Books & Recordings

Objects of Vision: Making Sense of What We See

Joan Saab shows how seeing, over centuries, became “the foundation for knowing (or at least for what we think we know).” Through case studies of hoaxes, miracles, spirit paintings, manipulated photographs, and holograms, she demonstrates “that what we see and how we see it are often historically situated and culturally constructed.” Saab is the Susan B. Anthony Professor of Art History and vice provost of academic affairs at Rochester. (Penn State University Press)

Navigating Life and Work in Old Republic São Paulo

Molly Ball, a lecturer in Rochester’s Department of History, shows how members of São Paulo’s racially and ethnically diverse working classes adapted to urbanization, discrimination, migration, and the disruptions of World War I during Brazil’s Old Republic (1891–1930). (University Press of Florida)

The Lyric Now

In a follow-up to his 2018 book, How Poems Get Made (W.W. Norton), James Longenbach, the Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of English at Rochester, examines 13 lyric poets and musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries. In exploring their efforts to create innovative poetry, Longenbach returns to his underlying thesis that lyric poetry is always concerned with the present moment in which the poem is read. (University of Chicago Press)

Relentless: The Forensics of Mobsters’ Business Practices

Jerold Zimmerman and Daniel Forrester ’99S (MBA) explore the business practices of enduring crime syndicates such as the American Mafia, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Hells Angels, and what business and nonprofit leaders can learn from them to build stronger and more robust companies. Zimmerman is professor emeritus at the Simon Business School and Forrester is the founder of the business consultancy Thruue. (Willowcroft Publishing)

Coming of Age in the Baby Boom: A Memoir of Personal Development, Social Action, Education Reform and Adirondack Preservation

Howard Kirschenbaum recounts his coming of age as “a white, middle-class, privileged youth embodying the contradictions of growing up in post-War America.” Kirschenbaum is a professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Development at the Warner School. (Independently published)

Brain Inflamed: Uncovering the Hidden Causes of Anxiety, Depression, and Other Mood Disorders in Adolescents and Teens

Integrative family physician Kenneth Bock ’79M (MD) examines the role of the immune system and the microbiome in mental health, presenting evidence that “many of the mental disorders most common among this [teenagers] (including depression, anxiety, and OCD) may share the same underlying mechanism: systemic inflammation.” (HarperCollins)

The Trinity of Grace

Joseph Amato ’70 (PhD) presents his fifth collection of poetry, part of “a continuing studying of aging, registering my standing interest in everyday life and mind, anthropology, philosophy, and religion.” (Legas)

And So, He Did: A Children’s Book for Adults . . . And Children . . . About Following Your Mind’s Glow

Andrew Scala ’11 tells a story of hope and determination about a boy who chose to follow his "mind's glow"—the path to his dreams—and where that choice took him. Scala works with special education students in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The book is dedicated to his 2018–19 5th grade students and features the illustrations of an 11-year-old former student. (Self-published)

Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent

Science journalist and medical ethicist Harriet Washington ’76 tells the story of an obscure legal loophole, enacted in 1996, that has led to the performance of medical experiments on thousands of trauma victims, without their knowledge. Washington is also the author of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, which won the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. (Columbia Global Reports)

Graphic Migrations: Precarity and Gender in India and the Diaspora

Kavita Daiya ’95 explores refugee stories from the post-1947 Partition era, and the ways in which elements of popular culture such as literature, Bollywood films, advertising, and print culture “memorialize or erase refugee experiences.” Daiya is the director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program and an associate professor of English at George Washington University. (Temple University Press)

First and Only: A Black Woman’s Guide to Thriving at Work and in Life

Jennifer Farmer ’99 offers a leadership guide for Black women, addressing the unique challenges Black women face as they navigate career paths in which they are often “the first and only.” Farmer is the founder of Spotlight PR, a firm specializing in strategy and training for leaders and groups advancing social and racial justice, as well as a member of the University’s Board of Trustees’ Diversity Advisory Council. The book includes a foreword by Nina Turner, national cochair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign and a Democratic congressional candidate in Ohio’s 11th District. (Broadleaf Books)

Comme on s’aime

Rosemary Shojaie ’10 is illustrator of the picture book about a young girl’s relationship with her teddy bear. The story, by Marie-Sabine Roger, is published in French. (Didier Jeunesse)

Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit

Mary-Frances Winters ’82S (MBA) investigates growing evidence for the impact of systemic racism on the physical and mental health of Black Americans. Winters is president and CEO of the Winters Group, a global diversity and inclusion consultancy, and a University life trustee. (Berrett-Koehler)

The Way Out

In a science fiction novel, Gordon Jensen ’79S (MBA) relays the unanticipated adventures of a crew that sets out to explore the closest planet to Earth with potential to sustain human life. (Highsmith Creative Services)

Ghost Years: Recollections of an American Student in 1990s China

Emily Hackett ’94, ’95 (T5), a software engineer in Portland, Oregon, recalls the year she spent as a master’s degree student at the renowned Tsinghua University. In 1995, Hackett was granted funding from the National Science Foundation and organizational support from her professors in the Department of Mechanical Engineering for the program, which afforded her an experience that was largely closed to outsiders. (Independently published)

Decoding Persistent Depression: Book Three – Strategies and Tactics

In the third book of a series, Roger Di Pietro ’04M (Pdc), a clinical psychologist in private practice, examines the psychological reasons why long-term depression can rise and remain. The book is geared toward graduate students and professionals who treat patients with depression. (Di Pietro)

Gender, Tenure, and the Pursuit of Work-Life-Family Stability

Kristen Willmott ’13W (PhD) offers the perspectives of nine female tenured faculty members on their quest to balance their personal and professional lives, as well as four administrators charged with faculty diversity. The book, part of the publisher’s Work-Life Balance series, is intended for tenure-track faculty members, their departments and families, and leaders in higher education. (Information Age Publishing)

Building the Body of Christ: Christian Art, Identity, and Community in Late Antique Italy

Art historian Daniel Cochran ’08 argues for the important role of Christian visual art in the processes of religious and social change that shaped early medieval Italy. Cochran earned a PhD in art history from the University of Wisconsin¬–Madison in 2018. (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic)

Imagine the Glacier

Matthew Burns ’01 presents his first collection of poems. Burns is an associate professor of humanities at SUNY Cobleskill, teaching creative writing and literature. (Finishing Line Press)

The Summer Breeze

In her first novel, Shail Rajan ’92 tells the story of Callie Williams, a successful but tired Manhattanite whose “journey of self-discovery brings her to a beautiful, lakeside town, a new business venture, a major home renovation, and a rough-around-the-edges construction worker.” (Shail Rajan)

The Gaming Overload Workbook: A Teen's Guide to Balancing Screen Time, Video Games, and Real Life

Randy Kulman ’77, child clinical psychologist and the founder and president of LearningWorks for Kids, offers a guide for teens, parents, and childcare professionals on the healthy use of screen-based technologies for 21st-century teenagers. (New Harbinger Publications)

Constructing the Spanish Empire in Havana: State Slavery in Defense and Development, 1762-1835

Evelyn Jennings ’01 (PhD) examines the political economy of slavery in Spanish imperial Cuba in the period following the British Siege of Havana. In showing how the use of state-owned slaves enabled the island to transition from an economy based on imperial service to a plantation economy, she demonstrates the extensive role of forced labor in the Spanish empire and in capitalist development in the Atlantic World. Jennings is the Margaret Vilas Professor of Latin American History at St. Lawrence University. (Louisiana State University Press)

The Hidden Habits of Genius Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit—Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness

Craig Wright ’66E, the Henry L. and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Music Emeritus at Yale University, explores the meaning of “genius,” and what can be learned from transformative individuals ranging from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk. (HarperCollins)

Three Ways of Looking at an Elephant

Dale Peterson ’67 brings together a collection of 33 historical, scientific, and cultural writings on the elephant. A prolific science and nature writer whose books have earned Best Book of the Year designations from the Boston Globe, the Economist, and other major outlets, Peterson also teaches in the English department at Tufts University. (Trinity University Press)

Longevity

Robbin Dick ’88M (Res) presents his first novel, a thriller about a young graduate on assignment in the Amazon rainforest for a medical research company. Dick, who completed a residency at the Medical Center in internal medicine, is a consultant in observation medicine and hospital capacity management. (Dorrance)

