The Chicago Blog

For six days and counting, an unlikely book has sat atop the Amazon bestseller list, beating out Swedish crime thrillers and novels featuring sparkly vampires. Who could top Stieg Larsson and Stephenie Meyer? None other than F. A. Hayek, Austrian economist and free-market enthusiast. And for a guy that's been dead nearly two decades (and for a book that's celebrating its 66th birthday this year), it's a pretty remarkable feat.

Thanks for Hayek's resurgence goes to Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox News personality who devoted his June 8 show to Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom. Overnight, the sales ranking on Amazon crept ever upward until it reached the top spot early on Wednesday, where it's stayed ever since. Many blogs have commented on the surprise best seller. Last week Publisher's Weekly ran a story about the book's success, and The Chronicle of Higher Education followed up with an interview with the volume's editor, Bruce Caldwell. Over the weekend, USA Today and the Guardian both mentioned The Road to Serfdom in profiles of Beck.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Check out the book's product page, and read an excerpt detailing the book's publication history. Also revisit Bruce Caldwell's opinion piece on Hayek's lasting relevance. And we hear Beck is planning to discuss the book again this week, so don't be surprised to see Hayek in the top spot for a while longer.

   Archived in Books for the News | Economics
Posted by SXH at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite the wind, rain, thunder, lightening, heat, and cold, those working our booth at this year's 2010 Printers Row Lit Fest deemed it a success! But of course, with hundreds of authors and publishers participating in Chicago's premier literary event it, would be hard for it not to be. CSPAN was there to cover the event, taping a number of author interviews and panel discussions for it's weekend Book TV programming. Check out the links below to watch their coverage of some of our favorite Chicago authors.

Watch historian Adrian Johns respond to telephone calls and electronic communications about his recent book Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. In Piracy Johns explores the history of copyright disputes stretching as far back as the advent of the printing press, to offer some much needed insights on the high profile debates of today.

Watch Robert Elder, author of Last Words of the Executed in conversation with Adam Cohen. Last Words of the Executed offers an oral history of American capital punishment in the form of a compilation of the last statements of condemned prisoners—from women accused of witchcraft in eighteenth century, to some of the twentieth's most infamous serial killers.

Watch Martin Preib author of The Wagon, and Other Stories from the City in conversation with Billy Lombardo. Chicago police officer, bouncer, union reformer, doorman, Martin Prieb's done it all, and in his new collection short stories Prieb offers readers the literary fruits his many adventures from gritty back-alleys, to the lakefront high rises, of his hometown city of Chicago.

Watch Liam Ford talking about his book Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City. In Soldier Field Ford explores the evolution of one of Chicago's best known landmarks from a public war memorial, to the world famous home of da Bears.

Watch Jack Fuller, author of What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism in a panel discussion on technology's multifarious impacts on modern life. Fuller's book What Is Happening to News explores the question of how journalism can adapt to the new mediums and new mindsets created by modern technology while still providing the information necessary to a functioning democracy.

   Archived in Books for the News
Posted by TXM at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Newcity has just released it's annual list of movers and shakers in the Chicago literary scene, the "Newcity Lit 50." We were pleased to note four of our authors and one of our book designers have made the list.

Topping the Newcity list is none other than Roger Ebert who has published several books with the Press: Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert, Scorsese by Ebert, and forthcoming in October of this year, Great Movies III—Ebert's third collection of essays on the crème de la crème of the silver screen.

Chicago author Stuart Dybek also made the top ten. Born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago Dybek's is the author of several works of fiction and poetry inspired by his life in the Windy City. Some of his works include I Sailed with Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, Brass Knuckles, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, the last of which was acquired by the press in 2003.

Another of our authors whose work is propelled by his trenchant observations of day to day life in the city of Chicago, poet Reginald Gibbons also made Newcity's list. In his latest book from the Press, Slow Trains Overhead: Chicago Poems and Stories, Gibbons embraces a striking variety of human experience—a chance encounter with a veteran on Belmont Avenue, the grimy majesty of the downtown El tracks, domestic violence in a North Side brownstone, the wide-eyed wonder of new arrivals at O'Hare, and much more—to celebrate the heady mix of elation and despair that is city life.

We were pleased to note Carol Fischer Saller's name on the list. As Newcity notes, Saller—the University of Chicago Press copy editor who imparts her unparalleled knowledge of style and grammar in her monthly posts to the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A;, as well as in her recent book The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself)—stands as the mostly last word in all things stylistic.

