Böcker utgivna av University Press of Kentucky

"From the most unforgiving of concrete jungles to the pastoral reaches of the countryside, birds are among the most plentiful and plainly visible animals on the planet. For millions of years, they have survived in every known biome, carving out ecological niches for themselves and their offspring and often thriving. But this remarkable adaptability can only go so far. With the recent acceleration of habitat loss, climate change, spread of invasive species, and other detrimental environmental developments, birds are disappearing across the world. Yet despite such wide-ranging decimation, birdwatching remains one of the fastest growing hobbies in the United States. Endangered and Disappearing Birds of Appalachia and the Southeast, by award-winning author and photographer Matt Williams, is an essential guide for the bird-curious in the Appalachian and southeastern regions of the United States. Combining brilliant photography with taxonomic classification, identification tips, and other information, the book goes beyond the scope of a traditional field guide. Each profile includes descriptions of current species-conservation efforts, as well as tips on how to get involved in the ongoing work to save these endangered creatures. This carefully compiled guide offers a detailed introduction to the birds that most need our help and to the steps we can all take to protect their future"--

"For decades, James Bawden and Ron Miller have established themselves as maestros of provocative interviews, giving fans unmatched insights into the lives of Hollywood A-listers. In their fourth collection, the authors pay tribute to film pioneers who lit up Tinseltown from the 1930s through the 1960s. They Made the Movies features conversations with legendary directors who created many of film's all-time classics, including Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life, 1946), Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954), Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, 1960), Ralph Nelson (Lilies of the Field, 1963), Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, 1965), and Chuck Jones (How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966). Tantalizing firsthand details about many acclaimed films are revealed, such as the revelation of Mervyn LeRoy's first-choice of lead actress for The Wizard of Oz ("Shirley Temple . . . but Shirley couldn't sing like Judy [Garland]"), Billy Wilder's insights on directing ("You have to be a sycophant, a sadist, a nurse, a philosopher"), and how megaproducer Hal B. Wallis purchased an unproduced play titled Everyone Comes to Rick's and transformed it into Casablanca ("The part [of Sam] almost went to Lena Horne, but I thought she was too beautiful"). The authors also celebrate the contributions of marginalized filmmakers such as Ida Lupino, James Wong Howe, Oscar Micheaux, and Luis Valdez, who prevailed in Hollywood despite the discrimination they faced throughout their careers. They Made the Movies appeals to film and television enthusiasts of all ages"--

"Two events tie together the nine stories in Monic Ductan's gorgeous debut: the 1920s lynching of Ida Pearl Crawley and the 1980s drowning of a high school basketball player, Lucy Boudreaux. Both forever shape the people and the place of Muscadine, Georgia, in the foothills of Appalachia. The daughters of Muscadine are Black Southern women who are, at times, outcasts due to their race and also estranged from those they love. A remorseful woman tries to connect with the child she gave up for adoption; another, immersed in loneliness, attempts to connect with a violent felon. Two sisters love each other deeply even when they cannot understand one another. A little girl witnessing her father's slow death realizes her own power and lack thereof. A single woman weathers the excitement--and rigors--of online dating. Covering the last one hundred years, these are stories of people whose voices have been suppressed and erased for too long: Black women, rural women, Appalachian women, and working-class women. Ductan presents the extraordinary nature of everyday lives in the tradition of Alice Walker, Deesha Philyaw, James McBride, and Dorothy Allison in an engaging, engrossing, and exciting new voice"--

"One of the oldest and most recognizable studios in Hollywood, Warner Bros. is considered a juggernaut of the entertainment industry. Since its formation in the early twentieth century, the studio has been a constant presence in cinema history, responsible for the creation of acclaimed films, blockbuster brands, and iconic superstars. These days, the studio is best known as a media conglomerate with a broad range of intellectual property, spanning movies, TV shows, and streaming content. Despite popular interest in the origins of this empire, the core of the Warner Bros. saga cannot be found in its commercial successes. It is the story of four brothers-Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack-whose vision for Hollywood helped shape the world of entertainment as we know it. In The Warner Brothers, Chris Yogerst follows the siblings from their family's humble origins in Poland, through their young adulthood in the American Midwest, to the height of fame and fortune in Hollywood. With unwavering resolve, the brothers soldiered on against the backdrop of an America reeling from the aftereffects of domestic and global conflict. The Great Depression would not sink the brothers, who churned out competitive films that engaged audiences and kept their operations afloat-and even expanding. During World War II, they used their platform to push beyond the limits of the Production Code and create important films about real-world issues, openly criticizing radicalism and the evils of the Nazi regime. At every major cultural turning point in their lifetime, the Warners held a front-row seat. Paying close attention to the brothers' identities as cultural and economic outsiders, Yogerst chronicles how the Warners built a global filmmaking powerhouse. Equal parts family history and cinematic journey, The Warner Brothers is an empowering story of the American dream and the legacy four brothers left behind for generations of filmmakers and film lovers to come"--

