Princeton Alumni Weekly | The Weekly Blog: Princeton Authors Archives

February 14, 2013

Taylor '70 explores affirmative action

Stuart Taylor ’70 (Photo: Richard Bloom)

New book: Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’s Intended to Help, And Why Universities Won’t Admit It, by Stuart Taylor Jr. ’70 and Richard H. Sander (Basic Books)

The authors: A journalist, Taylor is a contributing editor for National Journal and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He also has taught at Stanford Law School and is the coauthor of Until Proven Innocent. Sander is a law professor and economist at UCLA.

The book: Racial admissions preferences often undermine the very people they are supposed to help, argue the authors. Many recipients are “mismatched,” meaning they end up in institutions where they are not as prepared academically as their peers and their learning and self-confidence can suffer. In the worst case, mismatched students – who would have done well at schools better suited for them — drop out. The authors don’t believe racial preferences should be banned completely; they offer suggestions on reforms, including fully disclosing preferential admissions policies and outcomes.

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February 7, 2013

Scranton GS edits collection of war fiction

Roy Scranton GS (Photo Courtesy: Da Capo Press)

New book: Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War, edited by Roy Scranton GS and Matt Gallagher (Da Capo Press)

The authors: An Iraq veteran, Scranton was an artilleryman in the Army from 2002-2006 and is earning a doctorate in English at Princeton. His fiction, poetry, and essays have been published in Boston Review, The Massachusetts Review, New Letters, and The New York Times. A former Army captain who served in Iraq, Gallagher is a senior fellow at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

The book: This anthology of war stories — written by veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — includes pieces by an artilleryman, public affairs Marines, a military lawyer, staff officers, a medic, an Army Ranger, and a military spouse. “Redeployment” by Phil Klay explores the challenges faced by a Marine returning home; Andrew Slater, a former Green Beret, writes about a soldier with a traumatic brain injury; and Roy Scranton’s “Red Steel India” (from his novel War Porn) portrays soldiers in charge of guarding a gate in Iraq.

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February 1, 2013

Saguy *00 argues against our obsession with weight

Abigail C. Saguy *00 (Photo: Courtesy Abigail C. Saguy *00)

New book: What’s Wrong With Fat? By Abigail C. Saguy *00 (Oxford University Press)

The author: An associate professor of sociology and of gender studies at UCLA, Saguy earned her doctorate in sociology at Princeton. She also is the author of What Is Sexual Harassment? From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne.

The book: Our society is obsessed with fat – and we are told by experts that there is an obesity epidemic. Saguy “examines the social implications of understanding fatness as a medical health risk, disease, and public health crisis,” she writes, and the implications of understanding fat, instead, as beautiful and healthy. She argues that an obsession with obesity can do more harm than good by leading to bullying and discrimination. In an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times, she wrote, “fear and loathing of fat are real, and American attitudes about fat may be more dangerous to public health than obesity itself.”

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January 24, 2013

Foulke '52 compiles travel guide to New England

Patricia and Robert Foulke ’52 (Photo: Courtesy Robert Foulke ’52)

New book: A Visitor’s Guide to Colonial and Revolutionary New England, Second Edition, by Patricia and Robert Foulke ’52 (Countryman Press)

The authors: For nearly 60 years, Robert and his wife, Patricia, have been traveling, writing, and teaching. They have written 15 travel guides and many travel articles, which often focus on history, culture, voyaging, or skiing. The Foulkes live in Lake George, N.Y.

The book: This guide is geared for travelers who want not only to find good places to lodge and interesting sites to explore, but also to learn the history behind the places they visit. The book, which covers Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, explores colonial and Revolutionary sites, forts, churches, inns, houses, and museums. The introduction to each state describes its founding and development; the authors also discuss the social and cultural history of everyday life, such as architecture, religious practices, and customs.

