University of Michigan Press Blog

The Colbert Report | The Information Master

by David Bell, originally appeared in The New Republic on October 7th, 2009

The Information Master by Jacob Soll

Soll is also the author of Publishing The Prince (2005)

"That resonant piece of verbal shorthand, TMI--or Too Much Information--would make a fine epigraph for our age. Anyone with an Internet connection today has access to exponentially greater quantities of writing, images, sound, and video than anyone on earth could have imagined just twenty years ago. Small wonder that we have become obsessed with the idea of "information" as an abstract substance independent of its content--something that we accumulate, measure, and "process," rather than ponder and understand. And small wonder that the management and control of information, whether by its "producers," by governments, or by corporations such as Google, has emerged as an increasingly important political concern, and as a subject of scholarship."

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

Dave Dempsey in The Detroit News

Dave Dempsey, a senior policy adviser for the Michigan Environmental Council and author of several University of Michigan Press titles including Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps, Ruin and Recovery: Michigan's Rise as a Conservation Leader, and William G. Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate, was in The Detroit News yesterday with Despite Federal Protection, Great Lakes Remain Troubled Waters.

From www.detnews.com:

If there's one sure bipartisan thing in the environmental politics of Michigan, it's this: The message to anyone outside the state is "hands off" the waters of the Great Lakes. No Michigan politician would dare advocate exporting Great Lakes water to thirsty Texans, for example. And no politician would issue a news release touting a proposal to sell a share of Lake Michigan to T. Boone Pickens.

And yet, unless action occurs soon in both Washington, D.C., and Lansing, we'll end up with exactly those policies in place -- with potentially monumental consequences for the Lakes and for Michigan.

How did we get into this mess?

Read more

If Bricks Could Talk

by Mardi Link, author of the forthcoming Isadore's Secret and bestseller When Evil Came to Good Hart

On Wednesday, July 29, the "Murder Takes a Road Trip" book tour made a stop in Benzonia at the Mills Community House, a stately and historic Northern Michigan landmark celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

What a setting in which to discuss our state's literary history and our own contributions to it!

For a complete schedule of Mardi's upcoming events, visit the UMP Author Events page.

Murder Takes A Road Trip to Sutton's Bay

by Mardi Link, author of the forthcoming Isadore's Secret and bestseller When Evil Came to Good Hart

Thursday night the Murder Takes A Road Trip book tour rolled into Suttons Bay, pages a'blazin'.

If the photo above appears a little blurry, chalk it up to road dust. That's Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli on the left, Aaron Stander in the middle, and me on the right. No cookies at the library, but a great crowd and even a nod this morning on Facebook. Plus, a stroll afterwards over to Brilliant Books to sign and chat.

For a complete schedule of Mardi's upcoming events, click here.

Michigan Murder, Homemade Cookies

by Mardi Link, author of the forthcoming Isadore's Secret and bestseller When Evil Came to Good Hart

Last night was the first stop on the "Murder Takes a Road Trip" book tour I'm currently on with two fellow writers, Elizabeth Buzzelli and Aaron Stander. The three of us -- and we're privately calling ourselves the co-conspirators -- chatted up a good-sized crowd at the Bellaire Public Library.

For a complete schedule of Mardi's upcoming events, click here.

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, July 15-18

Downtown Ann Arbor has come to life with the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. Opening today, the art fair is one of the largest, and best in the country. With 4 fairs running simultaneously in the heart of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus, there's something for all art lovers. 

Photo: Cynthia Davis, Art Fair

Be sure to look for UMP author, Cynthia Davis' booth while you're there! Davis' booth is located at: Space #375 - Corner of Main Street and Liberty, West side of Main. Davis's unique style of hand-altered Polaroid photographs captures the beauty of the Great Lakes in five books, all available for sale at the fair. To learn more about the author and the event, click here.

Click on each title to learn more about Cynthia Davis' books: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Detroit, Saugatuck & Douglas, Traverse City and the Leelanau Peninsula.

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.

"A Holy Snooping" by Mardi Link

Mardi Link is author of the forthcoming true crime novel Isadore's Secret. Below is a posting that appeared on her blog Rusty Gun on July 2, 2009.

July 1st the New York Times featured a story on naughty nuns. Well, not naughty nuns per se, but rather Rome's decidedly dim view of the behavior of nuns in the U.S. According to the article, the Vatican has initiated two investigations into the workings of American convents. Specifically, those convents whose Sisters are out and about, working with the public. Cloistered nuns who shun our modern world are, apparently, still ok.

"When I was a young girl" by Susan Messer

When I was a young girl, growing up in 1960s Detroit, someone told me, possibly a teacher, that Jews and blacks were minority groups. I remember walking home, turning this idea over in my mind, and thinking that the person who had concocted it must be terribly misinformed, because when I looked around my world, the only people I saw were blacks and Jews.
When I told this to a neighbor recently, she said, "You mean there weren't any  . . . just plain white . . . ?"
"No," I said. "Oh, maybe a few."
Grand River and Joy comes in part from that world, where together we two minority groups lived, went to school, and worked in uneasy proximity, never fully understanding each other, never fully welcomed by the surrounding majority.