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Seen Read Heard
Books
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Making American Autobiography: Photography in Emerson, Thoreau, Douglass and Whitman
Sean Ross Meehan examines the implications of early photography in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman. Meehan intertwines these writers’ reflections on photography with theories of photography as expounded by its inventors and observers, including Louis Daguerre, William Talbot, Oliver Wendell Homes and Marcus Root. The author is assistant professor of English at Morningside College. (University of Missouri Press, 2008)
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American Liberalism: An Interpretation for Our Time
Liberalism is often scorned by right and left alike, but in this book John McGowan offers a ringing endorsement of American liberalism’s basic principles, values and commitments. “He’s not interested in converting readers to liberalism,” writes Booklist, “but in ensuring that they understand its contributions to the very foundations of U.S. democracy.” McGowan is Ruel W. Tyson Jr. Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (University of North Carolina Press, 2007)
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Shades of Justice: A Memoir
From apolitical factory worker and aspiring artist to one of many leaders of the anti–Vietnam War movement in Buffalo, Paul Krehbiel takes the reader on a wild ride through the searing 1960s. In what is both a personal political history and a love story, Krehbiel expresses his outrage at the needless deaths, lies and contradictions of the war. Still, he finds himself torn between acting on his moral beliefs and struggling to save his closest personal relationship. A local coordinator for the national environmental organization Step it Up, Krehbiel resides in Pasadena, CA. (Autumn Leaf Press, 2008)
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China’s Sacred Sites
China’s Sacred Sites reveals how Chinese mountainscape culture merges architecture and nature, embodying the philosophical ideal of heaven, earth and man as one. Coauthors Nan Shunxun and Beverly Foit-Albert break new ground documenting more than 50 ancient, architectural and environmental sites, including temples, monasteries, pagodas and pavilions, bridges and covered walkways, caves, and cliffside and lakeshore dwellings. Richly illustrated with color photographs and architectural drawings, China’s Sacred Sites received the Gold Award in Home Garden & Natural Living from Nautilus Books and two gold awards, architecture and travel guide categories, from ForeWord Magazine. Foit-Albert is president and founder of Foit-Albert Associates. (Himalayan Institute Press, 2007)
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Remembering Sam: A Wartime Story of Love, Loss and Redemption
David Everitt had never really wanted to know much about his mother’s first husband, Sam Kramer, who had been killed in World War II. Yet at the time of his natural father’s death, he reads a letter of condolence from someone who knew both men and realizes that Sam had been more than a casualty of war. In fact, he was a great hero. The book takes readers back to the brutality and terror of the front lines, and the aftermath of war on its civilian survivors. Everitt is a former magazine editor and the author of A Shadow of Red, a widely praised 2007 book about communism and the blacklist in radio and television. He resides in Huntington, NY. (Ivan R. Dee, 2008)
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De-spamming Health: Reforming the Health System from the Bottom Up
James D. Felsen, a 40-year veteran of public health, has designed a plan for communities to successfully reform public health from the bottom up. By providing simple and inexpensive mechanisms that any community can use to get started, De-spamming Health offers a unique reform approach that will benefit communities nationwide. “This book is a ‘must read’ for anyone who is serious about changing the health-care system in America,” says John Nelson, past president of the American Medical Association. Felsen is former staff director of the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. (American Book Publishing, 2008)
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What Happened
In this young-adult novel Kirkus Reviews calls “compelling,” an unnamed 16-year-old boy recounts the events of a snowy winter evening when he and his brother, Kyle, are given a ride home by Duane, with tragic results. “The voice that Johnson has given this boy—also a poet—is breathtakingly good, each word conspiring with every other word to create an irresistibly seductive tone that is a haunting combination of sadness and fragile hope,” writes Booklist. Johnson teaches creative writing and children’s literature at Providence College. (Front Street, 2007)
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The Philosophy of Sex and Love: An Introduction
This introductory textbook in the philosophy of sex and love by one of the country’s best-known authors on the topic is completely revised from an earlier book. Most of the book focuses on how 20th-century thinkers in various intellectual traditions have conceived of sexuality and love. The book’s approach to this topic is analytic, historical and social. Soble taught at the University of New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina and is now teaching philosophy at Drexel University in Philadelphia. (Paragon House, 2008)
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One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson and the History of What We Owe
