Books & Recordings

Books

Hildegard of Bingen

By Honey Meconi

University of Illinois Press, 2018

Meconi, chair and professor of music in the College music department and professor of musicology at Eastman, explores the life and work of the noted medieval composer and theologian. The book is part of the publisher’s Women Composers series.

The World Health Organization: A History

By Marcos Cueto, Theodore Brown, and Elizabeth Fee

Cambridge University Press, 2019

Three historians of medicine—including Brown, a professor emeritus of history and of medical humanities at Rochester—provide an overview of the 70-year history of the global health organization, highlighting its major achievements and internal tensions.

House of Sparrows: New and Selected Poems

By Betsy Sholl ’69 (MA)

University of Wisconsin Press, 2019

Sholl “explores the shifting ironies and contradictions in the stories we tell” in her ninth collection of poetry, part of the Wisconsin Poetry Series. Sholl is the former poet laureate of Maine and teaches at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Cultivating Peace: The Virgilian Georgic in English, 1650–1750

By Melissa Schoenberger ’09

Bucknell University Press, 2019

Schoenberger, an assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross, shows the ways in which British poets in the decades following the English civil wars turned to Virgil’s Georgics to make sense of lingering political instability.

Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again

By Eric Topol ’79M (MD)

Basic Books, 2019

Topol, the Gary & Mary West Endowed Chair of Innovative Medicine at Scripps Research, argues for the promise of artificial intelligence to free physicians of routine tasks, allowing for improved doctor-patient relationships.

Theme and Variations: Musical Notes by a Neurologist

By Carl Ellenberger ’61

Sunacumen Press, 2018

Flutist and neurologist Ellenberger offers a glimpse into the working of music in the human brain that’s part guide, part memoir. Ellenberger is the founder of Gretna Music, a summer music festival held in central Pennsylvania for more than 40 years.

Father of the Bride of Frankenstein

By Daniel Kimmel ’77

Fantastic Books, 2019

Science fiction novelist and film critic Kimmel turns to humor, with an updated, reimagined Frankenstein story told from the viewpoint of the father of Frankenstein’s bride.

Great Moments in the History of Life

By George Shaw ’67

Springer, 2018

Shaw, a professor emeritus of geology at Union College, offers nonspecialists a primer on the history of Earth, leading up to humans and through many aspects of prehistoric times.

Mind Over Blubber: How to Use Your Mind to Lose Your Behind

By Sidney Friedman ’80E

Sidney Friedman, 2018

Mentalist Friedman suggests how mind power can aid in weight control.

Stepsister

By Jennifer Donnelly ’85

Scholastic Press, 2019

Donnelly’s latest young adult novel evokes the story of Cinderella, told from the point of view of stepsister Isabella—“a plain girl in a world that values beauty; a bold girl in a world that wants her to be pliant.”

Four Fools in the Age of Reason: Laughter, Cruelty, and Power in Early Modern Germany

By Dorinda Outram

University of Virginia Press, 2019

Outram, a professor emeritus of history at Rochester, explores the lives and political roles of court fools in Enlightenment Europe, with a focus on the German states.

Evolving Households: The Imprint of Technology on Life

By Jeremy Greenwood ’83 (PhD)

MIT Press, 2018

Greenwood explores the transformative effect of technology on households and culture, as seen from a macroeconomic perspective. A professor of economics at Rochester from 1992 to 2006, Greenwood now teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Introvert’s Complete Career Guide: From Landing a Job, to Surviving, Thriving, and Moving on Up

By Jane Finkle ’86W (Mas)

Career Press, 2019

Finkle offers tips for introverts on capitalizing on their unique strengths and acquiring just “a sprinkling of extroverted skills” to reach their career goals.

Joshua Jace: Minimum Wage Henchman Volume I

By Nicholas Brandt ’98

Reasonably Epic Productions, 2019

Brandt’s comic book introduces Joshua Jace, a recent college graduate recruited as an assistant at the “Villain Corporation.”

So You Want to Sing Chamber Music: A Guide for Performers

By Susan Hochmiller ’08E (DMA)

Rowman & Littlefield, 2019

Hochmiller, an assistant professor of voice at Gettysburg College’s Sunderman Conservatory, provides a guide to studying and performing vocal chamber music, with special emphasis on its pedagogical and collaborative value.

Don’t Hold Your Breath!

By Amanda Adams ’00S (MBA)

From the Heart Publishing, 2018

Adams’s poetry anthology explores “the four stages of relationships: Longing, Love, Loss, and Liberty.”

My!Key Moments

By Thomas Tiffany ’62

KDP, 2019

Tiffany’s children’s book tells the story of a boy who meets a critter who discusses with him “the many ‘whys’” in his life, related to interpersonal relations, health, family, and society.

Birding New England

By Randi Minetor ’88 (MA) and Nic Minetor

Falcon Guides, 2019

With text by Randi and photographs of more than 600 birds by her husband, Nic, the Minetors offer a guide to birding hotspots throughout New England. Randi Minetor has also published Hiking Waterfalls in New York (Second Edition), also by Falcon Guides; and Death in Acadia National Park (Down East Books), with real-life stories of fallen adventurers.

Obstruction of Justice: How the Deep State Risked National Security to Protect the Democrats

By Luke Rosiak ’09

Regnery, 2019

Rosiak, a reporter for the Daily Caller, argues that a computer administrator’s access of congressional data during the 2016 election resulted in a coverup by Congress and the Department of Justice to protect Democrats. The book includes a foreword by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The Essential College Admissions Handbook: Your Stress-Free Path to College Acceptances

By Lisa Guss and Shari Kramer ’87S (MBA)

Guss and Kramer, 2018

College consultants Guss and Kramer offer a step-by-step guide for college applicants. Kramer is a former admissions counselor at Tufts University and the owner of Kramer College Consulting in Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Musicianship: Improvising in Band and Orchestra

Coedited by David Stringham ’03E, ’11E (PhD)

GIA Publications, 2018

Stringham coedits a collection of lesson plans to help band and orchestra conductors make improvisation a mainstay of their classrooms. Stringham is an associate professor of music and director of the Center for Inclusive Music Engagement at James Madison University.

Hope for Challenged Airline Pilots: An Untold Success Story

By Ward Buckingham ’71M (Res)

Ward Buckingham, 2019

Buckingham tells the story of his father, an airman who suffered from alco-holism and became a leader in helping airlines to acknowledge a hidden prob-lem and develop effective assessment and treatment programs.

Recordings

Music in the American Wild

By the American Wild Ensemble

ArtistShare, 2018

The album includes 11 new com-missions by Eastman composers celebrating America’s national parks, written for the 2016 centennial of the National Park Service and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Wild Ensemble is codirected by Emlyn Johnson ’08E, ’15E (DMA) and Daniel Ketter ’10E, ’10RC, ’17E (DMA).

Sasami

By Sasami Ashworth ’12E

Domino Records, 2019

Los Angeles–based singer and songwriter Ashworth, known as Sasami, offers her debut solo album.

YAZZ Band

By Greg Yasinitsky ’95E (DMA)

YAZZ Recordings, 2018

Composer, arranger, and saxophonist Yasinitsky performs original, contemporary big-band numbers with musicians based largely in the Pacific Northwest.

American Harp

By Mario Falcao ’71E (MM)

Mark Records, 2018

Falcao, a professor emeritus of harp at State University of New York at Fredonia and a founding member of the World Harp Congress, performs late 20th- and 21st-century compositions by American composers.

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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 rochrev@rochester.edu.