UNC Press Presents Podcast

UNC Press Presents Podcast

episodes

Interviews with authors of University of North Carolina Press books.

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, "The Surgeon's Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War" (UNC Press, 2025)

April 4, 2026

The Surgeon's Battle

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between May 1 and May 22, 1863, Union soldiers marched nearly 200 miles through the hot, humid countryside to assault and capture the fortified city o…

Joseph Weiss, "Irreconcilable: Indigeneity and the Violence of Colonial Erasure in Contemporary Canada" (UNC Press, 2026)

March 17, 2026

Irreconcilable

Joseph Weiss

Since the early 2000s, the Canadian government has attempted reconciliation with Indigenous Nations through varied efforts: treaty processes, governme…

Antwain K. Hunter, "A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865" (UNC Press, 2025)

March 16, 2026

A Precarious Balance

Antwain K. Hunter
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865 (UNC Press, 202…

Cecilia Márquez, "Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation" (UNC Press, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Making the Latino South

Cecilia Márquez
Hosted by Anna Lindner

The presence of Latinx people in the American South has long confounded the region's persistent racial binaries. In Making the Latino South: A History…

Zaid Adhami, "Dilemmas of Authenticity: The American Muslim Crisis of Faith" (UNC Press, 2025)

February 11, 2026

Dilemmas of Authenticity

Zaid Adhami
Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani

In one of the most important books published in 2025—Dilemmas of Authenticity: The American Muslim Crisis of Faith, published by UNC Press—Zaid Adhami…

Alaina M. Morgan, "Atlantic Crescent: Building Geographies of Black and Muslim Liberation in the African Diaspora" (UNC Press, 2025)

January 27, 2026

Atlantic Crescent

Alaina M. Morgan
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Alaina Morgan's Atlantic Crescent: Building Geographies of Black and Muslim Liberation in the African Diaspora (UNC Press, 2025) introduces the concep…

Brian D. Behnken, "Brown and Blue: Mexican Americans, Law Enforcement, and Civil Rights in the Southwest, 1935-2025" (UNC Press, 2025)

January 21, 2026

Brown and Blue

Brian D. Behnken
Hosted by Michael Stauch

How police abuse ignited the Chicano movement in the Southwest Brown and Blue: Mexican Americans, Law Enforcement, and Civil Rights in the Southwest,…

Ryan Emanuel, "On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice" (UNC Press, 2024)

January 12, 2026

On the Swamp

Ryan Emanuel

Despite centuries of colonialism, Indigenous peoples still occupy parts of their ancestral homelands in what is now Eastern North Carolina--a patchwor…

Robert D. Bland, "Requiem for Reconstruction: Black Countermemory and the Legacy of the Lowcountry's Lost Political Generation" (UNC Press, 2026)

January 5, 2026

Requiem for Reconstruction

Robert D. Bland
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

The promise of Reconstruction sparked a transformative era in American history as free and newly emancipated Black Americans sought to redefine their …

Aaron G. Fountain Jr., "High School Students Unite! Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 27, 2025

High School Students Unite!

Aaron G. Fountain Jr.
Hosted by Jen Hoyer

In High School Students Unite! Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America (UNC Press, 2025), Aaron G. Fountain Jr. highl…

Brittany Michelle Friedman, "Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 24, 2025

Carceral Apartheid

Brittany Michelle Friedman
Hosted by Mickell Carter

It is impossible to deny the impact of lies and white supremacy on the institutional conditions in US prisons. There is a particular power dynamic of …

Irvin Ibargüen, "Caught in the Current: Mexico's Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940-1980" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 21, 2025

Caught in the Current

Irvin Ibargüen
Hosted by Rachel Newman

Migration between the United States and Mexico is often compared to the river that runs along the border: a "flow" of immigrants, a "flood" of documen…

Amy Erdman Farrell, "Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 18, 2025

Intrepid Girls

Amy Erdman Farrell
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

When eight-year-old Amy Erdman Farrell moved with her family to Akron, Ohio, in 1972, she found herself adrift in a sea of taunting boys and mean girl…

J Finley, "Sass: Black Women's Humor and Humanity" (UNC Press, 2024)

December 16, 2025

Sass

J Finley
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Black women comedians are more visible than ever, performing around the world in physical venues like comedy clubs and festivals, along with appearing…

René Esparza, "From Vice to Nice: Midwestern Politics and the Gentrification of AIDS" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 11, 2025

From Vice to Nice

René Esparza
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Shifting the focus of AIDS history away from the coasts to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, this impressive book uncovers how homonormativ…

Black Girls and How We Fail Them

December 4, 2025

Black Girls and How We Fail Them

Aria S Halliday

From hip-hop moguls and political candidates to talk radio and critically acclaimed films, society communicates that Black girls don’t matter and thei…

Jonathan S. Jones, "Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America's First Opioid Crisis" (UNC Press, 2025)

December 2, 2025

Opium Slavery

Jonathan S. Jones
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

During the Civil War, the utility and widespread availability of opium and morphine made opiates essential to wartime medicine. After the war ended, t…

Erika Pani, "Torn Asunder: Republican Crises and Civil Wars in the United States and Mexico, 1848-1867" (UNC Press, 2025)

November 26, 2025

Torn Asunder

Erika Pani
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Between the late 1840s and the late 1860s, the United States and Mexico had quite a bit in common. Both suffered from reactionary succession movements…

Renata Keller, "The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War" (UNC Press, 2025)

November 25, 2025

The Fate of the Americas

Renata Keller
Hosted by Rachel Newman

Despite twenty-first-century fears of nuclear conflagrations with North Korea, Russia, and Iran, the Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest the United St…

John Bodnar, "Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11" (UNC Press, 2021)

November 22, 2025

Divided by Terror

John Bodnar
Hosted by John Armenta

September 11th, 2001 marked the beginning of the so-called war on terror, but the attacks of that day also re-ignited battles over the nature of Ameri…