What we’re writing

Edited by Robert Cohen (BA ’76)

Out of the tumult of the ’60s civil rights era came the ringing voice of the late Mario Savio, then a 21-year-old student activist at the University of California at Berkeley, and a leader of the campus sitins and student blockades that drove the Bay Area’s Free Speech Movement. Cohen’s collection includes Savio’s most influential free-speech oratory as well as his lesser-known letters and previously unpublished speeches and correspondence about the Berkeley rebellion. (University of California Press, 2014)

Karen Swallow Prior (PhD ’99, MA ’92)

Once a household name in England, Hannah More was an 18th-century evangelical reformer and philanthropist with ideas ahead of her time; she worked to abolish slavery and to provide education to women and the poor. She also wrote poetry and plays, and held forth on a variety of moral and religious subjects. Prior’s biography helps illuminate the times in which More lived, making her achievements all the more remarkable. (Nelson Books, 2014)

Lance Fogan (MD ’65, BA ’64)

A medical mystery based on Fogan’s 40-plus-year career as a clinical neurologist, Dings traces a family’s journey as the parents try to understand why their third-grader is failing school. Eventually they uncover the cause of Conner’s puzzling “blank-outs” and are left wondering whether he can ever lead a normal life. (BookLocker.com, 2013)

Robert J. Smith (BA ’91)

Cat detective Gatsby and his right paw, Yoshi, return in Smith’s third “Petective” title. In this installment, a heat wave descends as an old nemesis attempts to steal all nine lives from Gatsby’s girlfriend, Molasses. Will Yoshi’s cooler head prevail, allowing the duo to shut down a gang of animal criminals? (Rose Grey Press, 2014)