Ohio's law and politics take center stage in two new Ohio University Press releases. "No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country's Busiest Death Penalty States," by Columbus-based Associated Press reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the first comprehensive history of the death penalty in Ohio.

Welsh-Huggins assessed factors that affect how the death penalty is administered today: racial dynamics, prosecutorial discretion, and geographic variations. The book has received advance praise from Stuart Banner, a widely known death penalty expert and author of "The Death Penalty: An American History."

Welsh-Huggins will participate in a death penalty panel discussion Sat., May 9, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Ohio State University's (OSU) Moritz College of Law. He will be joined by Tim Young, director of the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, and Doug Berman, a law professor at the college, who called Welsh-Huggins' work "an original and important project."

"Democracy in Session: A History of the Ohio General Assembly," by David M. Gold, an attorney with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, is a rare example of a history of a state legislature -- and the most comprehensive book in existence. Through a lively mix of law, politics, biography, and Ohio history, Gold traces the transformation of the General Assembly from a part-time body of citizen lawmakers to a full-time professional legislature.

OSU President Gordon Gee hosted an April reception for "Democracy in Session" at his residence, which was well attended by state legislators and several representatives from Ohio University Press.

"How wonderful that we now have a comprehensive, scholarly, and readable history of such an important institution as the General Assembly," Gee said.

Gold will be attending the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus, Saturday, May 9, along with five other Ohio University Press authors.

Other Ohio University Press Titles Published and Promoted Since March:

"Power in the Blood: A Family Narrative," by Linda Tate.

This powerfully told memoir is a work of creative nonfiction published as part of the Series in Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Appalachia. The author, whose hometown is St. Louis, journeys into Appalachia and into the dark recesses of family history in order to answer questions about her own past. Writer Lee Smith calls Tate's work "a remarkable memoir, honestly and beautifully written despite the painful nature of some of the material."

"Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture" edited by Joseph Bristow.

Bristow's edited collection of 12 essays provides a broad range of interests - not just to students of Wilde's legacy, but also to readers who wish to know more about the author. Specifically, Wilde's links with European literatures, his influence on Surrealist photography, copyright controversies, connections with twentieth-century drama and his venerable reputation among gay writers and artists.

"Electric Meters: Victorian Physiological Poetics" by Jason R. Rudy.

Rudy demonstrates how the electrical sciences offered Victorians a valuable framework for reading and understanding poetry. This innovative study draws from the established canon of Victorian poets as well as from many lesser-known figures, combining formal poetic analysis with cultural history.

"Making a Man: Gentlemanly Appetites in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel," by Gwen Hyman.
Hyman turns to the table in an attempt to define gentlemanliness, as it is delineated in several Victorian novels. What she discovers is a troublesome character whose hungers - whether he is consuming ravenously or restraining his appetite - threaten those around him and the social order by extension.

 

Ohio University Press books and authors have received press this month from the following places: Technology and Culture, Maine Antiques Digest, Metapsychology Online Reviews, Fiberarts: Contemporary Textile Art and Craft, Ohio History, Journal of American Ethnic History, Mansfield News Journal, Neue Politische Literatur, South Central Review, African Studies Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Northwest Ohio History, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis (Amsterdam)