"Before Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria, and Penelope Cruz, there was Lupe Velez-one of the first successful Latin-American Hollywood stars, who swept past the xenophobia of Old Hollywood to pave the way for future icons from around the world. Her career began in the silent era when her beauty was enough to make it onto the silver screen, but with the rise of talkies, Velez could no longer hope to hide her Mexican accent. Yet Velez proved to be a talented dramatic and comedic actress (and singer) and was much more versatile than such legends as Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Gloria Swanson. Velez starred in such films as Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934), and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Velez's popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on Velez's well-documented fiery personality. Nicknamed 'the Mexican Spitfire' by the media, Velez's personal life was as colorful as her screen persona. Fan magazines mythologized her mysterious childhood in Mexico, while mainstream publications obsessed over the drama of her romances with such figures as Gary Cooper, Erich Maria Remarque, and John Gilbert, along with her stormy marriage to Johnny Weissmuller. In 1944, a pregnant and unmarried Velez died of an intentional drug overdose. Her tumultuous life and the circumstances surrounding her early death have been the subject of speculation and controversy. In Strictly Dynamite: The Sensational Life of Lupe Velez, author Eve Golden uses extensive research to parse fact from fiction and offer a thorough, riveting, and comprehensive examination of the real woman underneath the gossip columns' caricature. Through astute analysis of the actress's iconic filmography and interviews, Golden illuminates the path Velez blazed through Hollywood. Her success was unexpected and extraordinary at a time when her distinctive accent was an obstacle, yet very few published books have focused entirely on Velez's life and career. Written with even-handedness, humor, and empathy, Golden has finally given the remarkable Mexican actress the uniquely nuanced portrait she deserves"--

"In 2021, horse racing's most recognizable face-Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert-had five horses that failed postrace drug tests, including that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit. While the incident was a major scandal in the Thoroughbred racing world, it was only the latest in a long string of drug-related infractions among high-caliber athletes. Stories about systemic rule-breaking and "doping culture"-both human and equine-have put world-class athletes and their trainers under intense scrutiny. Each newly discovered instance of abuse forces fans to question the participants' integrity, and in the case of horse racing, their humanity. In Unnatural Ability: The History of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Thoroughbred Racing, Milton C. Toby addresses the historical and contemporary context of the Thoroughbred industry's most pressing issue. While early attempts at boosting racehorses' performance were admittedly crude, widespread legal access to narcotics and stimulants has changed the landscape of horse racing, along with athletic governing bodies' ability to regulate it. With the sport at a critical turning point in terms of doping restrictions and sports betting, Toby delivers a comprehensive account of the practice of using performance-enhancing drugs to influence the outcome of Thoroughbred races since the late nineteenth century. Paying special attention to Thoroughbred racing's purse structure and its reliance on wagering to supplement a horse's winnings, Toby discusses how horse doping poses a unique challenge for gambling sports and what the industry and its players must do to survive the pressure to get ahead"--

"In the United States, education reform policy is a growing topic of national conversation and concern, especially surrounding the use of standardized testing. Research shows a large disparity exists in test scores between white, wealthy, and middle class students and students that are black or come from impoverished communities. This "achievement gap" is used by policymakers to justify that public education is in need of remediation - that public schools and teachers are failing to raise the test scores of students and schools should be privatized. However, it is a well-known fact in parts of the academic world that scores are clearly divided along lines of race and class. Studies have shown that this gap has existed for more than one hundred years, dating back to the eugenics movement in the early 1900s. Despite the ever-changing demographics of the US, high-stakes use of racialized tests scores are maintaining a social status quo of racial inequality. In an era that claims equity as its goal, there is a hidden story of inequity growing around public education and maintained by the very nature of the tests themselves. In An Illusion of Equity: The Legacy of Eugenics in Today's Education, author Wendy Z. Warren unpacks the origins of the tests and evaluates the inherent inequity of using standardized test scores as sole markers for academic achievement. Warren argues that relying only on test scores has dire social consequences by fostering highly racialized outcomes that privilege white and wealthy people while also denying outstanding students further educational opportunities. This author proposes to describe how our country has arrived at a place where a system of built-in advantage and oppression is spun and accepted as equitable. The premise of An Illusion of Equity is twofold: first, educational equity will never truly exist without social equity. Second, this equity will never exist as long as critical decisions are made based on standardized scores that are biased at their very core. By drawing from several disciplines, Warren will merge the creation of social hierarchy based on race and class and the history and process of test taking in order to shed new light on this issue. Warren's proposed book will closely analyze ETS Testing manuals, as well as books ax nd articles by scholars, and will include sections on how parents, educators, and policymakers can use their power to enact change in education policy"--

