Princeton Alumni Weekly | The Weekly Blog: Princeton Authors Archives

November 4, 2011

Polly '95 chronicles his two-year journey through mixed martial arts

New book: Tapped Out: Rear Naked Chokes, the Octagon, and the Last Emperor: An Odyssey in Mixed Martial Arts, by Matthew Polly ’95 (Gotham Books)

The author: A travel writer for Slate.com, Polly spent two years in China (taking a break from college) learning the language and honing his martial arts skills with monks who taught him kung fu. He wrote about that experience in his first book, American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, which PAW called “a raucous, wry look at his transformation from a ‘weakling’ to a fighting machine.” At the age of 36, Polly decided to put his body to the test again and spent two years studying mixed martial arts in New York, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, St. Petersburg, and Las Vegas.

The book: In this humorous narrative, Polly chronicles his grueling yet redeeming journey. He recounts Brazilian jiujitsu instruction from a Yoda-esque master who mixed armlocks with discourses on Kant, learning kickboxing by being beaten with a stick, and ultimately stepping into the ring to take on an opponent 15 years younger than he. Polly also discusses the sport’s history and its growing popularity. Polly began his project out of shape, but he not only survived, he won his one match. How did his body hold up? “I didn't suffer any major, debilitating injuries. But over the two years of training, I had my nose broken, my ribs cracked, and caught a staph infection while training in Brazil. The worst however was a stubbed toe. It hurt like heck whenever I tried to run or turn on it, but no one has any sympathy for a toe injury.”

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October 28, 2011

George '75 collects travel essays from stars

Don George '75

New book: Lights, Camera … Travel!, edited by Andrew McCarthy and Don George ’75 (Lonely Planet Publications)

The editors: A seasoned travel writer and editor, George has edited five previous literary anthologies for Lonely Planet, including A Moveable Feast and The Kindness of Strangers. He is a contributing editor and book review columnist for National Geographic Traveler magazine, special features editor and blogger for Gadling.com, and editor of the online literary travel magazine Recce. McCarthy is an actor, director, and travel writer. He has appeared in more than two-dozen films, including Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire, starred in Broadway plays, and is a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler.

The book: When George was thinking about this year’s anthology, his Lonely Planet editor came up with the idea of asking actors to contribute their tales. “I was at first both intrigued and trepidatious,” said George. “Actors telling their best travel stories sounded great – but could they write? As it turned out, they could! I was happily surprised with the quality of the stories and especially with their willingness to write very personally about their lives.” The collection features 33 stories by actors, directors, and screenwriters, including Brooke Shields ’87, who recalls her mishaps in the Arctic while on assignment for Marie Claire; and Alec Baldwin, who presents an atmospheric and heartfelt depiction of life in Los Angeles.

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October 20, 2011

Lewis '82 chronicles the global financial mess

(Tabitha Soren)

New book: Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis ’82 (W.W. Norton)

The author: A chronicler of human financial folly and institutionalized greed, Lewis is the author of The Big Short, a tale of the global financial catastrophe through a group of investors who bet money on the boom going bust; Liar’s Poker; and Moneyball, about Billy Beane, general manager of Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s, and how he built winning, affordable teams. The book recently was made into a feature film starring Brad Pitt.

The book: In his latest look at financial disaster, Lewis surveys the wreckage of once-booming economies in Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Germany, and the United States. In each locale, he explores the complex financial schemes that led to their downfalls. Lewis provides “a guided tour through some of the disparate places hard hit by the fiscal tsunami of 2008,” wrote The New York Times, “tracing how very different people for very different reasons gorged on the cheap credit available in the prelude to that disaster.”

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October 13, 2011

Jordan '56 tells story of 1944 presidential election campaign

(Diana Jordan)

New book: FDR, Dewey, and the Election of 1944, by David M. Jordan ’56 (Indiana University Press)

The author: A retired lawyer and historian, David Jordan has served in local government and as a county political chairman. He is the author of eight previous books, including biographies of Senator Roscoe Conkling and Civil War generals Winfield Scott Hancock and G.K. Warren, and five books on baseball. In the book’s preface, he writes that he had a few personal recollections of the 1944 campaign as a nine-year-old interested in politics: His parents “loathed” Roosevelt and he followed the campaign reading newspapers and magazines and listening to radio reports. “I’ve been happy to get back to it for this work.”

The book: Today most people assume that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reelection to an unprecedented fourth term in 1944 was assured and that everyone at the time knew he was dying. But Jordan’s account of that election reveals that neither the choice of candidates nor the outcome of the election were a given. Just a week before the election, pollster George Gallup thought a small shift in votes in a few key states would award the election to Thomas E. Dewey. And it appears most voters, he writes, didn’t know FDR was dying. Jordan examines party politics and campaigning for votes in the shadow of war.

