Penn Press Log

Israel Independence Day Reading

Yigal Allon, Native Son: A Biography
Anita Shapira
Translated by Evelyn Abel
392 pages | 6 x 9 | 29 illus.
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4028-3 | $49.95 | £32.50
A volume in the Jewish Culture and Contexts series

A bestseller in Israel, Yigal Allon, Native Son is the only biography of the charismatic leader. Born in 1918 into the fabric of Arab-Jewish frontier life at the foot of Mt. Tabor, Allon rose to become commander of the Palmah, one of the founding figures of the state of Israel and an architect of its politics. The book  focuses on Allon's life up to 1950, his clash with founding father David Ben-Gurion, the end of his military career, and the watershed in culture and character between the Jewish Yishuv and Israeli statehood.

The story of Allon's life frames the history of Israel, its relationship with its Arab neighbors, its culture and spirit. This biography touches on matters--Israel's borders, refugees, military might--that remain very much alive today.

The Way of Improvement Leads Home--Now Available

The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America
John Fea
280 pages | 6 x 9 | 12 illus.
Cloth Feb 2008 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4109-9 | $39.95 | £26.00
A volume in the Early American Studies series

In this first full biography of Philip Vickers Fithian, John Fea tells the story of how one young man sought to pursue the life of an eighteenth-century Presbyterian gentleman while continuing to yearn for the everyday passions that defined what it meant for him to be human.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Elsie Driggs: The Quick and the Classical--Now Available

Elsie Driggs: The Quick and the Classical
Constance Kimmerle
160 pages | 9 x 12 | 77 color, 40 b/w illus.
Cloth Jan 2008 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4104-4 | $39.95 | £26.00

Widely recognized for her early Precisionist paintings, Driggs created plant life paintings, animal paintings, watercolors of figures in urban settings, as well as murals based on folktales. Here Constance Kimmerle explores the ideological and emotional richness of the body of work Driggs produced from 1918 through the late 1980s.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Shapira's Allon Biography Raises Questions

In a Daily Jewish Forward review of Yigal Allon, Native Son: A Biography, Miriam Shaviv asks why the former "golden boy" of Israel has faded into relative obscurity.

Fanny Kemble Makes Foreword's Outstanding List

Deirdre David's Fanny Kemble: A Performed Life is number 6 in Foreword magazine's annual list of Outstanding University Press Books. Critic Peter Skinner writes:

David skillfully analyzes Kemble's love-hate relationship with the theater and unravels the complex tale of her marriage to planter Pierce Butler (of "languid charm and wealth"), followed by her violent opposition to slavery.

Choice Recommends Fanny Kemble

Deirdre David's Fanny Kemble: A Performed Life has earned a "highly recommended" rating from Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. According to Choice reviewer D. B. Wilmeth, "this scholarly, erudite, and thorough study by David (emer., English, Temple Univ.) is the one to use. . . .David's effort far exceeds all others in its balance and in its careful analysis of this complex and variegated life."

Yigal Allon, Native Son--Now Available

Yigal Allon, Native Son: A Biography
Anita Shapira Translated by Evelyn Abel
392 pages | 6 x 9 | 29 illus.
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4028-3 | $49.95 | £32.50
A volume in the Jewish Culture and Contexts series

Recipient of the Zalman Shazar Award for Research in Jewish History

"A superb biography. . . . Few Israelis have radiated the legendary aura that surrounded Yigal Allon."--Jerusalem Post "

Anita Shapira has written a very readable, wise, often eye-opening and captivating book."--Ha'aretz

A best-selling biography in Israel, available for the first time in the English language.

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Fanny Kemble: A Performed Life--Now Available

Fanny Kemble: A Performed Life
Deirdre David
376 pages | 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 | 35 illus.
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4023-8 | $39.95 | £26.00

"Fanny Kemble played a highly significant cultural role on both sides of the Atlantic. As David so convincingly shows, the life of this actress-turned-writer-turned-polemicist not only offers a fascinating subject in its own right but also intersects with a host of nineteenth-century figures who still interest us today."--U. C. Knoepflmacher

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet--Now Available

W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet
Edward J. Blum
288 pages | 6 x 9
Cloth 2007 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4010-8 | $39.95 | £26.00
A volume in the Politics and Culture in Modern America series

"This book is a marvelous probing into the unknown and unexplored dimension of the great W. E. B. Du Bois's life and work: his self-styled religious and spiritual temperament. Edward Blum is to be congratulated for this grand contribution!"--Cornel West, Princeton University

Read more . . .

Book reviewers: to request a press copy, contact Ellen Trachtenberg.
Educators: to request an exam copy for course use consideration, click here.

Blum among HNN's Top Young Historians

History News Network recently added Edward J. Blum, author of W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet, to its list of Top Young Historians.

According to HNN, "Each historian on this list has made outstanding contributions to the discipline in their area of research through their commitment and achievement in scholarship and teaching. They are also highly regarded outside academia for their expertise, and many are consulted by the popular media."

In the Personal Anecdote section of Blum's HNN profile, he talks about one factor that swayed his decision to publish his book with Penn Press--an understanding series editor.

In other internet news, articles on Blum appear in the blog A Man from Issachar and on SDSUniverse.