University of Michigan Press Blog

Dr. Howard Markel, Author of "Formative Years," on Swine Flu Vaccination

 

|Read Transcript|
|Original NPR Article|

Howard Markel is the co-author with Alexandra Minna Stern of Formative Years, which sheds light on the development of the fields of pediatrics and child health during the last century (1880-2000). Markel is the George Edward Wantz Professor of the History of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, and Professor of History at the University of Michigan. MORE INFO

Author of "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea" Interview with The Young Turks

Joshua Hortwiz is one of two authors of this book Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea. He received a law degree from George Washington University and is currently a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

|Visit the authors' website at: Coalition to Stop Gun Violence|

|Also watch: "Guns and Liberty" on C-Span, Horwitz and Anderson at Hartford University|

Q&A with Annie Lehmann, author of The Accidental Teacher

Having severe autism does not stop Annie Lehmann's son Jonah from teaching her some of life's most valuable lessons. The Accidental Teacher, a heartfelt memoir about self-discovery rather than illness, uses insight and humor to weave a tale rich with kitchen-table wisdom. It explains the realities of life with a largely nonverbal son and explores the frustrations and triumphs of the Lehmann family as Jonah grew into a young adult.

Annie Lehmann, a freelance writer for more than twenty-five years, has published articles in many newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times and Detroit Free Press.

Listen to the podcast

Inside Higher Ed: Eszter Hargittai and "Research Confidential: Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They Never Have"

Originally published in INSIDE HIGHER ED, Oct. 30, 2009

For social scientists starting their careers, creating research models that work is crucial. A new book suggests that they may be unaware of problems they face in part because scholars don't share stories of what didn't work on their projects, and how to deal with particular challenges. Research Confidential: Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They Never Have has just been published by the University of Michigan Press. The essays in the collection are all by younger scholars, including the volume's editor, Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, a fellow at the Berman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and a career advice columnist for Inside Higher Ed. Hargittai responded to questions about the book.

Q: I was struck by the part of your subtitle where you say "pretend they never have." Why do you think social scientists don't recognize or hide from problems with their research methods?

A: This title refers less to what social scientists recognize and more to what shows up in the final write-up of their projects. When one reads journal articles, the methodological sections tend to make the projects sound rather straight-forward. In books, details about methods are usually relegated to an appendix, at best, and do not tell the reader the reality of data collection. Instead, they are pretty, cleaned-up versions of what happened. For example, they will include the number of final interviews the researcher conducted, but they won't include details about how many attempts it took to get a person to come to an interview.

Q&A with Mardi Link, author of Isadore's Secret

Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town is a gripping account of the mysterious disappearance of a young nun in a northern Michigan town and the national controversy that followed when she turned up dead and buried in the basement of the church.

Mardi Link, a former crime reporter and author of When Evil Came to Good Hart discusses her latest true crime book.

  Listen to the podcast

Q&A with John Kenneth White, author of Barack Obama's America

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency marks a conclusive end to the Reagan era, writes John Kenneth White in Barack Obama's America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended the Reagan Era. Reagan symbolized a 1950s and 1960s America, largely white and suburban, with married couples and kids at home, who attended church more often than not.  The demographics, however, have shifted: Marriage is at an all-time low. Cohabitation has increased from a half-million couples in 1960 to more than 5 million in 2000 to even more this year. Gay marriages and civil unions are redefining what it means to be a family. And organized religions are suffering, even as Americans continue to think of themselves as a religious people.

John Kenneth White is Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

  Listen to the podcast

David Kairys on Law and Disorder Radio

A memoir that is also a compelling page-turner, Philadelphia Freedom is the poignant, informative, often inspiring account of renowned civil-rights lawyer David Kairys's personal quest for achieving social justice during the turbulent 1960s and 70s.

Philadelphia Freedom brings us intimately and directly into Kairys's burgeoning law career and the struggles of the 60s as his professional and private life navigated the turmoil and promise of the civil rights and antiwar movements.

Listen to an interview with Kairys on Law and Disorder radio.

Learn more about Philadelphia Freedom: Memoir of a Civil Rights Lawyer.

Q&A with Susan Messer, author of Grand River and Joy

Grand River and Joy, named after a landmark intersection in Detroit, follows Harry Levine through the intersections of his life and the history of his city. It's a work of fiction set in a world that is anything but fictional, a novel about the intersections between races, classes and religions exploding in the long, hot summers of Detroit in the 1960s. Grand River and Joy is a powerful and moving exploration of one of the most difficult chapters of Michigan history.

Susan Messer's fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications. She received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in prose, an Illinois Arts Council literary award for creative nonfiction, and a prize in the Jewish Cultural Writing Competition of the Dora Teitelboim Center for Yiddish Culture. Her story "Remnants, Like Dust in Pocket Seams," which is the basis for her novel, won Moment magazine's 2005 short fiction competition.

  Listen to the podcast

Author David Kairys: Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings Are...Hard to Watch

by David Kairys, author of Philadelphia Freedom, Memoir of a Civil Rights Lawyer.

(Orginally posted July 16, 2009, on the blog of the American Constitution Society)

"It's hard for me to watch the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, not only because of the Senators' generally unfocused, rambling questions. Conservatives and many of their most cherished values and ideas were just resoundingly defeated in an election. Congress is overwhelmingly Democratic, with 60 Democrats in control of the Senate, which will vote on the nomination. Yet, the hearings and the media coverage of them are dominated by conservatives and conservative ideas about law and justice, and a lack serious criticism of the last three decades of conservative dominance of the courts.

Q&A with Greg Nelson, author of M Is for Michigan Football: Celebrating the Tradition of Michigan Football

M Is for Michigan Football explores 26 of the many traditions and highlights of the University of Michigan football program, the winningest in all of college football. The book features eye-popping photos, historical details and trivia about myriad Wolverine football traditions in alphabetical order—from beloved Coach Bo Schembechler (B), the annual border war with Ohio State (the Game) (G), Michigan’s 11 national championships (N), to zero—the number of losses suffered by the 1901 Wolverines in their undefeated, untied, and unscored-upon season (Z).

Greg Nelson, who was born in Jackson, Michigan and currently resides in Florida, is a Michigan fan and college football enthusiast who has been writing professionally for more than 25 years.

Listen to the interview with Greg Nelson from the University of Michigan Press Podcasts.