Professor up for National Book Circle award

No doubt it’s a harrowing tale, and a true one: In 1970 an African-American veteran of the Vietnam War was beaten into pulp and then shot by three white men in Timothy Tyson’s hometown of Oxford, N.C.

Now a UW–Madison professor of Afro-American studies, Tyson recounts the incident, which he recalls well in “Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story” (Crown, 2004). The book has been nominated for a National Book Circle Award in general nonfiction. Winners will be announced in March.