Beautiful Monsters: Imagining the Classic in Musical Media. By Michael Long ’74. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2008. 311 pp. $24.95 paperback.
Long explores classical music and how it has made its way into American pop culture.
Delicate Edible Birds and Other Stories. By Lauren Groff ’01. New York City: Voice, 2009. 304 pp. $23.95 hardcover.
With her first novel, 2008’s The Monsters of Templeton, Groff earned critical acclaim and bestselling-author status. Here she tells nine stories, including the award-winning “L. DeBard and Aliette” and “Lucky Chow Fun.”
The Dharma King: The Thrilling Novel of One Man’s Quest to Save Tibet—and Himself. By B.G. Stroh ’96. Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, 2008. $23.95 hardcover.
This novel follows a wealthy young American over the Himalayas to find and rescue the Panchen Lama—an infant considered the spiritual counterpart to the Dalai Lama.
Existentialism: A Beginner’s Guide. By Thomas E. Wartenberg ’71. Oxford, England: Oneworld, 2008. 204 pp. $14.95 paperback.
Wartenberg uses novels, plays, films and the texts of renowned philosophers to teach about Existentialism.
inhale/exhale. By David Stringer ’64. New York City: littleBeast, 2008. 23 pp. $30.
inhale/exhale comprises 19 poems by the author of the 1994 collection The Beast Speaks. Stringer won a Hopwood Award for his earlier poetry. (To order a numbered copy, e-mail dstring@ix.netcom.com.)
Itineraries in Conflict: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Political Lives of Tourism. By Rebecca L. Stein ’91. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2008. 219 pp. $22.95 paperback.
Stein analyzes how Israelis use tourism to understand and cope with shifts in Middle Eastern politics.
Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool. By Elizabeth E. Barker, director of Amherst’s Mead Art Museum, and Alex Kidson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007. 224 pp. $75 hardcover.
This exhibition catalogue examines Wright’s impact on the artistic climate of 18th-century Liverpool, England. Barker also contributed an essay, “Wright of Derby and Industry,” to The History of British Art, Volume 2: 1600-1870 (Yale University Press, 2008).
Making Hay: Tales from Oakholm, a Farm in Massachusetts. By John Jeppson ’38. Cambridge, Mass.: TidePool Press, 2008. 224 pp. $28 hardcover.
Now in his 90s, Jeppson writes about the Brookfield, Mass., farm that his Swedish-American family has run for five generations.
Nation of Nitwits and Barbarians. By Theodore Haley ’44, M.D. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, 2007. 106 pp. $12 paperback.
Haley delves into such issues as torture, euthanasia, stem-cell research and same-sex marriage, comparing U.S. attitudes and laws to those of the Dutch.
Parties & Policies: How the American Government Works. By David R. Mayhew ’58. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008. 401 pp. $25 paperback.
Parties & Policies consists of 14 essays about U.S. public policymaking from the Civil War to the present.
Poems from Songtan. By David R. Wellens ’90. London: Athena Press, 2008. 47 pp. $9.95 paperback.
The 23 selections in Wellens’ first book of poetry include “Remembering Professor Heath” and “College for Mind-readers.”
Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid. By Alissa S. Wilson ’00, Ann Barham and John Hammock. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008. 228 pp. $15 paperback.
This is a guide for those who aspire to work for social change.
Transforming Cape Town. By Catherine Besteman ’81. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2008.
296 pp. $24.95 paperback.
Besteman looks into the lives of ordinary Capetonians during South Africa’s transition away from apartheid and toward democracy.
Vesuvius: Two Letters by Pliny the Younger. Translated by Kenneth Martin ’70. San Diego: Iron Bear Press, 2008. 79 pp. $12.95 paperback.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, a young Roman diplomat wrote the only eyewitness accounts of history’s most infamous volcanic eruption. This book includes the original Latin alongside the translations.
The Websters’ Dictionary: How to Use the Web to Transform the World. By Ralph Benko ’74. Washington, D.C.: Websters’ Press, 2008. 228 pp. $19.95 paperback.
This book gives advice to advocacy groups on how to advance their causes through the latest in Web design and technology.
Working-Class Students at Radcliffe College, 1940-1970: The Intersection of Gender, Social Class and Historical Context. By Jennifer O’Connor Duffy ’00. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008. 205 pp. $109.95 hardcover.
This book analyzes the experiences of Radcliffe students.