Over the past few months, the Belt team have been working quietly on a slew of titles that will be publishing this summer. We haven’t been able to tell as many people about them as we would have liked, because of acquisition by Arcadia.
This biggest post-sale change will be moving our inventory and changing distributor from PGW/Ingram to Arcadia (who, brilliantly, does their own distribution). It’s easy to imagine what moving the inventory entails: a big truck full of books. But we also need to tell buyers how and where to find those books in that truck, and that means changing the metadata. Metadata, that most infelicitous word, will be popping up in my inbox often over the next few weeks, and after that phase is over, the word will be out.1
For now, still on a high after an incredibly fun time at Winter Institute (where I got to meet some of you in person for the first time! Hi!), I am going to shout about summer titles that currently lack that dastardly metadata. They are available to pre-order through Belt’s website now; shortly they will pop up everywhere.
Hannibal’s Invisibles
With over a hundred photos collected by G. Faye Dant, and with an introduction by renowned Mark Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin.
When Mark Twain published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885, he turned Hannibal, Missouri, into one of the most famous towns in the American imagination. But like Twain’s novel, Hannibal’s idyllic façade often elided the darker racial violence that had marked its past, and it overlooked the history and humanity of the Black residents who have called Hannibal home for generations. Without them, there would be no “America’s hometown.”
What a fucking photo on the cover, right?
Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA
Ferguson, Missouri, became the epicenter of America’s racial tensions after the 2014 murder of Michael Brown and the protests that followed in its wake. Though this suburb just outside St. Louis might have seemed like an average midwestern town, the activism that exploded there after Brown’s killing laid bare how longstanding municipal planning policies had led to racial segregation, fragmentation, poverty, and police targeting.
In over one hundred maps, Patty Heyda charts the systemic forces that have defined Ferguson, and the first-ring suburb in America more broadly.
Still to come: a bunch of impressive blurbs! These maps are spectacular. Here’s a peek:
Chicago House Music
It’s not all Missouri though!
Chicago house music originated in the city’s Black, gay underground in the late seventies and became one of the most popular musical genres in the world by the end of the century. In Chicago House Music: Culture and Community, Marguerite Harrold tells the story of the genre’s rise and the prolific creators who have sustained it for decades. You’ll learn about house music’s early innovators, like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, who transformed the social and political turmoil around them into a revolution in dance music. You’ll also hear remembrances from contemporary figures in the house community, like DJ Lady D, Avery R. Young, Czboogie and Edgar “Artek” Sinio, who have forged new paths as the genre has evolved.
Midwest Shreds
The American Midwest may not have a reputation as the nation’s skating mecca, but maybe it should. In Midwest Shreds, Mandy Shunnarah travels around the region for a deep dive into its skating culture, detailing the activity’s long, storied history there and the large and diverse skating community that calls the Midwest home today. Here, you’ll learn how skating has become a form of mutual aid in Iowa, follow hard-core street skaters as they vie to become King of Cleveland, experience the transcendence of skating in a converted St. Louis cathedral, meet the anarchists who’ve built their own skate paradise, cinder block by cinder block, in southern Ohio, and encounter skaters from Des Moines, Madison, Chicago, West Lafayette, Detroit, and other corners of the Midwest.
A Scranton Anthology
The latest in our city anthology series is coming in August. Scranton is more than just the setting for The Office. It's a living city, one with a rich industrial and labor history, that also has a small-town feel. Who is considered “from Scranton” is fiercely guarded even as the city sees immigration from around the world. Pieces in this anthology talk about desires to leave, ties that bind, and decisions to stay, as well as impressions from newcomers to the Northeastern Pennsylvania hub.
And there’s even more. Who says I never embed images in my newsletter. All the crappy screenshots above are pirated versions of David Wilson’s extraordinary cover designs. (Is there a Belt without David? Hard to say).
Finally, here’s Zito Madu showing off the galley of his forthcoming book at Winter Institute. Look at that proud and happy author! His was the longest line at the galley-signing event. Because of course.
Thanks for allowing me to hijack this week’s newsletter for Belt promo and poking about in our summer list. Just think, if Summer comes, can Spring be far behind?
For those who order books wholesale: the transition should happen May 1.