On July 4, 1054, an extraordinary event attracted the attention of peoples around the world. A supernova appeared in the constellation Taurus. This guest star, to use a Chinese term, suddenly […]
Smithsonian Magazine delves into the history of “Baking Powder Wars”
Smithsonian Magazine recently delved into the fascinating history behind baking powder. Linda Civitello, the author of Baking Powder Wars, was consulted as an expert. Read all about the cutthroat fight that revolutionized […]
200 Years of Illinois: Eads and elephants
The Eads Bridge, named for its designer/builder James B. Eads, materialized in 1874 amidst a blizzard of superlatives. At 6,442 feet, it was the largest arch bridge on earth, and the […]
Authors on Issues: Valerie Francisco on “My Family’s Slave”
This is the inaugural post of our new series, Authors on Issues, in which UIP authors weigh in on current events. Valerie Francisco, author of The Labor of Care: Filipina Migrants and […]
Printer’s Row 2017
Authors. Conversations. Books (lots of books). Dogs with bandannas. It’s time again for the Printer’s Row Book Fair, now in its 33rd Year as a Chicago Loop perennial. Skies promise to […]
Book Trailer for “Beyond Respectability”
Film Credit: Bob Greenberg at Brainwaves […]
“Women Against Abortion” in The New York Review of Books”
Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century by Karissa Haugeberg was recently covered in The New York Review of Books in a review essay entitled “The Abortion […]
“Beyond Respectability” on NPR
Brittney C. Cooper’s new book Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women was recently reviewed on NPR! The reviewer described it “a work of crucial cultural study. . . . […]
Q&A with Jon Shelton, author of “Teacher Strike!”
Jon Shelton is an assistant professor of democracy and justice studies at University of Wisconsin Green Bay. He recently answered some questions about his book Teacher Strike!: Public Education and the […]
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Today marks the anniversary of the release of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. An excerpt about the book from Orwell: Life and Art, by Jeffrey Meyers. In Nineteen Eighty-Four the 1930s were […]
200 Years of Illinois: The Elwood Ordnance Plant explosion
On June 5, 1942, the Herald-News in Joliet reported on one of the deadliest industrial accidents in state history: the explosion at the Elwood Ordnance Plant. At 2:41 a.m., an explosion […]
200 Years of Illinois: Get your same-sex marriage license
We’re a day late with this bit of recognition, but here goes. On June 1, 2014, a same sex marriage law passed the previous fall went into effect across the […]