University of Michigan Press Blog

Hutaree "Christian Warrior" Militia in Michigan: Author Robert Churchill in New York Times

by Robert Churchill, author of To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant's Face, originally posted as "The Government and the Militia Movement," The New York Times, March 30, 2010

"In the mid 1990s hundreds of militia groups formed across the nation in response to the state-sponsored political violence on display at Ruby Ridge and Waco. The movement was from its earliest days divided between two wings. Constitutional militias emphasized public meetings and membership open to all races and faiths. Their members were motivated by a fear of increasing state violence directed at gun owners, and they were primarily libertarian in their politics.

These millenarian militias feared the onset of the New World Order, which they understood as a literal conspiracy for an imminent invasion of the United States as part of a global plan to reduce the world’s population by genocidal means. They saw this conspiracy as part of the onset of the biblical End Times.

In Search of Understanding On the First Anniversary of the Publishing of the Torture Memos

As we approach the first anniversary of the release of "The Torture Memos," where do we stand? Can we even now define "torture" in state practice? John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and the other authors of the torture memos have pushed the boundary one way, members of the Obama camp the other, and yet, Lewis and Clark Law School Professor John T. Parry says, even if we reach a solid definition of torture in hopes of prohibiting it, that prohibition will not end such practices.

In new release Understanding Torture: Law, Violence, and Political Identity, Parry explains that torture is already a normal part of the state coercive apparatus. Torture is about dominating the victim for a variety of purposes, including public order; control of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities; and— critically—domination for the sake of domination. Seen in this way, Abu Ghraib sits on a continuum with contemporary police violence in U.S. cities; violent repression of racial minorities throughout U.S. history; and the exercise of power in a variety of political, social, and interpersonal contacts.

The University of Michigan Press and Scholarly Publications in the Digital Age

University of Michigan Press Director Phil Pochoda and University of Michigan Dean of Libraries Paul Courant speak about the digital publishing revolution and the new era of the academic monograph:

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Click below for bonus inspirational video: The Future of Publishing, by DK Books...

Samuel Eldersveld, former Ann Arbor mayor, U-M professor, and Press author, dies at 92

Ann Arbor lost a former mayor and longtime University of Michigan professor when Samuel Eldersveld died Friday of congestive heart failure. He was 92.

Samuel J. Eldersveld was a former mayor of Ann Arbor, a longtime professor of political science at the University of Michigan, and the author of Political Elites in Michigan Societies as well as the focus of the edited volume Comparative Political Parties and Party Elites, edited by Birol A. Yesilada.

For almost 60 years, Eldersveld was a mainstay at the University of Michigan Department of Political Science. He also played a key role in the resurgence of the local Democratic party in the post World War II era.

Eldersveld grew up the son of a minister in Muskegon. He went on to earn his undergraduate degree from Calvin College in 1938 and master's degree in political science in 1939 from the University of Michigan. On the encouragement of his advisors, he entered the Ph.D. program.

Then World War II came calling, and Eldersveld served as a lieutenant, encoding and decoding communiques in the Philippines.

Two critically acclaimed novelists speak at March 19 UMP Author Series event

Debra Spark set her novel in Madison, Wis. Susan Messer placed hers in downtown Detroit the summer of the 1967 riots. Both make you feel as if you actually stepped into those cities.

And both will be in Ann Arbor on Friday, March 19, from 5-6:30 p.m., as a joint presentation from the University of Michigan Press Author Series and the UM Library Spotlight Series to read from their books and discuss their methods. A book sale/signing and Q&A will follow.

Spark's book, Good for the Jews, is a funny, sharp story about a Jewish family facing everything from love triangles to Antisemitism in the Midwest. Messer's book, Grand River and Joy, is about a shopkeeper who must decide whether to stay the course in his racially torn neighborhood or move out to the suburbs. Both were published last year, and both have won critical acclaim.

See both authors at the Screening Room on the second floor of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library, on the University of Michigan campus. For more information, and directions to the free presentation, visit the Author Series Web site. Tea and coffee will be served.

We asked both writers to give a little insight into their approach to creating a living, breathing setting for their novels.

Digital Scholarship Recognized

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an author reception at the University of Michigan Shapiro Science Library. This is an annual event to celebrate new additions to the permanent display of science journal and book covers that feature research from faculty of the University of Michigan’s LSA Natural Sciences departments and the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

As I wandered the display  I realized that in addition to covers and jackets from print books, several of the mounted  covers were associated with ebooks and web research sites. It was a great moment for me as the digital manager for the University of Michigan Press. What I was witnessing, presented without any special fanfare, was recognition from library staff, readers, and consumers that research results were valued in any format—print or digital. As the Press commits to producing scholarly monographs in any format preferred by our readers, it is gratifying to see such information visibly documented as timely and important in whatever format this information needs to take to best reach its audience.

Karen Hill
University of Michigan Press,
A part of MPublishing at the UM Library

What's Wellesley Reading? Unmaking the West

The weekly podcast series "What Wellesley's Reading" recently featured Craig Murphy reading an excerpt from  UMP's own Unmaking the West: "What If'" Scenarios that Rewrite World History,  edited by Philip E. Tetlock, Richard Ned Lebow, and Geoffrey Parker. In Unmaking the West, Tetlock, Lebow, and Parker  explore the intriguing world of counterfactual history. What if the Persians had won at Salamis? What if Christ had not been crucified? What if the Chinese had harnessed steam power before the West?  The provocative collection is both an exploration of alternative scenarios to world history and an exercise in testing the strengths and weaknesses of counterfactual experiments. 

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Click here to learn more about Unmaking the West.

Q&A with Lorraine Lopez, author of An Angle of Vision: Women Writers on Their Poor and Working-Class Roots

An Angle of Vision is a compelling anthology that collects personal essays and memoir by a diverse group of gifted authors united by their poor or working-class roots in America.

Throughout this collection, the authors describe delicate balances of work and family, men and money, motherhood and sexuality.

Editor Lorraine M. Lopéz is the prize-winning author of two novels, The Gifted Galabon Sisters and Call Me Henri, and a short-story collection, Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories. She is Associate Professor of English at Vanderbilt University and Associate Editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review.

Listen to the podcast