Homer, Emily Brontë, and Wordsworth’s Home: July Books Roundup
Homer Haunted: The Many Afterlives of an Ancient Poet by Henry Power
Our ongoing look at new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors this month.
Declare: A Civic Gospel
A new project from Arion Press and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello to reissue a handprinted and hand stitched edition of the founding Declaration of Independence, and augmented it with written and artistic contributions from George Packer, Jill Lepore, General Mathis, and Coleman Hughes. The presentation set edition features carved wooden medallions from the last tulip poplars at Monticello featuring original artworks by Charles Gaines, Wendy Red Star, Sonya Clark, Mel Chin, and Ann Hamilton.
Homer Haunted: The Many Afterlives of an Ancient Poet by Henry Power
A look at the afterlives of the Iliad and the Odyssey around the world and how writers such as Alexander Pope, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Derek Walcott, and Alice Oswald have interacted with the stories. Published by Bloomsbury.
Dangerous Learning: The South's Long War on Black Literacy by Derek W Black
The story of the 19th century struggle for Black literacy in the American South despite southern government attempts to stamp it out, often violently, and the effects it has continued to have up to the present day. Published by Yale University Press.
This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë by Deborah Lutz
A new biography drawing on previously unexplored archival materials to examine her life and creative process. Also published by Bloomsbury.
Rydal Mount: The Story of Wordsworth’s Home by Eileen Jones
Recently saved for the nation from a private sale, this history of William Wordsworth’s home in England's Lake District comes from a writer who has worked closely with the family and curators at the house for more than a decade. From Gritstone Publishing.
Perceived in Print: Indigenous American and French Ideas of the Other by Sharon V. Salinger
Salinger focuses on the published writings of adventurers and churchmen in the 16th and early 17th centuries to examine what the two cultures thought about each other. Published by University of Virginia Press.
American Made: Stories of Work from the WPA edited by Anne Trubek
During the Great Depression, out-of-work writers including Ralph Ellison were hired to interview more than 10,000 workers about their jobs and lives under the New Deal’s Federal Writers Project which was part of the Works Progress Administration. The result was a highly detailed account of working conditions nationwide. Most of these stories are published here for the first time. From Arcadia Publishing
In the Scholar’s Workshop: Hidden Histories of Collaboration and Authorship by Ann Blair
A look at all the unsung people over the centuries who have helped writers such as Erasmus behind the scenes with dictation, indexing, and research but remain largely anonymous. Published by Princeton University Press.