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October 6, 2011

Kogler '03 pens mix of legend, romance, and fantasy for teens

(Clare Kogler)

New book: The Death Catchers, by Jennifer Anne Kogler ’03 (Walker & Company)

The author: An English major at Princeton, Kogler’s first young adult novel, Ruby Tuesday, a coming-of-age story, started as her senior thesis. Since then she’s written three more — including The Otherworldies and its recently published sequel, The Siren’s Cry — all fantasy fiction. “I love writing for teens because that is the age when I fell in love with reading and began to think seriously about writing,” says Kogler, who is attending Stanford Law School.

The plot: Everything went topsy-turvy for 14-year-old Lizzy Mortimer on Halloween: She opened up the newspaper and saw a story about her best friend Jodi’s death — but it hadn’t happened yet. Lizzy had seen her first “death-specter.” Confused at first, Lizzy soon realizes that she and her grandmother Bizzy are death catchers — and they have to stop fate when an unjust demise is planned. Their most important mission: saving King Arthur’s last descendant — and the world’s best hope for survival. This young adult novel is narrated by Lizzy and reads like a long letter to her English teacher.

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September 30, 2011

Becker '98 shares her journey raising a daughter with Down syndrome

(Courtesy Bethany House)

New book: A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny, by Amy Julia Truesdell Becker ’98 (Bethany House)

The author: A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Becker writes about family, faith, disability, and culture. She blogs at patheos.com and her writing has been featured on The New York Times’ parenting blog, Motherlode. She also is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir.

The book: After Becker’s first child, Penny, was born with Down syndrome, she had to rethink everything she had imagined for her daughter’s future. “In the beginning, I had a hard time accepting that Penny had Down syndrome because I thought it was unfair,” Becker said. “I had to let go of any expectations I had formed about who she ought to be and instead learn to receive her as who she is.” A Good and Perfect Gift chronicles Becker’s journey through her daughter’s first years of life as Becker struggles to find her footing as a parent of a child with special needs. In the end, it’s a story of a couple coming to terms with their first-born child being different than they anticipated, and looking at Penny as a precious gift.

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September 23, 2011

Sparling '58 pens memoir of Arctic adventure

(Courtesy Chapel Hill Press)

New book: North to Nunavut: An Arctic Love Affair, by Fred ’58 and Joyce Sparling (Chapel Hill Press)

The authors: A physician, scientist, and administrator, Fred Sparling had retired and then went back to work part-time. Later he returned to work full-time, rejuvenated by traveling through the Arctic with his wife — they share the story of their 10-year travels in the Eastern Canadian Arctic in their late 60s and early 70s in their new memoir. Sparling is a professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina. Joyce Sparling is a retired associate professor in the Department of Allied Health at the University of North Carolina.

The book: Fred Sparling wandered into a gallery in Toronto one September day in 2000 and fell in love with Inuit art – specifically a carving of a bear. That encounter led to an adventure for the couple in which they came to explore the Inuit people, their art, and their land. This memoir follows them as they traveled by canoe, paddling the rivers of the central Barren Grounds, and lived with Inuit families in their tundra camps. The Sparlings saw caribou, white wolves, seals, walrus, and polar bears up close and witnessed the threats to the ecosystem due to global warming and mining. “It is possible for old couples to launch new adventures that enrich marriage and life, working together,” said Fred Sparling. “There is nothing like being in a huge wilderness to bring out the buried spiritual inner self.”

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September 16, 2011

Durst '96 pens tale about vampire girl gone good

(Courtesy Sarah Beth Durst ’96)

New book: Drink, Slay, Love, by Sarah Beth Durst ’96 (Simon and Schuster)

The author: Durst, who writes fantasy fiction for teenagers, has been drawn to magical worlds – dragons, fly griffins, and fairy-tale kingdoms — since her youth. Enchanted Ivy, published last year, is set at Princeton and follows Lily Carter, an eleventh-grade high school student who attends her grandfather’s 50th reunion and stumbles on an alternate Princeton — a magical and dangerous place. Durst also is the author of Ice, Into the Wild, and Out of the Wild.

The plot: In this story of a vampire girl gone good, Pearl, a 16-year-old vampire, is stabbed in the heart by a unicorn. She survives and now can withstand the sun. Her family finds a way to use her new ability — they send her to high school so she can make human friends that she then will lure to the Vampire King’s feast. But Pearl has developed a conscience and doesn’t want to deliver her new friends — particularly one cute boy — to be slaughtered.

