Wayne State University Press

12/08/2022

There is still plenty of time to get books for the holidays!

Use code HOL2 at WSUPress.wayne.edu for 30% off all of our books!

12/07/2022

STILETTOS IN A RIFLE RANGE by Tyrone Williams was named a 2022 Fall Featured Book by The Academy of American Poets!

Pick up a copy of this excellent gift at https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/stilettos-rifle-range!

12/06/2022

Holiday Gifts for Book Lovers 2022

FEAR AND OTHER STORIES by Chana Blankshteyn and
translated by Anita Norich makes a great holiday gift - don't just take our word for it, the Jewish Book Council says so!

It’s that time of year again! The sun is setting earlier, and we have more time than ever to curl up with a good book in the evenings. Not sure what to get the book lovers in your life?

12/03/2022

We are almost ready for Noel Night!

Join us at 40 W Hancock for our BIGGEST sale of the year!

12/01/2022

Happy Pub Date!

Edward Morin said "The poet’s voice echoes love poetry of Ovid and the old, stand-up routines of Williams’s favorite comedian, Richard Pryor. With caustic charm, Tyrone Williams explores a host of attitudes, vocabularies, and emotions, fulfilling his promise ‘to honor the Black vernacular in all its troubled poignancy.’"

Now available in print or e-book! https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/stilettos-rifle-range

11/30/2022

While enjoying Noel Night this Saturday, make sure you stop by and visit with some great WSUP authors! In addition to our BIG, BIG book sale, we have three authors signing books around town, including:

Desiree Cooper at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History from 6:00pm-8:00pm

Michael W. Nagle at the Detroit Historical Museum from 5:30pm-8:30pm

Jean Alicia Elster Books at Source Booksellers starting at 5:30pm

Signed copies of books will be available at their respective locations!

11/30/2022

Happy Pub Date to this wonderful selection of books!

FEARLESS VULGARITY by Ken Feil highlights Valley of the Dolls author Jacqueline Susann’s camp comedy legacy.

STREISAND by Garrett Stewart is a blend of film reading with vocal analysis in appreciation of Barbra Streisand’s unmatched contribution to lyric drama on screen.

THE ENCHANTED BOOT edited, translated, and introduced by Nancy L. Canepa is a representative selection of tales from the Italian fairy-tale tradition, translated into English.

All three books are available on our website (wsupress.wayne.edu)!

11/29/2022

THIS SATURDAY Noel Night is back and better than ever!

We will have our warehouse open to the public with our BIGGEST BOOK SALE of the year! It is a great time to start that holiday shopping for your loved ones (or yourself)! In addition to our new books, we will have a selection of used books at a DEEP, DEEP discount.

And you can't forget that we will have a Santa Selfie Station!

For more information: https://www.noelnight.org

11/28/2022

NOTHING SPECIAL by Desiree Cooper was named as a Top 10 Children's Book by the NYPL The New York Public Library!

With excellent story-telling and eye-catching illustrations, this book makes an excellent gift! Order your copy at https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/nothing-special

...and yes, it is included in our holiday sale!

11/26/2022

Don't forget that tomorrow is !

Make a stop into your favorite small business or , and get started on that holiday shopping early!

11/24/2022

While our offices may be closed for the rest of this week, our online sales are still happening!

Don't forget to start your holiday shopping early with 30% off ALL BOOKS with code HOL2 at wsupress.wayne.edu! (excludes pre-orders)

11/23/2022

Stan Ovshinsky: 'The Most Prolific Inventor You’ve Never Heard Of'

What a beautiful story!

Read more in SCRATCHING THE SURFACE a memoir by Harvey Ovshinsky.

https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/scratching-surface

by Harvey Ovshinsky

11/22/2022

"Blends James Bond parody with wit and rage."
– Time

A second edition, featuring an introduction by Natiki Hope Pressley, is now available!

https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/spook-who-sat-door-second-edition-0

"The Spook Who Sat by the Door" (1973) was a banned film based on the novel by Sam Greenlee. This movie is an essential film of Black cinema history. There is much to say about the movie itself. However, what makes this film so prominent is everything else behind the scenes and the collateral damage it caused for some people's careers. Greenlee chose Ivan Dixon to lead the film's direction while initially considering casting Clarence Williams III to play the role of Dan Freeman. Ultimately, the part went to Lawrence Cook, who featured in more minor roles in movies and TV series beforehand.

Greenlee based the film in Chicago; however, Dixon shot most of the movie in Gary, Indiana, because Chicago's mayor didn't appreciate the film's theme. Greenlee also hired long-time friend Herbie Hancock to produce the movie's soundtrack. Ultimately, the subject matter of Black militancy and revolution while exploiting the CIA's training was more than what America could bear at the time. As a result, United Artists Films pulled the movie from theaters after three weeks.

We can dive deeper into the significance of this movie from different aspects; however, I encourage everyone to further research Sam Greenlee's experience with his book and film. Many American publishers initially rejected his book, but eventually, Allison & Busby published it in the UK in March 1969. It's eye-opening how higher powers can pull strings to suppress art and messages about institutional racism. I highly recommend this movie for viewing.

