Broadview Press Blog

Changes at Broadview Press

Broadview Press CEO and Company Founder Don LePan today made the following announcement regarding management changes at the company, all of which are to take effect July 1. Leslie Dema, Broadview’s President since 2014, has decided for personal reasons to step down from that role. She will remain a valued member of Broadview’s Board of…

Three Ways to Divide Lear’s Kingdom

Alexa Alice Joubin In the beginning of the tragedy, Shakespeare’s King Lear famously announces his abdication and decision to pass on the duty of governance to his daughters: “Divided in three our kingdom.” The scene of regal abdication of King Lear is folkloric in origin. Structurally, when the scene begins, there are other divisions paralleling…

“pray what is Man, but a Topsy-turvey Creature”

Evan R. Davis; Nicholas D. Nace Are human beings nothing more than machines? Broadview is happy to offer this contrarian argument that we are, in fact, broomsticks. We look forward to the publication of The Broadview Anthology of British Satire, 1660-1750, edited by Evan R. Davis and Nicholas D. Nace.

Where There’s Smoke: A Spirited Early Defence of Tobacco

Todd H.J. Pettigrew One of the great satisfactions of scholarship is discovering texts with which one is wholly unfamiliar and yet which one feels a real human connection. From the dim reaches of ages past, a voice finds its way to you, and you realize you have a friend who has not walked this earth…

Philosophizing About Sport

Jason Holt Though the discipline of philosophy has been around for thousands of years, the philosophy of sport, as a distinct subdiscipline, is younger than I am, only about 50 years old. This is unsurprising if you consider the oddity of “philosophizing about sport.” Although it was about two and a half millennia ago that…

Inclusive Access Adoptions with Broadview Press

Here at Broadview, we’ve seen an enormous shift toward digital adoptions over the last two years. A significant portion of these are what are commonly called “Inclusive Access” or “First Day” adoptions. In this sales model the cost of digital texts is included in a student’s course fees and the texts are made available to…

Rules Are Made to Be Broken: Teaching Traditional and Contemporary Sonnets

Ethel Rackin A distinguishing feature of Crafting Poem and Stories: A Guide to Creative Writing is the pairing of historically important literary models next to notable contemporary ones. In a chapter on traditional form, for instance, a section on sonnets includes historical background, definitions, and a pairing of traditional models with contemporary ones, demonstrating the…

Animal Symbolism in the Old and Middle English “Physiologus”

Megan Cavell, editor and translator of The Medieval Bestiary in English I came to the Physiologus tradition partly through my love of Old English literature (who couldn’t love a tradition that has the devil wandering around in a heoloþ‏‏helm “helmet of invisibility”?!) and partly through my love of animals (as my rabbit friend, Max, can…

The Great American Tear: America and the Gun

In light of the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in America, we are choosing to make the chapter on gun violence from Julius Bailey’s Racism, Hypocrisy, and Bad Faith: A Moral Challenge to the America I Love available for free on our website (opens as a PDF). For a short excerpt from the beginning of…

The Struggle for Fame: An Interview with Charlotte Riddell

[Melissa Edmundson, editor of our new edition of Charlotte Riddell’s The Uninhabited House (1875), shares the following excerpt from Helen C. Black’s interview with Riddell, published in Notable Women Authors of the Day (1893).] Helen C. Black’s interview with Charlotte Riddell provides a fascinating insight into the author’s private life and professional career. Black visited…

2021 Accountability: Recycled Paper and Charitable Giving

It’s that time of year again! We’re looking back at 2021 and taking a moment to reflect on the impact our business has on those around us, what we’re doing to help create a better world, and the ways in which we might improve in the future. We believe that ethical conduct is not only…

Playing Preceptress – having fun during a pandemic with Hannah Webster Foster’s The Boarding School

Jonathan Beecher Field, Clemson University I teach Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette whenever I can, because it is one of those 1790 epistolary novels that remains sadly relevant to the lives of my students. If you have not had the pleasure, it’s a novel about a young woman named Eliza Wharton. At the beginning of…

How Can We Represent the Diversity of the Ranching West?

