Penn Press Log

Win a Free Copy of Ellis Island Nation

Ellis Island Nation: Immigration Policy and American Identity in the Twentieth Century, a new book by University of Mississippi historian Robert L. Fleegler, traces the emergence of "contributionism," the belief that the newcomers from eastern and southern Europe contributed important cultural and economic benefits to American society.

Early twentieth-century immigrants from southern and eastern Europe often found themselves criticized for language and customs at odds with their new culture, but initially found greater acceptance through an emphasis on their similarities to "native stock" Americans. Drawing on sources as diverse as World War II films, records of Senate subcommittee hearings, and anti-Communist propaganda, Ellis Island Nation describes how contributionism eventually shifted the focus of the immigration debate from assimilation to a Cold War celebration of ethnic diversity and its benefits--helping to ease the passage of 1960s immigration laws that expanded the pool of legal immigrants and setting the stage for the identity politics of the 1970s and 1980s. Ellis Island Nation provides a historical perspective on recent discussions of multiculturalism and the exclusion of groups that have arrived since the liberalization of immigrant laws.

If you'd like the chance to receive a free copy of Ellis Island Nation, send an email to pressmkt at pobox dot upenn dot edu with your first name, last name, and your preferred email address by Friday, April 19  at noon Eastern Standard Time. One person will be selected at random to receive a hardcover or ebook copy of Ellis Island Nation.

This Week's New Books: The Jet Sex, Evolution of Mind, Brain, and Culture, Stuyvesant Bound, and Owning William Shakespeare

Evolution of Mind, Brain, and Culture Edited by Gary Hatfield and Holly Pittman 496 pages | 6 x 9 | 27 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-1-934536-49-0 | $69.95 | £45.50 A volume in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology series Evolution of Mind, Brain, and Culture draws together studies in archaeology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, genetics, neuroscience, and environmental science to investigate the evolution of the human mind, the brain, and the human capacity for culture. Read more...

Stuyvesant Bound: An Essay on Loss Across Time Donna Merwick 232 pages | 6 x 9 | 5 illus. Cloth Apr 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4503-5 | $59.95 | £39.00 A volume in the Early American Studies series Stuyvesant Bound is an innovative, compelling reassessment of the last Director-General of New Netherland. Donna Merwick employs a multidisciplinary approach to examine the layers of culture within which Peter Stuyvesant forged his career and performed his identity. Read more...

The Jet Sex: Airline Stewardesses and the Making of an American Icon Victoria Vantoch 304 pages | 6 x 9 | 30 illus. Cloth Apr 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4481-6 | $34.95 | £23.00 Victoria Vantoch takes us on a fascinating journey into the golden era of air travel. The Jet Sex explores the much-mythologized stewardess within the context of the Cold War, globalization, and the emerging culture of glamour to reveal how beauty and sexuality were critical to national identity and international politics. Read more...

Now in Paperback Owning William Shakespeare: The King's Men and Their Intellectual Property James J. Marino 216 pages | 6 x 9 | 10 illus. Cloth 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4296-6 | $49.95 | £32.50 Paper 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2254-8 | $22.50 | £15.00 A volume in the Material Texts series This book explores actors' systems of intellectual property in early modern England. Focusing on Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, and other plays, James Marino demonstrates how Shakespeare's company asserted ownership of its plays through intense ongoing revision and through insistent attribution to Shakespeare. Read more...

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

This Week's New Books

Crusade and Christendom: Annotated Documents in Translation from Innocent III to the Fall of Acre, 1187-1291 Edited by Jessalynn Bird, Edward Peters, and James M. Powell 568 pages | 6 x 9 | 5 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4478-6 | $75.00 | £49.00 A volume in the Middle Ages Series Intended for the undergraduate yet also invaluable for teachers and scholars, this book illustrates how the crusade became crucial for defining and promoting the very concept and boundaries of Latin Christendom. It provides translations of and commentaries on key original sources and an up-to-date bibliography. Read more...

Tropical Whites: The Rise of the Tourist South in the Americas Catherine Cocks 284 pages | 6 x 9 | 9 color, 12 b/w illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4499-1 | $59.95 | £39.00 A volume in the Nature and Culture in America series Tropical Whites explains how the tropical beach resort came to symbolize the iconic vacation landscape. Catherine Cocks argues that the tourism industry romanticized and commodified tropical nature in the global South, ultimately legitimizing cultural pluralism and concepts of modern identity. Read more...

