August 22nd 2022 marks CAP’s 25th anniversary, which we see as a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our university press clients and their influential authors and impressive titles.
As part of the celebration we would like to highlight University Press titles that have engaged our team and accentuate university press publishing at its finest. Of course, we have had a hard time making a concise selection from such a wide range of valuable works, but by concentrating on books that received a great deal of attention, sold well and were published only during CAP’s involvement, we have managed to create a list. Read on to find out more about why we chose them, why they are important, and what they have meant to us. You can also hear from some of our University Press colleagues on their thoughts and memories of their books.
Read the note from our Managing Director, David Pickering, on his thoughts on CAP’s 25th anniversary:
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/blog/2022/08/22/caps-25th-anniversary-a-note-from-the-director/
Jump to a specific year:
All of the books listed are available to order – with a 25% discount – here:
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/cap-25-book-timeline/
1997
J.M.G. Le Clezio won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008, a fantastic recognition for this important writer’s work. Described by Kirkus as “…the most surprising work of Le Clezio’s long career, and one of his best” Onitsha is both a lyrical evocation of this atmospheric city in Nigeria, and a damning indictment of colonialism. At CAP, we were grateful for the opportunity to work on the book again in 2008, over ten years since its publication, as demand surged in the wake of the Nobel Prize. Onitsha stands out for Marketing Manager Rachel Shand as being one of the first posters she remembers in the office in Chesham, when she joined in 2011.
1998
Female Masculinity, now available in a 20th anniversary edition, remains as relevant and necessary as ever. It is a landmark work of queer theory, cementing Halberstam’s position as a key scholar and thinker within the field, and one of Duke’s bestsellers of all time. It is an important part of the LGBT/ Queer theory list for which Duke University Press is renowned. In his writings, Halberstam often focuses on what is termed “the bathroom problem.” This outlines the awkward and dangerous dilemma of a perceived gender deviant’s justification of presence in a gender-policed zone, such as a public bathroom, and the identity implications of “passing” therein. Assigned female at birth, he accepts masculine and feminine pronouns, and the name “Judith” in addition to “Jack,” for himself. Halberstam has been nominated three times for Lambda Literary Awards, twice for Female Masculinity. Read our Get to Know: Jack Halberstam blog post: https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/blog/2022/06/08/get-to-know-jack-halberstam/
1999
The 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature was Herta Müller whose Nadirs is a collection of largely autobiographical short stories based on her childhood in the Romanian countryside. Herta Müller is one of the most prolific and acclaimed German-language writers of the last few decades.
The CAP presses are home to a number of Nobel Prize for Literature winners alongside Herta Müller, including J.M.G Le Clezio, 2008 winner, with three works published by Bison Books, a widely respected imprint of University of Nebraska Press best known for literature and important memoirs which document life in the American West. Out of the Dark by Patrick Modiano, winner in 2014, is another on the hugely impressive Bison list. In Search of the Free Individual is published by Cornell University Press and written by Svetlana Alexievich who won the prize in 2015. The Danish writer Johannes Jennsen won in 1944 and his classic novel Fall of the King has its home with University of Minnesota Press. Sigrid Undset, a Norwegian writer who won in 1928 is the author of four novels and a memoir also published by University of Minnesota Press. The bestselling One Hundred Love Sonnets, by Pablo Neruda, winner in 1971, is published by the University of Texas Press. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn won in 1970, and his Red Wheel multivolume epic work is published by the University of Notre Dame Press.
2000
Even after over 20 years, On the Plaza, with its unique study of public space in urban centres is still in demand and on recommended reading lists. At a time when public space is increasingly under threat from private development an understanding of its social and political dimensions will continue to be invaluable. It is part of a great programmes of books the University of Texas Press publishes in the field of Latin American Studies for which it is so well known. Stories Old and New is the first unabridged translation of a classic Ming Dynasty work that is presented as it was in its first publication in China in 1620. These stories are still read in China today and this edition is a classic example of the great work the University of Washington Press does in making important cultural and historical documents from China available to scholars and readers around the world.
