History, Myth, and Public Life

Harriet Tubman:
Myth, Memory, and History
Milton C. Sernett

“In this brilliant study, Sernett peels back layers of memory regarding both real and imagined events to reveal the fascinating interplay of cultural, political, and social forces that have contributed to Harriet Tubman’s near-mythic status. With graceful prose and nuanced analysis, he describes the literary and artistic productions that have shaped our understanding of Tubman over the past one hundred and fifty years: productions that reflect an ever-evolving process of memory and mythmaking by generations of Americans in pursuit of meaningful cultural and historical icons.”—Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero

The Public Life of History
Bain Attwood, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Claudio Lomnitz, editors
a special issue of Public Culture (20:1, #54)

This special issue of Public Culture explores the tension and the challenges raised by the interaction of history with the domains of public life, including politics, the law, and the media. It focuses specifically on situations where a social compact has been reshaped based on the revaluation of historical wounds such as those inflicted in South African apartheid and in the Holocaust. The politics of recognition has challenged historical research to serve public ends, invoking the past as the site of the original slight and calling for redress in the present.

New Developments in Our Journals Program

Cornell University Library and Duke University Press Announce Partnership; Duke to Provide Enhanced Services for Project Euclid

In a publishing agreement that reaches across boundaries by bringing together a leading U.S. academic research library and one of the nation’s outstanding university presses, Cornell University Library and Duke University Press have announced that they have established a joint venture to expand and enhance the services of Project Euclid, the premier online information community for mathematics and statistics resources from independent publishers.

For more information, please download the press release.

Over thirty years of back content for the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law now available online and free to current subscribers

Duke University Press is pleased to announce that over thirty years of back content for the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law is now available online for the first time on HighWire at jhppl.dukejournals.org. Current subscribers can access the content of more than 190 issues—from the very first issue of the journal, originally published in 1976, to the current issue—for free as part of their paid subscription.


For more information, please download the full press release.

RHR offers a new
perspective on homonormativity

Queer Futures
Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, and David Serlin
a special issue of Radical History Review

In this special issue of Radical History Review, scholars and activists examine the rise of “homonormativity,” a lesbian and gay politics that embraces neoliberal values under the guise of queer sexual liberation. Contributors look at the historical forces through which lesbian and gay rights organizations and community advocates align with social conservatives and endorse family-oriented formations associated with domestic partnership, adoption, military service, and gender-normative social roles.

Click here to read the introduction for free.

Duke Press launches its blog.
For up-to-date news about our books and journals, and links to reviews, interviews, and author events, please visit our new blog.

Click here to view our Spring 2008 catalog.

Questions about the transition to a 13-digit ISBN? Visit our FAQ page.