ShelfLife@Texas

History Professor H.W. Brand’s new FDR biography “Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt” (Doubleday, 2008) hits bookstores tomorrow.

For insight on Brands’ inspiration for the project, check out book editor Jeff Salamon’s interview with the historian in the story “TR, FDR, and Ph.D.’s: Two Austin historians discuss all things Roosevelt” from the Nov. 1 issue of the Austin American-Statesman.

Brands heads out on a nationwide book tour for “Traitor to his Class” this week.
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What are the origins of the Freudian slip? How are hesitations and interruptions useful to cops and interrogators? Why do President Bush’s verbal gaffes, such as “misunderestimate,” fascinate people?

These are just a few of the questions alumnus Michael Erard (M.A. Linguistics, ‘96; Ph.D. English, ‘00) tackles in “Um…: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean” (Random House, 2007), now out in paperback.

According to Erard, everyday speech is filled with verbal blunders—approximately one in every 10 words.
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