University of Rochester

Rochester Review
March–April 2012
Vol. 74, No. 4

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Books

Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life

By Kenneth Gross

University of Chicago Press, 2011

Gross, professor of English at Rochester, explains the enduring appeal of puppets and puppetry in both theater and literature.

The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration, and Globalization in Honduras

By Daniel R. Reichman

Cornell University Press, 2011

Reichman, assistant professor of anthropology at Rochester, explores the economic, social, and cultural consequences for a once stable coffee growing community in Honduras as it’s transformed and uprooted by globalization.

Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind: Ibn al-Farid and the Poetry of Recollection

By Th. Emil Homerin

SUNY Press, 2011

Homerin, professor of religion at Rochester, provides translations and close readings of works by the 13th-century Sufi poet, demonstrating the literary and religious intent of the poems, as well as their mystical content.

A Model Discipline: Political Science and the Logic of Representations

By Kevin A. Clarke and David M. Primo

Oxford University Press, 2012

Clarke and Primo, associate professors of political science at Rochester, challenge the pervasive practice of model testing in political science. Rather than testing models for their predictive value, the authors argue, models should be seen as neither true nor false, but instead as representations of reality that are useful for particular purposes.

The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time

By David Sloan Wilson ’71

Little, Brown & Co., 2011

In a case study of Binghamton, N.Y., Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University, argues that research into human behaviors that are rooted in natural selection can be harnessed to improve built and social environments.

Personality Psychology: Foundations and Findings

By Marianne Miserandino ’82

Prentice-Hall, 2012

Miserandino, professor of psychology at Arcadia University, presents an overview of foundations and recent research in personality psychology. Topics include genetics, neuroscience, traits, self and identity, intrapsychic aspects, regulation, motivation, and cognition.

Dissecting American Health Care

By Douglas Kamerow ’78M (MD), ’83M (Res)

RTI Press, 2011

Kamerow, professor of clinical family medicine at Georgetown University and former assistant surgeon general, offers a collection of 47 essays on health and health politics and policy, tackling such subjects as alternative medicine, screening mammograms, and taxes on soda. The essays are based on Kamerow’s columns in the British Medical Journal and on his commentaries on National Public Radio.

The Between

By L. J. Cohen ’84

Interrobang Books, 2012

Physical therapist-turned-author Cohen presents her first published novel, a young adult fantasy. High school senior Lydia Hawthorne is torn into another world, the Between, on the border between the world of Faerie and Earthly life.

Labor and Delivery Care: A Practical Guide

By Wayne R. Cohen ’67 and Emanuel A. Friedman

Wiley-Blackwell, 2011

Cohen, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women’s health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Friedman offer a guide to women in labor that emphasizes good communication with the patient—“the most important element of successful labor care”—as well as physical diagnostic skills.

A Pen Named Man: Our Purpose

By John W. Newton ’72

Resource Publications, 2011

Newton, a retired patent specialist at Eastman Kodak Research Labs, reflects on the nature of reality and the meaning and value of humankind’s experience on Earth.

The Works of Lucy Hutchinson, Volume I: Translation of Lucretius

Edited by Reid Barbour ’88 (PhD) and David Norbrook

Oxford University Press, 2012

Barbour, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Norbrook present the first segment in an eventual four-volume compilation of the works of the 17th-century author and translator Hutchinson. The volume, dedicated to Hutchinson’s translation of Lucretius’s De rerum natura, contains new biographical information and commentary.

Road to Armageddon

By Michael S. Speziale ’62

Lulu, 2011

Speziale, a former history teacher and administrator for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools, offers “personal observations and reflections on what I perceive as the mileposts along the path to the demise of modern American civilization over the past century.”

Heavenly Descants for Trumpet on 118 Hymn Tunes

By Susan Sievert Messersmith ’92E (MM)

Heavenly Descants Publications, 2011

In her first book of music, Messersmith, a faculty member at Charleston Southern University and conductor of its brass choir, offers a compilation of hymn descants for trumpet. The book is available in both C trumpet and B-flat trumpet editions.

