Emory History Professor Clifton Crais’s new book The Killing Age: How Violence Made the Modern World, has an ambitious goal: to offer a new history of the origins of our current planetary crises.
The wealth of data Dr. Crais marshalled for his argument is more than any publisher could print – so ECDS stepped in. Web Publication Specialist Dr. Bailey Betik created a companion website to the book that allows the reader to engage with data, images, and maps, and get an even deeper understanding and appreciation of the book.
Author Clifton Crais writes:
Writing may be a lonely enterprise, but publishing and engaging readers most certainly is not. This has been especially true with my new book, The Killing Age: How Violence Made the Modern World, published in North America by the University of Chicago Press and worldwide by Picador (UK). Because The Killing Age is a long work of global history meant for the general reader, I decided to create a website to accompany the book. The idea was three-fold: to reduce the length by moving the bibliography online; to make available databases and other data; and, most importantly, to invite readers into a broader conversation about history and our planetary crises that is not possible in a purely written form.
Working with ECDS, Bradley Erickson in Political Science, and my publishers led to thekillingage.com, which went live alongside the book’s release. Some of the material in the book is also on the webpage, but now interactively. Readers can also discover new materials, as well as links to various databases and scientific studies.
All of this would have been impossible without ECDS. Bailey Betik designed the website. Megan Slemons did the maps. And Bradley Erickson produced the data visualization. So, as I said, it takes a team to produce a book.
The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry is hosting a book launch for Professor Crais this Thursday (the 20th) at the Candler School of Theology. You can RSVP at the link here.
Image Attribution: Artist unknown (Whaleman artist). Sperm Whaling—Cow and Calf, ca. 1830. Watercolor on paper. New Bedford Whaling Museum. Gift of Charles H. Taylor, 1938.79.3. This artwork is in the public domain. Courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.