Book by President Barack Obama's mother, S. Ann Dunham, to be published

[Coventina]

Source: Chicago Tribune

Years after her son became a celebrated author -- and, oh, by the way, president of the United States -- S. Ann Dunham is having a book published.

But Barack Obama's mother, who died in 1995, hasn't written a memoir along the lines of "Dreams from My Father" or "The Audacity of Hope." Instead, Duke University Press is issuing the anthropology dissertation Dunham completed in 1992 at the University of Hawaii.

A Duke release says Dunham's daughter Maya Soetoro-Ng requested that two of Dunham's fellow anthropologists revise and edit the work, titled "Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia." The book, due out in December, "centers on the metalworking industries in the Javanese village of Kajar, and how they offer a viable economic alternative in a rice-dependent area of rural Southeast Asia."




Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0505-talk-obamamamamay05,0,7756509.story

[Coventina]

1. This article from ABC is better:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/presidents-moth.html

President's Mother to Become Published Author

President Obama's mother will become a published author -- 14 years after her death.

Duke University Press announced this week that this November, it will publish Dr. S. Ann Dunham's 1992 anthropology dissertation for the University of Hawaii, "Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia."

“It is a great privilege for Duke University Press to be publishing this remarkable work by Ann Dunham,” said Ken Wissoker, editorial director of Duke University Press.“Her global perspective and obvious respect for other people’s intelligence and self-direction is a model we all can learn from. Her children clearly have.”

The 368-page book is based on Dunham's 14 years of research into the metalworking industries of the Javanese village of Kajar, exploring how Kajar's industry offers a viable economic alternative in an area of rural Southeast Asia normally dependent upon rice. "Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia" will sell for $27.95, and will be revised and edited by two anthropologists: Dunham's graduate adviser, Alice G. Dewey, and one of Dunham's fellow graduate students, Nancy I. Cooper.

[MADem]

2. Twenty eight bucks for a dissertation that you could have read for free two years ago?

Who gets the profits? And what took them so long to publish it, if this work is so "remarkable?" Gee, the poor dead author could have used the profits to pay for her cancer treatment. How ironic that they wait until she's dead more than a decade to find out how swell this work is. Doesn't say much for their judgment, does it?

I don't mean to be cynical, but I have a feeling if this woman's son wasn't President of the USA, that her dissertation would stay in the stacks with the rest of 'em.

I'd also bet that the President had absolutely nothing to do with this decision, if I were placing a bet on this matter.

[Coventina]

3. Oh, the decision to publish it now is very transparent.

Duke sees a potential to have a "best-seller", which is rare in academic publishing.

The sad truth is, if it had been published before Obama's national recognition, it would have made no money and would not have helped with her cancer treatments at all.

I've been offered a contract to publish my thesis, which I have turned down, because the work involved would actually cost me money, rather than otherwise.

Someday, I'd like to do it, just to have a publishing credit, but right now it's not a priority in my life.

ETA: $28 is a pretty good price for the book, actually. Many of the academic titles are $150 and up, due to the costs of publishing and the narrow market (research libraries and such). The only reason Duke is pricing it so low is with the expectation that they will sell lots of copies.

[MADem]

4. If they're doing it for that reason, they're craven opportunists, and dispicable.

Garnering attention and making money off a dead woman is just "not cool," IMO. No wonder academia is in the shits nowadays.

[Lex]

6. Maybe because she raised a future President, people ARE more interested

in her work now.

[MADem]

8. So they have to get twenty eight bucks for it? Why not put it on the web?

Craven opportunists. Without shame!

[Lex]

9. Well, capitalism

at the very least. Supply and demand, that sort of thing.

[Lex]

5. "I have a feeling if this woman's son wasn't President her dissertation would stay in the stacks..."

Well of course.

[shimmergal]

7. Nonetheless, I'm glad it's getting

published.

Although actually, as an accepted PhD. dissertation it's already considered "published." Anyone who wanted to go through the hoops to purchase it in a less accessible format -- could do so. Most people, other for book-published theses and dissertations.


And if it _does_ sell well, maybe Duke UP will bring it out in pb also, which might be even less expensive. Most university presses don't make a profit; when they get "best-sellers", the money goes to subsidize other book projects, if indeed the university's foundation doesn't grab it.