2001
The earliest known author of written literature was a woman named Enheduanna, who lived in ancient Mesopotamia around 2300 BCE. Inanna Lady of Largest Heart presents the complete texts of her poems which provide a unique insight into the religious and cultural systems of ancient Mesopotamia. This is one of our best perennial backlist sellers from the University of Texas Press who have a great reputation for their scholarly publications on Classical History. The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics is a cornerstone of Indiana University Press’s well-regarded Studies in Continental Thought series and one of many important collections of Martin Heidegger’s lectures being made available by IUP.
2002
This book has proved to be a classic work on Documentary for undergraduate students. Originally published in 2002, Introduction to Documentary is still required reading and a widely adopted textbook on Film & Media courses. Now in its third edition it is one of our bestselling books from University of Indiana Press who have such a strong presence within Media Studies.
2003
The University of Texas Press has been long associated with its high-quality photography list which has produced beautiful books collecting together important works by some of the 20th century’s most acclaimed photographers. Avedon at Work is a great example of this and it has sold very well since its publication in 2003. We have seen renewed interest in Avedon and in demand for this book since the exhibition at the Hamilton gallery in London staged in autumn 2019. This was to celebrate the partnership of the gallery with the Richard Avedon Foundation. It has been great to see that such interest in his work nearly 20 years after his death.
2004
Story Logic is a key work within the University of Nebraska Press’s Frontiers of Narrative series, which is now made up of nearly 40 titles. We have regular customers for this significant part of Nebraska’s scholarly output and Story Logic in particular is recognised as being the most comprehensive study of Narratology available. Singing Early Music is a broad ranging, invaluable historical study from Indiana University Press. It’s great to have another pioneering, high quality work, this time crossing the fields of linguistics and early music.
2005
The Study of Ethnomusicology became a classic upon its original publication in 1983; the second edition, published in 2005, is a great testament to its continued relevance and gave CAP our first opportunity to contribute to its ongoing success. As Marketing Manager Rachel Shand notes, the latest edition appears on any ethnomusicology flyer or promotion we make. When a title earns a nickname among its audience, that usually a sure sign of its special status; Nettl’s study is known as “The Red Book.” It has proved to be a classroom perennial and must-have for any scholar’s bookshelf. The third edition, fully revised and updated in 2015 introduces Nettl’s thoughts to a new generation.
2006
Sixteen years after its initial publication, Small States in International Relations is still widely read on academic courses in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, where our teams work each year to re-secure its adoptions. Engineering Culture, in its second edition, has been a perennial bestseller for CAP and our bestselling title from Temple University Press. Originally published in 1991, this edition was the first opportunity we had to work on this classic work.
2007
The University of Illinois Press has long been associated with its quality Film Studies list of which Josephine Baker in Art and Life is a great example and has sold especially well for us. When Josephine Baker received one of the highest honours in France with her induction into the French Panthéon, the nation’s mausoleum of heroes, in 2021, it was really great to get the opportunity to revisit the titles we have on Baker, such as this one. Meeting the Universe Halfway is an important, exciting contribution to science studies. Barad’s book is unique in that it is an interdisciplinary study contributing to science, philosophy and feminist theory and is important, ambitious and readable. It is another excellent example of Duke University Press being unafraid to take risks, and producing original, fundamental texts.
2008
Life As Surplus is one of the University of Washington Press’s bestsellers with CAP and has all the qualities we look for in a classic work. It addresses a really important subject – the commercialization of the sciences, specifically biological science, a uniquely qualified and well-placed author, and has no competitor in the market. The topic only becomes more relevant each year. This paperback edition of Tommie Smith’s autobiography, Silent Gesture, was published 50 years on from the Mexico Olympics where he took his iconic stand against racism. The book still resonates today and we saw a resurgence of interest in it following the renewal of his legacy from athletes taking the knee and from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations which have taken place over the last few years. Although Silent Gesture published prior to Rachel starting at CAP, she got to know it when Tommie Smith came to the UK for an event around 2012, which was enough inspiration to gravitate towards any documentary or article featuring the iconic jacket image to learn more.