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January 17, 2013

Georgescu '61 reflects on evil

Peter Georgescu ’61 (Photo: Courtesy Peter Georgescu ’61)

New book: The Constant Choice: An Everyday Journey From Evil Toward Good, by Peter Georgescu ’61 with David Dorsey (Greenleaf Book Group Press)

The author: Chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam, a network of commercial communications companies, Georgescu was elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001. He also is the author of The Source of Success.

The book: Imprisoned in a Romanian labor camp as a child and separated from his parents for eight years, Georgescu reflects on the nature of evil and goodness, his understanding of God, and other philosophical and spiritual questions. He recounts his own journey — the horrors he experienced in Romania, his emigration to the United States at the age 15 knowing almost no English, and eventually becoming CEO of Young & Rubicam. He explores how individuals can make daily choices that lead to good. “Evil is woven into our past, as a species, but it doesn’t need to be a part of our future,” he writes.

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January 10, 2013

Pettit '72 profiles New Mexican artists

Michael Pettit ’72 (Photo: Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Press)

New book: Artists of New Mexico Traditions: The National Heritage Fellows, By Michael Pettit ’72 (Museum of New Mexico Press)

The author: Pettit, who lives in Santa Fe, is a poet and National Endowments for the Arts Fellow. Among his books is Cowden Ranch, Riding for the Brand: 150 Years of Cowden Ranching, a history of his family’s ranch. He produced a documentary video — Living Traditions: Folk Art of New Mexico — as a companion to Artists of New Mexico Traditions. The film premiered in December at the Santa Fe Film Festival.

The book: Since 1982, 15 artists from New Mexico have received National Heritage Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts — the most from any state. Pettit explores the artistic heritage of New Mexico through profiles of these individuals — among them are potters, weavers, storytellers, and musicians. Included in the book are Irvin Trujillo, a seventh-generation Chimayó weaver; woodcarver George López; and Charlie Carrillo, who creates religious paintings and carvings in the santero tradition.

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January 3, 2013

Plissner '86 pens debut young adult novel

Laurie Feld Plissner ’86 (Photo: Andres Matos)

New book: Louder Than Words, by Laurie Feld Plissner ’86 (Merit Press)

The author: Plissner majored in art history at Princeton and earned a law degree from UCLA. Girls’ Life magazine named Louder Than Words, which is a love story and a mystery, one of 8 books to read after Twilight. Plissner’s second novel, Screwed, is due to be published in May.

The book: After her family is killed in a car accident, Sasha is so traumatized that she can no longer speak and loses most of her memories. Four years later, 17-year-old Sasha meets Ben, who seems to know what she is thinking. Ben tries to help her heal but he worries that his unusual talent will impede her recovery and backs off. Angry and lonely, Sasha explores her past to try to recover her voice and finds that her family’s death might have been more than just an accident.

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December 14, 2012

Landy *97 examines the function of fiction

New book: How to Do Things with Fictions, by Joshua Landy *97 (Oxford University Press)

The author: An associate professor of French at Stanford University, Landy co-founded and co-directs its Initiative in Philosophy and Literature. He also is the author of Philosophy as Fiction: Self, Deception, and Knowledge in Proust.

The book: In this exploration of the function of fiction, Landy challenges the idea that texts should be informative or morally improving to be of benefit to readers. In chapters on the Gospel of Mark, Plato, Beckett, Mallarmé, and Chaucer, he argues that these are texts “whose function it is to fine-tune our mental capacities.” They give readers know-how, skills, and training. “They present themselves as spiritual exercises” and “help us become who we are.” Each of the texts he examines, he writes, “contains within itself a manual for reading, a set of implicit instructions on how it may best be used.”

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December 7, 2012

Peters '84 examines climate change

E. Kirsten Peters ’84 (Photo: Krista Kramer)

New book: The Whole Story of Climate: What Science Reveals About the Nature of Endless Change, by E. Kirsten Peters ’84 (Prometheus Books)

The author: A geologist, Peters has authored three other books on geology. And she writes the “Rock Doc” column, syndicated essays on science for newspapers that can be found at www.rockdoc.wsu.edu. Peters taught geology and interdisciplinary science at Washington State University and is currently the director of major grant development for its College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.