One Nation Under Debt explores the untold history of America’s first national debt, which arose from the immense sums needed to conduct the American Revolution. Robert E. Wright brings to life the key events that shaped the U.S. financial system and explains how the actions of our forefathers established the groundwork for the debt the nation still carries today. The author teaches financial history at New York University’s Stern School of Business and is a curator for the Museum of American Finance. (McGraw Hill, 2008)
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Discovering Patterns in Mathematics and Poetry
Marcia Birken and Anne C. Coon have been exploring the connections between mathematics and literature for more than 25 years. In this book, they begin with patterns we can see, hear and feel, and then move to more complex patterns. Ultimately, patterns for the mind lead to questions: How do mathematicians and poets conceive of proof, paradox and infinity? What role does analogy play in mathematical discovery and poetic expression? The coauthors are faculty members at the Rochester Institute of Technology. (Editions Rodopi, 2008)
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Best Practices in Biotechnology Education
Best Practices in Biotechnology Education is directed at faculty seeking to start or expand biotechnology education programs; policymakers and economic developers seeking to help meet workforce needs; and students, scientists and business professionals looking to enter the industry or upgrade their existing skills. Cases included describe a wide variety of programs from high school through doctoral programs, with a strong international representation as well. Yali Friedman lives in Washington, DC, and is managing editor of Journal of Commercial Biotechnology. (Logos Press, 2008)
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Best Practices in Biotechnology Business Development
This volume provides a framework for understanding critical issues in biotechnology business development. The best practices are from experts in a wide range of disciplines and cover such topics as valuation, licensing, cash flow, pharmacoeconomics, market selection, communication and intellectual property. (Logos Press, 2008)
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Fundamentals of Chinese Characters
Fundamentals of Chinese Characters focuses on the connections between the shapes and meanings of basic Chinese characters, enabling students to learn to recognize and write Chinese characters before they learn to speak the language. With interactive exercises, rhymes for all the characters covered in the book, plus illustrations for all the basic characters, this book makes learning Chinese characters easy and fun. John Jing-hua Yin is associate professor of Chinese and director of the Chinese Language Program at the University of Vermont. (Yale University Press, 2007)
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The Mind of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction
Combining practical advice with down-to-earth candor, award-winning novelist Lisa Lenard-Cook (Dissonance, Coyote Morning) shows would-be fiction writers how to capture readers from the first page and sustain this interest to the final page. Among the lessons are how to nurture ideas, develop nuanced characters and navigate the intricacies of the revision process. The author is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and is fiction columnist for Authorlink.com. (Writers Digest Books, 2008)
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The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability
This anthology explores the meaning of genuine environmental sustainability while profiling excellent campus environmental programs. The book offers guidance and inspiration to campus leaders and advocates who promote sustainability within institutions of higher education, and addresses fundamental questions. For example, is it possible for educational institutions to effectively reduce their sizable environmental footprints? Is the education community poised to create solutions to our most vexing environmental problems? Recently retired as UB’s energy officer, Simpson is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers’ Energy Managers Hall of Fame. (APPA, 2008)
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I Don’t Want to Be a Pirate—Writer, Maybe
I Don’t Want to Be a Pirate isn’t a critique of life on the seas, but rather Robert S. Swiatek’s tale of his journey as a writer. In chronicling his adventures with bookstores, agents, publishing companies, marketers and fellow writers, the author aims to give authors and aspiring writers insights into the publishing business while providing some laughs along the way. The title comes from a popular Seinfeld episode, but the author says it’s more evocative of the career paths we choose. “In many cases, we may study mathematics and wind up as social workers. That deviation may not be that bad, and the individual may even find a great deal of satisfaction in his alternate path.” (Aventine Press, 2008)
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Passport to Your National Parks Companion Guide
(Three titles: Southeast, North Atlantic, National Capital)
Collecting official park cancellation stamps has become a widespread phenomenon among visitors to the National Parks. These titles launch a series of regional Passport to Your National Parks Companion Guides that will help visitors locate and collect the estimated 1,500 unique cancellation stamps found throughout the National Park system. They also offer interpretive content to help collectors enjoy to the fullest each park they visit. Randi S. Minetor is an avid Passport stamp collector who lives in Rochester, NY. (Falcon Guides, 2008)