“My best memories of Tommie Smith were watching him interact with media and attendees at various speaking events. Smith had a major press day in New York City when the book was published, appearing on national TV and radio… He was incredibly inspiring, and that is what resonates most with me from working on this book. And I think that was why the book was so successful. Smith’s message about dignity and respect is both powerful and universal and it has had a resurgence as Colin Kaepernick has initiated a new wave of athlete activism. I was proud to have a minor role in helping Tommie Smith share his life and legacy.” – Gary Kramer, Publicity Manager, Temple University Press
2009
Cruising Utopia, now in a tenth anniversary edition celebrating the lasting impact that Jose Esteban Munoz’ field defining work has had on a generation of LGBTQ scholars. It’s longevity, and continued relevance is borne out by the growing demand we’ve seen over the last couple of years as a new generation is now discovering this book. New York University Press is at the forefront of publishing in LGBTQ scholarship and Cruising Utopia is a cornerstone of their catalogue and of the Sexual Cultures series co-founded by Munoz. It significantly progressed the conversation about what queerness is and how best it can be imagined for the future.
2010
It’s especially satisfying to have an author who has been a pioneer in an emerging field, in this case Secular Studies. Society without God is a unique study by a renowned Sociologist and has been in constant demand since publication, a new and updated edition for which was published in 2020. Queer Ecologies has sold steadily since publication and seen increasing demand over the last couple of years. It’s a classic multidisciplinary work which focuses on the intersection of sexuality and the environment with contributors coming from diverse fields of study. It’s wonderful to see this book growing its audience. Blending first-hand experience with scholarly research, Butoh is an engaging work and a wide history on the metaphoric dance form, about which there are very few other books. Many things can be said about Vibrant Matter, but we will leave it to Duke’s Executive editor Courtney Berger by sharing her comments as part of Duke Editors’ Books of the Decade:
“When I first read the manuscript [of Vibrant Matter] I knew it would be important. I knew that Bennett’s generous and reflective way of thinking and her engaging writing style would widen its audience beyond political theory (Bennett’s home discipline). But I had no idea how influential the book would be, setting the stage for a decade of conversation and debate about “thing-power” and the agential capacities of the nonhuman. Influential books often provoke debate and this one certainly has done that. But, for me, the books that matter in the long run are the ones that invite me to think with them. Vibrant Matter is that kind of book. Bennett’s ideas have generated critique, disagreement, and reflection, all of which has pushed scholarship in new and important directions.” – Courtney Berger, Executive Editor, Duke University Press https://dukeupress.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/our-editors-pick-their-books-of-the-decade/
2011
A field-defining scholar, Lauren Berlant (1957-2021) is widely regarded as the central figure responsible for the creation of “affect theory.” Many of Berlant’s works found a home at Duke University Press, and Cruel Optimism, a meditation on our attachment to dreams that we know are destined to be dashed, is perhaps the best-known, best-selling of the list. It’s another title that stands out for the team at CAP, not just for its top-selling status, but as another jacket image poster on display in the office; Cruel Optimism was, for a long time, one of the first books you learnt of at CAP, one of the finest examples of a major work that is also a perennial bestseller.
2012
In The New Wounded, Catherine Malabou, an author with titles across many of the presses CAP works with, examines the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and neurology, drawing upon neurological research and readings of Freud.
