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Two Icons of America authors on YouTube

A recent unexpected celebrity endorsement is just the latest in a string of successes for Yale's Icons of America series, which presents brief, lively volumes on our nation's major cultural touchstones. Past works have covered the Empire State Building, Gone with the Wind, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech

For those unfamiliar with the Icons series, we've dug up a pair of YouTube clips highlighting how entertaining—and sometimes prescient—these books can be. The first features Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger, in an ABC Frontline piece on the booming business of the burger in the midst of the current recession. Watch as Ozersky and the anchor revel in the humble decadence of America's favorite sandwich:

Joseph C. wins the 15 Minutes of Fame Photo Contest

The winner of the 15 Minutes of Fame Photo Contest is Joseph C. from New York City!

Not only did Joseph's photograph maintain the inexplicable mirroring and black-and-white color scheme of Ms. McCain's fateful snapshot; it also features a choice title from YUP's backlist, Bernard Williams's On Opera. The fact that Joseph's library contains Williams's award-winning volume shows he's a man of great taste and intellect, and we're confident that Arthur Danto's Andy Warhol will fit right in on his shelves.

Thanks to all who entered, and enjoy your free book, Joseph!

The American Play and The Tainted Muse in review

"Some people make history; others make history interesting." So begins a two-page spread in the October issue of Dramatics Magazine featuring two recent highlights from Yale's drama list, Marc Robinson's The American Play and Robert Brustein's The Tainted Muse. Produced by the Educational Theatre Association and oriented toward practitioners in the field of performing arts, Dramatics brings an informed perspective to the analysis of Robinson's survey and Brustein's original re-interpretation of Shakespeare.

The lede in question refers to Robinson's book, a wide-ranging history of American theatre that places dramatic works in context of the societies that both produced and responded to them. In his effort to "make history entertaining," Robinson draws upon early American works from Royall Tyler and William Dunlap as well as contemporary plays by David Mamet and Edward Albee, never losing sight of the subtle details that marked the changes in staging and dramatic style through the centuries.

Brustein's study of Shakespeare's racial, gender, and sexual prejudices, The Tainted Muse, earns equally high marks for its ability to draw contemporary connections from the Bard's world to ours. The Dramatics reviewer wonders how Shakespeare would respond to today's debates over racism and homophobia and notes in Brustein's words that, "Only when the world is totally free of prejudice will we have the right to make fundamental judgments on Shakespeare's."

To read excerpts from both books and to discover more works on theatre, visit the Press's online Performing Arts catalog.

Send us a YUP-related photo to get your own 15 minutes of fame—and a great book

When Meghan McCain's Wednesday evening dispatch sent the Twitter world a-flutter, we at YUP weren't surprised in the slightest. To our minds, there's no better way to spend an evening at home than in the company of a fine book. And Arthur Danto's latest, Andy Warhol, is no slouch of a choice.

If you'd like a shot at your own Warholian "15 minutes of fame," or perhaps just a chance to win a fantastic work of biographical art history, send us a (tasteful!) picture of yourself reading any Yale University Press book or just looking Warholian, and you'll be entered to win a copy of Andy Warhol. Winners will be chosen at random next, er...Wednesday evening.

Submissions will be accepted via our Facebook profile or via email. We'll post the best ones (with the entrants' permission) on our Facebook page. Good luck!

The one-room schoolhouse: a little red American icon

In this fascinating video produced by the Teachers College Record, historian Jonathan Zimmerman discusses the little red schoolhouse as an icon of American culture and a key touchstone to be reckoned with in the pursuit of educational reform.



To read an excerpt from Zimmerman's book on the Yale University Press website, please click here.