Books & Recordings

Liszt and Virtuosity

Robert Doran, a professor of French and comparative literature at Rochester, edits a collection of essays originating from the 2017 conference at the Eastman School of Music “Liszt and Virtuosity—an International Symposium.” (University of Rochester Press)

Communist Pigs: An Animal History of East Germany’s Rise and Fall

Thomas Fleischman, an assistant professor of history at Rochester, showcases the central role of the pig in East Germany’s attempt to create and sustain a modern, industrial food system built on communist principles. Ultimately, he argues, the food system was a factor in the environmental and political collapse of the nation in the late 1980s. (University of Washington Press)

Should Secret Voting Be Mandatory?

James Johnson, a professor of political science at Rochester, and Susan Orr, a political scientist at SUNY Brockport, examine the rationale behind ballot secrecy, the growing threats to it, and the advantages to making voting, as well as voting in secret, mandatory. (Polity Press)

The Path to Paradise: Judith Schaechter’s Stained-Glass Art

Jessica Marten, curator of American art at the University’s Memorial Art Gallery, is editor and contributor to an exploration of the career of Schaechter, a Philadelphia-based artist celebrated for her fresh, 21st-century adaptations of a traditional, Gothic art form. The book is an accompaniment to the 2020 eponymous exhibit at the museum. (RIT / Memorial Art Gallery)

The Solitary Bees: Biology, Evolution, Conservation

Robert Minckley, a senior lecturer in biology at Rochester, coauthors a comprehensive reference on solitary bees. Winner of a PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers, the book explores the essential role of solitary bees as crop pollinators, and the environmental threats they face. (Princeton University Press)

Campaign Finance and American Democracy: What the Public Really Thinks and Why It Matters

David Primo, the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor of Political Science and Business Administration at Rochester, and Jeffrey Milyo, a University of Missouri economist, offer empirical evidence to contest an oft-repeated claim that campaign finance reform will increase Americans’ faith in the electoral process and democratic government. (University of Chicago Press)

Abusive Policies: How the American Child Welfare System Lost Its Way

Mical Raz, the Charles E. and Dale L. Phelps Professor in Public Policy and Health at Rochester, examines the trajectory of policies against child abuse in the United States from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Amid rising attention to abuse, Raz argues that new policies reflected a moral panic, rooted in white and middle-class biases, and at odds with available data. (University of North Carolina Press)

To Describe a Life: Notes from the Intersection of Art and Race Terror

Darby English ’02 (PhD), the Carl Darling Buck Professor of Art History and the director of the Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago, assesses works by Black artists created in response to American police violence against Black men and women during the 2010s. The book—a detailed exploration of works by central figures in contemporary African American art, including Kerry James Marshall, William Pope.L, and Zoe Leonard—was awarded the 2020 Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism from the College Art Association. (Yale University Press)

Race to the Bottom: How Racial Appeals Work in American Politics

LaFleur Stephens-Dougan ’02, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton, demonstrates with empirical data the ways in which candidates across the racial and political spectrum invoke negative racial stereotypes to appeal to the majority of white voters. (University of Chicago Press)

AI and Humanity

Jennifer Keating ’02, a senior lecturer and writing-in-the-disciplines specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, and Illah Reza Nourbakhsh, who teaches computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon, examine the historical development and social impact of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The book, developed as a textbook for an interdisciplinary course, includes discussion questions, exercises, and reading lists, and is accompanied by a companion website including video interviews with scientists, sociologists, literary theorists, and others. (MIT Press)

Hope and Scorn: Eggheads, Experts, and Elites in American Politics

Michael Brown ’14 (PhD), an assistant professor of history at Rochester Institute of Technology, explores the place of intellectuals in American politics from the Eisenhower era to the present. (University of Chicago Press)

Uncontrollable Blackness: African American Men and Criminality in Jim Crow New York

Douglas Flowe ’14 (PhD), an assistant professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, draws on prison and arrest records, trial transcripts, letters, and other sources to explore the meaning of crime and violence in the lives of men “whose lawful conduct itself was often surveilled and criminalized.” (University of North Carolina Press)

Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis

Jeffrey Jackson ’99 (PhD), a professor of history at Rhodes College, documents the “artistic acts of psychological warfare” carried out by French artists Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe during the German occupation of France. (Algonquin)

