Name: Riding Like the Wind
Brand: Iris Jamahl Dunkle
Price: 27.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Riding Like the Wind

$27.95

"This absorbing biography, written with both affection and admiration, shows Babb as one of the most indefatigable characters in American literary history."—The New Republic

This saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author of midcentury American literature.

In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants. In Riding Like the Wind, renowned biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle revives the groundbreaking voice of Sanora Babb.

Dunkle follows Babb from her impoverished childhood in eastern Colorado to California. There, she befriended the era's literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.

Grace Lee Boggs

The Next American Revolution

$20.95

The Strategist's Best Books About Asian American Identity, New York Magazine

The pioneering Asian American labor organizer and writer’s vision for intersectional and anti-racist activism.

In this powerful, deeply humanistic book, Grace Lee Boggs, a legendary figure in the struggle for justice in America, shrewdly assesses the current crisis—political, economical, and environmental—and shows how to create the radical social change we need to confront new realities. A vibrant, inspirational force, Boggs has participated in all of the twentieth century’s major social movements—for civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and more. She draws from seven decades of activist experience, and a rigorous commitment to critical thinking, to redefine “revolution” for our times.

From her home in Detroit, she reveals how hope and creativity are overcoming despair and decay within the most devastated urban communities. Her book is a manifesto for creating alternative modes of work, politics, and human interaction that will collectively constitute the next American Revolution—which is unraveling before our eyes.

Nobuko Miyamoto

Not Yo' Butterfly

$29.95

A mold-breaking memoir of Asian American identity, political activism, community, and purpose.

Not Yo’ Butterfly is the intimate and unflinching life story of Nobuko Miyamoto—artist, activist, and mother. Beginning with the harrowing early years of her life as a Japanese American child navigating a fearful west coast during World War II, Miyamoto leads readers into the landscapes that defined the experiences of twentieth-century America and also foregrounds the struggles of people of color who reclaimed their histories, identities, and power through activism and art.

Miyamoto vividly describes her early life in the racialized atmosphere of Hollywood musicals and then her turn toward activism as an Asian American troubadour with the release of A Grain of Sand—considered to be the first Asian American folk album. Her narrative intersects with the stories of Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs, influential in both Asian and Black liberation movements. She tells how her experience of motherhood with an Afro-Asian son, as well as a marriage that intertwined Black and Japanese families and communities, placed her at the nexus of the 1992 Rodney King riots—and how she used art to create interracial solidarity and conciliation.

Through it all, Miyamoto has embraced her identity as an Asian American woman to create an antiracist body of work and a blueprint for empathy and praxis through community art. Her sometimes barbed, often provocative, and always steadfast story is now told.

Marsha Gordon

Becoming the Ex-Wife

$29.95

"Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure."—The New Yorker
"Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention."—New York Times
The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.

Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change.

Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.

Yiman Wang

To Be an Actress

$34.95

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Between 1919 and 1961, pioneering Chinese American actress Anna May Wong established an enduring legacy that encompassed cinema, theater, radio, and American television. Born in Los Angeles, yet with her US citizenship scrutinized due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Wong—a defiant misfit—innovated nuanced performances to subvert the racism and sexism that beset her life and career. In this critical study of Wong's cross-media and transnational career, Yiman Wang marshals extraordinary archival research and a multifocal approach to illuminate a lifelong labor of performance. Viewing Wong as a performer and worker, not just a star, To Be an Actress adopts a feminist decolonial perspective to speculatively meet her as an interlocutor while inviting a reconsideration of racialized, gendered, and migratory labor as the bedrock of the entertainment industries.

Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley

Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy

$34.95

The king of radio comedy from the Great Depression through the early 1950s, Jack Benny was one of the most influential entertainers in twentieth-century America. A master of comic timing and an innovative producer, Benny, with his radio writers, developed a weekly situation comedy to meet radio’s endless need for new material, at the same time integrating advertising into the show’s humor. Through the character of the vain, cheap everyman, Benny created a fall guy, whose frustrated struggles with his employees addressed midcentury America’s concerns with race, gender, commercialism, and sexual identity. Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley contextualizes her analysis of Jack Benny and his entourage with thoughtful insight into the intersections of competing entertainment industries and provides plenty of evidence that transmedia stardom, branded entertainment, and virality are not new phenomena but current iterations of key aspects in American commercial cultural history.

Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy

Daniel Heartz

Mozart's Operas

$34.95

Renowned Mozart scholar Daniel Heartz brings his deep knowledge of social history, theater, and art to a study of the last and great decade of Mozart's operas. Mozart specialists will recognize some of Heartz's best-known essays here; but six pieces are new for the collection, and others have been revised and updated with little-known documents on the librettist's, composer's, and stage director's craft. All lovers of opera will value the elegance and wit of Professor Heartz's writing, enhanced by thirty-seven illustrations, many from his private collection.

The volume includes Heartz's classic essay on Idomeneo (1781), the work that continued to inspire and sustain Mozart through his next, and final, six operas. Thomas Bauman brings his special expertise to a discussion of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782). The ten central chapters are devoted to the three great operas composed to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte—Le nozze di Figaro (l786), Don Giovanni (l787), and Così fan tutte (l790). The reader is treated to fresh insights on da Ponte's role as Mozart's astute and stage-wise collaborator, on the singers whose gifts helped shape each opera, and on the musical connections among the three works. Parallels are drawn with some of the greatest creative artists in other fields, such as Molière, Watteau, and Fragonard. The world of the dance, one of Heartz's specialties, lends an illuminating perspective as well.

Finally, the essays discuss the deep spirituality of Mozart's last two operas, Die Zauberflöte and La Clemenza di Tito (both l79l). They also address the pertinence of opera outside Vienna at the end of the century, the fortunes and aspirations of Freemasonry in Austria, and the relation of Mozart's overtures to the dramaturgy of the operas.

Grace Lee Boggs

The Next American Revolution

$14.95

The Strategist's Best Books About Asian American Identity, New York Magazine

The pioneering Asian American labor organizer and writer’s vision for intersectional and anti-racist activism.

In this powerful, deeply humanistic book, Grace Lee Boggs, a legendary figure in the struggle for justice in America, shrewdly assesses the current crisis—political, economical, and environmental—and shows how to create the radical social change we need to confront new realities. A vibrant, inspirational force, Boggs has participated in all of the twentieth century’s major social movements—for civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and more. She draws from seven decades of activist experience, and a rigorous commitment to critical thinking, to redefine “revolution” for our times.

From her home in Detroit, she reveals how hope and creativity are overcoming despair and decay within the most devastated urban communities. Her book is a manifesto for creating alternative modes of work, politics, and human interaction that will collectively constitute the next American Revolution—which is unraveling before our eyes.

