(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The year is 1862. The Civil War is raging in the United States, but in Minnesota the settlers are living in peace. Until the Sioux Indians go into bloody rebellion, after years of oppression. It ended in a bloody war in the war, and many of these settlers who fought against the Indians were Norwegians. This is the story Karl Jakob Skarstein tells in the book The war against the Sioux – Norwegians against Indians 1862-1863, released in the fall by Spartacus Publishing.
At Spartacus, it is not only war between Norwegian settlers and Indians that characterizes the book harvest. War and violent death also characterize the World War II book The Hunt for Bismarck – The Battle for the Atlantic by Michael Tamelander and Niklas Zetterling and Cosa Nostra – The story of the Sicilian mafia by John Dickie.
Wide appeal
With successes like Antony Beevors Stalingrad and Tamelander / Zetterlings D-Day in the catalog, it is clear that the bloody part of world history is Spartacus' most important weapon in the fight against the red numbers.
- It is no secret that the genre has a very broad appeal out there: Both "ordinary" book readers and people who otherwise buy fewer books throw themselves over the war literature. But otherwise I would like to emphasize that history as a subject has a rather unique position when it comes to literature: Good history research is, as a general rule, also good communication. In this sense, history is the field of non-fiction that perhaps best meets today's demands for "the good story", and our experience is that there is a strong interest in popular history in general – not just war, says Per Nordanger, publisher at Spartacus.
Football and brands
This fall's second trend in the Spartacus catalog is about international contemporary history and globalization, with the EU, football and international business as the key word. Here we find The crown of the brand – Pioneers in the world market by Marcel Grauls, about the life stories of several of the last century's innovators, entrepreneurs and scammers, and Football explains the world! – A (dubious) theory of globalization by Franklin Foer, while Frank M. Rossavik has written a book for all EU doubters Hello to the EU – The good, the bad and the troublesome Union. Last but not least, Spartacus releases Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. It describes how imperialism lives on today, and how supranational corporations and post-industrial practices have taken over the locomotive role of the nation-states. Is this also a deliberate focus area for the publisher?
- As a radical publisher, we have always been focused on publications on international issues and politics, and tried to contribute with debate literature – even if this is not particularly lucrative. Empire used, for example, as a Bible in parts of the new anti-globalization movement, and has been published in many countries. When it finally comes out in Norwegian translation, this is a big boost for us, which will hardly be in financial balance with the first. Regardless: There are many exciting releases in this area coming from us, Nordanger says.
