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Cook, MN (November 2008) Plaintiff Blues: Job Discrimination and the Chilling Effect of Retaliation by Judith Pearson has won a fifth national book award in an unprecedented fifth category. In late October, USA Book News announced the winners and finalists of the National "Best Books 2008" (NBBA) Awards. Pearson's book was named a Finalist in the Law: General category. Regarding the new award, Pearson indicated that this one is particularly gratifying because the award is in the Law Category and legal issues are the primary focus of her story in Plaintiff Blues. Earlier this year, the book won national recognition in the categories of Women's Issues, Social Change, Education/Academic, and Memoir. "It's very rewarding to have gotten the recognition in five different categories because it's testimony to the broad appeal and relevance the book has had. The story seems to resonate with all kinds of folks, given the overwhelming number of positive responses and reviews I've received." Pearson's story describes the job discrimination she experienced as a school administrator in two NE Minnesota School Districts from 1986 through 2003. During that period, she filed several complaints with the EEOC and two discrimination/retaliation lawsuits in Federal District Court. She won a major victory in 1990, but retaliation soon followed. Plaintiff Blues is the story of that discrimination/retaliation and Pearson's experiences as a plaintiff in the civil litigation process. In December 2005, Pearson signed a contract with a traditional publisher in California, to tell her story and publish her manuscript. However, after the publisher failed repeatedly to meet the terms of the contract, Pearson terminated the contract in early 2007. Rather than go through the long query/rejection process again, to find another publisher, she and her husband Rick formed Lake Vermilion Publishing and self-published the book in May 2007. "After so many struggles with the publisher, it's especially sweet to get this much national recognition in such a broad spectrum of categories for Plaintiff Blues - because we did it all ourselves!" Plaintiff Blues is currently available from the author at www.plaintiffblues.com, at Woodward's Book and Yarn in the Thunderbird Mall in Virginia, Howard Street Books in Hibbing, Northern Lights Books and Gifts in Duluth, online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many other local and online outlets. Pearson will be signing books at Woodward's on Friday, December 19, 2008, from 1 Ð 3 PM. Published book reviews and additional readers comments can be viewed at www.plaintiffblues.com. Books are also available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com. Graphics of Author, Book Cover, and Awards - 300dpi download - are available at www.paintiffblues.com/mediakit |
Cook, MN (June, 2008) Plaintiff Blues: Job Discrimination and the Chilling Effect of Retaliation by Judith Pearson has won national awards in three categories from the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The book won top honors in the Women's Issues category and received finalist awards in the Social Change and Education/Academic categories. The Independent Book Publishers Group sponsors the awards to promote professional standards in independent book publishing and to honor the most exceptional independently published books for the year. Earlier this year, Plaintiff Blues won national recognition in the Memoir category from the 2008 Eric Hoffer Awards for Books, recognizing freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit. The award announcement read, "Congratulations on your Eric Hoffer Book Award. Your book endured rigorous judging and surpassed dozens of titles within its category. Each winner was determined to be unique, worthy and well produced in all aspects of writing and publishing." Lake Vermilion resident, Iron Range native, and retired educator Judith (Harvey) Pearson wrote Plaintiff Blues as a personal instruction manual on the how's and why's of civil rights. Pearson's story describes the job discrimination she encountered in two NE Minnesota School Districts. The lawsuit she won against the St. Louis County School District was followed by devastating retaliation. Pearson's seventeen-year saga starts in 1986 when she applied for the Cook high school principal position and was told, "Hell will freeze over before we hire a woman principal at the Cook High School," and "The rumor is that you are sleeping with the superintendent!" She sued and won. Now Pearson gives readers the story behind the newspaper headlines, including the personal and professional costs she paid for exercising her civil rights. Plaintiff Blues candidly recounts one woman's challenge to the prevailing provincialism in northern Minnesota. It is the white-collar version of the book Class Action and the movie North Country. Pearson provides insight into initiating an EEOC complaint, filing a civil lawsuit, confronting retaliation, and being a plaintiff. Along the way, the context of Pearson's story includes glimpses of her common sense approach to teaching and public school administration. James Cox, Editor-in-Chief, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW writes June 8, 2008: "I'm very pleased to announce that the June 2008 issue of our online review magazine 'Small Press Bookwatch' features Plaintiff Blues. This review also appears in the Cengage Learning, Gale interactive CD-ROM series 'Book Review Index' (published four times yearly for academic, corporate, and public library systems); as well as such book review databases as Lexus-Nexus and Goliath; and will be archived on the Midwest Book Review website at www.midwestbookreview.com for five years." MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: "Civil rights movements are always a slow moving process, with major clashes still happening well past the 1960s, the height of the movement. "Plaintiff Blues: Job Discrimination and the Chilling Effect of Retaliation" is the story of a woman's application to become principal - only to be quickly rejected because of her sex. She took it to court on discrimination and that's what the book focuses on Ð when to file a civil suit, the potential backlash, common sense, and much more. "Plaintiff Blues: Job Discrimination and the Chilling Effect of Retaliation" is highly recommended for community library social issues collection." Readers have written: "WOW! You're a great writer. Your book kept me enthralled! I realize that it took some soul searching and real effort to write it! You're also a terrific researcher & "keeper of records." I want to buy more copies and give them to women friends who've experienced blatant discrimination, not as bad as what you went through, though, but they'll profit from your writing." Dr. Neal Nickerson (Professor Emeritus - Department of Educational Policy and Administration, University of Minnesota.) "Hi Judy, what a wonderful book. I read it over the past weekend and couldn't put it down. You faced a great number of trials during your tenure, continuing to fight when others may have given up. Your tenacity to keep fighting when things looked bleak speaks volumes. This is a book that peaked my interest from the first page to the last. It's a good read, but more importantly it tells a story that needed to be told. I'm proud to know you." Denny Anderson (news anchor WDIO, author Good Night Everybody ... and be kind) Published book reviews and additional readers comments can be viewed at www.plaintiffblues.com. Books are also available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com. Graphics of Author, Book Cover, and Awards - 300dpi download - are available at www.paintiffblues.com/mediakit |
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