Cover image for The Next American Revolution, isbn: 9780520953390

Roland De Wolk

American Disruptor

$34.95

The rags to riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him – his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel – a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

Luciano Chessa

Luigi Russolo, Futurist

$36.95

Luigi Russolo (1885–1947)—painter, composer, builder of musical instruments, and first-hour member of the Italian Futurist movement—was a crucial figure in the evolution of twentieth-century aesthetics. As creator of the first systematic poetics of noise and inventor of what has been considered the first mechanical sound synthesizer, Russolo looms large in the development of twentieth-century music. In the first English language study of Russolo, Luciano Chessa emphasizes the futurist’s interest in the occult, showing it to be a leitmotif for his life and a foundation for his art of noises. Chessa shows that Russolo’s aesthetics of noise, and the machines he called the intonarumori, were intended to boost practitioners into higher states of spiritual consciousness. His analysis reveals a multifaceted man in whom the drive to keep up with the latest scientific trends coexisted with an embrace of the irrational, and a critique of materialism and positivism.

Laszlo Somfai

Bela Bartok

$78.95

This long-awaited, authoritative account of Bartók's compositional processes stresses the composer's position as one of the masters of Western music history and avoids a purely theoretical approach or one that emphasizes him as an enthusiast for Hungarian folk music.

For Bèla Bartók, composition often began with improvisation at the piano. Làszló Somfai maintains that Bartók composed without preconceived musical theories and refused to teach composition precisely for this reason. He was not an analytical composer but a musical creator for whom intuition played a central role.

These conclusions are the result of Somfai's three decades of work with Bartók's oeuvre; of careful analysis of some 3,600 pages of sketches, drafts, and autograph manuscripts; and of the study of documents reflecting the development of Bartók's compositions. Included as well are corrections preserved only on recordings of Bartók's performances of his own works. Somfai also provides the first comprehensive catalog of every known work of Bartók, published and unpublished, and of all extant draft, sketch, and preparatory material. His book will be basic to all future scholarly work on Bartók and will assist performers in clarifying the problems of Bartók notation. Moreover, it will be a model for future work on other major composers.

Marsha Gordon

Becoming the Ex-Wife

$26.95

"Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure."—The New Yorker
"Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention."—New York Times
The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.

Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change.

Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.

Cover image for Becoming the Ex-Wife, isbn: 9780520391550

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Riding Like the Wind

$27.95

"This absorbing biography, written with both affection and admiration, shows Babb as one of the most indefatigable characters in American literary history."—The New Republic

This saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author of midcentury American literature.

In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants. In Riding Like the Wind, renowned biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle revives the groundbreaking voice of Sanora Babb.

Dunkle follows Babb from her impoverished childhood in eastern Colorado to California. There, she befriended the era's literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.

Cover image for Riding Like the Wind, isbn: 9780520395473

Marsha Gordon

Becoming the Ex-Wife

$26.95

"Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure."—The New Yorker
"Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention."—New York Times
The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.

Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change.

Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.

Nobuko Miyamoto

Not Yo' Butterfly

$29.95

A mold-breaking memoir of Asian American identity, political activism, community, and purpose.

Not Yo’ Butterfly is the intimate and unflinching life story of Nobuko Miyamoto—artist, activist, and mother. Beginning with the harrowing early years of her life as a Japanese American child navigating a fearful west coast during World War II, Miyamoto leads readers into the landscapes that defined the experiences of twentieth-century America and also foregrounds the struggles of people of color who reclaimed their histories, identities, and power through activism and art.

Miyamoto vividly describes her early life in the racialized atmosphere of Hollywood musicals and then her turn toward activism as an Asian American troubadour with the release of A Grain of Sand—considered to be the first Asian American folk album. Her narrative intersects with the stories of Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs, influential in both Asian and Black liberation movements. She tells how her experience of motherhood with an Afro-Asian son, as well as a marriage that intertwined Black and Japanese families and communities, placed her at the nexus of the 1992 Rodney King riots—and how she used art to create interracial solidarity and conciliation.

Through it all, Miyamoto has embraced her identity as an Asian American woman to create an antiracist body of work and a blueprint for empathy and praxis through community art. Her sometimes barbed, often provocative, and always steadfast story is now told.

Cover image for Not Yo' Butterfly, isbn: 9780520380660

Gabriel Thompson

America's Social Arsonist

$24.95

"A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire."—Fred Ross

Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would “stay with his own kind,” Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in American history. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants, where he managed the same labor camp that inspired John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war, he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Labor organizing in this country was forever changed when Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer.

Until now there has been no biography of Fred Ross, a man who believed a good organizer was supposed to fade into the crowd as others stepped forward. In America’s Social Arsonist, Gabriel Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man, recovering a forgotten chapter of American history and providing vital lessons for organizers today.

Cover image for America's Social Arsonist, isbn: 9780520964174

John T. Blackmore

Ernst Mach

$49.95

Ernst Mach: His Work, Life, and Influence aims to bring attention to the important yet often overlooked figure of Ernst Mach, a physicist, philosopher, and psychologist whose contributions span multiple disciplines. The book seeks to provide new biographical information to help the educated public better understand Mach, emphasizing his significant influence on modern physics and philosophy of science. Not merely a physicist, Mach's work also impacted psychology and physiology, and his philosophical ideas, particularly his attempt to base modern physics on a presentationalist epistemology, remain a subject of both admiration and controversy. The book highlights how Mach's ideas, though often opposed by later scientists, laid the groundwork for key developments in science and philosophy, making him a figure deserving of recognition alongside figures like Max Planck and Albert Einstein.

The book also addresses the reasons why Mach’s legacy has remained somewhat obscure, despite his profound impact. A combination of Mach’s own reluctance for a biography and the philosophical battles surrounding his views, especially his critique of Newtonian physics, has led to his ideas being misunderstood or neglected. His intellectual life was marked by intense controversies with figures like Max Planck, Ludwig Boltzmann, and even Albert Einstein, which contributed to his personal and professional struggles. Despite his later life being marked by personal tragedy and physical decline, Mach continued to defend his ideas with remarkable tenacity. His scientific contributions, such as his work on shock waves, are still widely acknowledged today, with terms like Mach number becoming part of the scientific lexicon. However, the book argues that it is time for Mach’s full philosophical and scientific influence to be more widely recognized and understood, shedding light on his controversial yet crucial role in shaping 20th-century thought.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

Cover image for Ernst Mach, isbn: 9780520325708

Nobuko Miyamoto

Not Yo' Butterfly

$95.00

A mold-breaking memoir of Asian American identity, political activism, community, and purpose.

Not Yo’ Butterfly is the intimate and unflinching life story of Nobuko Miyamoto—artist, activist, and mother. Beginning with the harrowing early years of her life as a Japanese American child navigating a fearful west coast during World War II, Miyamoto leads readers into the landscapes that defined the experiences of twentieth-century America and also foregrounds the struggles of people of color who reclaimed their histories, identities, and power through activism and art.

