University of California Press Blog

In Memoriam: Bryan Reardon

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of UC Press author, Professor Emeritus of Classics at University of California, Irvine, and revered scholar, Bryan P. Reardon.

Professor Reardon was first brought to UC Press by our esteemed Director Emeritus, August Fruge, who championed Reardon's work on establishing the novel as an ancient Greek literary form. Reardon translated scores of Greek novels that has been forgotten since the Renaissance, and introduced these tales of romance and adventure to modern readers. His work shaped both perceptions of antiquity and contemporary pop cultural studies.

ICAN, the International Conference of the Ancient Novel, started in part by Reardon, continues to meet every few years. The UC Press staff was honored to work with Professor Reardon on an updated edition of his magnum opus, Collected Ancient Greek Novels for the 2008 conference in Lisbon. The book included a new foreword by J.R. Morgan, an intellectual successor and colleague whom Professor Reardon had the utmost praise for.

We at UC Press will miss the Professor Reardon's delightful transcontinental phone calls, his gentility, and his commitment to impeccable scholarship. He was an inspiration.

Boom: New UC Press Journal

The University of California Press Journals division announced the forthcoming publication of Boom: A Journal of California, a new peer-reviewed, quarterly journal dedicated to social, political, and cultural issues in the Golden State.

Edited by Carolyn de la Peña, Associate Professor of American Studies at UC Davis and Director of the Davis Humanities Institute, and Louis Warren, UC Davis’ W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of Western U.S. History, Boom will bring in-depth intellectual study of California to a wide audience, and inspire discussion about California's past, present, and future. Each issue will feature thoughtful and provocative articles by a range of contributors, from researchers and scholars to writers and photographers.

Boom breaks new ground in California studies, and has global relevance: "One in eight residents of the U.S. lives in California, and the state has become an unprecedented cultural, economic, and political force in the U.S. and abroad. And yet, no journal has explored the origins and meaning of today's California in an interdisciplinary and intellectual way. With Boom, we aim to fix that," said Warren. 

The new journal also addresses a need for a greater understanding of California: “To truly grapple with the crisis facing California, we have to gather new knowledge about who we are, how we got here, and what common ground can be built for the future. By featuring the work of researchers in multiple fields and combining that with community voices, we believe Boom will uncover fresh perspectives on the state we're in,” de la Peña said.

Boom's debut issue will appear in February 2011.

Boom is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “We are deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for fostering scholarship in California Studies at this critical moment,” said University of California Press Director Lynne Withey.

Read the press release announcing the new UC Press journal Boom: A Journal of California.

The Most Expensive Public Works Project in the History of California

Just a reminder that the Bay Bridge will be closed starting tonight, September 3, 2009 and reopening on September 7, 2009 at 5:00am.  View a simulation of the amazing architectural and engineering feat they are going to attempt this weekend.

Listen to an NPR story on Day to Day about this project:

Summer Reading Podcast From Our Editors

With summer solstice arriving this past Sunday, three of our editors had the chance to recommend a handful of summer reading titles. Social science editor, Naomi Schneider recommends a book on race and class and another on organic farming in wine country. Science editor, Jenny Wapner suggests a forthcoming book on how insects enrich our lives. Lastly, music and cinema editor, Mary Francis recommends biographies on Ethel Merman and Walt Disney.

More information on our summer reading titles can be found our Summer Reading 2009 page. You may subscribe to the monthly podcast feed that contains the individual episodes using your RSS aggregator or directly via the iTunes store.  You can listen to individual author interviews from the episodes at our podcast page.

Listen to an interview about our Summer Reading titles, with Naomi Schneider, Jenny Wapner, and Mary Francis.

Save 20% on these selected titles by entering the discount code: 09W9108 into the shopping cart at checkout to save! Hurry, the sale ends July 31, 2009.

World Ocean Day

Today, June 8th marks World Ocean Day! On December 5, 2008, the United Nations declared June 8, 2009 will be World Ocean Day to commemorate the first Earth Summit which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 8, 1992. World Ocean Day is a chance for people to celebrate every year what the ocean has given us, whether it's marine life, trading routes, or seafood.This special day also increases awareness for oceanic and environmental issues such as pollution, global warming and over-consumption of seafood.

