Essay Keep cool and keep writing June 21, 2020 Editors, amongst many other tasks, are daily faced with the challenge of persuading or pressuring authors to write or finish books. When COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders went into effect and I found myself, in addition to being an editor, also suddenly a home-schooling teacher, little did I know that those skills might be transferable. Read More
Essay By Design | The 2020 AUPresses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show June 18, 2020 A book鈥檚 design communicates to readers before the book even has a chance to. It tells us something essential. The most successful book design goes a step further: it compels us to hold the book in our hands for a little while, turn it over, leaf through it, and admire its form. Read More
Essay Masada: A heroic last stand against Rome June 17, 2020 Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children reportedly chose to take their own lives rather than suffer enslavement or death at the hands of the Roman army. Read More
Essay Do we have the government we need for the problem of the century? June 16, 2020 Orlando might be America鈥檚 tourist epicenter, and it鈥檚 working mightily to reopen. But it鈥檚 one thing to open the doors. It鈥檚 quite another to convince people to travel and walk through. Read More
Essay Recording audiobooks under lockdown June 11, 2020 When lockdown began to take effect in March 2020, publishers and authors across the world had to make rapid adjustments to our plans for our books, not only to keep publishing, but also to keep our colleagues and partners safe and healthy. Read More
Essay Why is Einstein still so alive? June 10, 2020 In the title of his keynote address at a conference to investigate Einstein鈥檚 impact on science, culture, and the public-political discourse at the dawn of the twenty-first century, Gerald Holton, a pioneer of Einstein scholarship in the historical and philosophical context, asked why Einstein is still so alive. Read More
Interview Eric H. Cline on Digging Up Armageddon June 09, 2020 In 1925, James Henry Breasted, famed Egyptologist and director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, sent a team of archaeologists to the Holy Land to excavate the ancient site of Megiddo鈥擜rmageddon in the New Testament鈥攚hich the Bible says was fortified by King Solomon. Read More
Essay Why protests matter in American democracy June 02, 2020 As protests continue nationwide in honor of George Floyd and to express outrage with systemic racism, it remains to be seen how the current civil unrest will shape democracy long term, and impact voting in the fall. Read More
Essay Mysteries of the first mastodon May 29, 2020 Bones from the last ice age might be standard for a natural history conservator, but it鈥檚 not the norm at an art museum. Read More
Interview Emily Sigalow on American JewBu May 27, 2020 May is Jewish American Heritage month, and it is worth noting that today, many Jewish Americans are embracing a dual religious identity, for instance, practicing Buddhism while also staying connected to their Jewish roots. Read More
Essay The Humboldt connection between nature and American art May 21, 2020 An exhibition titled聽Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture聽will be shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum located at 8th聽& F Streets NW in Washington, DC, opening in 2020. Read More
Essay Robert DiYanni and Anton Borst on The Craft of College Teaching May 19, 2020 Teaching is more than a job or a career; it is a profession and a calling. It is a craft that can be mastered over time with practice and persistence. Read More
Interview Hanoch Gutfreund and J眉rgen Renn on Einstein on Einstein May 18, 2020 At the end of World War聽II, Albert Einstein was invited to write his intellectual autobiography for the Library of Living Philosophers. The resulting book was his uniquely personal聽Autobiographical Notes, a classic work in the history of science that explains the development of his ideas with unmatched warmth and clarity. Read More
Interview By Design | The Papers of Thomas Jefferson May 17, 2020 In a ceremony at the Library of Congress on May 17, 1950, President Harry S.聽Truman accepted the first volume of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, an ambitious project that would span multiple decades and vastly different modes of production. Read More
Interview Forrest Stuart on Ballad of the Bullet May 14, 2020 Amid increasing hardship and limited employment options, poor urban youth are developing creative online strategies to make ends meet. Using such social media platforms as YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, they鈥檙e capitalizing on the public鈥檚 fascination with the ghetto and gang violence. Read More