And though you can't judge a book by its cover, Press book designer Isaac Tobin's work might just make you want to pick up a book for the cover alone. As Newcity notes, Tobin's work has garnered accolades from the Art Directors Club, the Association of American University Presses, and The Type Director's Club, and his book jackets included in AIGA 50/50 and the Print Magazine Regional Annual. There's a small sample of his work above but you can also check out some of his work featured on the book blog the Casual Optimist or on his website.

Congrats!

   Archived in Commentary
Posted by TXM at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Would greater funding for ocean science research and technology have left us better prepared to respond to the Gulf coast oil spill? That's the question Ellen Prager asks in her guest post on the Washington Post's Political Bookworm blog. Responding to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Prager writes, "Several things are now all too clear from the Gulf coast oil disaster. BP, the oil industry, and the U.S. government were unprepared to respond quickly and effectively to the accident and its aftermath. The lack of investment in undersea research, clean-up technology, and ocean science over the past few decades has made matters worse. One wonders, if a comparable fix was needed 200 miles from Earth at the International Space Station, would the technology and know-how be at hand?"

Prager, a veteran ocean scientist with extensive experience working under the sea, feels passionately that, especially in light of the disaster, we need to recommit to investment ocean research and technology. And she should know a thing or two about what it takes to make science happen on the ocean. Her book, Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts takes reads under the waves to see what life is really like for those who spend their life on the brine.

To the average office-dweller, marine scientists seem to have the good life: cruising at sea for weeks at a time, swimming in warm coastal waters, living in tropical paradises. But ocean scientists who go to sea will tell you that it is no vacation. Creature comforts are few and the obstacles seemingly insurmountable, yet an abundance of wonder and discovery still awaits those who take to the ocean. Chasing Science at Sea immerses readers in the world of those who regularly go to sea—aquanauts living underwater, marine biologists seeking unseen life in the deep ocean, and the tall-ship captains at the helm, among others—and tells the fascinating tale of what life—and science—is like at the mercy of Mother Nature.

With passion and wit, Prager shares her stories as well as those of her colleagues, revealing that in the field ingenuity and a good sense of humor are as essential as water, sunblock, and GPS. Serendipity is invaluable, and while collecting data is the goal, sometimes just getting back to shore means success. But despite the physical hardship and emotional duress that come with the work, optimism and adventure prompt a particularly hardy species of scientist to return again and again to the sea.

Filled with firsthand accounts of the challenges and triumphs of dealing with the extreme forces of nature and the unpredictable world of the ocean, Chasing Science at Sea is a unique glimpse below the water line at what it is like and why it is important to study, explore, and spend time in one of our planet's most fascinating and foreign environments.

Read an excerpt here.

   Archived in Books for the News
Posted by SXH at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm innocent! I'm innocent! I'm innocent!

As guards dragged him into the gas chamber:

Don't let me go like this, God!

—Robert Otis Pierce, convicted of murder, California. Executed April 6, 1956

I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock and I'll be back like 'Independence Day' with Jesus, June 6, like the movie, big mother ship and all. I'll be back.

—Aileen Wuornos, convicted of murder, Florida. Executed October 9, 2002

Some claim innocence. Others beg for forgiveness. At least three cheer for their favorite football teams. Through final utterances like these, author Rob Elder constructs a compelling oral history of American capital punishment ranging from women put to death during the Salem witch trials, to some of the most infamous criminal figures of the twentieth century like Ted Bundy and Illinois' own John Wayne Gacy.

And though there's been a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois for some time now, in an interview for The Onion A.V. Club, Elder discusses more of the famous last words of local convicts not lucky enough to escape the chair, the chamber, or the noose. From the interview:

AVC: Any other Illinois big shots?

RE: A gentleman who was executed in Pennsylvania is probably Chicago's most notorious serial killer. H. H. Holmes, the devil in Erik Larson's The Devil In The White City, admitted he killed two women, but claimed he didn't kill the other people. But what's more interesting than his last words are his final instructions. He killed more than 20 people in a hotel that he built basically to trap people, and he sold their remains to medical schools. In order to defend his own body, he asked that they cement him into a coffin to fend off grave robbers.

AVC: Wasn't Chicago native John Wayne Gacy our most notorious serial killer?