As a result of this wonderful occasion, UC Press is happy to announce that for today only, you can save 20% off selected titles on oceanography! Please use code 09W6508 upon check out.

Here is some information on featured oceanography titles by UC Press:

The theatrical release of The End of the Line, which is a documentary based on Charles Clover's book, The End of the Line: How Overfishing in Changing the World and What We Eat (UC Press, March 2008) will be screened at over 50 movie theaters across the nation; for these listings, please visit the documentary's website. Clover will be conducting a Q&A session after the screening at Islington Vue in London on June 8th, for tickets, please visit the Vue website.

In addition to The End of the Line, UC Press recently published Oceans: Exploring the Hidden Depths of the Underwater World by Paul Rose and Anne Laking (April 2009). This breathtaking book is the companion guide to the acclaimed BBC series, Oceans. The book is accompanied with over 150 color photographs and includes great underwater stories.

Wolf Berger's reflections on the ocean and those who inhabit it are featured in his book, Ocean: Reflections on a Century of Exploration.

West Coast Premiere of Mark Twain's "IS HE DEAD?"

IS HE DEAD? West Coast Premiere is a hit!

After opening to rave reviews on Broadway, Mark Twain's IS HE DEAD? made its West Coast premiere at the International City Theatre in Long Beach, California. The Los Angeles Times calls the production "...a riot from beginning to end...a buoyant staging..." while the Examiner noted that "under the direction of Shashin Desai, even the intermission is fun."

Visit the International City Theatre website to view a video with excerpts from the play, hear audience reactions, read the reviews, or to buy tickets. The production closes May 24.

The play may also be coming to a theater near you! A full list of productions, both past and future, can be found at the Playscripts website.

UC Press published Mark Twain's IS HE DEAD?: A Comedy in Three Acts in October 2003.

Author David Blumenthal Joins the Obama Administration

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced that David Blumenthal will join the Obama Administration as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Dr. Blumenthal will oversee a new countrywide privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure.

Blumenthal states in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services news release:

“I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve President Obama and the American people in the effort to harness the power of health information technology to modernize our health care system. As a primary care physician who has used an electronic record to care for patients every day for 10 years, I understand the enormous potential of this technology. President Obama has laid out a vision of health reform that is both inspiring and long overdue. We cannot make that vision a reality without the help of our most advanced computer technology.”  

Dr. David Blumenthal was formerly, Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also co-author of The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office, which will be published by UC Press in June 2009.

Listen to an interview with David Blumenthal, as he talks about his new book The Heart of Power.

As a special pre-publication offer, save 20% by entering the discount code 09W6936 upon checkout.

Taste Fine Wines, Visit Old California, and Explore the History of Life on Earth

UC Press will unveil three brand-new series this fall. The new arrivals travel to Champagne, Tuscany, and colonial California, and to the forefront of systematic biology. The fall season also marks the debut of UC Publishing Services (UCPubS), a sustainable system combining print and digital publishing for scholarly books.

UC Press has about one hundred and thirty series in print. They introduce students to ancient philosophies, chronicle excavations of hominid remains in Ethiopia’s Middle Awash region, celebrate food and culture, reveal California's natural wonders, and explore many other subjects. The new series, The World’s Finest Wines, Western Histories, and Species and Systematics, each have two books due this fall.

The experienced palate can trace a glass of Chianti back to the sprawling vineyards of Tuscany, and a celebratory sip of Champagne back to its namesake province in rural France. In THE WORLD’S FINEST WINES series, the experts behind World of Fine Wine magazine profile these and other classic regions, capturing each area's complex character. In The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy, Nicholas Belfrage visits more than ninety producers, selects his one hundred favorite wines, and reviews all the best vintages. In The Finest Wines of Champagne, Michael Edwards takes us on a terroir-based journey through the ultimate sparkling wine region. Exploring both traditions and trends, he tastes the most interesting wines, including two decades of vintages. 