Miyamoto vividly describes her early life in the racialized atmosphere of Hollywood musicals and then her turn toward activism as an Asian American troubadour with the release of A Grain of Sand—considered to be the first Asian American folk album. Her narrative intersects with the stories of Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs, influential in both Asian and Black liberation movements. She tells how her experience of motherhood with an Afro-Asian son, as well as a marriage that intertwined Black and Japanese families and communities, placed her at the nexus of the 1992 Rodney King riots—and how she used art to create interracial solidarity and conciliation.

Through it all, Miyamoto has embraced her identity as an Asian American woman to create an antiracist body of work and a blueprint for empathy and praxis through community art. Her sometimes barbed, often provocative, and always steadfast story is now told.

Gabriel Thompson

America's Social Arsonist

$29.95

"A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire."—Fred Ross

Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would “stay with his own kind,” Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in American history. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants, where he managed the same labor camp that inspired John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war, he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Labor organizing in this country was forever changed when Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer.

Until now there has been no biography of Fred Ross, a man who believed a good organizer was supposed to fade into the crowd as others stepped forward. In America’s Social Arsonist, Gabriel Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man, recovering a forgotten chapter of American history and providing vital lessons for organizers today.

Gabriel Thompson

America's Social Arsonist

$24.95

"A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire."—Fred Ross

Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would “stay with his own kind,” Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in American history. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants, where he managed the same labor camp that inspired John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war, he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Labor organizing in this country was forever changed when Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer.

Until now there has been no biography of Fred Ross, a man who believed a good organizer was supposed to fade into the crowd as others stepped forward. In America’s Social Arsonist, Gabriel Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man, recovering a forgotten chapter of American history and providing vital lessons for organizers today.

Albert E. Dien

Biography of Yu-Wen Hu

$39.95

Albert E. Dien’s Biography of Yü-Wen Hu offers a comprehensive translation and analysis of a pivotal historical figure in northern China’s sixth century. Through a detailed rendering of the Chou shu biography, this work explores the complex interplay between Confucian ideals and the governance of the Northern Chou dynasty, a state ruled by leaders of non-Chinese origin. Dien’s annotations illuminate how the historian of the Chou shu adeptly portrays the Yü-Wen rulers as fully sinified, reflecting the successful integration of Confucian moral and political norms into their administration. This biography not only captures the turbulent dynamics of the era but also reveals the broader sociocultural transition from tribal leadership to a Confucian state.

Scholars and students of Chinese history will find this volume invaluable for its rigorous attention to historical detail and sociopolitical context. Yü-Wen Hu’s rise to power as regent and his deft handling of internal court conflicts are presented as a lens to examine broader themes of authority, loyalty, and cultural transformation. Dien’s work underscores the Northern Chou’s ambitious emulation of the ancient Chou dynasty, offering a nuanced perspective on how Confucian principles shaped political legitimacy and statecraft in early medieval China. Ideal for sinologists and comparative historians, this translation bridges historical narrative and cultural analysis, making it an essential resource for understanding this transformative period in Chinese history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.

Cover image for Biography of Yu-Wen Hu, isbn: 9780520337961

John T. Blackmore

Ernst Mach

$95.00

Ernst Mach: His Work, Life, and Influence aims to bring attention to the important yet often overlooked figure of Ernst Mach, a physicist, philosopher, and psychologist whose contributions span multiple disciplines. The book seeks to provide new biographical information to help the educated public better understand Mach, emphasizing his significant influence on modern physics and philosophy of science. Not merely a physicist, Mach's work also impacted psychology and physiology, and his philosophical ideas, particularly his attempt to base modern physics on a presentationalist epistemology, remain a subject of both admiration and controversy. The book highlights how Mach's ideas, though often opposed by later scientists, laid the groundwork for key developments in science and philosophy, making him a figure deserving of recognition alongside figures like Max Planck and Albert Einstein.

The book also addresses the reasons why Mach’s legacy has remained somewhat obscure, despite his profound impact. A combination of Mach’s own reluctance for a biography and the philosophical battles surrounding his views, especially his critique of Newtonian physics, has led to his ideas being misunderstood or neglected. His intellectual life was marked by intense controversies with figures like Max Planck, Ludwig Boltzmann, and even Albert Einstein, which contributed to his personal and professional struggles. Despite his later life being marked by personal tragedy and physical decline, Mach continued to defend his ideas with remarkable tenacity. His scientific contributions, such as his work on shock waves, are still widely acknowledged today, with terms like Mach number becoming part of the scientific lexicon. However, the book argues that it is time for Mach’s full philosophical and scientific influence to be more widely recognized and understood, shedding light on his controversial yet crucial role in shaping 20th-century thought.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

John T. Blackmore

Ernst Mach

$49.95

Ernst Mach: His Work, Life, and Influence aims to bring attention to the important yet often overlooked figure of Ernst Mach, a physicist, philosopher, and psychologist whose contributions span multiple disciplines. The book seeks to provide new biographical information to help the educated public better understand Mach, emphasizing his significant influence on modern physics and philosophy of science. Not merely a physicist, Mach's work also impacted psychology and physiology, and his philosophical ideas, particularly his attempt to base modern physics on a presentationalist epistemology, remain a subject of both admiration and controversy. The book highlights how Mach's ideas, though often opposed by later scientists, laid the groundwork for key developments in science and philosophy, making him a figure deserving of recognition alongside figures like Max Planck and Albert Einstein.

The book also addresses the reasons why Mach’s legacy has remained somewhat obscure, despite his profound impact. A combination of Mach’s own reluctance for a biography and the philosophical battles surrounding his views, especially his critique of Newtonian physics, has led to his ideas being misunderstood or neglected. His intellectual life was marked by intense controversies with figures like Max Planck, Ludwig Boltzmann, and even Albert Einstein, which contributed to his personal and professional struggles. Despite his later life being marked by personal tragedy and physical decline, Mach continued to defend his ideas with remarkable tenacity. His scientific contributions, such as his work on shock waves, are still widely acknowledged today, with terms like Mach number becoming part of the scientific lexicon. However, the book argues that it is time for Mach’s full philosophical and scientific influence to be more widely recognized and understood, shedding light on his controversial yet crucial role in shaping 20th-century thought.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

Translated and Annotated by Albert E. Dien

Biography of Yu-Wen Hu

$39.95

Albert E. Dien’s Biography of Yü-Wen Hu offers a comprehensive translation and analysis of a pivotal historical figure in northern China’s sixth century. Through a detailed rendering of the Chou shu biography, this work explores the complex interplay between Confucian ideals and the governance of the Northern Chou dynasty, a state ruled by leaders of non-Chinese origin. Dien’s annotations illuminate how the historian of the Chou shu adeptly portrays the Yü-Wen rulers as fully sinified, reflecting the successful integration of Confucian moral and political norms into their administration. This biography not only captures the turbulent dynamics of the era but also reveals the broader sociocultural transition from tribal leadership to a Confucian state.

