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 Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

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

grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a Human bonding, bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, ...

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

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, 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 oth ...

—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, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...

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

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American 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 the first of its genre on American television ...

, and

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

with

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

. 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 longest ...

, 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 publ ...

by TV’s original

Slim Goodbody Slim Goodbody ("the Superhero of Health", also known as Mr. Goodbody) is a recurring 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), 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, was a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a nonsectarian advocacy group which sought to monitor mass media for content ...

1997 to 2000

Economic contraction In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

within the retail book industry resulted in high returns in

consignment Consignment is a process whereby a person gives permission to another party to take care of their property while retaining full ownership of the property until the item is sold to the final buyer. It is generally done during auctions, shipping, ...

inventory Inventory (British English) or stock (American English) is a quantity of 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 ...

, 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 healthcare 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 emergency ...

, 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 is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art ...

books for children,

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

of aging-related interviews by former

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

staff member Connie Goldman, and four books on

complementary and alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices ar ...

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 Circana in the United States and NIQ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Italy, Spain ...

's bestseller lists for

Reference works A reference work is a document, 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'' ...

Self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

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 ...

'', 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