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September 6, 2011

Bassi *83, Frauenheim '89, and McMurrer '90 identify 'good' companies

New book: Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, by Laurie Bassi *83, Ed Frauehneim ’89, and Dan McMurrer ’90, with Larry Costello (Berrett-Koehler)

The authors: An economist, Bassi is CEO of McBassi & Company, a consulting firm that specializes in human capital analytics, and she chairs Bassi Investments. Frauenheim is senior editor at Workforce Management magazine and has written about topics including technology, work, business, and education. McMurrer is the chief analyst at McBassi & Company and chief research officer at Bassi Investments. Costello recently served as senior vice president for human resources at American Standard Companies.

The book: The bad guys might not finish first in business, argue the authors. Instead, for corporations to flourish in the future, they must show that they care about people and the planet. Consumers, the authors write, have become more “scrupulous about companies’ morals in recent years.” The authors developed the Good Company Index, ranking the Fortune 100 companies based on criteria associated with customer care, people management, and stewardship. They found that companies in the same industry with higher scores on the index outperformed their peers in the stock market. Of the companies rated, only Disney and FedEx earned As.

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August 25, 2011

Marquardt '94 explores the daily lives of 'illegal' immigrants

New book: Living “Illegal”: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration, by Marie Friedmann Marquardt ’94, Timothy J. Steigenga, Philip J. Williams, and Manual A. Vásquez (The New Press)

The authors: A cultural anthropology major at Princeton, Marquardt teaches religious studies, sociology, and women’s studies at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. The co-author of Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas (2003), she also has published articles on religion, gender, and civic participation of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. South. Marquardt is an advocate for immigrants and helped to organize the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta’s “Justice for Immigrants” campaign. Steigenga is a professor of political science at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University. Williams is the director of the Center of Latin American Studies and Vásquez is a professor of religion at the University of Florida.

The book: The authors aim to get beyond the polarizing debates over immigration and the “highly charged stereotypes that have become associated with the term ‘illegal,’” they write, by shedding light on the daily lives of unauthorized immigrants in America. Based on years of work in immigrant communities, the authors paint vivid portraits of immigrants as they work, go to school, build families, and contribute to their communities. The authors also explore the tensions that emerge in local communities where immigration has rapidly increased and the ways that religious groups and advocates have solved community problems. “The reality on the ground is far more complex than the stereotypes and myths that pervade public discourse on immigration reform,” they write.

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August 19, 2011

DaSilva '85 showcases summer house designs

(Courtesy John DaSilva)

New book: Shingled Houses in the Summer Sun: The Work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva, by John R. DaSilva ’85 (Images Publishing)

The author: The principal in charge of architectural design for the firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva, the author seeks to create “fresh interpretations of traditional approaches” and designs that are in “harmony with the land [and] relate appropriately to both the neighboring context and the continuum of architectural history.” Said DaSilva, “I like to do work that is related to historical architecture but that is also fresh and of our times. I think our architecture should not take itself too seriously — it should be playful and fun, even whimsical.” DaSilva, who lives on Cape Cod, also is the author of Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer (2008).

The book: This monograph of the recent work of the design/build firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva includes more than 400 color photographs of shingled summer homes. With short introductory text in each section, the book is organized by elements, including façades, porches, family rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. DaSilva’s firm, which serves as both the architect and general contractor for its projects, works primarily in coastal southern New England. Robert Venturi ’47 *50 has written of DaSilva’s work: “Here is architecture sublimely contextual, … teeming with exquisite details — rich and varied in their extreme beauty. One is constantly fascinated and at the same time always at ease when outside and inside these intriguing buildings.”

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August 12, 2011

Barron '85 pens another mystery for Jane Austen, detective

(Marea Evans)

New book: Jane and the Canterbury Tale, by Stephanie Barron ’85 aka Francine Mathews (Bantam)

The author: Fifteen years ago, Barron published Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, which introduced Jane Austen, detective. Since then Barron has continued to capture Austen’s voice and era in her Jane Austen Mystery series. Barron also is the author of the stand-alone historical suspense novels A Flaw in the Blood and The White Garden. As Francine Mathews, she is the author of the Nantucket mystery series and other novels.

The book: In the 11 installment of the Jane Austen mystery series, the famous sleuth attends the wedding of Adelaide Fiske and Andrew MacAllister. Trouble starts when a mysterious man arrives at the party and leaves a bag of tamarind seeds, rendering the bride ghostly white. The next day, the stranger is found dead, and soon he is identified as Fiske's first husband, Curzon Fiske, long believed to have been dead. Austen’s brother is the magistrate investigating the murder, but it's up to Austen to figure out why Fiske returned in the first place and who was responsible for the murder.

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