Scholars and students of Chinese history will find this volume invaluable for its rigorous attention to historical detail and sociopolitical context. Yü-Wen Hu’s rise to power as regent and his deft handling of internal court conflicts are presented as a lens to examine broader themes of authority, loyalty, and cultural transformation. Dien’s work underscores the Northern Chou’s ambitious emulation of the ancient Chou dynasty, offering a nuanced perspective on how Confucian principles shaped political legitimacy and statecraft in early medieval China. Ideal for sinologists and comparative historians, this translation bridges historical narrative and cultural analysis, making it an essential resource for understanding this transformative period in Chinese history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.

Translated and Annotated by Albert E. Dien

Biography of Yu-Wen Hu

$95.00

Albert E. Dien’s Biography of Yü-Wen Hu offers a comprehensive translation and analysis of a pivotal historical figure in northern China’s sixth century. Through a detailed rendering of the Chou shu biography, this work explores the complex interplay between Confucian ideals and the governance of the Northern Chou dynasty, a state ruled by leaders of non-Chinese origin. Dien’s annotations illuminate how the historian of the Chou shu adeptly portrays the Yü-Wen rulers as fully sinified, reflecting the successful integration of Confucian moral and political norms into their administration. This biography not only captures the turbulent dynamics of the era but also reveals the broader sociocultural transition from tribal leadership to a Confucian state.

Scholars and students of Chinese history will find this volume invaluable for its rigorous attention to historical detail and sociopolitical context. Yü-Wen Hu’s rise to power as regent and his deft handling of internal court conflicts are presented as a lens to examine broader themes of authority, loyalty, and cultural transformation. Dien’s work underscores the Northern Chou’s ambitious emulation of the ancient Chou dynasty, offering a nuanced perspective on how Confucian principles shaped political legitimacy and statecraft in early medieval China. Ideal for sinologists and comparative historians, this translation bridges historical narrative and cultural analysis, making it an essential resource for understanding this transformative period in Chinese history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.

Peter Matthiessen

Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can)

$24.95

In the summer of 1968 Peter Matthiessen met Cesar Chavez for the first time. They were the same age: forty-one. Matthiessen lived in New York City, while Chavez lived in the Central Valley farm town of Delano, where the grape strike was unfolding. This book is Matthiessen’s panoramic yet finely detailed account of the three years he spent working and traveling with Chavez, including to Sal Si Puedes, the San Jose barrio where Chavez began his organizing. Matthiessen provides a candid look into the many sides of this enigmatic and charismatic leader who lived by the laws of nonviolence.

Sal Si Puedes is less reportage than living history. In its pages a whole era comes alive: the Chicano, Black Power, and antiwar movements; the browning of the labor movement; Chavez’s fasts; the nationwide boycott of California grapes. When Chavez died in 1993, tens of thousands gathered at his funeral. It was a clear sign of how beloved he was and how important his life had been.

A new foreword by Marc Grossman considers the significance of Chavez’s legacy for our time. As well as serving as an indispensable guide to the 1960s, this book rejuvenates the extraordinary vitality of Chavez’s life and spirit, giving his message a renewed and much-needed urgency.

Peter Matthiessen

Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can)

$24.95

In the summer of 1968 Peter Matthiessen met Cesar Chavez for the first time. They were the same age: forty-one. Matthiessen lived in New York City, while Chavez lived in the Central Valley farm town of Delano, where the grape strike was unfolding. This book is Matthiessen’s panoramic yet finely detailed account of the three years he spent working and traveling with Chavez, including to Sal Si Puedes, the San Jose barrio where Chavez began his organizing. Matthiessen provides a candid look into the many sides of this enigmatic and charismatic leader who lived by the laws of nonviolence.

Sal Si Puedes is less reportage than living history. In its pages a whole era comes alive: the Chicano, Black Power, and antiwar movements; the browning of the labor movement; Chavez’s fasts; the nationwide boycott of California grapes. When Chavez died in 1993, tens of thousands gathered at his funeral. It was a clear sign of how beloved he was and how important his life had been.

A new foreword by Marc Grossman considers the significance of Chavez’s legacy for our time. As well as serving as an indispensable guide to the 1960s, this book rejuvenates the extraordinary vitality of Chavez’s life and spirit, giving his message a renewed and much-needed urgency.

Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara

Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer

$29.95

A pioneer of Chicano rock, Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara performed with Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and Celia Cruz, though he is best known as the front man of the 1970s experimental rock band Ruben And The Jets. Here he recounts how his youthful experiences in the barrio La Veinte of Santa Monica in the 1940s prepared him for early success in music and how his triumphs and seductive brushes with stardom were met with tragedy and crushing disappointments. Brutally honest and open, Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer is an often hilarious and self-critical look inside the struggle of becoming an artist and a man. Recognizing racial identity as composite, contested, and complex, Guevara—an American artist of Mexican descent—embraces a Chicano identity of his own design, calling himself a Chicano “culture sculptor” who has worked to transform the aspirations, alienations, and indignities of the Mexican American people into an aesthetic experience that could point the way to liberation.

Cover image for Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer, isbn: 9780520969667

Mark Twain

A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings

$25.95

This book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark Twain’s private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing.

Mark Twain began to write "A Family Sketch" in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrens’ sayings—"Small Foolishnesses"—is next, followed by the related manuscript "At the Farm." Also included are selections from Livy’s 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susy’s biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family.

Cover image for A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings, isbn: 9780520959637

Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara, with an introduction by George Lipsitz and Josh Kun

Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer

$29.95

A pioneer of Chicano rock, Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara performed with Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and Celia Cruz, though he is best known as the front man of the 1970s experimental rock band Ruben And The Jets. Here he recounts how his youthful experiences in the barrio La Veinte of Santa Monica in the 1940s prepared him for early success in music and how his triumphs and seductive brushes with stardom were met with tragedy and crushing disappointments. Brutally honest and open, Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer is an often hilarious and self-critical look inside the struggle of becoming an artist and a man. Recognizing racial identity as composite, contested, and complex, Guevara—an American artist of Mexican descent—embraces a Chicano identity of his own design, calling himself a Chicano “culture sculptor” who has worked to transform the aspirations, alienations, and indignities of the Mexican American people into an aesthetic experience that could point the way to liberation.

Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara, with an introduction by George Lipsitz and Josh Kun

Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer

$95.00

A pioneer of Chicano rock, Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara performed with Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and Celia Cruz, though he is best known as the front man of the 1970s experimental rock band Ruben And The Jets. Here he recounts how his youthful experiences in the barrio La Veinte of Santa Monica in the 1940s prepared him for early success in music and how his triumphs and seductive brushes with stardom were met with tragedy and crushing disappointments. Brutally honest and open, Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer is an often hilarious and self-critical look inside the struggle of becoming an artist and a man. Recognizing racial identity as composite, contested, and complex, Guevara—an American artist of Mexican descent—embraces a Chicano identity of his own design, calling himself a Chicano “culture sculptor” who has worked to transform the aspirations, alienations, and indignities of the Mexican American people into an aesthetic experience that could point the way to liberation.

