Founded in 1956, Penn State University Press publishes rigorously reviewed, high-quality works of scholarship and books of regional and contemporary interest, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The publishing arm of the Pennsylvania State University and a division of the Penn State University Libraries, the Press promotes the advance of scholarship by disseminating knowledge—new information, interpretations, methods of analysis—widely in books, journals, and digital publications.
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In recent decades, scholars have shown an increasing interest in gossip’s social, psychological, and literary functions. The first book-length study of medieval gossip, Transforming Talk shifts the current debate and argues that gossip functions primarily as a transformative discourse, influencing not only social interactions but ......
Trafficking and Terrorist Networks, Government Bureaucracies, and Competitive Adaptation
From Pablo to Osama is a comparative study of Colombian drug-smuggling enterprises, terrorist networks (including al Qaeda), and the law enforcement agencies that seek to dismantle them. Drawing on a wealth of research materials, including interviews with former drug traffickers and other hard-to-reach informants, Michael Kenney ......
Pennsylvania Deer and Their Horns, published in 1915, stands alongside a number of Shoemaker’s volumes, such as Wolf Days in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Lion or Panther, dedicated to telling the tales of vanishing or extinct Pennsylvania wildlife. Pennsylvania Deer and Their Horns places these tales ......
The History, Legends and Description of Penn's Cave in Centre County
Published in 1916, this illustrated edition of Penn’s Grandest Cavern begins with several legends of Penn’s Cave and the surrounding area, followed by a description and history, all compiled and written by Henry W. Shoemaker. His description of the caverns reads like a travel guide, with information about not only the cave ......
Legends and Traditions, Old and New, Gathered Among the Pennsylvania Mountains
Published in 1924, More Allegheny Episodes is the last of twelve volumes in Henry Shoemaker’s Pennsylvania Folklore Series, published during the first three decades of the twentieth century. This volume is a companion and sequel to the author’s 1922 Allegheny Episodes, containing more stories compiled from across ......
Folk Lore and Legends Collected in Northern and Western Pennsylvania
Allegheny Episodes is the eleventh of twelve volumes in Henry Shoemaker’s Pennsylvania Folklore Series. Published in 1922—years before Shoemaker’s time as Pennsylvania’s first state folklorist—Allegheny Episodes includes twenty-five stories written in his typical literary style. Some tales recall ......
This Metalmark volume combines two of Henry W. Shoemaker’s pamphlets, both published by Shoemaker’s Times Tribune Co., which also published his newspaper, the Altoona Tribune. Pennsylvania Lion or Panther, published in 1914, provides a narrative look into the history and romance of Pennsylvania’s mountain ......
Occupations of the Months and Signs of the Zodiac in the Index of Christian Art
This volume is a rich resource for the study of time as represented by the signs of the zodiac and occupations of the months, documented in the comprehensive files of the Index of Christian Art at Princeton University.
The measurement and documentation of time has been a universal issue since the dawn of civilization—and no ......
Since its release in 1954, scholars have been aware of the Central Intelligence Agency’s involvement in the making of the controversial animated motion picture adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. In Orwell Subverted, Daniel Leab gives an authoritative and well-documented account of the CIA’s powerful ......