The book: To fully understand climate change, Peters argues, the public and policymakers should explore not only the work of climate scientists but also that of geologists. Drawing on the work of geology, Peters explains how the Earth’s climate naturally has changed over time. Geologists, she writes, “don’t generally traffic in computer models so much as direct physical evidence left in the muck and rocks of our planet.” Even if human beings never had produced greenhouse gases, she writes, “climate today would still be changing.” She also makes a plea to extinguish unwanted coal fires in mining districts, which would “eliminate a significant amount of carbon-dioxide production.”

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November 29, 2012

Huyler '42 captures stories from Jackson Hole

Jack ’42 and Margaret Huyler (Photo: Courtesy Whit Press)

New book: Every Full Moon in August: Campfire Tales of Old Jackson Hole, edited by Jack Huyler ’42 with Marlene Deahl Merrill (Whit Press)

The author: Huyler moved to Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 1926 at age six, when his family bought a ranch in what is now Grand Teton National Park. At Princeton he co-founded the Nassoons and served in World War II. After the war, he taught at the Thacher School in California. Back in Jackson Hole, for some 20 years he recorded stories that locals told around the campfire at his ranch, the Rocking H.

The book: Every summer Huyler and his wife hosted a potluck supper for his neighbors in Jackson Hole the Sunday closest to the full moon in August. One year they decided to ask their guests to share stories of locals who had died. In this book has collected some of them, which shed light on the colorful people and customs of Jackson Hole. One story tells of “Old Mr. Blackmun” who was a jack-of-all-trades — he ran a sawmill, a blacksmith business, and even pulled teeth and cut hair. Another story recalls how Farney Cole survived a bear attack by playing dead but after the bear wandered off, he found a tree limb and beat the bear to death.

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November 16, 2012

Bleichmar *05 explores travel, art, and science in Spanish Empire

Daniela Bleichmar *05 (Photo: Philip Channing)

New book: Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment, by Daniela Bleichmar *05 (University of Chicago Press)

The author: Bleichmar, who earned a doctorate in the history of science at Princeton, teaches art history and history at the University of Southern California. She is a coeditor of Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500-1800 and Collecting Across Cultures: Material Exchanges in the Early Modern Atlantic World.

The book: The Spanish Crown of the late 18th century and early 19th century sent naturalists on botanical expeditions to survey the plants and flowers of its imperial territories and collect specimens for Madrid’s Royal Botanical Garden and Royal Natural History Cabinet. The naturalists took artists with them on these expeditions — making illustrations of the flora a part of science. Bleichmar examines the images of flora that were produced, which “have received scant attention” by historians of science and art historians, she writes. Her study “is an attempt to understand not only the meanings of the images, written words, and collections that emerged from such travails, but also the reasons for their creation.”

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November 8, 2012

Harwood *84 examines people's aspirations for civic engagement

Richard Harwood *84 (Photo: Courtesy The Harwood Institute)

New book: The Work of Hope: How Individuals and Organizations Can Authentically Do Good, by Richard C. Harwood *84 (Kettering Foundation Press)

The author: Harwood is the founder and president of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a nonprofit organization that aims to help people work for the public good. He seeks to improve political conduct and to get citizens engaged in important public issues; he has helped develop civic-minded organizations in dozens of communities in the United States. Harwood also is the author of Hope Unraveled: The People’s Retreat and Our Way Back, about politics and public life.

The book: Over the course of a year, Harwood and his colleagues held conversations with citizens in communities across the United States — from Detroit to Sonoma, Calif. — about how they felt things were going in the country today, what they were concerned about, and how they feel about politics, among other issues. What he found is that “There is a yearning within [people] to come back into the public square to engage with one another, to find ways to get things done together, and to restore their belief in themselves and their fellow citizens.” This new trajectory, people told him, will take shape through actions that start small and locally.

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