The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era

Mary Henold ’03 (PhD), the John R. Turbyfill Professor of History at Roanoke College, explores the public and private writings of hundreds of Catholic laywomen during the era of Vatican II in the 1960s. While some chose feminism and others did not, most of the women, Henold argues, crafted a middle position in favor of evolving roles for women as a necessary part of the church’s adaptation to the modern world. (University of North Carolina Press)

Provocative Mothers and Precocious Daughters: 19th Century Women’s Rights Leaders

Suzanne Gehring Schnittman ’87 (PhD) showcases the feminist family dynamics at play in the relationships between four women’s rights activists—Martha Wright, Abby Kelley Foster, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone—and their daughters. (Atlantic Publishing Group)

Mississippi River: Headwaters and Heartland to Delta and Gulf

Photographer David Freese ’68 presents the final work in a trilogy on North American waters in an era of climate change. The book includes text by author and journalist Simon Winchester and a foreword by Sarah Kennel, curator of photography at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. (George F. Thompson)

Writing Programs, Veterans Studies, and the Post–9/11 University: A Field Guide

Alexis Hart ’93, a Navy veteran and associate professor and the director of writing in the English department at Allegheny College, contributes to the emerging field of veteran studies with a guide to engagement with veterans in college writing classrooms, where student disclosure is often part of coursework. (National Council of Teachers of English)

What Can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law? (Second Edition)

Randall Abate ’86, a professor and endowed chair in marine and environmental law and policy at Monmouth University, adds twelve new chapters in the second edition of the text examining intersections between animal and environmental law. New chapters explore food policy, responses to climate change, and other environmental measures that can be harnessed to protect animals. (Environmental Law Institute Press)

Thinking Critically About Abortion: Why Most Abortions Aren’t Wrong & Why All Abortions Should Be Legal

Coauthor Nathan Nobis ’05 (PhD), an associate professor of philosophy at Morehouse College, presents moral and legal arguments for abortion rights. (Open Philosophy Press)

Supporting Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era

Foundations, Research, and Assessment of Fraternities and Sororities

Pietro Sasso ’08W (MS), an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Mónica Miranda, the director of the Center for Student Involvement at the University of South Florida in Tampa and a Warner School PhD candidate, coedit two textbooks in the publisher’s new book series, Culture and Society in Higher Education. (Myers Education Press)

Lessons Learned: A Memoir of Leadership Development

Jeffrey Raffel ’66 reflects on his experiences in academia, government, and nonprofit organizations, including as president of NASPAA (the international organization of academic leaders in public policy and administration); and the founding director of the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. Raffel includes reflections on his time at Rochester, and on overcoming the academic-practitioner gap in teaching, research, and public service. (NASPAA)

Developing the Next Generation of Library Leaders

Lori Birrell ’17W (EdD), the associate dean for special collections at the University of Arkansas and a former manuscript librarian in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation at Rochester, examines how the library profession can prepare new leaders for the challenges of the changing academic library. The book includes a foreword by Mary Ann Mavrinac, the vice provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of the University of Rochester Libraries. (Association of College and Research Libraries)

I’m Fine: A Student Perspective on Suicide and Mental Health on College Campuses

Emily Kumpf ’19 combines personal experience, her work at McLean Hospital (a psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School), and research and interviews with leaders in psychology, in a book she began writing during her senior year at Rochester. Kumpf is a postbaccalaureate clinical fellow in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at McLean Hospital. (New Degree Press)

The Rise of the South in American Thought and Education: The Rockefeller Years (1902–1917) and Beyond

John Heffron ’89 (PhD), a professor of educational history and culture at Soka University of America, explores the impact of southern values and institutions on an educational reform movement in which private philanthropy played a key role. (Peter Lang)

Absolution

In the third book in his Father Jake Austin series, John Vanek ’74M (MD) shows his protagonist at a crossroads: Father Jake Austin must decide whether to turn his back on his biological father, the man who deserted him as a child, or to turn the other cheek and save him from a vengeful drug lord, risking his own life and the lives of those he loves. (Coffeetown Press)

Prudent Rebels: Bermudians and the First Age of Revolution

Alexandra Mairs-Kessler ’11 (MA) and her coauthors explore the role and response of Bermudians during the Age of Revolution (1774–1849) that transformed the Atlantic World through the founding of the United States, the Haitian Revolution, and the abolition of slavery in Bermuda. The book is published in partnership with the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs of the Government of Bermuda. (National Museum of Bermuda Press)

