UA PRESS EMPHASIZES THE SOUTH, STATE ROOTS IN SPRING BOOKS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Hunting, history and hotels feature prominently in the spring collection of books from the University of Arkansas Press.

The Spring 2002 collection’s books also reflect an emphasis on Arkansas and Southern studies.

"Hunting Arkansas," the first featured book of the season, offers a fully-illustrated guide to game in the Natural Sate. Written by outdoorsman and author Keith Sutton, this is a companion piece to Sutton’s book "Fishing Arkansas."

In "Arkansas: A Narrative History," authors George Sabo III, Morris S. Arnold, Jeannie Whayne and Thomas DeBlack trace the state’s roots through Native American pre-history, the arrival of Europeans, the introduction of plantation agriculture and slavery to formerly native lands, the Civil War, postwar economic issues and current political and social landscapes.

"This volume is extraordinarily comprehensive in its treatment of Arkansas’ past," said Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History Willard Gatewood in the foreword to the book.

Gatewood is honored in a second UA Press book this spring, which pursues the issues that he examined during his lifetime of research. In "The Southern Elite and Social Change: Essays in Honor of Willard B. Gatewood Jr.," editors Randy Finley and Thomas DeBlack pull together a group of essays that explores the influence of elite society in the South from the American Revolution to the Little Rock integration crisis.

A hotel history that recalls stories of a Little Rock landmark, "A Capital Idea: History of the Capital Hotel," tells the tale of the 1876 building. The book chronicles the struggles, schemes and dreams of generations of politicians, debutantes, prostitutes, carpenters and businessmen. It evokes the lives of the people who helped shape the hotel’s fortunes, including the Yankee entrepreneur who built the hotel, an Italian immigrant family who kept it going, an architect who envisioned a new life for an old building and the financiers and craftsmen who laid the foundations for the Capital’s current glory as a luxury hotel. This lavishly illustrated volume not only follows the hotel’s evolution, but also the ups and downs of Little Rock.

"Getting Used to Being Shot At: The Spence Family Civil War Letters," chronicles a personal history that speaks to the bigger issues of the time. The Spences, a wealthy family who owned land, slaves and a hotel in Arkadelphia, sent two brothers, Tom and Alex Spence, into war. Through their letters, the two siblings described the battles in which they served, the grueling marches, the pride in serving in the army and the pain of losing comrades.

Editor Mark Christ has assembled their letters from a collection in the Old State House Museum and has included letters from extended family and friends, introductions to each chapter and photographs. The result is a story that follows the brothers to battle and bears witness to their lives and deaths.

Christ also has curated an exhibit about the Spence brothers that is on display at the Old State House Museum through September.

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