“Malabou is [also] a favorite of mine. I love the way she takes scientific questions seriously, without reducing philosophy to scientific positivism, but rather showing the ways in which scientific and philosophical concepts are intertwined. The book came out as part of a wonderful series called Forms of Living that made some really important interventions along that axis.” – Thomas Lay, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Fordham University Press
2013
The University of Indiana Press’s contribution to Jewish Studies is hugely impressive. The Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, with its extensive user’s guide has many claims on being the definitive edition for students and has receive broad critical acclaim. Another key title from Indiana, Feminist Queer Crip goes against the grain of normalisation and is a unique addition to the field of feminist theory and disability studies. The Pleasure in Drawing is one of our bestselling of Jean Luc Nancy’s works. Nancy, before his death in 2021, was considered to be one of the most important contemporary philosophers; much of his prolific and diverse output has found a great home at Fordham University Press, where philosophy is one of the disciplines at the heart of the publishing programme. The Memory of Place written by Dylan Trigg and published by Ohio University Press is considered by scholars to be a unique and significant addition to the study of phenomenology. It is establishing itself as a major original work in the field.
“I’m sure you could have chosen any number of books by Nancy, who was always one of my favorite authors to work with. But Nancy always writes beautifully on the arts — drawing, music, film, and The Pleasure in Drawing is a wonderful intervention on the ways in which drawing seems to elude finality.” – Thomas Lay, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Fordham University Press
“The Memory of Place is a compelling topic coming from a younger scholar who was in retrospect quite engaged with us in terms of publicity and marketing. For a scholarly title, this one attracted a number of media requests outside of the academy—reviews in the Los Angeles Review of Books and Minneapolis-based Rain Taxi come to mind. I remember being surprised and pleased by this attention. It seems like the topic may have tapped into a theme that people were curious about.” – Jeff Kallet, Sales Manager, Ohio University Press
2014
One Hundred Love Sonnets has been shared by generations of lovers since Pablo Neruda and his wife Matilde Neruda, making it one of the most popular poetry books of all time. With this beautifully designed gift edition, it is easy to see why it remains a bestselling book year after year, with sales peaking in late January to mid-February. Black Elk Speaks is described as an American classic, and telling the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) as conveyed by John G. Neihardt. It is one of the all-time best sellers at CAP and is published by the University of Nebraska Press, leading a strong and important list of Indigenous studies titles at the press. With University of Nebraska Press editions dating back to the 1960s, this complete edition features a new introduction, annotations, and maps and original illustrations by Standing Bear. Citizen 13660 was originally published in 1946 and re-issued in 2014 in University of Washington Press’s well renowned Classics of Asian American Literature Series. This has been a steady seller for us since its publication and has seen a great uplift over the last two years thanks mostly to an adoption in South Korea. Boyhood exemplifies the true extent of the breadth and diversity University Press publishing – a beautifully produced, photographic book and companion to an Oscar film. Photographer Matt Lankes was on set to document the 12 years of making this unique and wonderful film and the book features contributions by Director Richard Linklater and cast. It was published by the film’s production company and came to us via University of Texas Press whose outstanding Film and Photography lists made them a perfect partner for their project. For me [Charlotte], it was the first “big” publicity outreach I worked on after starting at CAP, and it was a thrill to see its two-page spread in the Independent on Sunday magazine after weeks of frantic activity getting it secured. Thomas Sankara has been in constant demand since publication. The Ohio Short Histories of Africa series from Ohio University Press is a series of informative and concise guides, lively biographies, and succinct introductions to important topics in African history. There is no better place to start learning about the key figures at the centre of Africa’s emergence from Colonial rule. Thomas Sankara has been the bestselling title in the Ohio Short Histories of Africa.
“[2014 was] a good year for the Ohio Short Histories of Africa series. We also published Patrice Lumumba and Emperor Haile Selassie in 2014 and, with Thomas Sankara, this threesome seemed to make the series recognized for its biographies, even though we also publish other topics, such as The Soweto Uprising and Short-Changed: South Africa since Apartheid, both of which came out in early 2015… Since then, this Sankara biography has become the best-selling book in the series, perhaps spurred by his heroic status as “Africa’s Che Guevara.” – Jeff Kallet, Sales Manager, Ohio University Press
2015
Published just as we started representing Stanford, Simple Habits for Complex Times is one of now four classic works on change and complexity by Jennifer Garvey-Berger and published by Stanford University Press’s highly regarded Business Books imprint. Senses of the Subject is a collection of Judith Butler’s essays spanning 20 years of her academic career. Butler is an influential philosopher who is not afraid to speak out about important issues and champions the rights of often marginalised groups. They are a gender theorist whose work has influenced many fields including political philosophy, ethics, feminism, queer theory and literary theory, and some of her most important works are published by Fordham University Press. The Burnout Society was the first of Byung-Chul Han’s works to be translated into English and introduces one of his most important ideas. Han, Philosopher and Cultural Theorist is one of the most widely read and influential contemporary thinkers, focusing on some of our society’s most harmful trends. This book has been much in demand since publication and our sales of this book grow each year, an index of its increasing relevance.
