Professor Michael G. Smith featured as Purdue University Press celebrates 65 years of scholarly publishing

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November 17, 2025 | PurduePress

As Purdue University Press celebrates 65 years of scholarly publishing, we’ve asked a few authors who’ve published multiple books with us, are affiliated in some way with Purdue University, or both, to tell us about Purdue University Press from their point of view.

Michael G. Smith is professor of history at Purdue University, where he has taught Russian history and aerospace history since 1996. He is the author of The Spacefaring Earth: A History of the Space Age (Routledge Press, 2025), The Rocket Lab: Maurice Zucrow, Purdue University, and America's Race to Space (Purdue University Press, 2023), Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), and Language and Power in the Creation of the USSR, 1917-1953 (Mouton de Gruyter Publishers, 1998).

How did you get started as a writer?

Well, I became a published writer in graduate school, writing scholarly articles, my first in 1988. Books came much later.

What led you to publish with Purdue University Press?

I wrote a manuscript on Purdue history, The Rocket Lab (2023), about the aerospace engineering pioneer, Maurice Zucrow. Purdue Press was the natural and right choice.

What are some of the advantages of publishing with a scholarly press?
I’d say the care and attention to detail, in peer review (having other experts approve and critique the work), and in the relationship between author and press. Justin Race and his staff were very forgiving of my stumbles.

Tell us about a university press publication that had an impact or made a lasting impression on you.I can remember reading my first academic books, from university presses, in the library of my undergraduate university, back in 1980. These universities seemed so exotic and important. My Jesuit teacher in US Diplomatic History had us read a book a week. I chose Robert May’s, The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire (Louisiana State University Press, 1973). I loved it. This unconsciously became one of my models for good history writing. Turns out, I was astounded to meet Bob May when I came to Purdue fifteen years later (and told him the story). He and Jill May are Purdue Press authors too.The small and wonderful world of university presses.

Tell us a little about your favorite or most memorable publication with Purdue University Press to date or share a funny story about an experience you had while working on a project with Purdue University Press.
Proofreading manuscripts is harder than writing them. You suddenly have a small window to check facts, grammar, spellings, writing style, arguments, sources, citations – everything all at once. It’s like brain surgery. My editor at Purdue Press, Kelley Kimm, was relentless, like all good editors. But she also knew just when to add some good humor, like sharing memories about the old tv show, Lost in Space.