Mark Twain

A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings

$25.95

This book publishes, for the first time in full, the two most revealing of Mark Twain’s private writings. Here he turns his mind to the daily life he shared with his wife Livy, their three daughters, a great many servants, and an imposing array of pets. These first-hand accounts display this gifted and loving family in the period of its flourishing.

Mark Twain began to write “A Family Sketch” in response to the early death of his eldest daughter, Susy, but the manuscript grew under his hands to become an exuberant account of the entire household. His record of the childrens’ sayings—“Small Foolishnesses”—is next, followed by the related manuscript “At the Farm.” Also included are selections from Livy’s 1885 diary and an authoritative edition of Susy’s biography of her father, written when she was a teenager. Newly edited from the original manuscripts, this anthology is a unique record of a fascinating family.

A Family Sketch and Other Private Writings

James Campbell

Talking at the Gates

$19.95

An intimate portrait of Baldwin's mythic life.

James Baldwin was one of the most incisive and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Active in the civil rights movement and open about his homosexuality, Baldwin was celebrated for eloquent analyses of social unrest in his essays and for daring portrayals of sexuality and interracial relationships in his fiction. By the time of his death in 1987, both his fiction and nonfiction works had achieved the status of modern classics.

James Campbell knew James Baldwin for the last ten years of Baldwin's life. For Talking at the Gates, Campbell interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and professional associates and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. Campbell was the first biographer to obtain access to the large file that the FBI and other agencies had compiled on the writer. Examining Baldwin's turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King Jr., and others, this candid and original account portrays the life and work of a writer who held to the principle that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

This new edition features a fresh introduction addressing recent developments in Baldwin’s reputation and his return to a position he occupied in the early 1960s, when Life magazine called him "the monarch of the current literary jungle." It also contains a previously unpublished interview with Norman Mailer about Baldwin, which Campbell conducted in 1987.

Cover image for Talking at the Gates, isbn: 9780520381698

Peter Richardson

Savage Journey

$24.95

A superbly crafted study of Hunter S. Thompson’s literary formation, achievement, and continuing relevance.

Savage Journey is a "supremely crafted" study of Hunter S. Thompson's literary formation and achievement. Focusing on Thompson's influences, development, and unique model of authorship, Savage Journey argues that his literary formation was largely a San Francisco story. During the 1960s, Thompson rode with the Hell's Angels, explored the San Francisco counterculture, and met talented editors who shared his dissatisfaction with mainstream journalism. Peter Richardson traces Thompson's transition during this time from New Journalist to cofounder of Gonzo journalism. He also endorses Thompson's later claim that he was one of the best writers using the English language as both a musical instrument and a political weapon. Although Thompson's political commentary was often hyperbolic, Richardson shows that much of it was also prophetic.

Fifty years after the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and more than a decade after his death, Thompson's celebrity continues to obscure his literary achievement. This book refocuses our understanding of that achievement by mapping Thompson's influences, probing the development of his signature style, and tracing the reception of his major works. It concludes that Thompson was not only a gifted journalist, satirist, and media critic, but also the most distinctive American voice in the second half of the twentieth century.

Peter Richardson

Savage Journey

$24.95

A superbly crafted study of Hunter S. Thompson’s literary formation, achievement, and continuing relevance.

Savage Journey is a "supremely crafted" study of Hunter S. Thompson's literary formation and achievement. Focusing on Thompson's influences, development, and unique model of authorship, Savage Journey argues that his literary formation was largely a San Francisco story. During the 1960s, Thompson rode with the Hell's Angels, explored the San Francisco counterculture, and met talented editors who shared his dissatisfaction with mainstream journalism. Peter Richardson traces Thompson's transition during this time from New Journalist to cofounder of Gonzo journalism. He also endorses Thompson's later claim that he was one of the best writers using the English language as both a musical instrument and a political weapon. Although Thompson's political commentary was often hyperbolic, Richardson shows that much of it was also prophetic.

Fifty years after the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and more than a decade after his death, Thompson's celebrity continues to obscure his literary achievement. This book refocuses our understanding of that achievement by mapping Thompson's influences, probing the development of his signature style, and tracing the reception of his major works. It concludes that Thompson was not only a gifted journalist, satirist, and media critic, but also the most distinctive American voice in the second half of the twentieth century.

Peter Richardson

Savage Journey

$27.95

A superbly crafted study of Hunter S. Thompson’s literary formation, achievement, and continuing relevance.

Savage Journey is a "supremely crafted" study of Hunter S. Thompson's literary formation and achievement. Focusing on Thompson's influences, development, and unique model of authorship, Savage Journey argues that his literary formation was largely a San Francisco story. During the 1960s, Thompson rode with the Hell's Angels, explored the San Francisco counterculture, and met talented editors who shared his dissatisfaction with mainstream journalism. Peter Richardson traces Thompson's transition during this time from New Journalist to cofounder of Gonzo journalism. He also endorses Thompson's later claim that he was one of the best writers using the English language as both a musical instrument and a political weapon. Although Thompson's political commentary was often hyperbolic, Richardson shows that much of it was also prophetic.

Fifty years after the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and more than a decade after his death, Thompson's celebrity continues to obscure his literary achievement. This book refocuses our understanding of that achievement by mapping Thompson's influences, probing the development of his signature style, and tracing the reception of his major works. It concludes that Thompson was not only a gifted journalist, satirist, and media critic, but also the most distinctive American voice in the second half of the twentieth century.

James Campbell

Talking at the Gates

$19.95

An intimate portrait of Baldwin's mythic life.

James Baldwin was one of the most incisive and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Active in the civil rights movement and open about his homosexuality, Baldwin was celebrated for eloquent analyses of social unrest in his essays and for daring portrayals of sexuality and interracial relationships in his fiction. By the time of his death in 1987, both his fiction and nonfiction works had achieved the status of modern classics.

James Campbell knew James Baldwin for the last ten years of Baldwin's life. For Talking at the Gates, Campbell interviewed many of Baldwin's friends and professional associates and examined several hundred pages of correspondence. Campbell was the first biographer to obtain access to the large file that the FBI and other agencies had compiled on the writer. Examining Baldwin's turbulent relationships with Norman Mailer, Richard Wright, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King Jr., and others, this candid and original account portrays the life and work of a writer who held to the principle that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

This new edition features a fresh introduction addressing recent developments in Baldwin’s reputation and his return to a position he occupied in the early 1960s, when Life magazine called him "the monarch of the current literary jungle." It also contains a previously unpublished interview with Norman Mailer about Baldwin, which Campbell conducted in 1987.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue

$26.95

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last book is a curation of her own legacy, tracing the long history of her work for gender equality and a “more perfect Union.”

