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UP Week 2024: A History of Stepping Up for Books

Behind every great fortune there is a crime, and behind every noble proclamation there is politics. Granted, as aphorisms go, mine may not sing quite like Balzac’s. But as we celebrate University Press Week and raise up those books that some would ban or burn, let’s remember this: Proclamations don’t just happen. They must be worked at to matter. Take the urtext of University Press Week, the proclamation signed on June 14, 1978 by then-President Jimmy Carter recognizing “American University Press Day.” Funny thing was, Carter signed the proclamation three days after the designated day of June 11 had passed….


Welcome to What’SUP: The Syracuse University Press Blog

Hello, readers! When I started as the Press’s new director in spring 2023, I knew about its history of publishing smart, innovative books in Middle Eastern, Irish, and Jewish studies, its long commitment to scholarship on peace and conflict resolution, and its groundbreaking analyses of television. The Press is also known for books in sports history, geography, community literacy, and another set of “studies”—Native American, Arab American, and disability. In recent seasons, for example, we’ve published a treatise on how the future of our planet may depend on the philosophies of Indigenous cultures, a translation of stories about a trailblazing…