Highlighting Oshinsky’s historical account of the polio epidemic in America, Gates addressed the need for improvements in global health care and medical technologies. Watch the video segment.

Learn more about Oshinsky’s book in the feature “More Than a March of Dimes.”

More than 200 writers will showcase their books, including a host of authors from our university. Some of the presenters include:

Author: Jeffrey Abramson, professor of law and government
Book: “Minerva’s Owl: The Tradition of Western Political Thought”
When: Saturday, Oct. 31
Where: Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension Room E2.028

Author: Oscar Casares, assistant professor of English
Book: “Amigoland”
When: Saturday, Oct. 31
Where: Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension Room E2.016

Author: Jacqueline Jones, the Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History and Ideas and Mastin Gentry White Professor in Southern History
Book: “Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War”
When: Saturday, Oct. 31
Where: Texas State Capitol Extension Room E2.028

Author: Kate Brooks, director of Liberal Arts Career Services
Book: “You Majored in What?: Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career”
When: Sunday, Nov. 1
Where: Lifestyle Tent (10th and Congress)

Author: Lucas A. Powe, Jr., professor of law and government
Book: “The Supreme Court and the American Elite”
When: Sunday, Nov. 1
Where: Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension Room E2.016

Author: Elizabeth Engelhardt, associate professor of American Studies
Book: “Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket”
When: Sunday, Nov. 1
Where: Cooking Tent

Author: Mark Weston, UT Law alumnus (moderated by ShelfLife@Texas contributor Laura Castro)
Book: “Prophets & Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present”
When: Sunday, Nov. 1
Where: Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension Room E2.014

The Texas Book Festival was founded in 1995 by former first lady Laura Bush to promote reading and honor Texas authors. Sessions are free and open to the public. Proceeds from books purchased at the festival benefit the state’s public libraries.

Visit this site for a full list of festival authors.

McGarity is the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Administrative Law, and Wagner, is the Joe A. Worsham Centennial Professor in Law at The University of Texas at Austin. Their book was published by Harvard University Press.

The awards are the highest honor of literary achievement given to published authors at The University of Texas at Austin. They are sponsored by the University Co-operative Society.

Michael Granof, chairperson of the Co-operative Society, hosted the event and announced the winners. Victoria Rodriguez, vice provost and dean of Graduate Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, presented the awards.

Four faculty members received $3,000 prizes for their books. They were:

• Jacqueline Jones, the Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History and Ideas and Mastin Gentry White Professor in Southern History, “Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War” (A. A. Knopf, 2008).

• Peter MacNeilage, professor of psychology, “The Origin of Speech” (Oxford University Press, 2008).

• Tracie Matysik, associate professor of history, “Reforming the Moral Subject: Ethics and Sexuality in Central Europe, 1890-1930” (Cornell University Press, 2009).

• Karen Rascati, the Stewart Turley/Eckerd Corporation Centennial Endowed Professor in Pharmacy, “Essentials of Pharmacoeconomics” (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2008).

The University Co-op is a not-for-profit corporation owned by the students, faculty and staff of The University of Texas at Austin. Since the year 2000, the University Co-op has given more than $28 million in gifts and rebates.

Martínez, an assistant professor in the Department of History, will present a talk on the process of writing and publishing his new book at The University of Texas History of Science Colloquium from noon to 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16, in GAR 1.102.

Whereas various historians have studied the origins of Einstein’s theory in relation to optics, electricity, and magnetism, none had analyzed its roots in the context of kinematics- the science of motion. Martínez explains that the book is the product of 15 years of research. “By contrast to works that are thick on conjectures, I worked to assemble the most extensive collection of documentary sources and to compose a ‘mosaic’ account of Einstein’s path to relativity.”

The cover of the book uses artwork designed by the author. “Basically, in Bern on 1905, early on a May morning, Einstein woke up with a breakthrough idea: events that are simultaneous to one observer might not be simultaneous to another,” Martínez says. “He analyzed this notion by asking himself, how would we know whether lightning bolts strike distant places at the same time? This question led him to the relativity of time.” Accordingly, the cover of Martínez’s book illustrates that imaginary view: it shows an early morning view of the Swiss capital, Bern, with two lightning bolts striking at once.

Written for the general reader, Henderson guides readers through Mexico’s complicated and volatile political struggles, including the deepening divisions of race, class, culture and objectives forged during centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

Set against a sharply detailed background, Henderson describes how the wars deepened the social rifts between the white Creole aristocrats who led the rebellion and the harshly exploited mestizo (mixed-blood) and Indian masses.