“[…my] predecessor, Helen Tartar, is the one who built our philosophy list, but who sadly didn’t live to see the book out. She and Butler were very close, and one of the things Helen got about Butler that many people didn’t, is that Butler is, at heart, a philosopher — that’s what their degree is in, and it’s a field that they care deeply about. When people praise “Gender Trouble” and “Bodies that Matter” as foundational works of gender theory, they’re not wrong, of course, but a lot of people forget that those books are interventions in philosophical conversations and intended not just to theorize gender but also to show the ways in which taking gender seriously profoundly unsettles philosophical concepts concerning identity and subjectivity. Because of that, Butler brought Senses of the Subject to Helen and Fordham, since that book makes explicit the philosophical background to a great deal of their thought.” – Thomas Lay, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Fordham University Press
2016
White Innocence written by Gloria Wekker and published by Duke University Press closely examines 400 years of Dutch colonial rule and its legacy today. It really captured the zeitgeist, illustrated by the huge and immediate amount of interest we saw, especially in the Netherlands. At the book launch at Goldsmiths, London, one of many European events, we’ve – to this day – never seen a book sell out so quickly. Since its publication we have seen sales of books on post-colonial subjects grow rapidly, but for us, this was ahead of the curve. Critical Suicidology published the year after UBC Press joined CAP, and it typifies their strong list in Sociology and Social Work. Bringing together a range of international scholars, it’s a must-read for practitioners and policy makers – in addition to researchers and academics. Afghanistan was a really important project for the University of Texas Press in 2016. It was published at a crucial time in the conflict and gave voice to the hopes and fears of Afghan women. Would Afghan women and young girls be stripped of the freedoms they had gained after the removal of the Taliban. With an introduction by Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb, Afghanistan gained a huge amount of attention and Paula Bronstein held or attended many events, all around the world in the years after it published. In what is possibly a record for CAP, Staying with the Trouble featured at around 20 conferences in the year it published, which is indicative of its broad appeal and success as a mould-breaking interdisciplinary work. Donna Haraway is a prominent scholar and author of numerous foundational books and essays that bring together questions of science and feminism, including the essay A Cyborg Manifesto. She rejects the idea of the Anthropocene, preferring to conceptualize our current epoch as the Cthulucene, more aptly describing the epoch as one in which the human and nonhuman are inextricably linked. South Sudan is an important addition to the Ohio Short Histories of African series, differing from the rest of the series by focusing on a region rather than an individual leader. It is possibly for this reason it has remained incredibly popular and received excellent feedback when we take copies, time and time again, to events like ECAS and ASAUK.