Inventing the Egghead: The Battle over Brainpower in American Culture Aaron Lecklider 296 pages | 6 x 9 | 21 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4486-1 | $45.00 | £29.50 Throughout the twentieth century, popular songs, magazine articles, plays, posters, and novels alternated between representing intelligence as empowering and as threatening. In Inventing the Egghead, Aaron Lecklider cracks open this paradox by examining representations of intelligence to reveal brainpower's stalwart appeal and influence. Read more...

An Age of Infidels: The Politics of Religious Controversy in the Early United States Eric R. Schlereth 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 10 illus. Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4493-9 | $55.00 | £36.00 A volume in the Early American Studies series Eric R. Schlereth places religious conflicts between deists and their opponents at the center of early American public life. This history recasts the origins of cultural politics in the United States by exploring how everyday Americans navigated questions of religious truth and difference in an age of emerging religious liberty. Read more...

Getting a Little Color: Catherine Cocks and the Truth about Tanning

In this blog post Catherine Cocks, author of Tropical Whites: The Rise of the Tourist South in the Americas, considers the history of a popular vacation souvenir, the sun tan.

The Truth about Tanning
Catherine Cocks

Every time I told someone I was researching the history of sun tanning for my forthcoming book, that person promptly told me the history of tanning, or at least a popular version of that history. I’m sure it just popped into your mind, too: Back when nearly everyone worked on a farm, being pale was a sign that you were rich and got to stay inside. Once nearly everyone worked in a factory, being tanned was a sign that you were rich and got to play outside. Slate’s Explainer offered a version of this story in October 2012 and tacked onto it the much-repeated myth that tanning was a fad invented by Coco Chanel after the First World War (it appears in her Wikipedia entry, too).

The trouble is that’s not how it happened. At its origins, the history of tanning isn’t about class. It’s about race. What else could changing your skin color be about? Skin color has been a major pretext for inequality for hundreds of years. And the early twentieth century, the era in which U.S. whites began to tan, was the time of Jim Crow’s triumph, explicitly racist immigration restrictions, and a global white supremacist movement. When people talked about tanning back then, they talked about race.

Get Hep Tonight at the Free Library with Zoot Suit Author Kathy Peiss

Kathy Peiss, Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style
The University of Pennsylvania History Department presents The Zoot Suit in American Culture
Wednesday, March 20, 7:00 p.m.
The Free Library of Philadelphia
Parkway Central, 1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
For more information, please contact Nari Baughman at nlinette@sas.upenn.edu.
Register at eventbrite.com

Pennsylvania Dutch Pies for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day! We put an historical Pennsylvania Dutch twist on the mathematical celebration of 3/14 by eating shoofly pie and sharing a recipe for apple Schnitz pie, two the dishes in As American as Shoofly Pie: The Foodlore and Fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine by food historian William Woys Weaver.

Shoofly Pie (Melassich Riwwelboi)
A shoofly pie, shown below in detail, graces the front cover of As American as Shoofly Pie next to other more or less authentic Pennsylvania Dutch items. But make no mistake, our Pi Day shoofly is not just a "Dutchified" (uffgedeitscht) show treat for the tourists.

Shoofly Pie (Melassich Riwwelboi) with other regional attractions

Unlike many contemporary shoofly pies, Weaver's version is eggless. The frugal recipe is, as Weaver writes, "a by-product of the baking-powder revolution that took hold of Pennsylvania Dutch cookery during the 1870s." Indeed, even today the ingredients for this pie are common to most pantries and refrigerators. The pie, which is more of a breakfast cake, first came to national attention at the 1876 United States Centennial. And here's a slice of Melassich Riwwelboi on the Press break room table, served with a cup of coffee as Weaver recommends.

Shoofly Pie in the Press Break Room

Apple Schnitz Pie (Ebbelschnitz Boi)
What is Schnitz? Schnitz refers to dried apple slices, the key ingredient in our free Pi Day recipe.

A Local Brand of Apple Schnitz

Yield: one 9- to 10-inch (23 to 25cm) pie

Pastry for one 9- to 10-inch (23 to 25cm) pie
3 cups (750ml) boiling water or cider
8 ounces (250g) tart apple Schnitz (pie Schnitz)
2 tablespoons (15g) potato starch
2 tablespoons (25g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 cups (500ml) sour cream
1/2 cup (125g) sugar
1 tablespoon (15g) unsalted butter

Pour boiling water over the Schnitz. Cover and let stand 4 to 6 hours or overnight until the Schnitz are soft. Drain and chop into lima bean-size pieces, then place them in a large work bowl. Combine the potato starch, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice, working the mixture with a fork to create fine crumbs. Take out 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture and set aside. Line a 9- to 10-inch pie dish with short pastry. Dust the Schnitz with the brown sugar mixture and then arrange the fruit in the pie shell, pressing down with a spoon so that the Schnitz fit together closely. Mix the sour cream and sugar and spread this evenly over the fruit. Combine the reserved tablespoon of brown sugar mixture with the butter and work this to a crumb texture. Scatter the crumbs over the top of the pie. Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

Weaver credits Elma Landis Harnish (1899-1945) of New Danville, PA for this version of apple Schnitz pie.