Therapy Dogs in Action: Their Stories of Service and Love

Patricia Wheeler ’62, ’65W (EdM) presents stories of therapy dogs at work, “as told to Patricia by her dogs, Lawrence, Albert, Maddie, and Wylie.” A therapy dog handler since 2002, Wheeler is also the author of Successful Tails: The Wonders of Therapy Dogs. (Russian Hill Press)

A Natural Mistake: Why Natural, Organic, and Botanical Products Are Not as Safe as You Think

James MacGregor ’71M (PhD), a product safety consultant, offers advice to consumers on health products and calls for uniform safety standards for dietary constituents, pharmaceuticals, and botanical supplements. (Self-published)

The Addison Collection

John Newton ’72, a retired patent specialist at Eastman Kodak Research Labs, presents a compilation of stories and other short works, each offering thoughts, observations, or brief treatises on the United States. (Resource Publications)

Everyone Dies Famous

In his third novel, Len Joy ’73, ’74S (MBA) tells the story of a small Missouri town and the everyday lives of its people amid the backdrop of a series of natural disasters. (BQB Publishing)

Towers of Aging

In his fourth book of poetry, Joseph Amato ’70 (PhD), a professor emeritus of Southwest Minnesota State University, reflects on aging. (Crossing Press)

Expatriation: A Corporate Wife in Italy and Mexico

Jenny Lloyd ’92 (PhD) offers a memoir of her daily expatriate life as the wife of a corporate executive and teacher in international schools in the 1970s. She is an associate professor emerita of history at the College at Brockport and a former director of Brockport’s women and gender studies program. (Self-published)

Tout Seul?

Rosemary Shojaie ’10 writes and illustrates her first picture book, in French. An English version—The Snow Fox—was published by Starfish Bay Publishing in December 2020. (Didier Jeunesse)

Galápagos Birds: A Photographic Voyage

In a book of 54 photographs, Mathew Tekulsky ’75 showcases red-footed and blue-footed boobies, a swallow-tailed gull, waved albatross, and many other birds unique to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. (Goff Books)

A Store Near Me: The Online Presence that Outranks, Outshines and Outlasts the Competition

Keegan Edwards ’11, the president and CEO of New Media Retailer, a digital marketing company for independent retailers, provides retailers with strategies for creating an online presence. (BookBaby)

A Practical Guide to Becoming a Composer: A Wealth of Advice, Tips, Strategies, and Examples

Music educator Arthur Michaels ’70E offers a how-to guide for students embarking on a composing career. (Self-published)

Leave No One Behind: Guidelines for Project Planners and Practitioners

The concept of “leave no one behind” is a guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. James Bennett ’75 draws on 11 case studies in four world regions to illustrate how LNOB is being put into practice. (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)

Remote Sensing Principles, Interpretation, and Application (Fourth Edition)

James Ellis ’70 and his coauthor present a new fourth edition of the college-level textbook that includes a discussion of the growing and permeating use of technologies such as drones and Lidar, as well as the scientific and societal impacts of remote sensing. Ellis is the founder and principal of Ellis GeoSpatial. (Waveland Press)

Mostly on Sunday

Sarah Johnston ’67 (PhD) presents a novel, set in the Allegheny Mountain and Susquehanna River regions of Pennsylvania, telling the story of Lila, a beekeeper, and Violet, a musician, capturing “the enduring relationship of two women born long before iPhones and Google replaced imagination instinct, and tea leaf readers.” (Covenant Books)

Your Sherpa: Your Parental Guide to Financial Literacy

Jeffrey Tyburski ’87, ’98S (MBA) offers a financial literacy handbook for parents seeking to teach their young adult children money management skills. Tyburski is the founder of the financial literacy service Your Sherpa. (Authors Place Press)

The File: Origins of the Munich Massacre

Working with Israeli, Palestinian, and Olympic stakeholders, Ghassan Haddad ’97 sheds light on some of the darkest events in sports history based on previously unavailable archives. Haddad is a visiting instructor of business management at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Post Hill Press)

Rise Again: The Story of the Mary Ellen Carter

Jim Cain ’96 (PhD) presents a novel based on the song “The Mary Ellen Carter” by Canadian folk music legend Stan Rogers. (Self-published)

Pictures, Pop Bottles and Pills: Kodak Electronics Technology That Made a Better World But Didn’t Save the Day (Second Edition)