Director: Ivan Dixon
Writers: Sam Greenlee (screenplay), Melvin Clay (screenplay)

Starring Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly, J.A. Preston, Paul Butler, Don Blakely, David Lemieux

Storyline
To improve his standing with Black voters, a White Senator starts a campaign for the CIA to recruit Black agents. However, all are graded on a curve and doomed to fail, save for a soft-spoken veteran named Dan Freeman. After grueling training in guerrilla warfare, covert operations, and unarmed combat, the CIA assigns Freeman a meager job as the token Black employee. After five years of racist and stereotyped treatment by his superiors, he quietly resigns to return to his native Chicago to work for a social services agency by day. By night, he trains a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming race war, using all the CIA has taught him.

https://www.daarac.ngo
https://www.daaracarchive.org/2008/08/spook-who-sat-by-door-1973.html

Available on DVD, but it's out of print and heavily bootlegged. It's on streaming services as well (it's on YouTube). Monarch Video released the film in 2004 on DVD, so if you're looking to purchase then, that's what you should be looking for.
https://www.amazon.com/Spook-Who-Sat-Door/dp/B00013F2OA

The book by Sam Greenlee.
https://www.amazon.com/Spook-Door-African-American-Life/dp/0814322468

11/22/2022

The most wonderful time of the year is here!

Starting this Friday, Nov 25th through Jan 6th, you can take 30% off ALL of our books at wsupress.wayne.edu! Use code HOL2 at checkout.
*Excludes pre-orders*

11/20/2022

SAVE THE DATE! Noel Night is back and better than ever!

This year we will re-open our warehouse to the public for a BIG, BIG BOOK SALE! Not only will we have unbeatable deals, but we will have a Santa Selfie Station! It is a perfect time to start that holiday shopping and get a behind-the-scenes look of your favorite local university press!

11/18/2022

As we finish out this University Press Week, we would just like to take the time to thank all of those who support Wayne State University Press! From our authors to local bookstores to our customers to other University Presses. Thank you!

-Wayne State University Press Staff

11/18/2022

Timeline photos

Join us on Saturday, December 3 for Noel Night in Midtown! WSU Press will be hosting their Big Book Sale with a special appearance from Santa! There will be free activities, including holiday shopping, family craft activities, artist demonstrations and performances by local and national music, theatre, and dance groups, and other special performances. Free and open to the public!

For more information, visit http://ow.ly/xtjp50LEN3H

11/17/2022

Recognizing the Value of University Presses

"University presses are responsible for so many specialized, groundbreaking, or locally specific books, which makes them invaluable in curating a good community bookstore."

-Danny Caine, part owner of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, KS

Read more about the importance of University Presses here:
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/90912-recognizing-the-value-of-university-presses.html

Two representatives from the Association of University Presses talk with indie booksellers about the value of UPs.

11/16/2022

‘Raising Bean’ raises consciousness about Indigenous people

https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/raising-bean-raises-consciousness-about-indigenous-people,26818

Native American History Month is the perfect time to sit back, relax, and get a laugh in with W.S. Penn's RAISING BEAN!

Both comical and engaging, W. S. Penn records the conversations he held with his granddaughter, lovingly referred to as "Bean," as he guided her toward adulthood while confronting society’s interest in possessions, fairness, and status.

W.S. Penn’s new book, “Raising Bean,” is a written testament to Native American storytelling. Penn wrote the collection of essays for his granddaughter Bean (Clare) in the form of …

11/16/2022

University Press Week: Day 2

Of course the easiest way to support University Presses is by ! Contrary to belief, most university presses do not publish textbooks, newspapers, or course materials. Instead, we publish both scholarly and widely-accessible trade titles. In fact, these books make for great gifts, including our poetry collections, historical biographies, and of course, Detroit related books!

Find our books at these local : Source Booksellers Sidetrack Bookshop 27th Letter Books Book Beat Pages Bookshop Literati Bookstore Booksweet

11/14/2022

Did you know that Association of University Presses members publish approximately 12,000 titles annually?

While we come together to celebrate University Press Week, stay tuned for fun facts, tips to support UPs, and more this week!

Association of University Presses

11/12/2022

New | Social Justice Books

SocialJusticeBooks.org is a project of for Change, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write and change the world.

As a part of this mission, they curate booklists! And that is where you will find NOTHING SPECIAL by Desiree Cooper!

For more information: https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/new/

Recommended books for pre-K - 12.

11/11/2022

Photos from Pages Bookshop's post

11/10/2022

23rd Annual Lost Mariners Remembrance | Detroit Historical Society

TONIGHT!

The annual Lost Mariners Remembrance returns for its 23rd consecutive year of honoring professional sailors lost on the Great Lakes. On the anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, a lantern vigil at the Fitzgerald anchor starts the evening.

Following this portion of the program, scholar and author Michael W. Nagle will recount the loss of the steamship Atlantic, a crowded passenger ship that collided with the propeller Ogdensburg in 1852.

The annual Lost Mariners Remembrance returns for its 23rd consecutive year of honoring professional sailors lost on the Great Lakes. On the anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, a lantern vigil at the Fitzgerald anchor starts the evening, followed by a performance by Lee Murdock,...