Enjoy the rest of your Pi Day.

 

Medieval Monday: "Pangur Bán" or "the Monk and His Cat" in Animal Encounters

 

from The Secret of the Kells

Pangur Ban, the cat from the acclaimed animated film The Secret of the Kells, has an interesting lineage. The feline character was taken from an Old Irish lyric called “Pangur Bán” or “The Monk and His Cat.” In the movie, the clever creature belonged to Brother Aidan the illuminator. In the poem, which appears in a ninth-century manuscript, a cat named Pangur Bán hunts for mice as intently as a monk hunts for meanings in his Latin texts. Here are a couple of stanzas from Seamus Heaney's translation:

All the while, his round bright eye
Fixes on the wall, while I
Focus my less piercing gaze
On the challenge of the page.

With his unsheathed, perfect nails
Pangur springs, exults and kills.
When the longed-for, difficult
Answers come, I too exult.

"The Irish lyric 'Pangur Bán' meditates on the symbiosis of a scholar's efforts and a housecat's hunting, to discover within their analogous work a precisely observed equivalence between their minds," says Susan Crane author of Animal Encounters: Contacts and Concepts in Medieval Britain. In her new book, Crane describes the unique connection between people and other living creatures that existed in Irish and northern British monastic texts written between the seventh and ninth centuries. Far from Rome, these northern European monestaries were often simple clusters of huts emeshed in the environment. "Wild nature challenged monastic settlements and domesticated nature facilitated their work," writes Crane.

Her reading of the lyric "Pangur Ban" reflects the intricate bonds between animals, people, and religious culture of the time.

The cat's name, "Pangur Bán," means “white fuller,” a man who works with fuller's earth and comes to be covered in its pale dust. Given the high value of work and craft in the lyric, one might hazard that “white fuller” evokes both the cat's pale fur and his workmanlike behavior. The cat is next anthropomorphized as a net-wielding gladiator or perhaps a huntsman equipped with a net (his extended claws) as he performs “feats of valor.” Cat as workman and cat as valiant gladiator have mock-heroic potential that could reflect doubly on the cat, humorously inflating his worth in order to discredit it and distance him from the scholar. In a counterstrategy, however, the scholar shares mock-heroic status with the cat as "there falls into my net a difficult dictum with hard meaning." Both of them are attempting "feats of valor" that could look small from the net-wielding, death-defying gladiator's perspective. Anthropomorphism can cut in many directions, but in "Pangur Bán" the consistent strategy is to strike analogies that reinforce the scholar's bemused admiration for Pangur with his self-deprecating account of his own efforts to work well.

So, next time a prowling house cat distracts you from your work, don't get too upset. Instead, follow the monastic example by appreciating his skills. Maybe he will be more of an inspiration than a distraction.

This Week's New Books: The Roman Inquisition, Freud on Madison Avenue, and Ceramics in Print

The Roman Inquisition: A Papal Bureaucracy and Its Laws in the Age of Galileo Thomas F. Mayer 392 pages | 6 x 9 Cloth 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4473-1 | $79.95 | £52.00 A volume in the Haney Foundation Series As Thomas F. Mayer demonstrates in this first study of the Roman Inquisition as an institution, the Inquisition underwent constant modification as it expanded. Originally aimed to eradicate Protestant heresy, it went beyond medieval antecedents by becoming a highly articulated centralized organ directly dependent on the pope.

Now in Paperback Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America Lawrence R. Samuel 232 pages | 6 x 9 Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4251-5 | $29.95 | £19.50 Paper 2013 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2226-5 | $22.50 | £15.00 Freud on Madison Avenue tells the story of how and why mid-twentieth-century advertisers adopted Freudian psychology to sell products. This study follows the careers of Paul Lazarsfeld, Herta Herzog, James Vicary, Alfred Politz, Pierre Martineau, Edward Bernays, and the father of motivational research, Ernest Dichter.

