We are excited to introduce our Fall 2026 catalog featuring books releasing in August and beyond—from an Indigenous history of Alaska, a compelling story of rematriation, and an examination of the #MeToo movement in China to histories of Black, Filipino, and queer Asian American activism in the Pacific Northwest and early jazz in Seattle. All are available for pre-order now.
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In The Great Land, Thomas Michael Swensen offers the first Indigenous history of Alaska. Scholar Lauren M. Ayagakuchax̂ Peters traces the rematriation of her great-aunt from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School to her homeland in Sophia’s Return—both a powerful story of colonial violence and the enduring power of Indigenous histories as well as a guide for Native communities seeking to bring their own children home from boarding school cemeteries.
Other new books in Indigenous studies include Remembering for the Future by art historian Sascha T. Scott, an amply illustrated look at modern Pueblo painting. Hopi Kachina Dolls (distributed for The Brooklyn Museum), edited by Nancy B. Rosoff, Dare Turner, and Colleen Lucero, explores and celebrates the cultural legacy of tithu by centering female voices.
Zooming in on the West Coast, a number of new books shine a light on marginalized histories. The highly anticipated second edition of critic Paul de Barros’ history of early jazz in Seattle, Jackson Street After Hours, reconstructs the pulsating center of the city’s jazz scene from 1912 to 1961, when Black musicians forged a thriving music culture largely ignored by the mainstream press. In No Separate Peace, Michael Schulze-Oechtering Castañeda tells the story of Black and Filipino labor organizing in the Pacific Northwest in the late twentieth century, placing workers of color at the center of a global history of activism.
On issues of the environment, new books from Adam R. Hodge and Nik Janos bring regional case studies to contemporary challenges. Hodge’s The Cannibal of Montana’s Streams—a compelling “biography” of a species—traces how the once-maligned bull trout came to be understood as a crucial apex predator and a key indicator of watershed health. In Damming Debates, Janos follows the people shaping the hydropower debate in the Northwest, offering an essential guide to an environmental crossroads and the challenge of building a just energy transition.
For broader histories of the environment, look to new releases in our Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books series. The Global Grey Parrot by Nancy J. Jacobs is the sweeping story of one species’ entanglement with global extraction and captivity. Kendra Smith-Howard’s A Dirty History of Cleaning Up reveals how everyday cleaning products reshaped the natural systems of the US across the twentieth century.
The Last Seed by Xan Sarah Chacko continues the cutting-edge tradition of our Feminist Technosciences series in its challenging reassessment of seed banks, revealing a global system where hope for ecological survival coexists with enduring colonial power.
Breathing Fire by Amy Sueyoshi and Refusing Normativity by Lynn Fujiwara highlight the alternate forms of activism, identity, and belonging created by queer Asian American communities. In Chasing the Sun, Wendy M. Thompson offers a unique blend of history, theory, and poetic reflection to trace how Black migrants used media and methods of performance to affirm their place in the California Bay Area during and after the Great Migration.
New in Asian studies, Miriam Chusid’s The Ill-Fated Afterlife illuminates how early Buddhist artworks transformed fear of death into ritual care and hope for salvation in thirteenth-century Japan. Moving to the present, Viral Dissent by Sara Liao provides a powerful account of how feminist and antifeminist politics circulate in China through social media, influencer culture, and viral debates—carefully managed in an era of global platforms, commercialized visibility, and authoritarian government.
Explore all these books and more in the UW Press Fall 2026 catalog. Now is also a good time to sign up for our newsletter to get notifications of when new books become available.