In the fall of 2019, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg visited the University of California, Berkeley School of Law to deliver the first annual Herma Hill Kay Memorial Lecture in honor of her friend, the late Herma Hill Kay, with whom Ginsburg had coauthored the very first casebook on sex-based discrimination in 1974. Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue is the result of a period of collaboration between Ginsburg and Amanda L. Tyler, a Berkeley Law professor and former Ginsburg law clerk. During Justice Ginsburg's visit to Berkeley, she told her life story in conversation with Tyler. In this collection, the two bring together that conversation and other materials—many previously unpublished—that share details from Justice Ginsburg's family life and long career. These include notable briefs and oral arguments, some of Ginsburg's last speeches, and her favorite opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice (many in dissent), along with the statements that she read from the bench in those important cases. Each document was chosen by Ginsburg and Tyler to tell the story of the litigation strategy and optimistic vision that were at the heart of Ginsburg's unwavering commitment to the achievement of "a more perfect Union."

In a decades-long career, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an advocate and jurist for gender equality and for ensuring that the United States Constitution leaves no person behind. Her work transformed not just the American legal landscape, but American society more generally. Ginsburg labored tirelessly to promote a Constitution that is ever more inclusive and that allows every individual to achieve their full human potential. As revealed in these pages, in the area of gender rights, Ginsburg dismantled long-entrenched systems of discrimination based on outdated stereotypes by showing how such laws hold back both genders. And as also shown in the materials brought together here, Justice Ginsburg had a special ability to appreciate how the decisions of the high court impact the lived experiences of everyday Americans. The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020 as this book was heading into production was met with a public outpouring of grief. With her death, the country lost a hero and national treasure whose incredible life and legacy made the United States a more just society and one in which “We the People,” for whom the Constitution is written, includes everyone.

Hyman Weintraub

Andrew Furuseth

$39.95

Emancipator of the Seamen explores the life and impact of Andrew Furuseth, a Norwegian-born seaman who became a defining figure in the American labor movement through his dedication to the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP). Arriving in San Francisco in 1880, Furuseth committed his life to improving the lives of sailors and ensuring their rights. The SUP, under his leadership, became a steadfast institution in labor history, embodying the challenges and triumphs of organized labor in America. This biography not only captures Furuseth’s contributions but also sheds light on the broader labor movement dynamics—rivalries within unions, the shaping of business unionism, the influence of labor in California and national politics, and the push for protective legislation.

Authored by Dr. Hyman Weintraub, this work brings together firsthand knowledge of the labor movement with the analytical depth of historical scholarship. Weintraub’s background as both a historian and someone with personal connections to labor provides a nuanced perspective on Furuseth’s legacy and the SUP’s enduring influence. Published by the Institute of Industrial Relations, this biography continues the Institute’s research into American labor history, following works like Dr. Grace Heilman Stimson’s Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles. Emancipator of the Seamen offers readers a detailed account of Furuseth’s life and achievements while contributing to a deeper understanding of labor’s role in shaping American society.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

Cover image for Andrew Furuseth, isbn: 9780520345591

William Matthews

British Autobiographies

$49.95

British Autobiographies: An Annotated Bibliography of British Autobiographies Published or Written Before 1951, compiled by William Matthews, is an essential resource for scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in personal narratives. Spanning four centuries, this extensive bibliography catalogs a wide range of autobiographical works, capturing the voices of individuals from all walks of life. From statesmen and soldiers to artists, explorers, and even everyday people, these entries offer a window into the diverse experiences that shaped British history and culture. Matthews and his team meticulously gathered these works from major libraries across the United States, the United Kingdom, and other locations, ensuring a comprehensive collection that sheds light on both famous and lesser-known autobiographical voices.

This bibliography is not only a valuable tool for literary scholars studying the evolution of autobiographical writing but also for historians, psychologists, and social scientists interested in understanding personal accounts of significant historical events and societal shifts. Matthews' work opens up new possibilities for exploring the autobiographical genre as a reflection of both individual lives and broader cultural trends. With its rich diversity of subjects and detailed annotations, British Autobiographies serves as a vital reference for anyone researching the personal dimensions of British history.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1955.

Cover image for British Autobiographies, isbn: 9780520315228

Roland De Wolk

American Disruptor

$13.95

The rags to riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him – his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel – a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.

Cover image for American Disruptor, isbn: 9780520973565

Theodora Kroeber

Alfred Kroeber

$49.95

The Handbook of the Indians of California, written by Alfred Kroeber between 1916 and 1917, is the defining work by which he is widely recognized. Known beyond academic circles, the Handbook remains a primary reference for many on California's Indigenous cultures. Kroeber embraced this association with his work, considering it the “first fruits” of his career and a testament to his early fieldwork. His later explorations into broader theoretical concepts were deeply rooted in these experiences with the living cultures of Native Americans, which began on his early field trips to Wyoming and Oklahoma, and ultimately California, where he made his lifelong home.

Kroeber's westward journey marked a turning point, setting him apart from his East Coast roots. Arriving in California in 1900, he immersed himself in fieldwork, traversing the state to study Native American communities in rural areas. Known as the serious young anthropologist with his black beard and pockets full of tools and treats, he quickly became a respected figure among the Indigenous tribes he worked with, particularly the Yurok of northern California’s Klamath River and the Mohave of the Colorado River. His interest lay in California's landscapes—the rivers, bays, and coastline—which paralleled the natural surroundings of the Indigenous cultures he studied, reflecting his deep connection to the Pacific and its waterways.

Despite the powerful draw of the West, Kroeber’s formative years were shaped in New York, amidst the waterways surrounding Manhattan. He grew up in a close-knit family, with friendships that spanned his life despite geographic separation. This early foundation influenced his work and perspective, anchoring him in both his professional discipline and personal relationships. His early life on the East Coast contrasts with his later dedication to California’s Indigenous cultures, highlighting the unique, dual influence of these landscapes on his approach to anthropology and his lifelong commitment to understanding and documenting the rich cultural heritage of Native American communities.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.

Cover image for Alfred Kroeber, isbn: 9780520323131

Sally N. Vaughn

Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan

$49.95

This title delves into the intertwined lives of St. Anselm, the renowned theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, and Robert of Meulan, an influential Anglo-Norman nobleman and advisor to the English crown. These two figures, representing the sacred and the secular, engaged in a lifelong adversarial relationship that spanned both Normandy and England during a pivotal period of political and ecclesiastical change. Anselm, a former abbot of Bec, came into conflict with the English monarchy over the autonomy of the church, while Robert championed the rights of the state as an advisor to multiple kings. Their disputes, particularly over the Investiture Controversy, defined a critical era in the development of English political and religious policy, revealing the tension between regnum (the realm) and sacerdotium (the church).

