Books & Recordings

Books

Community Literacies as Shared Resources for Transformation

Edited by Joanne Larson and George Moses

Routledge, 2018

Larson and Moses join with members of the city of Rochester community to tell a collective story of a project that joined University faculty, students, and city community members together to transform an urban corner store into a neighborhood hub. Larson, the Michael W. Scandling Professor of Education at the Warner School, and Moses, executive director of North East Area Development as well as Rochester Freedom Schools, touch on the themes of collaboration, social justice, and urban transformation.

Respectability and Reform: Irish-American Women’s Activism, 1880-1920

By Tara McCarthy ’05 (PhD)

Syracuse University Press, 2018

McCarthy explores the roles, motivations, beliefs, and strategies of Irish immigrant women in late 19th- and early 20th-century American reform movements such as temperance, labor reform, suffrage, and Irish independence. McCarthy is an associate professor of history at Central Michigan University.

Successful Science and Engineering Teaching in Colleges and Universities (Second Edition)

By Calvin Kalman ’70 (PhD)

Information Age Publishing, 2017

In a follow-up to the 2008 edition published by Springer, Kalman presents an updated series of essays with the goal of helping students to “gain a better understanding of science as a connected structure of concepts rather than as a toolkit of assorted practices.” Kalman is a professor of physics at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Approaches to Teaching the Works of Orhan Pamuk

Edited by Sevinç Türkkan and David Damrosch

Modern Language Association of America, 2017

Türkkan, an instructor of Turkish studies in Rochester’s Department of Religion and Classics, and Damrosch, director of Harvard’s Institute for World Literature, bring together a series of essays by literary scholars that serves as a sourcebook of materials, approaches, and points of view on teaching the works of Nobel Prize–winning Turkish author Pamuk. Türkkan contributes an essay, “The White Castle: Reception, Paratexts, and the Politics of Translation.”

Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They Can Stay

By Doris Ann Santoro ’94

Harvard Education Press, 2018

Santoro, a philosopher of education, explores the concept of demoralization, to which, based on extensive interviews with teachers over a 10-year period, she attributes much professional dissatisfaction. An associate professor of education and chair of the education department at Bowdoin College, Santoro ends with a guide to “re-moralization” for teachers, union leaders, and school leaders.

James Baldwin and the 1980s: Witnessing the Reagan Era

By Joseph Vogel ’14 (PhD)

University of Illinois Press, 2018

Vogel, an assistant professor of English at Merrimack College, explores Baldwin’s final decade, in which he argues that the novelist and essayist best known for his works in the 1950s and 1960s expanded into new areas in the 1980s, offering groundbreaking insights on the social and psychological effects of popular culture and mass media.

The Eloquent Conductor: Basic to Advanced Techniques

By Glenn Price ’86E (DMA)

GIA Publications, 2016

Price offers a comprehensive guide to conducting for novices and professional musicians alike. A conductor and a noted authority on wind music, Price also serves as director of performing and visual arts at the California Institute of Technology.

The Bomb Maker

By Thomas Perry ’74 (PhD)

Mysterious Press, 2018

Suspense writer Perry’s latest novel pits the Los Angeles bomb squad against a lone terrorist mastermind who keeps a city paralyzed by fear.

Plakoto Board Game Strategy

By John Mamoun ’04D (Res)

CreateSpace, 2017

Mamoun offers strategy lessons for the game plakoto—a popular pastime in Greece and in several other Mediterranean countries, and similar to backgammon. The book includes more than 25 plakoto board game problems and solutions, several dozen diagrams, an explanation of dice probabilities, and additional features.

The Rock of Sarraka: A Spirit Animal Adventure

By Gary Karton ’91

Brattle Publishing Group, 2017

In the second book in his Brody Boondoggle series for middle-grade readers, Karton journeys to Sarraka, a land of magic and spirit animals whose existence is threatened by a new villain. Formerly a reporter for the Washington Post, Karton is director of content for the nonprofit Safe Kids Worldwide.

