Tag: National trade books

Lefse advice + Finnish Blueberry Bars recipe from Beatrice Ojakangas.

October 13, 2016

Last night, the Press celebrated the launch of Homemade: Finnish Rye, Feed Sack Fashion, and Other Simple Ingredients from My Life in Food, a memoir-cookbook by James Beard Cookbook Hall of Famer, author of 30 cookbooks, and self-described home economist Beatrice Ojakangas. This sold-out event at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis included a conversation … More Lefse advice + Finnish Blueberry Bars recipe from Beatrice Ojakangas.

René Magritte’s Selected Writings: On Jane Graverol

September 7, 2016

Jane Graverol’s Le Cortège d’Orpheé. BY KATHLEEN ROONEY Though the artist René Magritte (1898–1967) wrote extensively throughout his life and career—from aspirations of being a detective novelist to crafting genre-jumping essays, prose poems, lectures, reviews, and more—it’s hard to say why exactly it has taken so long for Magritte’s writings to become available in English. His Ecrits … More René Magritte’s Selected Writings: On Jane Graverol

Carelessness and fate: One man’s survival on the open sea

June 9, 2016

Built to haul enormous cargo tonnage to ports all around the Great Lakes, the Morrellwas one of only a handful of 600-foot freighters at the time of her launching in 1906. An excerpt (modified from the Prologue) from the forthcoming book Torn in Two: The Sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell and One Man’s Survival … More Carelessness and fate: One man’s survival on the open sea

In 1920s Minnesota, Prohibition created moral dilemmas, violence—and opportunity.

June 2, 2016

To be alive is to take risks every single second of every single day. —from Mary Casanova’s Ice-Out ——- The University of Minnesota Press is giving away advance copies of Ice-Out. Sign up for a chance to win here! Deadline for entry is June 30, 2016. ——-BEHIND THE FORTHCOMING BOOK ICE-OUTWITH MARY CASANOVA As with my earlier novel Frozen, the inspiration … More In 1920s Minnesota, Prohibition created moral dilemmas, violence—and opportunity.

Alive in the Age of Lovecraft

May 25, 2016

BY CARL H. SEDERHOLMProfessor of interdisciplinary humanities at Brigham Young University Under the right circumstances, certain texts suggest a “weird realism,” circumstances (as described by Graham Harman) when language either struggles to describe the impossibly real or when it overflows with multiple possibilities. One of H. P. Lovecraft’s strengths as a writer lies in his … More Alive in the Age of Lovecraft

Looking back: Breast cancer activist Barbara Brenner on cancer wristbands

May 19, 2016

Barbara Brenner, a key figure in North American breast cancer history, wrote the following piece in 2005 as a Perspective for the San Francisco public radio station KQED. Brenner died in 2013. So Much to Be Done, an anthology of her political and personal writings, has been published by University of Minnesota Press. ——-Anyone who … More Looking back: Breast cancer activist Barbara Brenner on cancer wristbands

Remembering the fierce thinker and jazz historian Albert Murray, who would have turned 100 today.

May 12, 2016

Albert Murray (1916–2013), renowned jazz historian, critic, writer, social and cultural theorist, and cofounder (with Wynton Marsalis) of Jazz at Lincoln Center, would have turned 100 years old today. We remember him with an edited excerpt from Murray Talks Music: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues (May 2016).——-“In order to know what the statement is, … More Remembering the fierce thinker and jazz historian Albert Murray, who would have turned 100 today.

On freegans, pre-peeled oranges, and ethical consumer ‘Whack-A-Mole’

March 28, 2016

Photo courtesy of the author. BY ALEX V. BARNARDFood justice activist and doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Whole Foods felt the wrath of the Twitter-sphere this month. The episode started with consumers questioning the company’s ethical bona-fides but, in the end, cast into doubt the effectiveness of “ethical consumerism” itself. … More On freegans, pre-peeled oranges, and ethical consumer ‘Whack-A-Mole’

The Kensington Rune Stone Legend and the Catholic Church

September 25, 2015

BY DAVID M. KRUEGER Pope Francis has arrived in the U.S. and is soon to arrive here in Philadelphia, a city that carries the moniker the “Birthplace of America.” The nation’s founding documents might have been signed here, but something that isn’t so obvious to those familiar with America’s establishment is that there is a … More The Kensington Rune Stone Legend and the Catholic Church