Susan Nance In finding and curating the collection of sources in the Broadview Sources Series title Ranching and the American West I looked at hundreds of primary sources about rural life in the west, and the people, lands, and animals there. That process thus presented some serious dilemmas. There are countless items available, especially for…

Their Bodies Were the Battlefield: War, Women’s Work, and Translating Branded

Katharina Rout When I first read Emmy Hennings’s Branded, I was struck by its intimacy: a woman who talks with breathtaking honesty about her poverty, despair, and sexual exploitation. It was startling to hear her tell her story with so much wit, humor, and irony, but also to watch her struggle with religious beliefs so…

From Aristotle to the Metaverse: Understanding Disinformation and Social Media

Dr. Dan Lawrence When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the United States Congress in April, 2018, it was clear that many lawmakers didn’t understand how Facebook makes its money. Zuckerberg clarified: the platform sells advertisements. Now as we roll along into 2022 and beyond, Facebook is transforming into Meta and is attempting to reshape…

Cuneiform to Cattle Scapula: A Hands-On Approach to Writing Studies

Joyce Kinkead One of the standout features of A Writing Studies Primer is the emphasis on hands-on activities, framed as DIY—do it yourself—activities. Students in my history of writing class uniformly cite this approach as one of their favorites, noting how these tactile exercises cement concepts in the development of writing systems around the globe.…

Meet the Editors of The Broadview Anthology of American Literature

We want to give you the chance to get to know the excellent team of general editors that we have assembled to develop the forthcoming Broadview Anthology of American Literature. We asked each of the editors working on this exciting new anthology to tell us a little bit about themselves and how they teach American…

Illustrating Metaphysics

Jack S. Crumley II’s new book, An Introduction to Metaphysics features original illustrations by Guelph, Ontario artist, Gillian Wilson, alongside the text. These illustrations are meant to both instruct and delight: they help to reinforce the central ideas in each chapter and entertain the reader. Below are some samples of the illustrations along with their…

On Abridging Burke

Brian Clack Producing an abridgement of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France was among the most absorbing experiences of my academic career. It also posed a notable set of challenges. Burke’s text has never before been abridged. True, weighty selections from it have been included in anthologies on conservative thought and in the…

Updates to the Second Edition of Literary Theory and Criticism

Anne H. Stevens I began the task of revising my book Literary Theory and Criticism: An Introduction for a second edition knowing that there were a few areas I needed to add or expand. I had completed the manuscript of the first edition in August 2014, the same month that saw civil unrest in Ferguson,…

A Broadview Summer Listening List

It’s summer time; the sun is shining; your eyes need a break from months of staring at a screen. But that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up on all the new things we’ve got going on at Broadview! We’re lucky enough to have had some of our recent books covered on excellent podcasts. So many…

Toru Dutt – New to The Broadview Anthology of British Literature

The new third edition of The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 5: The Victorian Era is curated with an eye towards decolonizing the Victorian literature classroom. Throughout, it pays attention to matters such as race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. Included among the new additions to our Victorian era volume is Bengali poet, novelist,…

Broadview’s 2020 Recycled Paper Usage and Charitable Donations

At Broadview Press we continue to be reflective about the impact our business has in ways that go beyond the bottom line. We believe that ethical conduct is not only compatible with sound business practices but also an essential obligation for companies such as ours. Our commitment to ethical conduct carries through to all aspects…

Preview of The Broadview Anthology of American Literature: George Templeton Strong

[The following is the headnote and diary entry for 13 February 1861 by the Civil War diarist George Templeton Strong that will appear in the forthcoming Broadview Anthology of American Literature. Stay tuned for further previews of the anthology as we move toward publication in 2022/23.] Born and raised in New York City, George Templeton…