Despite their frequent clashes, Anselm and Robert ultimately worked toward a vision of stability for the Anglo-Norman realm. While Anselm’s legacy endures in the form of his theological contributions and sanctity, Robert’s accomplishments are less widely remembered outside of specialized historical circles. This study aims to provide a fuller picture of both men, focusing on the political, philosophical, and personal forces that shaped their lives and legacies. Through meticulous analysis of historical sources and a synthesis of previously published research, the book illuminates how the contrasting visions of Anselm and Robert for a “right order” in the Christian kingdom ultimately converged, forming a compromise that influenced the balance of church and state for generations to come.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

Cover image for Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan, isbn: 9780520335325

Noboth Mokgatle

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African

$49.95

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African by Naboth Mokgatle offers a detailed and rich narrative of the author’s life and his tribal roots, providing a vivid glimpse into the customs, traditions, and history of the Bafokeng people of South Africa. Mokgatle begins with his family history, recounting the circumstances of his birth in 1911 in Phokeng, a tribal village in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal Province. He describes the complex dynamics of his family, shaped by both African traditions and the influence of Christianity, which often created tension in their practices. The narrative reveals the traditional African values of marriage, gender roles, and the discipline instilled in children, highlighting how his father’s strict yet caring nature governed their upbringing. Through anecdotes about his siblings and the unique family circumstances, Mokgatle intertwines personal stories with broader cultural themes, demonstrating how tribal laws and Christian beliefs shaped his family’s life and the society they inhabited.

The book also delves into the historical and cultural legacy of Mokgatle’s Bafokeng tribe, tracing their migration from Lesotho to Botswana and eventually to the Transvaal. The tribe’s identity, symbolized by the crocodile, is intricately tied to their customs, including circumcision, marriage traditions, and communal living. Mokgatle recounts how the tribe split into three sections due to a dispute over chieftainship, leading to the formation of independent clans that still maintained cultural ties and a shared identity. Through vivid descriptions of agricultural practices, food preparation, and the artistry of pottery, Mokgatle portrays a self-sufficient community deeply connected to the land and its resources. He also reflects on the impact of European influence and Christianity on the tribe, which introduced both modern conveniences and challenges to traditional ways of life. This autobiography stands as both a personal memoir and a cultural archive, capturing the complexities of transitioning from traditional African society to a modern, colonized world.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Cover image for The Autobiography of an Unknown South African, isbn: 9780520316157

Hyman Weintraub

Andrew Furuseth

$95.00

Emancipator of the Seamen explores the life and impact of Andrew Furuseth, a Norwegian-born seaman who became a defining figure in the American labor movement through his dedication to the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP). Arriving in San Francisco in 1880, Furuseth committed his life to improving the lives of sailors and ensuring their rights. The SUP, under his leadership, became a steadfast institution in labor history, embodying the challenges and triumphs of organized labor in America. This biography not only captures Furuseth’s contributions but also sheds light on the broader labor movement dynamics—rivalries within unions, the shaping of business unionism, the influence of labor in California and national politics, and the push for protective legislation.

Authored by Dr. Hyman Weintraub, this work brings together firsthand knowledge of the labor movement with the analytical depth of historical scholarship. Weintraub’s background as both a historian and someone with personal connections to labor provides a nuanced perspective on Furuseth’s legacy and the SUP’s enduring influence. Published by the Institute of Industrial Relations, this biography continues the Institute’s research into American labor history, following works like Dr. Grace Heilman Stimson’s Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles. Emancipator of the Seamen offers readers a detailed account of Furuseth’s life and achievements while contributing to a deeper understanding of labor’s role in shaping American society.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

Hyman Weintraub

Andrew Furuseth

$39.95

Emancipator of the Seamen explores the life and impact of Andrew Furuseth, a Norwegian-born seaman who became a defining figure in the American labor movement through his dedication to the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP). Arriving in San Francisco in 1880, Furuseth committed his life to improving the lives of sailors and ensuring their rights. The SUP, under his leadership, became a steadfast institution in labor history, embodying the challenges and triumphs of organized labor in America. This biography not only captures Furuseth’s contributions but also sheds light on the broader labor movement dynamics—rivalries within unions, the shaping of business unionism, the influence of labor in California and national politics, and the push for protective legislation.

Authored by Dr. Hyman Weintraub, this work brings together firsthand knowledge of the labor movement with the analytical depth of historical scholarship. Weintraub’s background as both a historian and someone with personal connections to labor provides a nuanced perspective on Furuseth’s legacy and the SUP’s enduring influence. Published by the Institute of Industrial Relations, this biography continues the Institute’s research into American labor history, following works like Dr. Grace Heilman Stimson’s Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles. Emancipator of the Seamen offers readers a detailed account of Furuseth’s life and achievements while contributing to a deeper understanding of labor’s role in shaping American society.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

Sally N. Vanghn

Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan

$95.00

This title delves into the intertwined lives of St. Anselm, the renowned theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, and Robert of Meulan, an influential Anglo-Norman nobleman and advisor to the English crown. These two figures, representing the sacred and the secular, engaged in a lifelong adversarial relationship that spanned both Normandy and England during a pivotal period of political and ecclesiastical change. Anselm, a former abbot of Bec, came into conflict with the English monarchy over the autonomy of the church, while Robert championed the rights of the state as an advisor to multiple kings. Their disputes, particularly over the Investiture Controversy, defined a critical era in the development of English political and religious policy, revealing the tension between regnum (the realm) and sacerdotium (the church).

Despite their frequent clashes, Anselm and Robert ultimately worked toward a vision of stability for the Anglo-Norman realm. While Anselm’s legacy endures in the form of his theological contributions and sanctity, Robert’s accomplishments are less widely remembered outside of specialized historical circles. This study aims to provide a fuller picture of both men, focusing on the political, philosophical, and personal forces that shaped their lives and legacies. Through meticulous analysis of historical sources and a synthesis of previously published research, the book illuminates how the contrasting visions of Anselm and Robert for a “right order” in the Christian kingdom ultimately converged, forming a compromise that influenced the balance of church and state for generations to come.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

Sally N. Vanghn

Anselm of Bec and Robert of Meulan

$49.95

This title delves into the intertwined lives of St. Anselm, the renowned theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, and Robert of Meulan, an influential Anglo-Norman nobleman and advisor to the English crown. These two figures, representing the sacred and the secular, engaged in a lifelong adversarial relationship that spanned both Normandy and England during a pivotal period of political and ecclesiastical change. Anselm, a former abbot of Bec, came into conflict with the English monarchy over the autonomy of the church, while Robert championed the rights of the state as an advisor to multiple kings. Their disputes, particularly over the Investiture Controversy, defined a critical era in the development of English political and religious policy, revealing the tension between regnum (the realm) and sacerdotium (the church).

Despite their frequent clashes, Anselm and Robert ultimately worked toward a vision of stability for the Anglo-Norman realm. While Anselm’s legacy endures in the form of his theological contributions and sanctity, Robert’s accomplishments are less widely remembered outside of specialized historical circles. This study aims to provide a fuller picture of both men, focusing on the political, philosophical, and personal forces that shaped their lives and legacies. Through meticulous analysis of historical sources and a synthesis of previously published research, the book illuminates how the contrasting visions of Anselm and Robert for a “right order” in the Christian kingdom ultimately converged, forming a compromise that influenced the balance of church and state for generations to come.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

Theodora Kroeber

Alfred Kroeber

$95.00

The Handbook of the Indians of California, written by Alfred Kroeber between 1916 and 1917, is the defining work by which he is widely recognized. Known beyond academic circles, the Handbook remains a primary reference for many on California's Indigenous cultures. Kroeber embraced this association with his work, considering it the “first fruits” of his career and a testament to his early fieldwork. His later explorations into broader theoretical concepts were deeply rooted in these experiences with the living cultures of Native Americans, which began on his early field trips to Wyoming and Oklahoma, and ultimately California, where he made his lifelong home.