"For hundreds of years, the American public education system has neglected to fully examine, discuss, and acknowledge the vast and rich history of people of African descent who have played a pivotal role in the transformation of the United States. The establishment of Black studies departments and programs represented a major victory for higher education and a vindication of Black scholars such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Nathan Huggins. This emerging field of study sought to address omissions from numerous disciplines and correct the myriad distortions, stereotypes, and myths about persons of African descent. In An Introduction to Black Studies, Eric R. Jackson demonstrates the continuing need for Black studies, also known as African American studies, in university curricula. Jackson connects the growth and impact of Black studies to the broader context of social justice movements, emphasizing the historical and contemporary demand for the discipline. This book features seventeen chapters that focus on the primary eight disciplines of Black studies: history, sociology, psychology, religion, feminism, education, political science, and the arts. Each chapter includes a biographical vignette of an important figure in African American history, such as Frederick Douglass, Louis Armstrong, and Madam C. J. Walker, as well as student learning objectives that provide a starting point for educators. This valuable work speaks to the strength and rigor of scholarship on Blacks and African Americans, its importance to the formal educational process, and its relevance to the United States and the world"--

"Brilliant, beautiful, driven, uncompromising, elusive, iconic-Jessica Lange is one of the most gifted and fascinating actors of her generation. From her rise to fame in Dino De Laurentiis's remake of King Kong (1976) and her Oscar-winning performances in Tootsie (1982) and Blue Sky (1994); to her Emmy-winning work in Grey Gardens (2009) and the American Horror Story series; and her Tony Award-winning turn in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2016), Lange has had a long and illustrious career on-screen and onstage. She has worked with some of the most celebrated names in the business, including Jack Nicholson, Bob Fosse, Martin Scorsese, Kim Stanley, Halle Berry, and Kathy Bates. Jessica Lange: An Adventurer's Heart, the first full-length biography of Lange, presents a comprehensive study of the life and work of an exceptional actress. Beginning with her upbringing in Minnesota, author Anthony Uzarowski traces Lange's formative years as a restless soul who found solace in art and a life on the road before turning to acting. While critics initially questioned her talent, she refused to be dismissed as yet another pretty face. She continued to study her craft and immersed herself in her roles, honing the poignant and emotionally charged performances for which she is renowned. Lange was introduced to a whole new generation of fans with her acclaimed work in Ryan Murphy's anthology series, American Horror Story. Murphy later created another chance for Lange to shine with his television miniseries, Feud: Bette and Joan, costarring Susan Sarandon. This meticulously researched and wide-ranging biography also gives a glimpse into Lange's carefully guarded private life: her years as a free-spirited artist in the 1960s, her dedication to motherhood, and her legendary partnership with Sam Shepard, which was one of the most passionate, tumultuous, and secretive long-term relationships in Hollywood"--