The book also examines early phases of the revolt under rebel Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo, whose battle cry for independence led the movement and revolutionized the course of Mexican History. Henderson also provides in-depth portraits of other key figures involved in the movement including Ferdinand VII, José María Morelos y Pavón, Colonel Agustín de Iturbide and Francisco Javier Venegas.

Henderson is a professor of history at Auburn University, Montgomery, and the author of several books on Mexican history including “A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States,” (Hill & Wang, 2007).

In “Claiming Rights and Righting Wrongs in Texas: Mexican Workers and Job Politics during World War II” (Texas A&M University Press, 2009), Zamora traces the wartime experiences of Mexican workers in America and their struggle for civil and labor rights.

Through extensive use of Spanish-language archives in Mexico and the United States, Zamora reveals that despite the rising numbers of Mexican laborers who advanced from second to middle class ranks during World War II, significant numbers were denied job opportunities due to discrimination.

Offering compelling evidence on how unjust employment practices restrained the immigrant workers’ upward mobility, Zamora reveals how race-conscious Anglo workers, including members of industrial unions, maintained racial order. He also discloses how government agencies, such as the United States Employment Service, collaborated with segregationists to maintain an uneven rate of advancement between Mexican and Anglo workers.

Despite the problem of unequal access to wartime jobs, Zamora notes that Mexicans made unprecedented improvements in their lives during this time of transition. However, he argues Anglos and African Americans benefited more from wartime opportunities and recovered faster from the Great Depression.

Zamora is author of the award-winning “The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas.” He is also editor of “Mexican Americans in Texas History; Selected Essays,” and “Beyond the Latino World War II Hero: The Social and Political Legacy of a Generation.”

For more background on Zamora’s penetrating research in Mexican-American and U.S. labor history, read his interview in the March 1 edition of the Austin American-Statesman.

Earlier this year, the site of New Philadelphia, Ill., a town founded in 1836 by her great-great grandfather Frank McWorter, was named a National Historic Landmark, based on research she published in “Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier” (1983, 1995).

In the book, Walker documented the historic significance of McWorter’s life and New Philadelphia, which is the first known town platted and officially registered by an African American before the Civil War.

“The search for the reality of a usable African American historic past, as well as assessments that provide insight on the contemporary black experience often propel my book selection,” Walker says.

“As an historian, a continuous search for understanding the slave experience from the perspective of the slave drives my interest in biographies, which often provide a more incisive analysis and greater insight than general historic assessments.”

Here’s what the scholar had to say about the books currently on her nightstand:

“The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” (W.W. Norton, 2008) by Annette Gordon-Reed

The distinguished history professor Annette Gordon-Reed’s book, “The Hemingses of Monticello” traces the origins of the Hemings, a slave family from 17th-century Virginia, to their sale after the death of their owner, the nation’s third president Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed also describes the 38-year liaison between Jefferson and the slave Sally Hemings, and her seven children. In part, DNA tests corroborate paternity, previously established by the historical record.

An exciting read and a comprehensive brilliantly researched book that moves the enslaved to the forefront of their lives and experiences, as opposed to being relegated as appendages of history.

“The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom” (Atria, 2009) by John Baker

Baker’s expansive and informative “The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation,” reviews the lives of the author’s enslaved ancestors and some 274 other African Americans who were also enslaved over time on the nation’s largest tobacco plantation. Located near Nashville, Tenn., the plantation was established by a distant relative of the first American President.

Unlike Alex Haley’s path-breaking “Roots,” based on his family’s oral history, Baker’s 30 years of research in the reconstruction of this community of slaves was based not only on oral history interviews from descendants of both the enslaved and the enslaver, but also on documents including private papers and public records. in addition to assessments from DNA tests results.

“The Militant South, 1800-1861” (University of Illinois Press, 2002) by John Hope Franklin

While both Gordon-Reed and Baker’s books move us away from the general amorphous reconstruction of slave life, we must be reminded of the historical reality of the institution in John Hope Franklin’s “The Militant South,” in which he describes the extent to which the enslaved were oppressed in a section of the United States which he described as a “virtual armed camp.”

With American army bases located in the South given constitutional sanction to put down slave rebellions, in addition to state militias, county patrols and municipal police, as well as armed white citizens who could suppress slave intransigence with impunity, “The Militant South” underscores the extent to which there were not too many people of African descent who did not offer challenges to their enslavement.

“Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching” (Amistad, 2008) by Paula Giddings

The violence of African American oppression did not end with the Civil War as African American Professor Giddings reminds us in her highly acclaimed biography “Ida, a Sword Among Lions.”

