Reviews and news on Princeton authors

A review of Robert Wright ’79’s new book, The Evolution of God, was featured on the cover of the June 18 New York Times Sunday Book Review. (Books by Christopher Beha ’02 and Michael Lewis ’82 were covered in the same issue.) [The New York Times]

With the release of a movie based on Jodi Picoult ’87’s My Sister’s Keeper, the author’s appeal is “weeping the nation.” [The Washington Post]

PBS host Bill Moyers interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin ’48 for a show that aired June 26 . [Bill Moyers Journal]

Tiger of the Week: Tora Harris ’02

Tora Harris ’02 started June 28 with a simple message on his Twitter feed: “Nice day for jumping.” Five hours later, the former Princeton high-jump star sent a follow-up that verified his first impression: “1st place! National champ again.” Harris had cleared the bar at 2.31 meters (7 feet, 7 inches) to win the high jump at the USA Track and Field National Championships in Eugene, Ore. Along with the national title, Harris earned a bid to the world championships in Berlin this August.

Harris showed remarkable talent at Princeton, winning seven Ivy Heps championships and sweeping the NCAA indoor and outdoor high jump titles as a senior. He has continued to excel after college, competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and winning national titles in 2006 (outdoor) and 2007 (indoor).

Harris told USA Track and Field that his latest win, in windy conditions, required making adjustments throughout the competition. He was one of four competitors to clear 2.28 meters (topping the mark on his third and final try), and he made the winning 2.31-meter jump on his second attempt. “I was just hanging in there and staying tough,” he said.

(Photo courtesy USA Track and Field)

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Thesis tackles gender bias in American theater

Do female playwrights have more difficulty getting their work produced, compared to their male counterparts? Economics student Emily Glassberg Sands ’09 took on this controversial and complex question in her senior thesis and revealed some surprising results.

Sands used an experimental survey to see if a script was better received when its author was a man. She sent identical scripts, written by prominent female playwrights, to artistic directors and theater managers, and labeled the works with different pen names -- Mary Walker vs. Michael Walker, for instance. Each recipient was asked to rate the script that he or she received.

Male playwrights received more favorable reviews, and Sands' data showed that women reviewers were responsible for the bias against women. Specifically, women reading plays by women assigned lower ratings on questions about whether the characters were likable and how likely it would be that the playwright would win a prize.

"It's not clear that it's pure, taste-based gender discrimination by the women," Sands explained in an interview with PAW. "It seems to be that the women have a heightened awareness of the barriers [female playwrights] face."

The relatively few women who are artistic directors and theater managers, Sands said, "are definitely the outsiders, and as outsiders, they are probably trying to make the safe bet. In general, the safe bet is usually a work by a man because historically, it's been more widely accepted in the theater community. ... Once I looked more into the literature, I realized that [the apparent bias is] not quite as much of an anomaly as it sounds."

Sands presented her findings to about 200 theater practitioners and industry experts in New York City June 22. Her work also received attention from media outlets, including The New York Times, National Public Radio, and Bloomberg.

Continue reading "'Opening the curtain'" »

Tiger of the Week: Mark Feuerstein ’93

Actor Mark Feuerstein ’93 has a reputation for playing nice guys on TV shows like Good Morning, Miami and The West Wing — TV Guide called him “the menschiest mensch who ever mensched” — and his latest role on USA Network’s Royal Pains is no exception. As Hank Lawson, a doctor who makes house calls to the super-rich in the Hamptons, Feuerstein again shows off his friendly, caring side. “I could hold out for the scary-villain part on Heroes,” the New York City native told TV Guide, “but in the long run it might not be as interesting as being the lead on a show set in a world that I know and love from growing up in New York, written by incredible writers and with incredible castmates.”

The decision seems to be paying off: In addition to earning mostly favorable reviews, Royal Pains has been a ratings hit, ranking second among cable series in its first month and drawing more than 5.5 million viewers each week.

Feuerstein’s acting career began at Princeton when he went to his first audition as a freshman. He soon drifted away from his dream of going to law school, and he earned a Fulbright scholarship to study drama in London after graduation. Most kids “grow up wanting to be a movie star and become a lawyer,” he said in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers. “I grew up wanting to be a lawyer and became an actor.”

(Photo courtesy USA Network)

Bonus: See Mark Feuerstein ’93’s yearbook photo in PAW’s online feature “The envelope, please.”

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.

Tiger of the Week: Roland Warren ’83

Children without involved fathers are more at risk to become teen parents, fail in school, or end up in jail. Roland Warren ’83, whose father was absent for much of his childhood, avoided those pitfalls. He excelled in school, earned degrees from Princeton and Wharton, embarked on a successful career in business and finance, and with his wife, Yvette, became a parent of two sons.

Since 2001, as president of the Maryland-based National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI), Warren has overseen a range of efforts designed to support fathers, including public education campaigns and curricula for building a dad's parenting skills. He also writes a monthly column for The Washington Times called Pop's Culture. With Fathers Day approaching, Warren is our Tiger of the Week.

The recent economic decline has put stress on parents who are trying to provide for their families, and Warren, in a recent column, preached resiliency. "[S]uccess in life and in fathering is less about how many times one falls," he wrote, "but rather, about how many times one gets back up."

Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW's Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.