“At the time South Sudan was published, we had about 25 titles in the Ohio Short Histories of Africa series. The series was getting established and books were getting into stores as well as into classrooms. Our then-director Gill Berchowitz had a long-standing publishing relationship with Douglas Johnson, a widely recognized expert on the region and this new country, and asked him to write the book. People were interested in South Sudan—it became a nation in 2011 and two years later fell into a civil war—and Johnson was able to concisely present its long and rich pre-colonial history and its contemporary complications. This made it an ideal book for people who wanted to learn and understand without getting bogged down in a heavy treatise.” – Jeff Kallet, Sales Manager, Ohio University Press
2017
Living a Feminist Life was the book that we saw most frequently in our personal social media feeds. It published at a time when people were hungry for books on feminist topics and writers were equally engaged, with many books appearing on the shelves. It stood out in a crowded field as readers seemed eager to engage with a more academic work. We also saw it become an introduction for many to Sara Ahmed’s works; people who bought Living a Feminist Life returned to buy her earlier works. At launches, we’d bring all of her backlist books, and always sell out. Living a Feminist Life was the first opportunity that Senior Marketing Executive, Charlotte Anderson, had to work with Sara Ahmed, who was, by this point, a three-time Duke/CAP author – and her reputation for being lovely to work with was very well-founded. The new translation of The Complete Old English Poems has received wide critical acclaim for its conveyance of the style and meaning of the original texts. It is an impressive tome in both size and what has been achieved to make this the definitive collection of these important works. As an Oxford librarian commented at IMC 2019, “this is one of the best books I own.” It is important to both Middle Ages History and Literature, both of which are areas of excellence across the University of Pennsylvania Press’s publishing programme. Matters of Care is a thoughtful, transformative study, drawing upon science and technology, feminist care ethics, and post humanism. It forms part of the Posthumanities series, part of the University of Minnesota list which continues to grow in importance in an emerging interdisciplinary field. David Pickering is a fan of Fast/Forward – not just due to its impressive life sales – but because, as David endorses “it is a well-written, intelligent paean to the importance of instinct and judgement to drive a business forward. It epitomises the quality and international nature of Stanford University Press publishing.” Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet is a timely anthology essays organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication’s two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violence of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. The book is beautifully packaged with each figure, or opening presented in a ‘reversible’ text which can be read from one side or the other, before the sections meet in the middle. This has been a really interesting book to sell and market as we were able to include it in a wide range of different subject flyers and promotions. We sold it to a really diverse range of customers both in the UK and Europe. It has also found a good home in gallery stores, where we see more and more interest in stocking titles that seek to engage us in new and interesting ways on the topics featured in this collection. After Europe was published a year on from the UK’s European Union membership referendum and became an instant breakout book for CAP. Its author Ivan Krastev is a widely respected policy expert and champion of promoting economic cooperation in Europe. 2017 was our first year working with University of Pennsylvania Press and this book gave us an early opportunity to plan a big campaign and to hit the ground running. There were two launches for the book, hosted by The Open Society Institute in Hungary and by Absolute Strategy Research Limited in London. We pitched the book to a broad range of media, and it was hugely gratifying to see the very positive reviews and pieces that appeared in so many outlets including The Sunday Times, Times Higher Education, Financial Times, Evening Standard, The Irish Times, Hurriyet Daily News, Prospect Magazine and Times Literary Supplement, where it also featured in their books of the year round-up. Critical Race Theory was first published by published by New York University Press in 2001. They have been publishing important books about race for years, and has been ahead of the curve on a subject area into which an increasing number of books have been published over the last few years. This third edition has been updated to include the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidency of Barack Obama, the rise of hate speech on the Internet and the ways in which other societies and disciplines adapt its teachings. It has become the go-to classroom adoption for undergraduates and has more scholarly citations than any other book on this subject. A wider audience needing to understand the subject has also come to this book, from government departments and the corporate sector to a more general readership recognising its growing relevance.