Ida B. Wells is an iconic historic figure, whose life weaves in and out of black activism at the turn of the 20th century. One of America’s first woman investigative journalists, Giddings’ brilliant assessment provides another dimension of the diversity of historic responses of African American women in their search for African American freedom and equality.

“The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” (Doubleday, 2009) by Gwen Ifill

By the turn of the 21st century, African American women in journalism had moved into the media mainstream where their assessments now include broad issues in American life, including the recently published “The Breakthrough” by Gwen Ifill, a nationally known newspaper and broadcast journalist. In the book, Ifill’s focus is on a new generation of black political leaders.

While only a 19-page chapter focuses on President Barack Obama, 179 of the book’s 266 pages include information on the new president, as he exemplified various aspects of the new generation of post-Civil Rights era African-American politicians. Based primarily on interviews, the book’s contribution is its synthesis of this new generation and the strategies developed as they skillfully negotiate the nation’s new political arena.

Still, waiting to be read are “A Mercy” (2008), by Toni Morrison, a novel set in the 17th century on the experience of women of various races and class on a Maryland plantation, as well as James Patterson’s novel “Cross County” (2008), where the protagonist is a black psychologist and detective.

Walker is the founder and director of the Center for Black Business History at the university. Her other books include “The History of Black Business in America” and “Encyclopedia of African American Business History.” She currently is writing a book about Oprah Winfrey, forthcoming from Harvard Business School Press.

Joan Neuberger, professor of history, takes readers on a journey through Russian history–from the ancient Kiev period (860-1240) to contemporary post-soviet society (1991-present)–in “Picturing Russia: Explorations in Visual Culture” (Yale University Press, 2008).

The book, edited by Neuberger and Valerie Kivelson, professor of history at the University of Michigan, covers the entire sweep of Russian history. Through a tapestry of more than 100 visual resources, including icon paintings, popular prints, news and art photographs, folk art, films and advertisements, the book provides a comprehensive account of Russian people and their culture.

Filled with essays from a wide range of renowned scholars, the mixed-media book illuminates the complexities of how Russians visually represented themselves through various forms of images, such as paintings, portraits and wartime posters, and how they used these images to exert or overturn social and political power.

Neuberger is the author of “Hooliganism: Crime, Culture and Power in St. Petersburg, 1900-1914” and “Ivan the Terrible: The Film Companion.” She co-authored “Europe and the Making of Modernity, 1815-1914” and co-edited “Imitations of Life: Two Centuries of Melodrama in Russia.”

Learn more about the sights and sounds of Russia at the university’s annual Russia Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. , Feb. 21. The event, sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, offers “immersion experience” in Russia’s culture, language, traditions and history. Local area high schools, as well as schools from other Texas cities are invited to participate. All presentations are conducted by volunteer faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students.

Wm. Roger Louis, professor of history and director of the university’s British Studies Program was instrumental in bringing the conference to the university.

A renowned scholar of British history, Louis is the author or editor or more than 30 books on the history, literature and politics of the British Empire. The latest is “Burnt Orange Britannia” (I.B. Tauris, 2006), a collection of autobiographical essays by top historians and scholars of the British experience.

Several UT professors will present papers at the conference, and Linda Colley, professor of history at Princeton University, will give the keynote address. The New York Times named her book “The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh” (Random House) one of the “Ten Best Books of the Year” for 2007.

Learn more about the conference and download a complete schedule of events.

What does a navy do when it is not at war? From 1922 to 1933, the U.S. Navy kept the peace in the volatile western Pacific.

In “Diplomats in Blue: U.S. Naval Officers in China, 1922-1933” (University Press of Florida, 2009), Professor Emeritus of History William R. Braisted depicts a bygone world in which admirals played almost as important a role as ambassadors in representing American interests abroad.

During peace-time, high-ranking naval officers worked first to protect American citizens and American business interests. And several of them labored, sometimes in conflict with State Department officials, to foster a stronger, more unified China that might be a better ally of the United States.

Historian William R. Braisted

Like many navy wives, Braisted’s mother followed her husband’s ship—to the Philippines, then to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Chefoo, China—with four to six-year-old Braisted in tow. Ten years later, when the family returned to China and spent two years in Shanghai, Braisted attended the Shanghai American School and confirmed his fascination with all things Chinese. He would later introduce the study of Chinese and Japanese history into the UT curriculum.

“Diplomats in Blue” will prove useful to students of U.S. diplomacy and naval history, but also to those interested in the development of modern China. The book is well illustrated with clear and well-placed photographs and excellent maps, and Braisted has a straightforward and engaging narrative style that doesn’t diminish a wealth of detail and attention to nuance.

Reviewed by Marian J. Barber, doctoral candidate in the Department of History at The University of Texas at Austin.