11/10/2022

leonandlulu.com

THIS SUNDAY! Join Jean Alicia Elster Books at Leon & Lulu in Clawson, for their Books & Authors Winter event!

Join Jean Alicia Elster and a host of other Michigan authors at this curated book fair. Author readings throughout the day. Plus, 10% of Sunday's sales will benefit The Oakland Literacy Council.
For more information:

11/09/2022

Happy Pub Date!

"Bowman's work is a wonderful achievement of producing an English version of David Flusser's pioneering critical edition of the medieval anonymous Sepher Yosippon, merged with new breathtaking notes. This is an absolutely innovative and challenging accomplishment of a great connoisseur of medieval Hebrew Literature."

– Robert Bonfil, Emeritus Professor of Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Available now! https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/sepher-yosippon

11/09/2022

Review: Nothing Special Is A Great Book About Generational Bonding

Review: Nothing Special Is A Great Book About Generational Bonding

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. It’s a time for families to get together and reconnect. For many Black families, that might mean a trip down South to see aunts and uncles, cousins and …

11/08/2022

HAPPY PUB DATE!

David Ellenson said "Q***ring Anti-Zionism embodies engaged scholarship at its best. Blackmer displays her unique talents and commitments as a pro-Zionist Q***r scholar-activist to provide an informed analysis and critique of how key q***r anti-Zionist commentators have engaged in anti-Israel propaganda and rhetoric. This is a book of exceptional integrity and accomplishment."

Now available at https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/q***ring-anti-zionism

11/08/2022

Happy Pub Date!

"One would think that these outlandish tales would make Eber Brock Ward and his role in pushing Michigan from an extractive economy into the Industrial Age unforgettable. But that’s not how it went. Author Michael W. Nagle shows how Ward fell into oblivion despite scandals and exploits that would make him Twitter-famous today. Ward may not have been remembered, but people who read Nagle’s book will never forget him."
– Joe Grimm, author of The Faygo Book (Wayne State University Press, 2008) and coauthor of Coney Detroit (Wayne State University Press, 2012)

Available now! https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/forgotten-iron-king-great-lakes

11/08/2022

We are so excited to have Cáel M. Keegan join us as the the new co-editor of the Q***r Screens series!

For more on the series: https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/series-and-imprints/q***r-screens

Q***r Screens expands our senses by reimagining the relationship between q***rness and the screen. In short, it engages in theoretical mayhem. Embracing mayhem’s destructive and reconstructive energies, each book in the series opens the “q***r screen” to new questions about method, content, and form. Through rigorous textual analysis, Q***r Screens refuses to let q***rness rest or settle; it presses q***r up against considerations of transness, race, and class analyses. Probing the edges of both q***rness and the screen, the series provokes unexpected theorizations of visuality, aesthetics, mediation, canonicity, cinephilia, and auteurism.

11/07/2022

Read more about Eber Brock Ward's life in THE FORGOTTEN IRON KING OF THE GREAT LAKES.

Available tomorrow! https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/forgotten-iron-king-great-lakes

Did you know that Eber Brock Ward was the richest man in Michigan, and probably throughout all of the Midwest, when he died in 1875? His estate was valued at $5.3 million. The Detroit Historical Museum has a range of Ward artifacts, including this bust of E.B. Ward.

11/02/2022

Virtual Reading Series, Season 3, Episode 1

Listen in as Jim Daniels (starting at 9:10), reads from his newest collection, GUN/SHY, a Midwest Book Award winner!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_yillcGkk&list=PLxHjA0XIrNoPsfUytsMUE9TkETbIFwvOP

Thank you to Midwest Independent Publishers Association - MiPA for putting this together!

Gun/Shy is available here: https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/gunshy

MiPA's Virtual Reading Series features literary readings by winners of the Midwest Book Awards. This episode features 2021 Poetry winners: SPIT by Daniel Las...

11/01/2022

Visiting Classics Professor to Discuss UM Exhibition - Ole Miss News

https://news.olemiss.edu/visiting-classics-professor-to-discuss-um-exhibition/

Join Wayne State University classics professor Michele Valerie Ronnick in discussion on the "14 Black Classicists" exhibit that is currently on display at the The University of Mississippi - Ole Miss.

OXFORD, Miss. – The photographs and biographies of 14 prominent Black classicists are on display at the University of Mississippi and will be celebrated with a guest lecture on Nov. 3. Michele Valerie Ronnick, distinguished professor of classics at Wayne State University, will discuss the history ...

10/31/2022

Today is the last day to get these for 25% off! Use code OCT1 at wsupress.wayne.edu!

10/28/2022

THIS IS A CAN’T MISS SHOW!

We're still on the move...tune in tomorrow at 11:15 AM (EST).
Natiki Hope Pressley

10/27/2022

It is never to early to start your holiday shopping! Our local indie bookstores in Metro Detroit make an excellent stop for the on your list!

Sidetrack Bookshop 27th Letter Books Pages Bookshop Source Booksellers Detroit Book City Schuler Books Book Beat