“What is the secret to the longevity and popularity of Craig Williamson’s The Complete Old English Poems? To have all 31,000 lines of extant poetry in Old English, collected and translated by a single poet-translator-scholar into one beautifully printed, reasonably priced, and easy-to-carry book could be the reason for its success. […] When presenting this book to our sales representatives in both the United States and the United Kingdom, what I particularly wanted to convey was how faithful Williamson was to Old English poetic technique—the use of stressed syllables and alliteration in every line, to name but a few—while at the same time delivering a reading experience that felt natural to the language of our present moment. It’s like having the past speak to you simultaneously in its language and our own. Through the magic that is poetic language, the poems make me feel like I have something in common with those who lived over a thousand years ago. […] The cover image of the book reproduces and enlarges an image of a “gold filigree mount” that was found in the Staffordshire Hoard. My enthusiasm for the book inspired me to purchase an actual-sized, pewter replica on a chain that, as a conversation starter, has enabled me to share my enthusiasm for the book with others.” – Tracy Kellmer, Direct Mail and Advertising Manager, University of Pennsylvania Press
2018
Algorithms of Oppression is a wonderful example of the right book at the right time, recognised by both the media and the reading public, it has been one of the most reviewed books on our list in recent years, and our bestselling New York University Press book. Quite simply the best and most authoritative book on this militant Islamic group who have wrong so much strife in Africa, Inside Al Shabaab, published at a time when the group were getting headlines across the world – when governments, military, students, and general readers wanted to educate themselves, this was the book. It became one of our bestselling books of the year, and our bestselling of all time into Africa. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None is the bestselling title from the Forerunners series, and one of the University of Minnesota Press bestselling books. The Forerunners: Ideas First series is a fantastic example of UMP, like so many University Presses, not being afraid to take risks – the books are “quick” and current; big ideas still in process, or not yet fully formed, out in the world and accessible for people to engage with. The Power of Gentleness received the French Voices Award for excellence in publication and translation, and is a profound and charming celebration of gentleness. It was made all the more poignant when we learned of Anne Dufourmantelle’s death in the months leading up to publication. As Senior Acquisitions Editor Thomas Lay adds:
“Dufourmantelle died just as the book was going into production. She’d gone over the translation with the translator, had suggested the cover art, and supplied the subtitle: Meditations on the Risk of Living, which gained a certain pathos after her death, because she had died trying to save a child caught in a rip tide. The wonderful cover design had come in the weekend before her death, but I delayed sending it to her because we wanted to correct a minor omission. I wish she could have seen it.”
2019
With Earth Emotions, Albrecht offers a new language with which we can describe the full range of our emotional responses to the state of the world. It examines our positive and negative Earth emotions, but does see reason for hope, and optimism. With climate change – climate crisis – hitting the headlines regularly, it’s all too clear why this continues to be necessary reading. Also from Cornell University Press this year was Solid State, the most definitive account yet of the writing, recording, mixing, and reception of Abbey Road. Promoting the book became a family affair, and we sent Sales Manager George’s nephew down to Abbey Road on (a very rainy!) publication day to spend the day at the famous zebra crossing, handing out postcards and books. Vancouverism is a beautifully illustrated work on urban planning, described as a definitive account of how a city came to be. Appealing to urbanists and urban historians worldwide, it also serves to highlight the brilliant scholarship on Canada published by UBC Press. The Collected Poems of Édouard Glissantgathers and translates—most for the first time—the nine volumes of poetry published by Édouard Glissant, a two-time finalist for the Nobel Prize in Literature. This 2019 paperback version of the original hardcover gave us our first opportunity to work with the poems of Glissant, another influential writer, theorist, and poet with a number of works across the CAP list.
“As the acquiring editor for one of our recent CAP “success stories” – Kenneth Womack’s Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles (2019) – I am really pleased with how CAP got behind a special book that could have been dismissed as “just another Beatles book.” [W]orking with Ken on Solid State was one of the most rewarding experiences of my (relatively brief) editorial career. Ken was a generous and patient author, answer my questions (even if they didn’t necessarily pertain to the book at hand) and accepting my suggestions about the shape and content of the book. It was an unusually collaborative relationship, I think, and the experience made me a better editor even as it also resulted in (I think) a better book.” – Mahinder Kingra, Editorial Director, Cornell University Press
2020
Dub, the third of Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ trilogy really struck us as a book of the “moment” – and having the potential to be of several future “moments” too. It’s always an honour to have the opportunity to work on books by major, widely-respected scholars in their field, and David Bentley Hart is one of America’s most eminent contemporary writers on religion. Theological Territories gives him the opportunity to advance many of his larger theological projects, developing and deepening numerous dimensions of his previous work. It forms part of the Theology list at the University of Notre Dame Press, for which they are particularly renowned. Cataloguing Culture is a timely and significant study of how colonialism operates in museum bureaucracies. It is an important contribution to the museum studies list published by UBC Press. Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, originally published more than fifty years ago in French, is a ground-breaking work of philosophical theory, finally available in its first complete English language translation, published by the University of Minnesota Press as part of their Posthumanities series. UNDP joined CAP in 2020, and March 1917 stands out, not only as having another Nobel Prize-winning author, but also for being one of the first book trailer videos to be embedded onto the new CAP website, which also went live in early 2020. Solzhenitsyn is widely acknowledged as one of the most important figures in the last century, and this translation, published on the 100th anniversary of the Russia Revolution. The Red Wheel is multivolume epic work, and a masterpiece about the Russian Revolution. He spent decades writing about just four of the most important periods of it. This is the first time that the monumental March 1917—the third period, has been translated into English.
