I’ve felt low this week and I’m not sure why. Of course I know why. The world’s in a mess, and my own country is amongst the worst of it. But I’m not sure why it struck me so hard this week. The feelings come in waves: I feel tense, angry, overwhelmed. I just want to be
W E B Du Bois, a great US intellectual & civil rights activist, grew up right here in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. I can think of no more appropriate way to affirm that Black Lives Matter than to quote some passages by Du Bois today. I’ve been browsing his writings, and am astonished at their range. He
I started the Encyclopedia of Chinese Cuisines both as an excuse to eat and as what I thought would be a pleasant escape from the political drama of publishing about China. That led to our publishing books like The Way of Eating and Asian Cuisines, and to my work on gastrodiplomacy. Now, during the COVID-19 crisis, we’re planning a major project on
“Both hands!” cried John, the laird of the castle. I had missed again, and as I whirled on I breathlessly sympathized with him. How hard could it be, he must wonder, to get that second hand in place? I tried again, hooking arms with the next man, spinning, spinning again, and - damn - my second
While the coronavirus continues to change our lives, it does feel as if we’re lifting our heads from the crash position. It's still scary, but less out of control and panicky. I hope this is true for you. For me, the new normal is watching people use Zoom for the first time (”How do I
We want to make sure you know about some of the ways in which publishers - including Berkshire - are making our books and reference publications available online at reduced cost, or even free, during the COVID-19 crisis. We're well aware that taking classes and doing research papers online is a huge challenge for many students, schools,
Great Barrington, MA - COVID-19 has delayed the launch of a record-setting marketing deal expected to boost international appreciation of English and European cheeses. The image and words of the Nobel Prize winning poet T S Eliot, as well as characters from the musical Cats, will be used to promote cheese and cheese products throughout the world. The
We're all facing challenges today, and are happy that we've made an effort over the last few months to put our books online in ways more convenient for teaching and economical for schools. As you work with students remotely, we hope you'll try our various collections. In particular, why not try a free sample ebook from our Big History Collection? This
Environmental issues have been central here at Berkshire Publishing since we opened shop in 2004. Even before that, we had produced the three-volume Encyclopedia of World Environmental History for Routledge in New York. I remember the first editorial meeting, at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. One thing I learned was that it couldn’t be an “international”
We got to talking this week about how challenging it must be to be a librarian today. Different formats, different subscription and purchases options, and less than streamlined systems. It might, we thought, be helpful to see just where you can get our interdisciplinary global titles, so we've prepared this run-down, with links. For print books,
