In celebration of UT Press’s 70th anniversary and African American History Month, select titles are on sale for 20% to 50% off retail. For details, please visit http://utpress.org/whats-on-sale/.
The University of Tennessee Press this year celebrates 70 years of publishing distinguished books for both scholarly and general audiences.
On February 15, 1940, UT President James D. Hoskins read a statement to the university trustees proposing the establishment of the Press. It became one of many prestigious university presses founded during the first half of the twentieth century, including the University of North Carolina Press in 1922, the University of Georgia Press in 1938, the University of South Carolina Press in 1944, and the University Press of Kentucky in 1949.
After 70 years of growth and change, the University of Tennessee Press has earned a reputation for excellence. Today it publishes 35 to 40 titles a year in many different disciplines and is especially known for its important publications in African American studies, women’s studies, history, anthropology, religion, folklore, Native American studies, architectural history and material culture, and especially Appalachian studies and southern history.
Some of the Press’s most outstanding publications include the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, edited by Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell, winner of the 2007 Weatherford Award; Intellectual Life in the Colonial South by Richard Beale Davis, winner of the 1978 National Book Award in history; The Collected Works of James Agee, edited by Michael Lofaro; and the presidential papers of Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk. The Press has published many outstanding works about the East Tennessee area, many from local authors. Popular titles include Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Community by Durwood Dunn, The Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English by Michael B. Montgomery and Joseph S. Hall, and several humor books, as well as works on other topics, by Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist Sam Venable. The Press has also reprinted a number of classic works about the South and the Appalachian region, including Horace Kephart’s famed Our Southern Highlanders, one of the very first books to document the culture of the Great Smoky Mountains.
In July 2008, Scot Danforth was named the fourth director of the Press. Among the exciting projects currently in the works under Mr. Danforth’s direction are a 2010 revision of the online Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, an extremely popular Web site maintained in conjunction with the Tennessee Historical Society; the construction of an online edition of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia under a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission; and a textbook imprint, Torchbearer Texts, which will utilize new technology.
Steeped in a rich tradition of bringing important scholarly and regional publications to light, the Press is committed to its mission for the 21st century.
The Press is planning several events in celebration of its anniversary, including a reception in October. Further announcements will follow as plans for these events develop.
