Fairview Press (formerly Deaconess Press) was the publishing former arm of Fairview Health Services, a regional healthcare provider affiliated with the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Fairview Press published books and other forms of patient education materials on topics such as aging and eldercare,

grief Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cogni ...

and bereavement, and health and wellness. Fairview Press published from

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota until their assets were sold to the Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group of Lanham, Maryland.

History

1989 to 1995

Publishing commenced under the name of Deaconess Press, with an initial editorial focus on

behavioral therapy Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or o ...

—including

chemical dependency Substance dependence, also known as drug dependence, is a biopsychological situation whereby an individual's functionality is dependent on the necessitated re-consumption of a psychoactive substance because of an adaptive state that has develope ...

treatment, recovery, and prevention literature.

1995 to 1997

Name changed to Fairview Press. In 1996, Fairview Press signed a distribution agreement with the National Book Network, and expanded its editorial focus to trade book acquisition. Titles from this period encompassed a broad range of non-fiction books dedicated to

parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a ...

and family issues. Fairview Press authors appeared in various mass media outlets, including

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

, and

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

with

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

. The company published a number of popular general-interest hardcover books during this time, including ''Good Morning, Captain'' (autobiography of

Bob Keeshan Robert James Keeshan (June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He created and played the title role in the children's television program '' Captain Kangaroo'', which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longes ...

, TV’s original

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

) and a

book series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...

by TV’s original

Slim Goodbody Slim Goodbody ("the Superhero of Health", also known as Mr. Goodbody) is a fictional character created and performed by John Burstein. Burstein created the character in 1975. He performs wearing a sometimes white, sometimes peach colored unitard ...

. Trade paperback

titles from this period included Jeanette Gadeberg's ''Raising Strong Daughters'' and ''Brave New Girls'', as well as ''Selling Out America's Children'' by

David Walsh (psychologist) David Walsh is an American psychologist, educator, and author specializing in parenting, family life and the impact of media on children and teens. Walsh was the president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family based in M ...

, founder of

National Institute on Media and the Family The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), founded by psychologist David Walsh in 1996 and closed in 2009 was a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a nonsectarian advocacy group which sought to monitor mass ...

1997 to 2000

Economic contraction In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

within the retail book industry resulted in high returns in consignment

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

, forcing the publisher to downsize and to once again change the focus of its publishing program to better align itself with the healthcare mission of its parent company. Acquisitions focused primarily on books dealing with aging, health and wellness, and

& bereavement—which the publisher sold through retail channels as well as to

hospitals A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

, state and federal agencies, and NGOs. Key titles from this period include Elizabeth Levang's ''When Men Grieve'', Janis Silverman's ''Help Me Say Goodbye'', and ''The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality'' by health scientist Michael J. Basso.

2000 to 2010

Fairview Press continued to acquire and publish some unsolicited trade book manuscripts, as well as material written by staff, professional affiliates, and other local authors. Sample titles acquired during the press' final years of active publishing included a series of

art therapy Art therapy (not to be confused with ''arts therapy'', which includes other creative therapies such as drama therapy and music therapy) is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art thera ...

books for children,

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

of aging-related interviews by former

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

staff member Connie Goldman, and four books on

complementary and alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

published in cooperation with the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the

. The inspirational volumes in the ''Positive Quotations'' series spent more than 84 combined weeks on

Nielsen BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by The NPD Group in the United States and the Nielsen Company in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South ...

's bestseller lists for

Reference works A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to ...

Self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...

books. Fairview Press won several National Mature Media Awards, state book awards, and ''American Journal of Nursing'' Book-of-the-Year Awards.

2012

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group acquired the assets of Fairview Press in Spring 2012. The Fairview Press imprint name was not part of the deal, so the list will be handled by a combination of RLPG imprints depending on subject matter ranging from Taylor Trade to Rowman & Littlefield.

References

''"America Confronts Grief"'' by Robert Dahlin, ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', December 17, 2001. ''"A Tale of Twin Cities"'' by Claire Kirch, ''

'', June 6, 2005. ''"Online or on Pages?"'' by Natalie Danford, ''

'', September 24, 2007. ''"Rowman & Littlefield Buys Fairview Press,"'' ''

'', April 9, 2012.

External links

* http://www.rlpgbooks.com Book publishing companies based in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1989