Hot Type

Sam Taylor ’97, Nude: Descending an Empire, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014; 94 pp. Inspired by three years spent in a wilderness refuge, the author says these poems “look out on and enter the hyper-modernity of our age and engage with the urgent social and ecological issues of our time.”

David Cateforis ’86 (editor), Rethinking Andrew Wyeth, University of California Press, 2014; 232 pp. Artist Andrew Wyeth was a polarizing figure, hated by the artistic elite while loved by many others for the work he created. This collection of essays attempts to unite these contrasting views in a meaningful way.

Sonali Chakravarti ’00, Sing the Rage: Listening to Anger After Mass Violence, The University of Chicago Press, 2014; 240 pp. Exploring the relationship between anger and justice, Sing the Rage examines public testimonies from victims of apartheid, incorporating the works of Adam Smith and Hannah Arendt and arguing that the ability to listen to public anger creates trust and respect. 

Elizabeth Coleman ’69, Proof, Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014; 81 pp. The poet, also a musician and artist who created the book’s cover, composed the poems with lyricism, color, and musicality.

Raphael Dagold ’87, Bastard Heart, Silverfish Review Press, 2014; 67 pp. This winner of the 2012 Gerald Cable Book Award for a book-length manuscript by a nonpublished author is “the most important book of poetry I’ve read in years,” said reviewer Lidia Yuknavitch. 

McKenzie Funk ’99, Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming, Penguin Press, 2014; 310 pp. Using accounts of entrepreneurs from two dozen countries, the author looks at the big business of big changes to the environment.

Gregory Gebhart ’76, Sustain-ability: What to Seek Before Oil Runs Out, Gregory Gebhart, 2011; 101 pp. Exploring the fact that global oil supplies will be depleted within the next half-century and the consequences for consumers in an oil-dependent world, Gebhart outlines steps needed now to prevent catastrophic consequences, including production and use of biofuels.

Stephen Henighan ’84, Sandino’s Nation: Ernesto Cardenal and Sergio Ramirez Writing Nicaragua, 1940–2012, McGill-Queens University Press, 2014; 758 pp. Coinciding with the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, this book’s publication owes much to the author’s activities with Swarthmore’s Latin American studies group in the early 1980s.

Marc Elihu Hofstadter ’67, Memories I’ve Forgotten, Dog Ear Publishing, 2014; 97 pp. In this collection, the poet uses evocative, lyrical, and humorous language as he shares reminiscences of his early childhood and beyond. 

Judith Markham Hughes ’62, The Holocaust and The Revival of Psychological History, Cambridge University Press, 2015; 188 pp. Hughes explores how people from the best-educated Western countries could have participated in the genocide of Jews during World War II. Hughes explores the subject through the works of preeminent historians, sociologists, and political scientists. 

Joan Larkin ’60, Blue Hanuman, Hanging Loose Press, 2014; 78 pp. Blue Hanuman offers readers poems by Larkin, an award-winning poet who is recognized for her prolific and deeply honest work. 

Stephen Laubach ’96, Living a Land Ethic: A History of Cooperative Conservation on the Leopold Memorial Reserve, The University of Wisconsin Press, 2014; 136 pp. Working from historical documents, photos, and interviews, Laubach chronicles the history of the 1,600-acre Leopold Memorial Reserve in Wisconsin and its significant role in the American conservation movement. (Click to hear Laubach discuss his book on Wisconsin Public Radio.)

Daniel Reisberg ’75, The Science of Perception and Memory: A Pragmatic Guide for the Justice System, Oxford University Press, 2014; 368 pp. The author tackles man’s fallibility of memory and perception, demonstrating the ways in which cognitive science can inform the justice system and influence the outcomes of legal cases.

John Ridland ’53, A. Lincolniad: An Epic Poem Honoring the Memory of President Abraham Lincoln, Askew, 2014; 23 pp. This work is less about providing sensitive and profound language than composing a mock-epic poem that might have amused Lincoln but beneath which lies the tragedy of his assassination.