Duke University Press Log

Helen Levitt, 1913-2009

Duke University Press was saddened to learn of the recent death of the important 20th century photographer, Helen Levitt. Levitt passed away Sunday, March 29th at the age of 95. During her lifetime, Duke Press was fortunate enough to publish two of her photography books, A Way of Seeing and In the Street: Chalk Drawings and Messages, New York City, 1938-1948. More information about the life and work of Helen Levitt can be found here.

What Makes Wall Street Tick? Podcast with Karen Ho

Want to know more about how Wall Street culture contributed to the economic downturn? Check out this University of Minnesota podcast with Karen Ho, author of the forthcoming book Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street. Ho worked on Wall Street herself and conducted dozens of interviews with traders and other workers. The book will be available in August 2009.

John Hope Franklin, 1915-2009

Duke University Press joins the rest of the Duke community in mourning the death of John Hope Franklin. Among his many fine works of scholarship, Franklin published George Washington Williams: A Biography. Duke Press has also been a beneficiary of the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, which regularly supports our books and authors.

Editor of MLQ Quoted in Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Chronicle of Higher Education quotes Marshall Brown, editor of Modern Language Quarterly, in an article about the identity crisis facing humanities journals. Reporter Jennifer Howard writes that journal editors are wrestling with the challenges of adapting to new technologies as well as to a perceived drop in submissions from senior scholars. Brown says "he relies on special issues and networking to keep a good number of senior scholars in the contributor mix. That is a particular challenge for a journal like his, which lacks a focus on one author or period that would make it the obvious place for certain A-listers to publish. 'We compensate because we do some of the commissioning,' he said. 'We publish a higher percentage of senior scholars than show up in our submissions.'"

Jakobsen and Pellegrini on KPFA's Against the Grain

Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini, editors of Secularisms, were interviewed on KPFA (Pacifica) Radio in Berkeley, CA. The interview aired on Monday, March 23rd at noon, Pacific Time, on 94.1 FM in the Bay Area. The broadcast is available worldwide here, and archives of the show can be found at againstthegrain.org.

Duke's Steinle Quoted in Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Jennifer Howard writes about publishers facing pressure from libraries to freeze prices on journals and online packages. Our own Library Relations Manager, Kim Steinle, is quoted, saying that many libraries are asking for better deals on our content, but "our first take is to stick by the fact that our prices are already reasonable," she says. Duke Press is also mentioned in an Inside Higher Ed article today about the woes of the printed monograph. Scott Jaschik reports that University of Michigan Press plans to publish future monographs digitally rather than in print form. Our own e-Duke Books project is mentioned as an alternative model, in which digital content is meant to complement the printed book rather than replace it.

How to Be French Reviewed in NYRB

Patrick Weil's How to Be French is reviewed in the New York Review of Books (link available to subscribers only). Reviewer Robert O. Paxton writes: "Weil takes the reader authoritatively through the major turning points in French nationality law." He continues, "Weil declines to draw sweeping conclusions about national political culture from these two definitions of nationality. He demonstrates convincingly that no necessary link connects jus soli with open societies and jus sanguinis with racist and exclusionary ones, as has been maintained by some scholars." Paxton also says, "Weil punctures myths with relish, and one of them is the reputed universalism and openness of French nationality law. He notes that even in periods of openness, it excluded some categories of persons."

Don't Forget your Reader on Your Trip to Costa Rica

Planning a trip to Costa Rica after perusing today's New York Times Travel section? Don't forget to pack a copy of The Costa Rica Reader. Edited by Steven Palmer and Iván Molina, The Costa Rica Reader is the essential introduction to the history, culture, and politics of the popular Latin American tourist destination. The Tico Times called it "a poignant resource for anyone with an eye on the country, whether traveler, grizzled Costa Rica oldtimer, flash-in-the-pan tourist, historian, or Costa Rican national."

Marcyliena Morgan Quoted in New York Times

Marcyliena Morgan, author of The Real Hiphop (forthcoming next month), is quoted in a New York Times article about dating violence among teenagers. Morgan says she is not surprised that both boys and girls are trying to justify the behavior of performer Chris Brown (accused of beating up his girlfriend, singer Rihanna). Writes reporter Jan Hoffman: "The girls’ willingness to minimize Mr. Brown’s alleged behavior also reflects a learned social signal, said Professor Morgan, who teaches African-American studies at Harvard. They’ve been taught, she said, 'What really matters is that we don’t destroy boys.' Teenage girls think that if they speak out against an abuser, the boy’s future will be shattered, she said. 'We have to appreciate that this is not simple for them.'"

Halberstam in O Magazine

One of our favorite academic butches, Judith Halberstam, is featured in April's O Magazine's article "She's so Fine!" The piece discusses women who have identified as heterosexual but then fall for another woman. Halberstam's partner, Macarena Gomez-Barris, was married to a man for twelve years before getting together with Halberstam.  In the piece, Halberstam describes never quite fitting in as a child: "'Throughout my youth," she says, 'I felt rage at the shrinking of my world.' Halberstam channeled her anger into a distinguished academic career and authored several provocative books, including, in 1998, Female Masculinity. It was during the past few years that she started calling herself Jack and answering to both 'he' and 'she.'"