SPECIES AND SYSTEMATICS is a scholarly series that investigates fundamental and practical aspects of systematics and taxonomy. Malte Ebach, co-author of Comparative Biogeography, is the series editor.  
    Earth and life share a complex history that stretches far beyond the origin of our species. Yet if we look closely enough at the mountains, oceans, and organisms of today, the entire history of life on earth can unfold before our eyes. To unlock these elusive secrets, biogeographers analyze patterns of biodiversity, species distribution, and geological history. In the landmark text Comparative Biogeography, Lynne Parenti and Malte Ebach outline a comparative approach to biogeography, rooted in phylogenetic systematics.
    Like organisms themselves, the idea and meaning of “species” has evolved over time. In Species, John Wilkins chronicles this concept's evolution from antiquity to the present. "Few topics have engaged biologists and philosophers more than the concept of species, and arguably no idea is more important for evolutionary science,” says Joel Cracraft of the American Museum of Natural History. Adds UC Berkeley’s Kevin Padian of the book: "This is not the potted history that one usually finds in texts and review articles." 

WESTERN HISTORIES is a new series published by the Huntington Library Press and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, in partnership with the University of California Press. Drawing on the resources and programs of these institutions, the series enriches our understanding of California and the American West.    
    It is always fascinating to imagine what life was like for those who lived and died before our time. How did the people of the past see themselves and their worlds? In Alta California, Steven Hackel collects nine essays examining individual and collective identity in Spanish California. Innovative and extensively researched, the essays bring to light the perspectives of colonial California’s diverse population.
    In The Father of All, the Oakland Museum of California’s chief history curator Louise Pubols presents an illuminating study of the powerful de la Guerra family of Santa Barbara. Through their story, and analysis of the era’s political and economic upheaval, she reveals how patriarchy functioned through the generations in Spanish and Mexican California. 

UC Press and the California Digital Library are pleased to announce University of California Publishing Services (UCPubS). This integrated system combines print distribution, sales, and marketing services offered by UC Press with the open access digital publishing services provided by the California Digital Library through eScholarship. UCPubS is part of the University of California’s broader effort to ensure a sustainable scholarly publishing system in the service of research and teaching. Here's a preview of the UCPubS books coming this fall:

Nietzsche's Negative Ecologies, by Malcolm Bull, T.J. Clark, & Anthony Cascardi

Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury and Free Speech, by Talal Asad, Judith Butler, Saba Mahmood, & Wendy Brown

Stories from Schools: Case Studies of the California Academic Partnership Program, edited by Alice Kawazoe

Hard Work, Hard Times: Global Volatility and African Subjectives, by Anne-Maria Makhulu, Beth A. Buggenhagen, & Stephen Jackson

Landmark Publication of Mark Twain’s Autobiography

University of California Press and The Mark Twain Project are pleased to announce the landmark publication of Mark Twain’s Autobiography. The book and companion website will be available in 2010 to coincide with the centennial year of Mark Twain’s death.

The autobiography will be the flagship publication in a year-long tribute to America’s most beloved author. Over the centennial year, UC Press and The Mark Twain Project plan a series of Mark Twain publications:

•    This fall 2009, UC Press will publish Mark Twain’s Book of Animals, edited by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, with authoritative texts established by The Mark Twain Project. The beautiful volume, illustrated with 30 new images by master engraver Barry Moser, will gather writings from the full span of Mark Twain’s career to illuminate his special attachment to and regard for animals.

•    In spring 2010, UC Press will issue new editions of Twain’s best known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, that will feature some of the extraordinary materials related to the novels: original publishing contracts, Mark Twain's handwritten letters to his family, and programs from early book tours.

•    UC Press and The Mark Twain Project will release new material on Mark Twain Project Online. The site, which provides access to more than 2,300 letters and documents, will feature new texts and functionality later this spring when the texts of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians are released.

•    The first of three volumes of Mark Twain’s Autobiography will appear in trade print editions in fall of 2010, and will also be available on Mark Twain Project Online documented with full scholarly apparatus.

"We are very proud of our longstanding and important publishing partnership with The Mark Twain Papers and Project. We're especially excited to make Mark Twain's Autobiography--a landmark publication in American letters--available to audiences worldwide," notes UC Press Director Lynne Withey.