No Path Home: Humanitarian Camps and the Grief of Displacement

By Elizabeth Dunn ’91

Cornell University Press, 2017

Dunn explores the existential dimensions of humanitarian crises in a study based on her 16 months of immersion in a Georgian resettlement camp in the aftermath of the country’s war with Russia. Dunn is an associate professor of geography and international affairs at Indiana University–Bloomington.

Bye Student Loan Debt: Learn How to Empower Yourself by Eliminating Your Student Loans

By Daniel Mendelson ’10, ’11 (MS)

BYE Student Debt, 2017

In an interactive e-book, Mendelson shares a customizable program for personal debt reduction. Mendelson is a technical sales director in the Memphis, Tennessee, office of the medical equipment company Smith & Nephew.

Protest on Trial: The Seattle 7 Conspiracy

By Kit Bakke ’77N

Washington State University Press, 2018

Bakke revisits the story of the Seattle Liberation Front—its leaders’ arrests at a 1970 protest; their trial, imprisonment, and release; and their lives since, with reflections on protest then and now. Bakke, a Seattle native, is an activist, writer, and retired pediatric oncology nurse.

The Digital Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Websites that Sell

By Robert Bly ’79

Entrepreneur Press, 2018

Copywriter and marketing expert Bly shares tips for businesses to “turn their websites from cost centers to profit centers.” The book includes lessons on how to make effective use of digital marketing tools such as social media, as well as how to integrate a digital marketing plan with traditional outreach efforts.

Foxavier Loves Plinka

By Scott Talbot Evans ’84; edited by Liesl Gaesser

CreateSpace, 2017

Evans tells the story of a “quirky” protagonist “battling OCD and isolation, going through a series of counseling programs, encountering zany characters, and eventually meeting the love of his life.”

Things We Leave Unsaid: A Memoir Told in 300 Years

By Sharilyn Rediess ’83

Cabin 27 Press, 2017

Rediess traces her family’s three-century migration across North America “by ship, wagon, flatboat, prairie schooner, and train—until a Willys sedan delivered her Okie grandparents to the Pacific Ocean.” A writer in Rochester, Rediess explores the intersection between family stories and identity.

How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators, and Policymakers

By Brian Mitchell ’81 (PhD) and W. Joseph King

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018

Mitchell and King present their approach to leading colleges and small universities, in which they argue “colleges must update their practices, monetize their assets, and focus on core educational strategies.” Mitchell is a past president of Bucknell University and Washington & Jefferson College and King is president of Lyon College.

The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America

By Shawn Rochester ’97

Good Steward Publishing, 2017

Rochester, founder and CEO of the financial education and advisory company the Good Steward, surveys research showing extra costs that black Americans incur in various markets and offers strategies to offset those costs and create new jobs and businesses in the black community. The book is part of the Good Steward Financial Empowerment Series, which also includes CPR for the Soul: How to Give Yourself a 20% Raise, Eliminate Your Debt, and Leave an Inheritance for Your Children’s Children.

Recordings

Heritage: American Roots

By Owen Broder ’12E

ArtistShare, 2018

Saxophonist and composer Broder blends American folk, bluegrass, spirituals, and blues with modern jazz. Joining Broder in an 11-person ensemble is trombonist Nick Finzer ’09E. The recording is the first as part of a partnership between Eastman and the crowdfunding platform ArtistShare to support the development of exceptional Eastman students and alumni.

Franz Liszt: Songs for Bass Voice and Piano

By Jared Schwartz ’06E and Mary Dibbern

Toccata Classics, 2017

Schwartz, accompanied by pianist Dibbern, performs songs that are among the more neglected parts of Liszt’s oeuvre. The recording is the first of Liszt songs—all of which were written for high or middle voices—transposed for a bass voice.

The Subject Tonight Is Love

By Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, and Gary Versace ’93E (MM)

Binxtown Records, 2018

Multi-instrumentalist Versace, guitarist Ganz, and jazz vocalist McGarry perform compositions exploring connectivity, understanding, and the ups and downs of love.

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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, author or performer, a brief description, and a high-resolution cover image, to Books & Recordings, Rochester Review, 22 Wallis Hall, Box 270044, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0044; or by e-mail to Books and Recordings.