"'What did happen here there have been so many tales and outright lies told. It has been hard to see through the smoke to see the truth. Now memory, memory is like a loaded pistol it can turn again who's a-holdin' it.' - J. Sidna Allen in 'Thunder in the Hills' by Frank Levering. On March 14, 1912, Hillsville, Virginia, native Floyd Allen (1856-1913) was convicted of three criminal charges: assault, maiming, and the rescue of prisoners in custody. What had begun as a scuffle between Allen's nephews over a young woman ended with him being charged as the guilty party after he allegedly hit a deputy in the head with a pistol. When the jury returned with the verdict, Allen stood up and announced, 'Gentleman, I ain't a-goin.' A gunfight ensued in the crowded courtroom which claimed the lives of the judge, prosecuting attorney, sheriff, a juror, and a witness, and wounded seven other people. The men of the Allen family fled the scene, but detectives from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency apprehended the men two months later. The state of Virginia put Floyd and Claude Allen to death by electrocution the following spring. Within days of the shoot-out, local and national media sensationalized the event, maligning the Allen men as rough, uncouth residents of impoverished Appalachia. More than a century later, the 'Hillsville Massacre' - as it was dubbed - continues to impact the citizens and communities of the area as local newspapers recirculate the sordid story and give credence to annual public reenactments that continue to negatively impact the national perception of the region. Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia's Most Notorious Shoot-Out is the first book-length scholarly review of the Hillsville Massacre. This comprehensive study examines a variety of sources written about and inspired by the event and casts light on how the incident helped reinforce the nation's conception of the region through depictions of this sensational moment in history. Author Travis A. Rountree uses rhetorical analyses to trace and reflect on the texts and contexts surrounding the events that have been reported, preserved, interpreted, and reinterpreted with different voices in various formats. In all, this book provides an extensive analysis of the Hillsville Massacre and reveals new understandings of the production of memories and stories that evolved from the event"--

"For almost half a century, celebrated ventriloquist and entertainer Shari Lewis delighted generations of children and adults with the help of her trusted sock puppet sidekick Lamb Chop. For decades, the beloved pair were synonymous with children's television, educating and entrancing their young audience with their symbiotic personalities and their proclivity for song, dance, and the joy of silliness. But as iconic as their television personas were, relatively little inside knowledge has been revealed about Lewis herself and the life-changing moments that led her to the entertainment industry and perhaps, most importantly, to Lamb Chop. Renowned for her skills as a performer, Lewis was an equally skilled businesswoman. Operating in an era when women were largely left out of the conversation, she was one of the few women to run her own television production company. Whether it was singing, dancing, conducting, writing, drawing, or ventriloquism-a skill in which she was virtually unmatched-Lewis spent the entirety of her 65 years in pursuit of performative perfection. Constantly innovating and adapting to the needs of her audience and the market, Lewis extended the longevity of her career decade after decade. Her contributions, and that of Lamb Chop, and the rest of her puppet pals forever changed the history of children's television. Now, two decades after Lewis and Lamb Chop last graced television with their presence, Lewis' daughter Mallory and author Nat Segaloff have set the record straight about the iconic pair in Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop: The Team that Changed Children's Television. In this seminal biography, the pair pull the veritable wool from the eyes of audiences who adored the legendary entertainer to examine the joys, sorrows, triumphs, and sheer hard work that gave Lewis and Lamb Chop their enduring star power"--

"e;Ida Lupino (1918-1995) was more than a gorgeous image of film noir in the forties and fifties who starred in classics such as They Drive By Night, High Sierra, and Road House. Lupino also evolved into one of Hollywood's earliest female directors whose work was described by Martin Scorsese as "e;"e;resilient, with a remarkable empathy for the fragile and heartbroken."e;"e; William Donati chronicles the dramatic life of one of Hollywood's most prolific, substantive, and innovative artists, both behind and in front of the camera."e;

"Much of Kentucky is underlain by carbonate rocks, mainly limestone, which has produced a topography known as karst, characterized by caves, sinking streams, and numerous springs of cool, clear water. Spring water has long been viewed as the purest sort of water. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, as settlers came into the region, lands were selected and surveyed with two priorities in mind: the fertility of the soil and the presence of a copious fresh-water spring. These two features were perceived sufficient for the needs of homesteads and communities. Thus, the pattern of pioneer settlement was largely determined by the locations of suitable springs. In Bluegrass Paradise: The Royal Spring of Georgetown, Kentucky, Gary A. O'Dell tells the story of the Royal Spring, the largest spring in central Kentucky. The spring is the reason the site of Georgetown was chosen during the pioneer settlement era in order to assure the inhabitants a supply of pure water. For nearly 250 years, the Royal Spring has faithfully served the water needs of the community of Georgetown, and today the locale is a cherished cultural and historical asset that provides greenspace within a rapidly growing city. Over two and a half centuries as a community water supply, stewardship of the Royal Spring and its riparian corridor has been inconstant. For the first century after settlement, the spring area served as a grassy commons enjoyed by the citizenry, but in the latter part of the nineteenth century it was transformed into an industrial wasteland and dumping ground for rubbish. Generations of artists, ignoring the blighted landscape surrounding the spring, were nevertheless inspired to render the springhead as a tranquil romantic setting, nature at its finest. Lastly, it has been the focus of a century-long effort at remediation intended to transform the neglected area into a serene oasis for contemplation, recreation and community activities, a sorely needed city greenspace and park. Today, the spring is regarded and protected as a priceless natural resource and an historic and cultural asset for Georgetown"--

After 10 years of research and writing, Frank Brady has written the first comprehensive life story of Orson Welles--the legendary genius, filmmaker, and actor whose contribution to the art of moviemaking has never been surpassed. 16-page black-and-white photograph insert.

