Penn Press Log

Pawel Maciejko wins AAJR's Baron Prize for The Mixed Multitude

Congratulations to Pawel Maciejko, winner of the Salo W. Baron Prize for the outstanding first book in Jewish studies published in 2011. The American Academy of Jewish Research selected Maciejko for his work on The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816.  Maciejko is currently lecturer in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The AAJR will present the award to him at its annual luncheon in December.

Nelson Lichtenstein Wins Sol Stetin Award for Labor History

This May Day evening, the Sidney Hillman Foundation will present historian Nelson Lichtenstein with the 2012 Sol Stetin Award for Labor History at a ceremony in New York City.

Lichtenstein is the MacArthur Foundation Chair in History and Director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include Walter Reuther: the Most Dangerous Man in Detroit and State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.

He is also editor of American Capitalism: Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century and coeditor, with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, of the forthcoming The Right and Labor in America: Politics, Ideology, and Imagination. Written by leading historians, The Right and Labor in America explains how and why the fight against unionism has long been central to the meaning of contemporary conservatism. This new collection of essays will be released later this spring.

Congratulations, Professor Lichtenstein!

 

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East Wins John Nicholas Brown Prize

Congratulations to Christopher MacEvitt, Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College. MacEvitt's The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance received the Medieval Academy of America’s John Nicholas Brown Prize for 2012. The Brown Prize is awarded annually for a first book or monograph on a medieval subject judged by the selection committee to be of outstanding quality. The prize was presented to MacEvitt at this year's annual Medieval Academy meeting in St. Louis, MO.

 

Good News Comes in Threes from Foundation for Landscape Studies

Hot on the heels of the Foundation for Landscape Studies announcement that a forthcoming Penn Press book will receive a David Coffin Publication Grant, we learned today two of our books won the Foundation's John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize.

Karen M'Closkey received the Coffin Publication Grant for her work-in-progress Unearthed: The Landscapes of Hargreaves Associates. The Press plans to publish Unearthed  in 2013.

Both A Life Spent Changing Places by the late Lawrence Halprin with a foreword by Laurie Olin and Flora's Empire: British Gardens in India by Eugenia W. Herbert received the 2012 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize, which rewards "contributors to the intellectual vitality of garden history and landscape studies."

Congratulations to M'Closkey, Olin, and Herbert for earning these honors in landscape studies. Naturally, we are proud to publish their work.

Penn Press Authors Receive National Humanities Medals

Congratulations to Robert Darnton and Teofilo F. Ruiz, Penn Press authors and 2011 National Humanities Medalists. The National Endowment for the Humanities created the National Humanities Medal to honor "individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities." President Barack Obama presented the awards to Darnton, Ruiz, and other honorees at a White House ceremony yesterday.

Darnton, author of The Devil in the Holy Water, or the Art of Slander from Louis XIV to Napoleon, received a medal for his commitment to making knowledge accessible to everyone. "An eminent cultural historian and librarian, Dr. Darnton has illuminated the world of Enlightenment and Revolutionary France, and has pursued his vision for a national library of digitized books," said the president. 

Teofilo F. Ruiz, author of Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile, received a medal for his outstanding scholarship in history. The president praised Ruiz for "deepening our knowledge of medieval Spain and Europe, and exploring the role terror has played in society for centuries."

After the ceremony, the medalists attended a reception with President Obama and Michelle Obama.

An American History Publishing Opportunity--the SHEAR Manuscript Prize for 2012

The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and the University of Pennsylvania Press invite submissions for the SHEAR Manuscript Prize for 2012. The Prize will be awarded to an exceptional book-length scholarly manuscript pertaining to the history of North America from 1776 to 1861. Within that period, the manuscript may treat virtually any aspect of history, including cultural, political, economic, or social history. Competition is open to any author who has not previously published a scholarly book. Ineligible for consideration are collections of essays, editions of primary sources, or new editions of previously published books.

The author of the winning manuscript will receive a publishing contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press that includes a cash advance, royalties, and an illustrations budget. The book will be published as a volume in the series Early American Studies, sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

To submit a manuscript for consideration, please first send a letter of inquiry accompanied by a brief prospectus, sample chapter, and current CV to:

Robert Lockhart
History Editor
University of Pennsylvania Press
3905 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

The deadline for submission of preliminary materials is March 1, 2012.

Shortly thereafter, the prize committee will invite finalists to send complete manuscripts for consideration, and the winner will be announced at SHEAR's annual conference.

If you would like more information, please email Robert Lockhart.

Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages Author Named Cabot Fellow

Stephen A. Mitchell, author of Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages, was named a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow for 2011. The Cabot award honors faculty at Harvard University for their distinguished publications.

Congratulations, Professor Mitchell!

Susan Hiner Wins Costume Society of America Award for Accessories to Modernity

Congratulations to Susan Hiner. Earlier this month, the Costume Society of America awarded the 2011 Millia Davenport Publication Award to Hiner for her book Accessories to Modernity: Fashion and the Feminine in Nineteenth-Century France.

Here's what the Costume Society of America had to say about Hiner's work:

Hiner’s book explores historic dress and costume from a unique perspective. Through her examination of nineteenth-century fashion journals, illustrations, and works of some of the most widely read novels of the period, Hiner considers how fashion accessories of the day – shawls, parasols, fans and handbags – were used by women as an important tool to create, project, and maintain social and class distinctions during a time when social boundaries became more fluid. In commending Accessories to Modernity, the members of the committee who evaluated the seven short-listed books praised the author’s depth of analysis and impressive breadth of research, and commended her work on accessories, an often-overlooked topic. They noted that the author’s creative approach put the subject in context and went beyond obvious and accepted interpretations of French nineteenth-century culture.

Susan Hiner is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College. Accessories to Modernity is now available in cloth and in paperback.

Thomas F. X. Noble Receives 2011 Gründler Prize

Congratulations to Thomas F. X. Noble, recipient of the 2011 Otto Gründler prize for Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians. The prize was presented at the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

For three years in a row, the Medieval Institute has chosen a Penn Press author to receive the Gründler prize. In 2010, the prize went to John Van Engen for Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages. Caroline Walker Bynum won in 2009 for Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond.

Congratulations to Caroline Walker Bynum, winner of the MAA Haskins Medal

On April 15, the Medieval Academy of America announced that the 2011 Haskins Medal for a distinguished book in the field of medieval studies goes to Caroline Walker Bynum for Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond.

The Haskins Medal is the third major prize awarded to Wonderful Blood. The book also won the Otto Gruendler Prize from the Medieval Institute and the Award for Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion.

Congratulations, Professor Bynum!