Category: American History

July 22, 2008

"In Praise of Localism": From American Pests

Following up on yesterday’s post about James McWilliams’s American Pests: Losing the War on Insects from Colonial Times to DDT, here is an excerpt from the book that was posted on Celsias, which was recently named one of the top...

May 16, 2008

An Interview with Houston Baker in Diverse Magazine

Interest in Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Movement continues as evidenced by the interview he gave to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. You can hear or read the interview. In the...

April 22, 2008

Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy

Richard Kahlenberg’s biography of Albert Shanker the former head of the American Federation of Teachers was recently lauded in two different publications. In the New Republic, John Judis cited Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race,...

April 21, 2008

Review of Betrayal from the Los Angeles Times

Friday’s Los Angeles Times had a review of Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. The review offers a very good summary of Baker’s argument and his critiques of prominent Black intellectuals:...

April 17, 2008

Review of Betrayal

The blog Prometheus 6 has posted an interesting review of Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. There is also a video available of Houston Baker participating on a special panel with...

April 8, 2008

Houston Baker on National Public Radio

Houston Baker appeared on NPR’s News and Notes yesterday to discuss his book Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. In the interview Baker discusses his upbringing in Louisville’s Little Africa, how Shelby Steele...

April 7, 2008

Houston Baker on Martin Luther King

This past weekend on the occasion of the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, many commentators explored the legacy on Martin Luther King. In his new book Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era,...

April 1, 2008

Sales and Special Offers

A definitive guide to world cinema today, a new history of the Hudson River, and Olivier Roy’s new book on the Middle East— all these books are currently available at a 20% discount. While the CUP blog is mostly devoted...

March 28, 2008

CUP Authors at the Organization of American Historians Convention

This coming weekend scholars of American history will descend upon New York City for their annual convention, sponsored by the Organization for American Historians. Several Columbia University Press authors will be there on panels covering everything from Islam in the...

March 25, 2008

Books for the Candidates: Immigration

Immigration, a contentious issue among Republicans during the primaries, is sure to surface again in the general election. The recently published Keeping Out the Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Enforcement argues that while the focus on enforcement has intensified...

March 14, 2008

Houston Baker on the "Prison-Industrial" Complex

According to a new report from the Pew Center on the States, for the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults are now in prison. For minority groups the rate is even higher: one...

February 26, 2008

Black History Month: The Education of Booker T. Washington

Continuing our series of postings on Black History Month, we turn to Michael West’s The Education of Booker T. Washington: American Democracy and the Idea of Race Relations. In the book, West explores the power and influence of Washington’s ideas...