Disability Law and Policy

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Peter Blanck ’79, University Professor and chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, provides an overview of themes and insights in disability law. (Foundation Press)

On the Road Less Traveled

In a memoir, Ed Hajim ’58 chairman emeritus of the University’s Board of Trustees and chairman of the Boston-based money management company High Vista, recounts his life from orphanhood to the University to success in the world of finance. (Skyhorse)

Images from A Life on the Road

Bassist Tony Levin ’68E of the Stick Men and King Crimson presents a coffee-table-sized book of photographs he has taken during his years on tour with numerous jazz and rock groups and performers. The book includes images of Peter Gabriel, Sting, Peter Frampton, Steve Gadd ’68E, Chuck Mangione ’63E, and many others, as well as scenes from their travels, all accompanied by text that tells the stories behind some of the images. (Independently published)

iCAN Succeed Handbook

Burton Nadler presents lessons to help college and high school students find meaningful internship, career, admissions, and networking opportunities. Nadler retired from the University in 2018 after serving as assistant dean and director of the Greene Center for Career Education and Connections in Arts, Sciences & Engineering. The book “is dedicated to students, alumni, and colleagues who taught me much of what is contained within its pages.” (Page Publishing)

Americana: A Photographic Journey

Mathew Tekulsky ’75 offers his photographic depiction of American life and landscapes through more than 80 images taken “from sea to shining sea, from Yankee Stadium to Yosemite National Park.” (Goff Books)

Creative Strategies in Film Scoring

Composer Ben Newhouse ’98E introduces a framework for film scoring that enables composers and filmmakers to make decisions about music systematically and methodically. The book includes case studies that apply the framework to previously unscored scenes. (Berklee Press / Hal Leonard)

Seeing Mad: Essays on Mad Magazine’s Humor and Legacy

John Bird ’86 (PhD) coedits an illustrated volume of scholarly essays on the iconic magazine of satire that launched in 1952 and reached a peak in circulation and influence in the early 1970s. Bird, a professor emeritus of English at Winthrop University, is an expert on Mark Twain and was a reader of Mad from the age of 10. (University of Missouri Press)

Elusive Equity, Empathy and Empowerment: One Woman’s Journey through the Challenges of Gender Bias in the Twenty-First Century

Elizabeth Edwardsen ’86M (MD), ’89M (Res) Edwardsen, who retired in 2017, as an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Medical Center, shares her story of gender bias in the field. (Rushmore Press)

The Outside of a Horse: My Life On, Off, and Around Horses

Steven Price ’62 tells the story of his seven decades as an equestrian and a spectator of the sport. Highlights include tales of foxhunting in Ireland and Virginia, cross-country riding in Spain and France, dude ranching in Wyoming, “real” ranching in Montana, and a show-jumping class in New Jersey. Price is the author, editor, collaborator, or compiler of more than 40 books, including many on horse-related topics. (Ashmere Books)

A Lad’s Love

In his solo debut, tenor Brian Giebler ’10E performs a collection of English songs, primarily from the early 20th century, that explore love and loss among gay men. The work earned Giebler a Grammy nomination in the Best Classical Solo Vocal [might need update]. (Bridge Records)

Our Highway

The jazz quintet Cowboys & Frenchmen presents a video album recorded live at SubCulture in New York City early in 2020 and juxtaposing high-definition footage of the band onstage with footage taken during a cross-country tour. The quintet includes cofounders Ethan Helm ’12E and Owen Broder ’12E on saxophone and Matthew Honor ’12E on drums. (Outside In Music)

Danzón

The Emerald Brass Quintet presents its debut album. The quintet is composed of Thomas (T.J.) Ricer ’10E (DMA) on tuba; Brett Long ’13E (DMA) and Max Matzen ’11E (DMA) on trumpet; Leslie Beebe Hart ’11E (DMA) on horn; and Christopher Van Hof ’08E (MM) on trombone. Van Hof is also the arranger for the ensemble. (Albany Records)

Trailblazers: The Untold Stories of Six Women Engineers

Laura Ettinger ’99 (PhD), an associate professor of history at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, produced the short documentary film along with a related collection of educational videos. Ettinger, principal investigator on the National Science Foundation grant which supported the project, interviewed 47 women engineers who graduated from college in the 1970s, in the process of making the film.