Draw a Straight Line and Follow It: The Music and Mysticism of La Monte Young

By Jeremy Grimshaw ’05E (PhD)

Oxford University Press, 2011

Grimshaw, assistant professor of music at Brigham Young University, explores the life and work of pioneering minimalist composer La Monte Young. Based on interviews with Young and materials from his archives, Grimshaw examines seemingly disparate aspects of the composer’s work, including psychoacoustics, indeterminacy, and Vedic mysticism.

How Do I Hate Thee? A Sampler of Poetic Rage Against Cancer

By Elizabeth Kincaid-Ehlers ’78 (PhD)

Antrim House Books, 2011

Connecticut-based poet and psychologist Kincaid-Ehlers, responding to her diagnosis of lymphoma, transforms well-known verses by Yeats, Dickinson, Tennyson, and others, into defiant poems of rage against cancer.

Recordings

Dream a Little Dream

By the Jennifer Scott Trio

The Jazz Project, 2011

The Vancouver-based Jennifer Scott Trio, including Jud Sherwood ’89 on percussion, performs an eclectic selection of standards. The recording is produced by Sherwood, who directs the Jazz Project, a nonprofit that promotes jazz through concerts, recordings, and other forms of outreach.

What Is the Beautiful?

By the Claudia Quintet

Cuneiform, 2011

The Claudia Quintet, led by the composer and percussionist John Hollenbeck ’90E, ’91E (MM), performs music written by Hollenbeck and set to poems by Kenneth Patchen.

Metaphors

By John Arrucci ’80E

Twin Lakes Productions, 2011

Composer and percussionist Arrucci presents his debut recording of nine original compositions featuring bass marimba, vibes, cello, alto flute, and flugelhorn, in addition to piano, bass, and drums.

The Book of Goddesses

By Robert Paterson ’95E

American Modern Recordings, 2011

Composer Paterson presents three new works featuring the harp. The recording earned the Composer of the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation.

Music from the Americas

By the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet

Summit, 2011

Wichita State University’s Lieurance Quintet, which includes oboist Andrea Banke ’95E and hornist Nicholas Smith ’80E (DMA), performs selections by Liduino Pitombeira, Robert Muczynski, Alec Wilder, and others.

Fascinating Rhythm

By Frederick Hemke ’62E (MM) and the Figard String Quartet

Self-Published, 2011

Saxophonist and Northwestern University music professor Hemke joins the Figard String Quartet in performing arrangements of Gershwin classics, including A Foggy Day, Someone to Watch Over Me, and I Got Rhythm.

Going Solo

By Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio ’85E (MM)

MSR Classics, 2011

Sant’Ambrogio, violinist and assistant professor of the violin and viola at the University of Nevada, performs unaccompanied works by Ysaÿe, Telemann, Piazzolla, and others.

Philidor: Sancho Panca

By Elizabeth Calleo ’96E (MM), Tony Boutté ’84E (MM), Karim Sulayman ’98E, et al.

Naxos, 2011

Soprano Calleo and tenors Boutté and Sulayman join the Opera Lafayette Orchestra in the performance of Sancho Panca, the 18th-century French comic opera by François-André Danican Philidor based on an episode in Cervantes’s Don Quixote.

Christopher Theofanidis: Symphony No. 1

By Christopher Theofanidis ’92E (MM)

ASO Media, 2011

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano, presents the debut recording of the composer Theofanidis’s Symphony No. 1.


Books & Recordings is a compilation of recent work by University alumni, faculty, and staff. For inclusion in an upcoming issue, send the work’s title, publisher information, author, and author’s class year, along with a brief description, to Books & Recordings, Rochester Review, 22 Wallis Hall, P. O. Box 270044, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0044; or by e-mail to rochrev@rochester.edu.