Sally McMurry is the 2018 winner of the Philip S. Klein Book Prize from the Pennsylvania Historical Association for Pennsylvania Farming: A History in Landscapes. Pennsylvania Farming, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in October 2017, presents the first history of PA agriculture in sixty years. McMurry goes beyond a strictly economic approach and considers the diverse forces that helped shape the farming landscape, from physical factors to cultural repertoires to labor systems. Above all, the people who created and worked on Pennsylvania’s farms are placed at the center of attention. More than 150 photographs inform the interpretation, which…

A note from Peter Kracht, director at the University of Pittsburgh Press: We are pleased to introduce the new University of Pittsburgh Press colophon. The logo is a graphic representation of the Cathedral of Learning, iconic symbol of the University of Pittsburgh. Its soaring design was intended to inspire the students and scholars of the University. Begun in 1926 and finished a decade later, it is still the second-tallest academic structure and neo-Gothic building in the world. Its completion in 1936 marked the very same year as the founding of the University of Pittsburgh Press. While it reaches for the sky, the Cathedral’s…

Pittsburgh is more than just a home for author Kathleen George: the city and its people are a source of inspiration. A native of Johnstown, George has lived in the city for many years, teaches theatre arts and creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, and has written several novels and short stories based in the Pittsburgh region, including The Johnstown Girls. Her latest, The Blues Walked In, is a period fiction novel set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh’s once-bustling Hill District. It’s 1936, and a nineteen year-old Lena Horne is walking to her father’s hotel in the Hill after a long tour with Nobel Sissel’s orchestra. Along the…

Pitt Poetry Series: New & Selected 2018 30% discount on all books. Use code PC692 at checkout to receive sale prices. Order online at www.upress.pitt.edu or call 800-62-2736. Discount applies only to books listed in our 2018 Pitt Poetry Series catalog. Sale ends April 30, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Books not yet published or temporarily out of stock will be charged to your credit card when the book is available.

Poem from the Vault aims to celebrate our diverse poetic history by highlighting backlist poetry from the Pitt Poetry Series. Ed Ochester has been the editor and creative force behind the series since 1978. We kick off Black History Month with a selection from Toi Derricotte’s 1989 collection, Captivity.   © 1989 Toi Derricotte from Captivity What are the forces that cause us to strike out and harm each other? Captivity explores the way in which the individual is held hostage by society; how the forces of racism, sexism, and classism frequently express themselves as violence within the family. The…