Jamestown: The “Starving Time”

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jason Coleman

Archaeologists have called her “Jane.”

She was only fourteen years old when she died at James Fort, part of the Jamestown settlement, during the winter of 1609-10. That winter has been called the “starving time” because of its particular brutality. The settlers dared not stray far from the fort, for fear of being preyed on by the Powhatans, and so they had been driven to eat rats and snakes in order to survive. Until now, the possibility that human flesh was also devoured had been just speculation. Recent excavation at the former site of Jamestown, however, confirms that during the “starving time” the fort’s inhabitants did indeed resort to cannibalism.

Flight to Salerno: A Teacher’s Notes

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Jason Coleman

Christine Dumaine Leche, editor of Outside the Wire: American Soldiers’ Voices from Afghanistan, appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition to describe the creative writing class she taught in occupied Afghanistan and her amazing students, all of whom were American soldiers. You may listen to the interview here. In the following piece, “Flight to Salerno,” Leche takes us behind the scenes of this powerful new book. The trying journey described here is only the beginning of military life in Afghanistan.

What’s She Thinking?

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Jason Coleman

Regular readers of our blog were treated a few weeks back to the story of Fly, a seven-year-old sheepdog “owned” by Donald McCaig. McCaig, the author A Useful Dog and the soon-to-be-released Mrs. and Mrs. Dog: Our Trials, Travels, Adventures, and Epiphanies, continues the story of Fly in a new piece, which begins, “Noticing many sheepdog handlers wear shooting glasses to eliminate glare, a novice asked top handler Scott Glenn, what color glasses she should order. ‘Rose-colored,’ Scott deadpanned. I ask a lot of my dogs: I want an intimate working partnership. I want them to handle any breed of sheep on any terrain in blowing snow, scorching heat, or moonless night. I want them to be politely indifferent to other dogs and mannerly in airports, office buildings, packed elevators, other people’s homes, and public places. I can only ask this much if I can see my dogs; if I’ve put those rose-colored glasses aside. Seeing them is easier said than done.”

The Wildest Wild Oysters

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Jason Coleman

This month we begin a series of pieces by Jeffrey Greene, author of The Golden-Bristled Boar (out in paperback this April). Jeff’s next book concerns foraging and cooking wild edibles. His first post begins in the Louvre, where be becomes mildly obsessed with the oysters as they appear in the Dutch still lifes, and takes him to the French coast in search of the grandest oyster of them all, the giant pied de cheval.

Now Is The Time

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Jason Coleman

For nearly fifty years, no one has covered the Commonwealth like the University of Virginia Press. Order now and save 25% on William Wooldridge’s Mapping Virginia, as well as numerous other titles on colonial Virginia, the Founding Era, the antebellum south, the Civil War, and modern Virginia. A full list of titles and their discounted prices can be found here. This discount is available only with the official order form and is good through December 31, 2012.

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Open For Business

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Jason Coleman

To celebrate its 75th year, the AAUP is sponsoring the first annual University Press Week. Among the many activities commemorating the week is a series of blog posts to which 26 university presses are contributing. Each piece testifies to the dynamic and irreplaceable role university presses play in publishing. For Virginia’s contribution, we turned to one of our favorite authors, Catherine Allgor, who wrote the award-winning Parlor Politics and whose new book, The Queen of America, is just out.