Ceramics and Print Paul Scott Third Edition 144 pages | 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 | 110 color illus. Paper | ISBN 978-0-8122-2242-5 | $29.95 | £19.50 A volume in the New Ceramics series Not for sale outside North America and the Philippines Ceramics and Print presents the latest developments in printing on clay and vitreous surfaces. Illustrated with new images of beautiful works by leading artists working in printed ceramics, this updated book is a must-read guide for artists and makers interested in this increasingly popular field.

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

This Week's New Books

Varieties of Sovereignty and Citizenship Edited by Sigal R. Ben-Porath and Rogers M. Smith 352 pages | 6 x 9 Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4456-4 | $79.95 | £52.00 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0748-4 | $79.95 | £52.00 A volume in the Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism series "Excellent, engaging, and enriching, the essays of Varieties of Sovereignty and Citizenship pursue a wide spectrum of political and methodological approaches to address the state of the national state in the current globalizing moment."--Linda S. Bosniak, Rutgers School of Law-Camden A broad range of scholars from different disciplines reflect on the likely transformation of the world away from the absolute sovereignty of independent nation-states to the proliferation of varieties of plural citizenship, and on the emergence of possible new forms of allegiance.

Now in Paperback Women Warriors for Allah: An Islamist Network in the Netherlands Janny Groen and Annieke Kranenberg. Translated by Robert Naborn. Foreword by Marc Sageman 280 pages | 6 x 9 Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4235-5 | $75.00 | £49.00 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2233-3 | $29.95 | £19.50 Dutch investigative journalists Janny Groen and Annieke Kranenberg offer an indispensable corrective to the conventional view that Muslim women in jihad are either pacifist nurturers who steer their husbands and brothers away from violence or passive bystanders who play a mere supporting role in networks run by domineering men.

Preparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs in Metropolitan America Edited by Laura W. Perna 328 pages | 6 x 9 | 14 illus. Cloth 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4453-3 | $65.00 | £42.50 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0843-6 | $65.00 | £42.50 A volume in the City in the Twenty-First Century series Written by researchers in education and urban policy, this volume offers useful insights into how to provide urban workers with the educational qualifications they need for real world jobs.

Now in Paperback Sound, Space, and the City: Civic Performance in Downtown Los Angeles Marina Peterson 200 pages | 6 x 9 | 14 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4234-8 | $39.95 | £26.00 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2236-4 | $22.50 | £15.00 Ebook 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0770-5 | $22.50 | £15.00 A volume in the City in the Twenty-First Century series In Sound, Space, and the City, Marina Peterson explores the processes—from urban renewal to the performance of ethnicity and the experiences of audiences—through which civic space is created at music performances in downtown Los Angeles.

Now in Paperback Asymmetric Autonomy and the Settlement of Ethnic Conflicts Edited by Marc Weller and Katherine Nobbs 360 pages | 6 x 9 | 2 illus. Cloth 2010 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4230-0 | $59.95 | £39.00 Paper 2012 | ISBN 978-0-8122-2238-8 | $29.95 | £19.50 Ebook 2011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-0575-6 | $29.95 | £19.50 A volume in the National and Ethnic Conflict in the 21st Century series "A useful collection of articles that analyses issues of autonomy and asymmetry from a multi-dimensional perspective."--International Journal on Minority and Group Rights This collection of new case studies assesses the ability of asymmetrical autonomy agreements to resolve violent struggles between central governments and separatist groups within their borders.

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

This Month's Podcast: David R. Swartz and the Evangelical Left

In the November Penn Press podcast, David R. Swartz, Assistant Professor at Asbury University and author of Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism, discusses the overlooked history of progressive evangelical Christians in the United States.

In this section of the interview, Swartz describes the differences between fundamentalist Christians and other evangelical believers:

Evangelicalism--often called neoevangelicalism to distinguish it from nineteenth-century versions of it--came out of fundamentalism. This was a more separatist movement. And this was the era in which Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians are starting to split along fundamentalist and modernist lines. Neoevangelicals came in the wake of that and wanted to reengage the world. They were less separatist, and they were less fired up in some ways.

When you see a conservative Christian, say, railing against gays on a YouTube video, that’s almost always a fundamentalist. The pithiest way to say this is that a fundamentalist is an evangelical who’s angry about something. Now unfortunately in the popular imagination, the word evangelical has come to mean fundamentalist. So there’s a historical part to this, but there’s also a temperamental  aspect to these two movements.

David Swartz, author of Moral Minority by PennPress

The complete interview is available at the Penn Press podcast page.