Category Archives: Books for Understanding

On Democracy

Books for Understanding, Books That Matter

Essential Reading from University Presses

2024 has been a big year for democratic elections around the world, as more than 3 billion people in 72 countries have gone to the polls. Robust elections definitely contribute to healthy democracies but what else is required, outside the voting booth, for democracy to flourish?

“Resilient democracies require good governance, which cannot be created overnight but is built on accountable social and political institutions, with norms, values and a culture based on respect for human rights.”

– Marcos Neto, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UN Development Programme Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

Association of University Presses members around the world have long published scholarly works that contribute to understanding even the most complex systems and contentious current events. Here are selected books, journal articles, reading lists, and commentary from our member presses and their expert authors in a wide range of fields, offering essential reading to all who seek to understand and nurture democracy.

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On Advancing the Work of the Association

Annual Meetings, Books for Understanding, Open Access, Professional Development

A Chat with Erich van Rijn

It’s not surprising that nonprofit professional associations reflect their members’ needs, interests, and aspirations. But perhaps less well known is the actual scope of how many hands shape the successful realization of any association’s goals.

Dedicated publishing professionals at the Association’s member presses around the globe contribute every day to the work of our Association, in addition to advancing the outstanding work of their own presses. Led by the more than 160 individuals who currently serve on the Association’s Board of Directors and in its 20 committees and task forces, these individuals collaborate to articulate and promote the value of university press publishing and to envision, create, and support some of the Association’s most respected projects, such as informative best-practices guides like the Peer Review Handbook, Permissions FAQ, Marketing Handbook, and Business Handbook; myth-busting Ask UP posts; the inspiring Book, Jacket, and Journal Show catalog; and the enlightening Annual Meeting Program.

During US National Volunteer Week (April 21-27, 2024), we express our gratitude to all who are currently engaged in the vital work of our Association. 

Why commit thought, time, and energy to this shared work? And what can individuals who step up to serve the Association receive in return? Here are some insights from Erich van Rijn, an experienced AUPresses committee member and leader as well as Director of the University of California Press.

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On Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Books for Understanding, Books That Matter

February 21, 2023. As the first anniversary of Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine nears, our community’s resources for understanding the region and this brutal war continue to offer much-needed knowledge and context.

Below is an updated and expanded list of books, journal articles, booklists, and commentary from our member presses and their expert authors, essential reading to all who seek to understand the ongoing crisis.

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Charlottesville Curriculum

Books for Understanding, Books That Matter, , ,

After Charlottesville, local debates over the place of Confederate monuments in United States public places roared into the national spotlight. With a broad knowledge of the fields of study that have examined the history, policy, and cultural meanings of such monuments, University Press of Kansas Editor-in-Chief Joyce Harrison compiled for the Association a list of relevant university-press-published scholarship for us to share as part of the #CharlottesvilleCurriculum effort. There are many other deeply urgent aspects to what happened in Charlottesville on August 12, and several Association members have also compiled valuable resource lists under the #CharlottesvilleCurriculum tag. More can also be found in sections of the Books for Understanding: Race Relations in the US bibliography.

Compiled and introduced by Joyce Harrison

As more and more Confederate monuments and symbols are removed in US cities and towns, many people new to the issue have wondered why. Is it a bit extreme? Are we erasing history by removing them?

The books in this list were written by people who have spent their lives and careers studying how Americans remembered victory and defeat, how southerners honored the Confederate dead, and what monuments meant when they were built—and continue to mean—as our troubled past haunts us, over 150 years after the end of the Civil War.

University presses can help us understand and allow us to contribute to informed discussion and debate.

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#CharlottesvilleCurriculum: Resources from the UP Community

Books for Understanding, Books That Matter, , ,

After while supremacists and Neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, leading to violence and the tragic killing of anti-racist protester Heather Heyer, many groups and individuals have used social media to point fellow citizens to books, articles, teaching resources, and other materials to help understand what is happening throughout the United States. The members of the Association of University Presses publish scholarship that helps all of us know and understand our history, our present, and our possible futures; and a number of member presses have contributed resource lists to the #CharlottesvilleCurriculum and #CharlottesvilleSyllabus effort. Below are links to these reading lists.

If we’ve missed any #CharlottesvilleCurriculum posts by Association members, please email details to bmclaughlin@aaupnet.org. 

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“University Presses in Space” Launches into Orbit

Books for Understanding, Pilot Projects, , ,

upinspace_mitpressOne small step for collaboration

by Ellen Faran, Director, The MIT Press

March 20 marks the liftoff of “University Presses in Space,” a website promoting university press books about outer space and space exploration. The site, www.upinspace.org, features 30 titles selected by the 15 participating presses as among their best space books. These titles are cross-linked with the individual book pages in presses’ web catalogs so that we may share web traffic. In addition, all the presses and their authors may share links to the site through catalogs, email, social media, and at exhibits and meetings.

The MIT Press conceived of this joint promotion in conjunction with our lead Spring 2014 title, Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program. We worked closely with three partners—the University Press of Florida, Purdue University Press, and the University of Nebraska Press—to develop the idea and then invited all AAUP member presses to join as participants. MIT designed and launched the site; Nebraska will then take over the site after it enters its regular orbit. Nebraska has arranged to bring “University Presses in Space” to the attention of attendees at SpaceFest (“THE event for the space enthusiast”) in Pasadena this May.

We believe that space buffs, as well as general readers interested in space, don’t stop at just one book. We believe that they appreciate the quality of university press publishing. Thus we hope that the discovery experience provided by “University Presses in Space” will stimulate sales, both for the featured titles and the many more space books to be found by exploring university press lists. The site includes a link to AAUP’s Books for Understanding which has a Space Flight category.

This is a modest experiment in collaborative promotion; modest in part because the site does not offer a combined shopping experience. But we hope that the response to “University Presses in Space” will point us toward effective ways to promote books in specific fields across our community, throughout the galaxy, and beyond.

Please share the news with any space explorers in your part of the universe. Our Twitter hashtag is #upspacebooks.