Welcome to our weekly roundup of news from university presses! Once again, there is a lot to share this week from our fellow academic publishing houses and much to learn on What SUP at the social university presses. This week, we explore several facets of history, from the light-hearted to the sobering: romance strategies, economics, warfare, and racial violence. What did you read this week?

The University of Chicago Press examines a topic that hits close to home, “The State of the University Press.”

Columbia University featured a series of posts on  The Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series this week. They offered a chance to win a copy of the first three books in the series and shared several excerpts to help you brush up on the latest economic theory.

John’s Hopkins University Press explained how linen armor can stop an arrow in a guest post by Scott Bartell, author of Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor. Bartell risked his own flesh to test the ancient Greek and Roman warrior’s version of Kevlar.

Harvard University Press offered a drawing lesson from William Kentridge, an artist of many mediums whose stop-motion charcoal drawing animations gained him international renown.

Louisiana State University Press shared a Thoreau-esque description of a Louisiana summer day – something to savor here in New Haven as fall rapidly heads our way.

University of Minnesota Press launched a new weekly blog series from comedian Lorna Landvik. In this fist installment Landvik wonders if being the youngest child made her funnier.

MIT Press spoke with Margaret Murray, author of Women Becoming Mathematicians, on the impact that the first female winner of the Fields medal will have.

NYU Press reflected on the disturbing events in Ferguson and the history of racial tension and state-sanctioned violence in St. Louis.

Oxford University Press asks if we are “too ‘smart’ to understand how we see?”

Stanford University Press shares New York  Sephardi-Ashkenazi Jewish dating advice from 1916.