RE: Gacy was famous not just because he sexually molested and strangled his victims, but because around the neighborhood he was known as Pogo the Clown. The press named him "The Killer Clown." He was also famous because while in prison he made these childlike paintings of the Seven Dwarfs. But any childlike manner is not reflected in his last words. He just said, "Kiss my ass."

Read the complete interview on The Onion's A.V. Club website, and read an excerpt from the book. Also don't forget to check out Elder at the Stop Smiling magazine storefront tonight at 7 pm and Printer's Row Lit Fest this Saturday, June 12, 4:00 pm at Digitally Lit, Room 2.

   Archived in Biography | Books for the News | History | Law | Politics and Current Events
Posted by TXM at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking to indulge your literary side this weekend? Join the University of Chicago Press at the 2010 Printer's Row Lit Fest this Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13. Not only will the Press be on site selling our fabulous wares, plenty of Press authors will be on hand reading from and discussing their books. Here's a lowdown of what's happening at the Fest.

All weekend long, the Press will be selling our books at our booth (located in Tent O, which will be closer to Polk than Harrison. This is a new location for us, as our usual spot will be occupied by construction equipment. Use this map to find us). We'll have our newest releases, as well as many of our most popular Chicago titles and stunning picture books (all of which make great gifts for Dad!). We'll also be bringing back our popular $5 table: everything on it will cost you just one portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Among the books you'll find on the discount table will be Roger Ebert's Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert, Normal Maclean's Young Men and Fire, and Mike Royko's One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko. Supplies of these discounted books are limited, so stop by early and often!

After you've met the men and women behind the Press, check out the men and women behind our books. Many Press authors will be reading from their works this weekend. Here's a complete schedule (and refer to this map for more information about the venues):

 

11:00 am—12 noon
Cathy Maloney, author of Chicago Gardens: The Early History and Gardener's Cottage in Riverside, Illinois, will sign books in the University of Chicago Press tent.

11:15 am
Peggy Macnamara, author of Architecture by Birds and Insects: A Natural Art and Illinois Insects and Spiders, and Joel Greenberg, author of Of Prairie, Woods, and Water: Two Centuries of Chicago Nature Writing and Natural History of the Chicago Region will read at Dearborn Station/Lower Level

1:30 pm
Reginald Gibbons, author of Slow Trains Overhead: Chicago Poems and Stories will read at the
Arts & Poetry Stage.

4:00 pm
Robert K. Elder, author of Last Words of the Executed will read at Digitally Lit, Room 2.

 

1:00 pm
Jack Fuller, author of What Is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism, among other books, will read at Digitally Lit Room 2.

1:30 pm
Dominic Pacyga, author of Chicago: A Biography, and Liam T. A. Ford, author of Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City will read at Digitally Lit, Room 1.

3:00 pm
Martin Preib, author of The Wagon and Other Stories from the City, will read at Digitally Lit, Room 2.

See you at Printer's Row!

   Archived in Author Events
Posted by SXH at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in 1965, it was Milton Friedman's phrase: "We are all Keynesians now." He uttered it in the same spirit as Richard Nixon repeated it in 1971: Like it or not, we are in a time when economic and political circumstances dictate that the government take a larger role in trying to steer the economy. In the last half of 2008, the phrase regained currency while the economy hemorrhaged it.

We may collectively be living Keynes, but that doesn't mean we individually believe it. On this blog, we have previously noted the continuing intellectual warfare between Keynes and Hayek. That war is nowhere near closure, thanks to a prominent Hayek cheerleader, Glenn Beck, who devoted a segment of last night's show to talking about Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.

The manuscript that would become The Road to Serfdom came to the Press in 1943. It was evaluated by two University of Chicago academics to assess its scholarship and potential. Ironically, the economist supporting free-market capitalism, Frank Knight, concluded: "'the book is an able piece of work, but limited in scope and somewhat one-sided in treatment. I doubt whether it would have a very wide market in this country, or would change the position of many readers." Jacob Marschak, the socialist economist who read the manuscript, had a more positive reaction: "Hayek's book may start in this country a more scholarly kind of debate.… It is written with the passion and the burning clarity of a great doctrinaire.… This book cannot be bypassed."

The University of Chicago Press did not bypass the book and we are proud to have published many of Hayek's works, with new critical editions in process. Sales of The Road to Serfdom increased dramatically in the fall of 2008 and have shown no signs of slowing down. With the book currently #1 on Amazon and flying out of bricks-and-mortar stores, this year is certain to be the best year for Serfdom sales since the book's publication.