Although portions of Mark Twain’s autobiography have been published, less than half of it has ever appeared in print much less in the way he intended. In the complete and authoritative edition, readers will find Mark Twain musing about his Missouri childhood, lamenting an embarrassing speech at the birthday dinner for John Greenleaf Whittier, and describing the villa near Florence that his family rented in 1904. Although many thought it was not possible, the editors of The Mark Twain Project are establishing a lucid text that is both fascinating to read and that remains true to the author’s original idiosyncratic intent. These editors are, in fact, the first to have actually understood exactly how Mark Twain wanted his text to appear and what it should contain

Bob Hirst, General Editor of the Mark Twain Papers and Project describes the effort that has gone into publication of Mark Twain’s last masterpiece: “It was a daunting task simply to figure out which of the 2500 pages of manuscript belong in the final form and which do not, or even that there was a final form designed by the author. Those pages have been in the Mark Twain Papers since 1910, but have never been fully understood by any of their successive editors. We are fortunate that Mark Twain Project editors with nearly 40 years of experience were able to work on and solve this problem. The result is that no one, until now, has ever read or could read the Autobiography of Mark Twain. We are confident it will be an exhilarating experience for all Mark Twain’s fans.”

Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910. He wrote many autobiographical pieces during his lifetime, but in 1906, he began the ambitious project of systematically recording his life for posterity. This project took up the remaining four years of his life. He always intended to speak from the grave; in fact, he included strict instructions for many of the pieces to appear no sooner than 100 years after his death.  He writes: “To the Unborn Reader, In your day, a hundred years hence, this manuscript will have a distinct value; & not a small value but a large one. If it can be preserved ten centuries it will have a still larger value— a value augmented tenfold, in fact. For it will furnish an intimate inside view of our domestic life of to-day not to be found in naked & comprehensive detail outside of its pages.”

The great writer’s prescient words have come true. Fascination with Mark Twain has not waned, and his autobiography stands to be one of the most anticipated and important publications of the twenty-first century.

Note: The image to the left is of a hand-written preface to Mark Twain's autobiography. You can click the image to view it larger.

UC Press Awarded Major Grant for California Studies Initiative

April 10, 2009 (Berkeley, CA) -- University of California Press (UC Press) is pleased to announce it has received a major grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a strategic initiative in California Studies. The $722,000 award will support the creation of a journal, working papers collection, and annual conference in this emerging field.

Creating a multi-campus research and teaching initiative in California Studies is among the University of California’s most important current priorities. “Support from the Mellon Foundation is critically important at a variety of levels,” states University of California (UC) Vice Provost Daniel Greenstein, “lending credibility to an evolving field of scholarly inquiry while at the same time enabling substantial innovation on the part of UC Press and the partners it has invited into this venture.”

The collaborative project will be led by UC Press in partnership with a number of organizations both within and outside UC, including the UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), the UC California Studies Consortium (UCCSC), and the California Digital Library (CDL). The interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, which will be published in both print and digital editions, will draw on perspectives from numerous disciplines, including history, literature, anthropology, sociology, politics, ecology, and the visual arts. The journal will be supported by a collection of working papers, which will allow scholars in the field to post work in progress and invite comment. In addition, an annual conference will help guide the continuing development of the field.

UCHRI Director David Theo Goldberg states, “This project is crucial to the long-term viability, stability, and expanding capacity of UC’s California Studies initiative to impact scholarship across a range of fields. Furthermore, it is instrumental to reaching citizens and policymakers outside of academia, as well as communities beyond state borders.”

Books on California and the West have formed a major part of UC Press’s editorial program for decades. In recent years California has become a vital topic of research, teaching, and policy debate. Recent trends suggest California has assumed a level of demographic and economic power that is reconfiguring the politics and economics of the United States, the Pacific region, and the world. The state’s increasingly global reach is evident in its immigrant population, which is among the most diverse anywhere.

“The relations between California and the larger world constitute subjects of compelling importance not only for scholars but for the public at large,” asserts Louis S. Warren, W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of Western U.S. History at UC Davis and a member of the UCCSC steering committee. “To my mind, there could be no better home for the new journal than UC Press, one of the nation’s leading academic publishers and one of the few in the world that has the ability to bring scholarship to a broad public audience.”

The Mellon Foundation’s grant will enable UC Press and its partners to broaden the forum for scholarly communication in California Studies, provide an interdisciplinary venue for new research findings, foster interconnections among scholars, and serve as an incubator for more extensive research and publications.

“We are deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for fostering scholarship in California Studies at this critical moment,” notes UC Press Director Lynne Withey. “We look forward to collaborating with our partners throughout the scholarly community to disseminate the results of the Foundation’s investment to a wide and diverse international audience.”