K. Bradley Paxton ’71 (PhD) offers a new edition exploring Kodak’s transformation through 2019 and including information declassified since the publication of the first edition of the book in 2013. Paxton, retired from a 30-plus-year career at Kodak, is founder of Advanced Document Imaging. (Fossil Press)

Nine Men’s Morris Book of Board Game Strategy

John Mamoun ’04D (Pdc) presents a comprehensive overview of the strategies of the game, verified using modern computer analysis. One of few explorations on the strategy of a board game that has been played for more than 2,000 years, it is designed to aid in expert-level understanding of the game. (Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing)

Drunk on Sunday

In his first novel, Ross Warner ’93 introduces the protagonist Rob Gross, “a pop culture junkie whose life had been long guided by his obsessions for the Grateful Dead, Animal House, Godfather II, and the San Diego Chargers.” (No Frills Buffalo)

Barry Baskerville’s Christmas Mystery

Richard Kellogg ’70W (EdD) presents a holiday edition to his series. Boy detective Barry Baskerville seeks to find out who is stealing Christmas trees from Watsonville’s lawns. (Airship 27)

Constitution II: A New Beginning

Allen Brown ’53, a retired Air Force avionics engineer and author of several books, posits the need for a new Constitution to incorporate the impact of new technology on governing. (Exlibris US)

Re: manhattan project

Jazz composer and guitarist Denin Koch ’20E (MM) offers a musical reflection on growing up in Richland, Washington, where nuclear weapons dominated the economy and loomed over everyday life. (Denin Koch)

The Natural Order of Things

Drummer and composer Ted Moore ’73E, pianist Phil Markowitz ’74E (piano), and bassist Kai Eckhardt perform works by Moore. The recording is Moore’s first as leader of the Ted Moore Trio. (Origin Records)

Dialogues on Race

Bassist, composer, and arranger Gregg August ’87E explores race relations through instrumentals and vocal pieces inspired by the works of poet Langston Hughes. (Iacuessa Records)

Thank You

Los Angeles-based jazz trumpeter Mike Cottone ’07E offers a mix of jazz, funk, and fusion. (Self-released)

Cast of Characters

Jazz trombonist and composer Nick Finzer ’09E explores the nature of influence on his third recording with his sextet, which includes bassist Dave Baron ’10E. (Outside in Music)

Love of Life

Chesley Kahmann ’52 presents her 16th recording and the 13th volume in the Kahmann Touch series with her longtime singing group, the Interludes. (Orbiting Clef Productions)

Job’s Trials: A Jazz Song Cycle

Composer and bassist Dan Loomis ’04E (MM) presents music based on the Book of Job and narrated by Broadway actor Daniel Breaker. Jared Schonig ’05E performs on drums. (Self-released)

An & En

Alt-folk band Anima & Ennui, founded by songwriter and guitarist Joe Ricci ’14, presents a debut album. (Soulpod Collective)

Into the Shadows

Trombonist John Fedchock ’85E (MM) performs on his 10th album, along with his sextet that includes tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf ’80E and bassist David Finck ’80E. (Summit Records)

Sound & Resound

Lisa Albrecht ’86E, a trombonist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, performs solo and ensemble works, joined by organist Amanda Mole ’09E and fellow members of the Hohenfels Trombone Quartet Heather Buchman ’87E, Ben Aronson ’08E, ’15E (DMA), and Matthew Halbert ’12E (MM). (Barkeater Music)

Giantess

Flutist Jennie Oh Brown ’97E (DMA) presents works by Carter Pann ’94E. Kate Carter ’05E (MM) also performs. (Innova Recordings)

Songs and Dances for Solo Flute

Linda Chatterton ’90E performs works for solo flute spanning four centuries. (Proper Canary)

The Scrapper

“The Scrapper”—aka jazz trumpeter and composer John Sneider ’91E—returns with his first recording as a quintet leader in 20 years. (Cellar Records)

The Enlightened Trumpet

Paul Merkelo ’91E, principal trumpet with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, performs as soloist with the Oxford (England) Philharmonic Orchestra. (Sony Classical)

The Four Seasons

Composer Robert Paterson ’95E presents a series of song cycles corresponding to the four seasons and set to the poems of Ann Stanford, Wallace Stevens, and others. Each cycle features a different voice type. (American Modern Recordings)

Looking for Dayton

Valery Perry ’92 produces and directs the documentary film examining the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995, with a focus on the people affected by the agreement. The film premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in August. Perry has been living and working in Bosnia and Herzegovina for more than 20 years and is an independent policy consultant.

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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.