Let the debate continue.

Update: We have a press release, too.

   Archived in Commentary | Economics
Posted by DB at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Few words are more important than our last, and for convicted criminals on death row, their last utterances are particularly profound. They can be remorseful, humorous, or angry, but the last words of the executed chill us in part because of the shared humanity we can't ignore: they remind us we all come to the same end, regardless of how we arrive there.

Robert K. Elder spent the last seven years compiling these final statements in order to explore their cultural value and ask what we can learn from them. His book, Last Words of the Executed was published in May and has been praised by the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, and the Economist, among others.

The author is in the midst of a busy week of appearances in support of the book. He appeared today on WHYY's program Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. On Thursday, June 8, he will talk with the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan (who also happens to be a University of Chicago Press author) at the STOP SMILING Storefront at 1371 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622. (For more information, go here and here.) On Saturday, Elder will take part in the Printers Row Lit Fest, appearing with Adam Cohen at 4 p.m. at Digitally Lit, Room 2 (on Federal St. just off Polk). And finally, on June 24, Elder will appear at Quimby's Bookstore, 1854 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622.

Come out and hear the author discuss the book!

Update: Robert K. Elder also made an appearance this morning on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight. Listen to the archived audio.

   Archived in Books for the News
Posted by SXH at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photographer Stanley Greenberg, whose new book Architecture under Construction offers a fascinating collection of images of some of our most unusual new buildings in the process of being built, is currently exhibiting part of the collection featured in the book in the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing, Kurokawa Gallery. From a press release on the AIC's website:

While avant-garde architecture has frequently inspired today's art photographers and video artists, Stanley Greenberg is the first to focus a documentary-style lens on the subject. Greenberg's luminous large-scale black-and-white photographs explore avant-garde structures in the process of being built. Using highly cropped views, Greenberg captures moments in the assembly of architecture that are rarely evident in the final building, revealing the complexity of contemporary construction and the residual visual unfolding of spaces resulting from these feats of structural gymnastics.

Find out more about the exhibit, or, if a trip to downtown Chicago isn't on your agenda before the close in September, check out our gallery of photographs from the book.

   Archived in Art and Architecture | Author Events
Posted by TXM at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did anyone else rejoice at the heft of the New York Times Book Review yesterday? At 48 pages, it was thicker than any issue in recent memory. (And it arrived on the heels of John Palattella's fascinating discussion in The Nation of the life and death of book reviewing, which contained this brief history of the section's declining page count: "Some Sundays [former editor John Leonard] could count on having a canvas of at least eighty pages. In 1985 the Book Review averaged forty-four pages; two decades later, it was averaging thirty-two to thirty-six, and in recent months its average size has vacillated between twenty-four and twenty-eight pages.") The issue contained many thoughtful reviews of fascinating books, including a new title from the University of Chicago Press, Harvey G. Cohen's Duke Ellington's America.

By far the most thorough and nuanced portrait yet of this towering figure, Duke Ellington's America highlights Ellington's importance as a figure in American history as well as in American music. Indeed, this unorthodox approach drew high praise from reviewer Peter Keepnews. He writes:

The idea of a substantial book about a major musical figure that pays relatively little attention to his music might seem counterintuitive—or, to put it less politely, pointless. That Duke Ellington's America succeeds as well as it does is a tribute both to its author and to its subject.

Check out the entire review. Then read an excerpt from the book.

   Archived in Books for the News
Posted by SXH at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While most recent media coverage of the financial crisis focuses on the economic downturn's impact on the middle class, in an article which ran last month in The Nation Katha Pollitt asks: "But what about the people who already were poor before the crisis? Like women on welfare?"

To help her answer that question Pollitt cites Jane L. Collins and Victoria Mayer's new book on the subject Both Hands Tied: Welfare Reform and the Race to the Bottom in the Low-Wage Labor Market—an eye-opening account of how the welfare reforms of the past few decades have afflicted poor, single-parent families, ultimately eroding the participants' economic rights and affecting their ability to care for themselves and their children.

In the article Pollitt argues that if welfare reforms were failing economically impoverished single-parents before, the financial crisis has greatly amplified the socially devastating effects they've had on America's underclass. Read it online at The Nation website.

   Archived in Books for the News | Economics | Sociology
Posted by TXM at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)