Kroeber's westward journey marked a turning point, setting him apart from his East Coast roots. Arriving in California in 1900, he immersed himself in fieldwork, traversing the state to study Native American communities in rural areas. Known as the serious young anthropologist with his black beard and pockets full of tools and treats, he quickly became a respected figure among the Indigenous tribes he worked with, particularly the Yurok of northern California’s Klamath River and the Mohave of the Colorado River. His interest lay in California's landscapes—the rivers, bays, and coastline—which paralleled the natural surroundings of the Indigenous cultures he studied, reflecting his deep connection to the Pacific and its waterways.

Despite the powerful draw of the West, Kroeber’s formative years were shaped in New York, amidst the waterways surrounding Manhattan. He grew up in a close-knit family, with friendships that spanned his life despite geographic separation. This early foundation influenced his work and perspective, anchoring him in both his professional discipline and personal relationships. His early life on the East Coast contrasts with his later dedication to California’s Indigenous cultures, highlighting the unique, dual influence of these landscapes on his approach to anthropology and his lifelong commitment to understanding and documenting the rich cultural heritage of Native American communities.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.

Theodora Kroeber

Alfred Kroeber

$49.95

The Handbook of the Indians of California, written by Alfred Kroeber between 1916 and 1917, is the defining work by which he is widely recognized. Known beyond academic circles, the Handbook remains a primary reference for many on California's Indigenous cultures. Kroeber embraced this association with his work, considering it the “first fruits” of his career and a testament to his early fieldwork. His later explorations into broader theoretical concepts were deeply rooted in these experiences with the living cultures of Native Americans, which began on his early field trips to Wyoming and Oklahoma, and ultimately California, where he made his lifelong home.

Kroeber's westward journey marked a turning point, setting him apart from his East Coast roots. Arriving in California in 1900, he immersed himself in fieldwork, traversing the state to study Native American communities in rural areas. Known as the serious young anthropologist with his black beard and pockets full of tools and treats, he quickly became a respected figure among the Indigenous tribes he worked with, particularly the Yurok of northern California’s Klamath River and the Mohave of the Colorado River. His interest lay in California's landscapes—the rivers, bays, and coastline—which paralleled the natural surroundings of the Indigenous cultures he studied, reflecting his deep connection to the Pacific and its waterways.

Despite the powerful draw of the West, Kroeber’s formative years were shaped in New York, amidst the waterways surrounding Manhattan. He grew up in a close-knit family, with friendships that spanned his life despite geographic separation. This early foundation influenced his work and perspective, anchoring him in both his professional discipline and personal relationships. His early life on the East Coast contrasts with his later dedication to California’s Indigenous cultures, highlighting the unique, dual influence of these landscapes on his approach to anthropology and his lifelong commitment to understanding and documenting the rich cultural heritage of Native American communities.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.

Naboth Mokgatle

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African

$95.00

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African by Naboth Mokgatle offers a detailed and rich narrative of the author’s life and his tribal roots, providing a vivid glimpse into the customs, traditions, and history of the Bafokeng people of South Africa. Mokgatle begins with his family history, recounting the circumstances of his birth in 1911 in Phokeng, a tribal village in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal Province. He describes the complex dynamics of his family, shaped by both African traditions and the influence of Christianity, which often created tension in their practices. The narrative reveals the traditional African values of marriage, gender roles, and the discipline instilled in children, highlighting how his father’s strict yet caring nature governed their upbringing. Through anecdotes about his siblings and the unique family circumstances, Mokgatle intertwines personal stories with broader cultural themes, demonstrating how tribal laws and Christian beliefs shaped his family’s life and the society they inhabited.

The book also delves into the historical and cultural legacy of Mokgatle’s Bafokeng tribe, tracing their migration from Lesotho to Botswana and eventually to the Transvaal. The tribe’s identity, symbolized by the crocodile, is intricately tied to their customs, including circumcision, marriage traditions, and communal living. Mokgatle recounts how the tribe split into three sections due to a dispute over chieftainship, leading to the formation of independent clans that still maintained cultural ties and a shared identity. Through vivid descriptions of agricultural practices, food preparation, and the artistry of pottery, Mokgatle portrays a self-sufficient community deeply connected to the land and its resources. He also reflects on the impact of European influence and Christianity on the tribe, which introduced both modern conveniences and challenges to traditional ways of life. This autobiography stands as both a personal memoir and a cultural archive, capturing the complexities of transitioning from traditional African society to a modern, colonized world.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Naboth Mokgatle

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African

$49.95

The Autobiography of an Unknown South African by Naboth Mokgatle offers a detailed and rich narrative of the author’s life and his tribal roots, providing a vivid glimpse into the customs, traditions, and history of the Bafokeng people of South Africa. Mokgatle begins with his family history, recounting the circumstances of his birth in 1911 in Phokeng, a tribal village in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal Province. He describes the complex dynamics of his family, shaped by both African traditions and the influence of Christianity, which often created tension in their practices. The narrative reveals the traditional African values of marriage, gender roles, and the discipline instilled in children, highlighting how his father’s strict yet caring nature governed their upbringing. Through anecdotes about his siblings and the unique family circumstances, Mokgatle intertwines personal stories with broader cultural themes, demonstrating how tribal laws and Christian beliefs shaped his family’s life and the society they inhabited.

The book also delves into the historical and cultural legacy of Mokgatle’s Bafokeng tribe, tracing their migration from Lesotho to Botswana and eventually to the Transvaal. The tribe’s identity, symbolized by the crocodile, is intricately tied to their customs, including circumcision, marriage traditions, and communal living. Mokgatle recounts how the tribe split into three sections due to a dispute over chieftainship, leading to the formation of independent clans that still maintained cultural ties and a shared identity. Through vivid descriptions of agricultural practices, food preparation, and the artistry of pottery, Mokgatle portrays a self-sufficient community deeply connected to the land and its resources. He also reflects on the impact of European influence and Christianity on the tribe, which introduced both modern conveniences and challenges to traditional ways of life. This autobiography stands as both a personal memoir and a cultural archive, capturing the complexities of transitioning from traditional African society to a modern, colonized world.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Roland De Wolk

American Disruptor

$26.95

The rags-to-riches story of Silicon Valley's original disruptor.

American Disruptor is the untold story of Leland Stanford – from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The life of this robber baron, politician, and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country's original "disruptor" – reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings, and emperors.

It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him—his only child and son. Scandal and intrigue would follow Stanford through his life, and even after his death, when his widow was murdered in a Honolulu hotel—a crime quickly covered up by the almost stillborn university she had saved. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.