UC Press Blog

Tragedy seldom unifies Americans today. Every year, horrific crises induce tremendous suffering. Most are privately tragic, affecting only those directly harmed and their immediate relations. A small number, though, become politically notorious and, therefore, publicly tragic.

In this eye-opening book, renowned economist Alex Edmans teaches us how to separate fact from fiction. Using colorful examples—from a wellness guru’s tragic but fabricated backstory to the blunders that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster to the diet that ensnared millions yet hastened its founder

By Raven Simone Maragh-Lloyd, author of Black Networked Resistance: Strategic Rearticulations in the Digital AgeFor my sanity, I’ve mostly avoided politics this 2024 season. Yet somehow, I found myself glued to the television for the recent State of the Union address — the “superbowl” for politi

by Emma Frances Bloomfield, author of Science v Story: Narrative Strategies for Science Communicators.In 1999, Climate Research Unit (CRU) director Phil Jones sent an email briefly summarizing his process for combining measurements from climate proxy points, including ice cores and tree rings, t

By W. Joseph Campbell, author of Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections, Updated EditionThis article was originally published on The Conversation.Preelection polls have been inescapable early in the 2024 election year, setting storylines, as they invariably do, for

By Sarah Federman, author of Transformative Negotiation: Strategies for Everyday Change and Equitable FuturesWhen people hear “negotiation,” many imagine a boardroom or maybe a diplomatic forum. Or perhaps their recent attempt for a raise or home purchase. Negotiating well, however, affects our

By Phaedra C. Pezzullo, author of Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of CareThis month, international leaders and representatives are gathering in Nairobi, Kenya, to finalize a Global Plastics Treaty, which aims to establish an international agreement on how to address pl

By David A. Banks, author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban AmericaWe’ve all seen headlines featuring interesting commentary on U.S. cities’ images or brands. In the lead up to my new book, The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America,I’ve b

We need to recognize the degree to which what appears to us as AI is in fact an aggregation of data and images that are already circulating in the public domain, and hence it is a socially spayed technology: it is not appearing as magic before us.

Congratulations to the Journal of Autoethnography which received the Best New Journal Award from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) at this past weekend's annual meeting of the Modern Language Association. The CELJ is an organization of editors of scholarly journals in all disciplines