2021
The Material Fall of Roman Britain 300-525 CE was one of many titles that had a virtual launch in 2020-21. One of the advantages of a launch on Zoom as part of IMC 2021 was being able to attend and listen in. Marketing Manager Rachel really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about material culture and listen in to the lively discussion. This is a classic example of the University of Pennsylvania publishing programme known for the quality of its Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern History lists. This critical edition of Toward the Critique of Violence presents readers with an altogether new, fully annotated translation of a work that is widely recognized as a classic of modern political theory. It’s one of a number of titles by, or about, Walter Benjamin, and one of many by a major theorist. Read our Get to Know: Walter Benjamin post here: https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/blog/2022/05/20/get-to-know-walter-benjamin/ Teaching Black History to White People, one of CAP’s Essential Reads promotion titles for 2021, is a book that does what it says on the tin. Exactly the right book for the moment, we’ve seen it start out really strongly, and predict its continuing success as a necessary read for everyone. Is Russia Fascist? published almost a full year before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, is an important, detailed examination of domestic and foreign policy which has taken on a renewed significance.
2022
Korea: A History has received extremely positive praise from his academic peers and more than fills the glaring gap there has been in English-language studies of the country’s history. Up to date, accessible and beautifully packaged as usual by Stanford University Press. There are early signs this is already being found to be the go-to overview of Korea’s fascinating history. You Are Gods, from respected American theologian David Bentley Hart, is a crucial text for current discussions in Christian theology. The 25th Anniversary edition of The Racial Contract, appearing less than a year after the author’s passing, is an update on a landmark text. Following the Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the world in 2020, we saw demand for education on race dramatically increase and this – among an impressive output across all of our presses – was, and is, one of the most sought-after books.
To conclude our list, a title we are looking forward to in our 25th year. September will see the posthumous publication of On the Inconvenience of Other People, by Lauren Berlant, who sadly died in 2021. One of the most important authors for Duke, and CAP, we were reminded of Berlant’s impact on her readers, her students, and her fellow academics, with the many obituaries published last year. We leave it to Courtney Berger, Executive Editor at Duke University Press, to share more about her memories of Lauren:
“Lauren was a fierce intellectual who relentlessly challenged our assumptions about gender, sex, nation, and feeling. Lauren was also an incredibly generous collaborator who sought out opportunities to think alongside and in conversation with others. Even as they dwelled on the structural violence and difficulties of thriving in a world dominated by capitalism, racism, and sexism, Lauren saw the potential for us to radically transform our relationship to the world and to ourselves. Lauren was a wit, who liked to share and hear new jokes. They loved cats, silly cat photos, and elaborate cat furniture. And they could always direct you to the best vegan food in town. Above all, Lauren was a friend and a comrade, and I will miss them terribly.”- Courtney Berger, Executive Editor, Duke University Press, writing at the time of Berlant’s death in 2021.
Read more of Duke staff reflections, in their Farewell to Lauren Berlant: https://dukeupress.wordpress.com/2021/06/29/farewell-to-lauren-berlant/
You can buy any of the books here: https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/cap-25-book-timeline/
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