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Strategic Training: Putting Employees First
This book shows organizational decision makers and HR practitioners how to make quality employee training an integral part of the strategic planning process. Indeed, this is a way to ensure the competitiveness of the organization, argues Daniel M. Wentland. He introduces a methodology for developing this training based on the belief that every organization must deal with scarcity and constraints. A faculty member in the business administration and economics department at Holmes Community College, Wentland has published in leading referred journals and trade/practitioner periodicals. (HRD Press, 2006)
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Aerobics: Addition Facts Memorized Easily through Kinesthetics, Mnemonics, Calisthenics, Music, Visualizations, Fun, Rhythm, Rhyme and Repetition
Math Aerobics is research-based and has achieved impressive results in teaching addition facts mastery to children up to age 10. Music, kinesthetics, calisthenics, mnemonics, visualizations, fun, rhythm, rhyme and repetition are the winning strategies. An honored teacher who taught in elementary schools for 29 years, Joan M. Raymondo Costello is currently supervisor of student teachers at Canisius College. (JC Learning Associates, 2007)
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We All Have to Die
Given the inevitability of death, this book investigates the best and worst ways to die, and when and where and how people die. It asks if religion helps people live longer, and includes the author’s views of near-death experiences and what constitutes a good life, along with a discussion of the death penalty and speculation on what happens after death. An engineer for 20 years and a practicing attorney for 30 more, Gerald B. Cohen is the author of Credit, Savings and Bankruptcy, numerous engineering articles and a 2006 novel, The Best Fiction Comes from Religion. (PublishAmerica, 2008)
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Twice Exceptional Kids: A Guide for Assisting Students Who are Both Academically Gifted and Learning Disabled
Rosemary Callard-Szulgit provides a thorough explanation of the various special education needs that are hindering the identification, schooling and social successes of gifted children who have one or more diagnosed disabilities. “The format of the book is approachable, especially for parents,” writes James R. Delisle, distinguished professor of education at Kent State University. Callard-Szulgit is an adjunct professor at UB and runs her own education consulting business in Rochester, NY. (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2008)
Music
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Suite and Serious
Michael S. Horwood’s orchestral music is performed by Sinfonia Varsovia, Ian Hobson, conductor. Included are National Park Suite, commissioned by a consortium of six Canadian orchestras and depicting national parks in the U.S. and Canada. Intravariations for piano and orchestra features pianist and fellow UB graduate Joseph Kubera, BFA ’71. Other works include Horwood’s Symphony No. 1 and Amusement Park Suite, a sound portrait of one of the composer’s passions. “This is 80 minutes of terrific music by a composer of real personality and style,” says ClassicsToday.com. Associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, Horwood has created more than 70 original musical compositions in a great variety of vocal, instrumental and electroacoustic combinations. The Buffalo native lives in Cowley, Alberta, Canada. (Albany Records, 2007)
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Direct to the Public
Direct to the Public is Mark Mantel’s first CD of all original music, including settings of texts by Czeslaw Milosz, Samuel Beckett, Joseph Brodsky and Charles Bukowski. “Junk Bonds/Junked Bombs” is a work for six tapes and string sextet. Another, untitled, track is “an aural snapshot of the asymmetries of modern life.” Mantel’s music explores the creation and layering of dense musical materials derived from physical models, and text-driven and real-time live electronic elements, “found objects” and theater and theatrical elements. Now living in Milwaukee, WI, Mantel has written for dance, experimental theater, multimedia, cross-disciplinary collaboration and orchestra. (B61 MOD11 Records/dieforArt Productions, 2007)
Attention Alumni Authors
UB Today publishes notices on recent books and CDs by alumni. Send brief, factual descriptions of the book or CD, along with copies of the publisher's or producer's blurb and critical reviews, if desired. Include the full name of the publishing house or recording company, year of publication or production and the author's UB degree(s) and the year(s) received. Indicate where the author now lives and any current credentials that relate to the subject matter of the book, or the content of the CD.
To accompany each listing, camera-ready book jacket or CD cover art, or the book or CD itself, may be sent to UB Today, 330 Crofts Bldg., Buffalo, NY 14260, and will be returned if requested. High-resolution digital book cover art (scanned at 300 dpi) is preferred for the print edition and may be sent, along with a description of the book or CD, to whitcher@buffalo.edu. Preference is given to titles of wide general interest.
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