day Celebrations in Normandy.  Juroe, 96, was part of the historic invasion on June 6th, 1944.  After his WWII service, Juroe had a long career in the film industry, starting out as a publicist for Paramount Pictures, then serving as the personal publicist for stars like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Marilyn Monroe when she was filming The Prince And The Showgirl in England.  Jerry was based in Europe for many years, working for every major studio. He worked with The Beatles on their UA movies, A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, but is best known for his association with the Bond films and his fruitful working relationship with legendary producer, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. In 2018, he published his memoir, Bond, the Beatles and My Year with Marilyn: 50 Years as a Movie Marketing Man.

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Newly Published: The Star Gate Archives

New on our bookshelf:

The Star Gate Archives: Reports of the United States Government Sponsored Psi Program, 1972–1995. Volume 4: Operational Remote Viewing: Memorandums and Reports
Compiled and Edited by Edwin C. May and Sonali Bhatt Marwaha

During the Cold War, the U.S. government began testing paranormal claims under laboratory conditions in hopes of realizing intelligence applications for psychic phenomena. Thus began the project known as Star Gate––the largest in the history of parapsychological research, it received more than $20 million in funding and continued into the mid–1990s. This project archive includes all available documents generated by research contractor SRI International, and those provided by government officials.

Volume 4 focuses on selections from a vast body of U.S. Government documents that present a multifaceted view of its support of Star Gate. These materials show that the project was briefed to the President, Vice President, agency directors and Secretaries of the Armed Services, and other senior officials. The fact that the program ran for so many years, and that there were many returning end users, is offered as evidence of the utility of psi, and hence of its very existence.

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Newly Published: Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Blackface in American Culture

New on our bookshelf:

Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Blackface in American Culture
Elizabeth L. Sanderson

Spike Lee’s challenging film Bamboozled (2000) is often read as a surface level satire of blackface minstrelsy. Careful analysis, however, gives way to a complex and nuanced study of the history of black performance. This book analyzes the work of five men, minstrel performer Bert Williams, director Oscar Micheaux, writer Ralph Ellison, painter Michael Ray Charles, and director Spike Lee, all through the lens of this misunderstood film. Equal parts biography and cultural analysis, this book examines the intersections of these five artists and Bamboozled, and investigates their shared legacy of resistance against misrepresentation.

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Newly Published: Opdycke’s Tigers in the Civil War

New on our bookshelf:

Opdycke’s Tigers in the Civil War: A History of the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Thomas Crowl

Organized in the fall of 1862, the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was commanded by the aggressive and ambitious Colonel Emerson Opdycke, a citizen-soldier with no military experience who rose to brevet major general.

Part of the Army of the Cumberland, the 125th first saw combat at Chickamauga. Charging into Dyer’s cornfield to blunt a rebel breakthrough, the Buckeyes pressed forward and, despite heavy casualties, drove the enemy back, buying time for the fractured Union army to rally. Impressed by the heroic charge of an untested regiment, Union General Thomas Wood labeled them “Opdycke’s Tigers.”

After losing a third of their men at Chickamauga, the 125th fought engagements across Tennessee and Georgia during 1864, and took part in the decisive battles at Franklin and Nashville.
Drawing on both primary sources and recent scholarship, this is the first full-length history of the regiment in more than 120 years.

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Newly Published: Folk Music and the New Left in the Sixties

New on our bookshelf:

Folk Music and the New Left in the Sixties
Michael Scott Cain

Artists have often provided the earliest demonstrations of conscience and ethical examination in response to political events. The political shifts that took place in the 1960s were addressed by a revival of folk music as an expression of protest, hope and the courage to imagine a better world. This work explores the relationship between the cultural and political ideologies of the 1960s and the growing folk music movement, with a focus on musicians Phil Oaks; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul and Mary; Carolyn Hester and Bob Dylan.

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Newly Published: To Deprave and Corrupt

New on our bookshelf:

To Deprave and Corrupt: Obscenity Battles in British Law and Culture
Catherine Scott

Thousands have run afoul of Britain’s Obscene Publications Act—from Victorian erotica presses to 21st-century dominatrices. At a time when the internet has made sexually explicit material ubiquitous, why are British traditional media still regulated by a vaguely worded law from 1857?

This comprehensive analysis of obscenity in British culture explores what is considered obscene, who gets to decide, and how class, race and gender inform laws regarding adult content. The author describes how obscenity laws disproportionately affect the BDSM subculture, the LGBT community and feminist porn performers.

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Newly Published: Democratic Repairman

New on our bookshelf:

Democratic Repairman: The Political Life of J. Howard McGrath
Debra A. Mulligan

As governor of Rhode Island, J. Howard McGrath oversaw the passage of social legislation aimed at improving the lives of his constituents during the dark days of World War II. As a Rhode Island senator he served as the Democratic National Committee Chairman during the contentious 1948 presidential election, when few believed Harry Truman could defeat New York governor Thomas R. Dewey.

Following Truman’s victory, McGrath could easily have written his own ticket to further political success—but his career was cut short in 1952 when he was forced to resign as Attorney General amid a cloud of scandal. This biography traces the rise and fall of a politician who achieved notable success yet ultimately fell victim to his appetite for power, fame and fortune.

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Newly Published: Peanuts and American Culture

New on our bookshelf:

Peanuts and American Culture: Essays on Charles M. Schulz’s Iconic Comic Strip
Peter W.Y. Lee

Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz insisted good ol’ Charlie Brown and his friends were neither “great art” nor “significant.” Yet Schulz’s acclaimed daily comic strip—syndicated in thousands of newspapers over five decades—brilliantly mirrored tensions in American society during the second half of the 20th century.

Focusing on the strip’s Cold War roots, this collection of new essays explores existentialism, the reshaping of the nuclear family, the Civil Rights Movement, 1960s counterculture, feminism, psychiatry and fear of the bomb. Chapters focus on the development of Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, Franklin, Shermy, Snoopy and the other characters that became American icons.

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Newly Published: Marie Marvingt, Fiancée of Danger

New on our bookshelf:

Marie Marvingt, Fiancée of Danger: First Female Bomber Pilot, World-Class Athlete and Inventor of the Air Ambulance
Rosalie Maggio

Marie Marvingt (1875–1973) set the world’s first women’s aviation records, won the only gold medal for outstanding performance in all sports, invented the airplane ambulance, was the first female bomber pilot in history, fought in World War I disguised as a man, took part in the Resistance of World War II, was the first to survive crossing the English Channel in a balloon, worked all her life as a journalist, spent years in North Africa and invented metal skis. Her life story was so unusually rich in exploits and accomplishments that some dismissed it as a hoax.

This biography explores the life of “the most incredible woman since Joan of Arc” and investigates the reasons she has been forgotten. Known as the “fiancée of danger,” she was the model for the silent film series The Perils of Pauline.

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Newly Published: A True Child of Papua New Guinea

New on our bookshelf:

A True Child of Papua New Guinea: Memoir of a Life In Two Worlds
Maggie Wilson

Maggie Wilson was born in the highlands of Papua New Guinea to Melka Amp Jara, a woman of the highlands, and Patrick Leahy, brother of Australian explorers Michael and Daniel Leahy, who were among the first Australian explorers to encounter people in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, during an expedition in search for gold. Maggie’s life serves as a window into the complex social and cultural transformations experienced during the early years of the Australian administration in Papua New Guinea and the first three decades after independence. This ethnography—started as an autobiography and completed by Rosita Henry after Maggie’s death in 2009—tells Maggie’s story and the stories of those whose lives she touched. Their recollections of Maggie Wilson offer insights into life in Papua New Guinea today.