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The Shenandoah

Julia Davis
Introduction by Christopher Camuto
October 2011
400pp
HB 978-1-933202-95-2
$24.99

In 1945, West Virginia author Julia Davis penned The Shenandoah as part of the Rivers of America Series, a landmark collection of books written by literary figures over a period of thirty years. In this classic reprint, now with an introduction by Christopher Camuto, Davis tells the history of the Shenandoah Valley and River, drawing on her own research and the experiences of ancestors who settled and lived in the area. Her book provides a poetic vision of both the river and the valley, preserving a fragment of America’s landscape.

Julia Davis Adams (1901-1993) was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, attended Wellesley College, and graduated from Barnard College in 1922. She began her career as a reporter for The Associated Press in New York City, where she also headed the adoption service of the Children’s Aid Society in the early 1960’s. She authored two dozen books.

Reading Old English

Edited by
Robert Hasenfratz and
Thomas J. Jambeck
January 2011
578pp
PB 978-1-933202-74-7
$44.95

Revised, Updated, and Expanded!

With the immersion method dominating contemporary language learning, the knowledge of traditional grammar is at a low ebb, creating real barriers to any student wanting to learn dead or historical languages. This revised edition of Reading Old English aims to equip readers (advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and autodidacts) with the necessary tools to read the oldest recorded forms of the English language by explaining key language features clearly and methodically, without dumbing down or simplifying any of the core grammatical concepts. It includes a number of helpful exercises, a variety of interesting and unusual Old English texts to translate, as well as appendices covering the basics of traditional grammar and sound changes in Old English, along with an introduction to poetic structure.

Robert Hasenfratz and Thomas J. Jambeck are both Professors of Medieval Studies at University of Connecticut.

Reviews

"This is a book that will feed enthusiasm. Throughout the ten chapters in which the basics of Old English grammar are covered, cleverly chosen phrases and sentences of Old English gradually build a secure reading knowledge, leading the readers to translate confidently and idiomatically. Particularly impressive is the authors' willingness to confront readers with Latin."
Jane Roberts, Professor Emerita, King's College London and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, University of London

"Other introductory texts seem reluctant to abandon the 'serious' philological and historical background to Old English, a reluctance that can have serious consequences for the subject's appeal to today's students. By focusing on the main goal of learning to translate Old English texts, students gain access to this fascinating body of literature much more quickly. Their confidence is bolstered, and as my experience has shown, many of them go on to learn more about the language and culture once they have mastered the basics. In short, this approach generates enthusiasm and a desire to learn, rather than stifling it."
David F. Johnson, Florida State University

Nickle and a Prayer

Jane Edna Hunter
Edited by Rhondda Robinson Thomas
Foreword by Joycelyn Moody
February 2011
224pp
PB 978-1-933202-64-8
$22.95
HC 978-1-933202-65-5
$68.95
eBook 978-1-935978-21-3
$21.99
eBook (120 Days)
$10.00

Series: Regenerations

Virtually unknown outside of her adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, Jane Edna Hunter was one of the most influential African American social activists of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. In her autobiography A Nickel and a Prayer, Hunter presents an enlightening two-part narrative that recollects her formative years in the post-Civil War South and her activist years in Cleveland. First published in 1940, Hunter’s autobiography recalls a childhood filled with the pleasures and pains of family life on the former plantation where her ancestors had toiled, adventures and achievements in schools for African American children, tests and trials during her brief marriage, and recognition and respect while completing nursing training and law school. When sharing the story of her life as an activist, Hunter describes the immense obstacles she overcame while developing an interracial coalition to support the Phillis Wheatley Association and nurturing its growth from a rented home that provided accommodations for twenty-two women to a nine-story building that featured one hundred and thirty-five rooms.

This new and annotated edition of A Nickel and a Prayer includes the final chapter, “Fireside Musings,” that Hunter added to the second, limited printing of her autobiography and an introduction that lauds her as a multifaceted social activist who not only engaged in racial uplift work, but impacted African American cultural production, increased higher education opportunities for women, and invigorated African American philanthropy. This important text restores Jane Edna Hunter to her rightful place among prominent African American race leaders of the twentieth century.

Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971) founded the Phillis Wheatley Association (PWA), an organization that offered housing, job training, and recreational activities to thousands of black women and girls who sought better opportunities in the North during the Great Migration. She gained recognition through her work at the PWA, National Association of Colored Women, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, and the Republican Party. Rhondda Robinson Thomas is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, where she teaches African American and Early American Literature.

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