""To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted."-Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 The Appalachian region is deeply rooted in customs that have been handed down for generations. "Planting by the signs," a practice predicated on the belief that moon phases and astrological signs exert a powerful influence on the growth and well-being of crops, is considered superstitious by some but has been essential to gardeners and farmers for centuries and is still in use today. Sown in the Stars brings together the collective knowledge of farmers in central and eastern Kentucky about the custom of planting by the signs. Sarah Hall interviews nearly two dozen contemporary Kentuckians who still follow the signs of the moon and stars to guide planting, harvesting, canning and food preservation, butchering, and general farm work. Hall explores the roots of this system in both astrology and astronomy and the profound connections felt to the stars, moon, planets, and the earth. Revealed in the personal narratives are the diverse interpretations of the practice. Some farmers and gardeners believe that the moon's impact on crop behavior is purely scientific, while others favor a much wider interpretation of the signs and their impact on our lives. Featuring photographs by Meg Wilson, this timely book bridges the past, present, and future by broadening our understanding of this practice and revealing its potential to increase the resiliency of our current agricultural food systems"--

"Jean Gabin was more than just a star of iconic movies. To many, he was France itself. This biography traces his involvement in the râealisme poâetique and film noir movements of the 1930s and 1940s, his Hollywood years, his role in the World War II liberation of France, his affairs and his real-life role as a farmer"--

"In 2019, the NFL issued a list of football's one hundred greatest game-changers, and among the legendary athletes and coaches was one broadcaster: Phyllis George. The first female anchor of a major network sports show, George broke the glass ceiling in sports journalism and embodied the complexities of the women's movement of the 1970s. As a young woman, George first hit the media radar in 1971 when she won the crown of Miss America and toured the world. While many in the budding feminist movement looked down on the pageant queen, George parlayed her success into a television career and excelled in sports journalism. While she was not immune to criticism, George was never deterred by it, and constantly showed her inner strength and perseverance. Through the decades she cultivated a reputation as one of the most respected and strong-willed players in the rough and tumble businesses of sports and network news, breaking through the glass ceiling in one of the most male-driven industries in the world. She was a pioneer who helped pave the way for a new generation of female broadcasters. A published author in her own right and champion of the arts, George remained a stalwart advocate for female empowerment until her death in 2020. In Phyllis George: Shattering the Ceiling authors Lenny Shulman and Paul Volponi trace George's evolution from Miss America to professional broadcaster, to arts advocate, author, philanthropist, and also as First Lady of Kentucky who was instrumental in getting her husband, John Y. Brown Jr., elected Governor of that state. George's life was defined by her professionalism, her strength of character, and her uncanny ability to leave an indelible impression on all she met"--

"An early American adage proclaimed, "The frontier was heaven for men and dogs-hell for women and mules." Since the 1700s, when his name first appeared in print, Daniel Boone has been synonymous with America's westward expansion and life on the frontier. Traces is a retelling of Boone's saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima. Daniel became a mythic figure during his lifetime, but his fame fueled backwoods gossip that bedeviled the Boone women throughout their lives-most notably the widespread suspicion that one of Rebecca's children was fathered by Daniel's younger brother. Traces explores the origins of these rumors, exposes the harsh realities of frontier life, and gives voice to the women whose vibrant lives have been reduced to little more than scattered footnotes within the historical record. Along the path of Daniel's restless wandering, the women were eyewitnesses to the clash of cultures between the settlers and the indigenous tribes who fought to retain control of their native lands, which made life on the frontier an ongoing struggle for survival. Patricia Hudson gives voice to these women, all of whom were pioneers in their own right. The Boone women's joys and sorrows, as well as those of countless other forgotten women who braved the frontier, are invisibly woven into the fabric of America's early years and the story of this country's westward expansion"--