What a wonderful alternative to supporting the whole American Girl book/doll/accessory/store enterprise.  If the book is as true to Hurston’s childhood as the article suggests, it’s a wonderful way to ensure that Zora Neale Hurston and her work will be as beloved by future generations as they are by my own.  Though the authors have the ultimate stamp of approval from the Hurston Trust and the recommendation of respected review publications, I hereby announce that I think it’s a fantastic idea, too.

The book is set in southern Illinois, the part of our state known as Egypt (frequently confused with Little Egypt, a burlesque dancer who appeared at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago).

Among Oronte’s many fine prizes are a couple from us: UIP’s backlist classic Bloody Williamson by Paul M. Angle and a 3-volume set of the Folksongs of Illinois CDs, hidden gems that we distribute for the Illinois Humanities Council.

Enter by July 10 for your chance to win. Support regional writers. Visit Egypt. (And if you can guess which former UIP employee is now Mrs. Churm, you’ll win a prize from me.)

… university presses specialize in publishing books containing hard ideas. Hard ideas — whether cliometrics, hermeneutics, deconstruction, or symbolic interactionism — when they are also good ideas, carry powerful residual value in their originality and authority. Think of the University of Illinois Press and its Mathematical Theory of Communication, still in print today. Commercial publishers, except for those who produce scientific and technical books, generally don’t traffic in hard ideas. They’re too difficult to sell in scalable numbers and quickly.

 *Still available in an old-school cassette, yo!