The Union Bookshelf regularly features new books written by (or about) alumni and other members of the Union community. If you're an author and would like to be included in a future issue, please send us a copy of the book as well as your publisher's news release. Our address is Office of Communications, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308.
Albert S. Callan '41
The Man in the Black Hat: Collected Columns from the Chatham Courier
Hollis Publishing Co.
ISBN 1884186262, $25 (Amazon and at the Chatham Bookstore)
This is the heart of America-the collected observations of a longtime village newspaper columnist. After serving in World War II, Albert Callan returned home and joined the staff of the Chatham Courier, where, for nearly six decades, he wrote an unsigned weekly column, “The Man in the Black Hat.” As the stream of small-town life passes, the “anonymous” chronicler (the worst-kept secret in town), records his wry, humorous, and often poignant observations. Although retired as editor and publisher, he continues to pen his weekly column, part of the year from his winter home in Mexico, undaunted by time zones, geographical distance, and the vagaries of telecommunications.
His book is a wonderful bundle of columns that range in topic from the personal to the political, from the comedic to the poignant. He offers a historic overview of his beloved village, including fascinating little nuggets such as the moving narrative of a plain “dirt farmer” who planned his own funeral, requesting only that his faithful work horses be unharnessed so they could be led past his coffin to view him one last time. Incredibly, he reveals that “Chatham was a hotbed for the [Ku Klux Klan]” during the 1928 presidential election, when Alfred E. Smith's candidacy stoked anti-Catholicism.
Proceeds will benefit the Crellin-Morris Association, which provides after-school programs for children in the Chatham area.
John P. Lewis '41
The Goliath Problem: The Wages of Hegemony
Pinninti Publishers, April 2004
ISBN 097034743, $10 (Amazon)
The war in Iraq and all things war related dominate the best seller lists, headlines, and talking heads, not to mention the national psyche. Anyone struggling to make sense of it is at risk of input overload. Then along comes John Lewis's book. Razor sharp and razor thin (fewer than forty pages including notes and bibliography), it deftly cuts through the “fog of war” to parse the issues. You won't see The Goliath Problem: The Wages of Hegemony on the bestseller list. Nor will it win any awards for cover art. The Goliath Problem is a no-frills primer on the war in Iraq that includes Lewis's insightful historic overview, the economic and global ramifications, and “possible repairs.” Admittedly one man's perspective, nonetheless, the book's tone is measured and temperate.
Lewis possesses eminent credentials: retired professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, where he served as dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs; a former member on the Truman Council of Economic Advisers (CEA); one of three appointed CEA members under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; director of USAID mission to India; member and “rapporteur” of the UN Committee for Development Planning; and consultant/adviser to the Brookings Institution, the Overseas Development Council, the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and Canada's International Development Research Institute.
Martin J. Blickstein
Anticipating Tomorrow: Living and Making a Living in the 21st Century
iUniverse, Inc.
ISBN 0595319645, $16.95
“Outsourcing jobs” is the wrong issue, says Marty Blickstein. The long-term enigma is migrating jobs, and the new offender is technology, which is compelling relocations as well as a profound change in personal conduct. In this thoughtful look at the technology avalanche, the author, who has been working in technology since 1937, describes the social repercussions of technology market saturation in such areas as medicine, religion, community, politics, education, jobs, retirement, and entertainment. “The issue is the lifestyle adaptations mandated by rapid new technology conversion, not the technologies themselves,” he says. Blickstein has had a long career in technology as an engineer, businessman, salesman, consumer, and observer.
Antonio F. Vianna '66
Human Resources Executive Leader Champions: Secrets of Success
Author House
ISBN 1418436852, $14.95
Leader Champions: Secrets of Success, co-written with management expert Mark B. Silber, is a how-to primer filled with rare common sense and easy-to-read text. The book is divided into chapters, and each chapter is further broken down by topics with economically-written how-to's (e.g.-Leadership: Constant Feedback-Provide feedback to your top performers…). It might even be called a “tough love” manual for leadership training. Tony Vianna is a human resources consultant who also teaches business and management for the University of Phoenix. When he isn't writing non-fiction for professional trade magazines, he is working on mystery novels.
Richard Triumpho '74
Round Barns of New York
Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815607962, $24.95
George Washington was not only the nation's first president, he also built the country's first circular barn on his farm in Fairfax County, Va. This is just one of the interesting factoids Richard Triumpho includes in his slim (fewer than 200 pages) volume on this agrarian architectural innovation-the round barn. Almost exclusively, the builders of these structures, as Triumpho writes, “had one thing in common: they were all progressive in one way or another.” The author, a freelance writer and dairy farmer in St. Johnsville, N.Y., provides the history, utilitarian application, and aesthetic considerations of this distinctly Yankee design in form and function. The original builders/farmers went against conventional practices and methodology, sometimes arguing with neighbors that the round barn design offered a “more efficient workplace, cost less in materials for the space enclosed, and were better able to withstand the winds that toppled so many other barns,” Triumpho writes.
Triumpho focuses on New York State's inventory of these unique structures, although his research took him to other states and put him in contact with kindred spirits. He also provides black and white photos as well as hand-rendered sketches. Triumpho is a regular columnist for thirty-plus years for Hoard's Dairyman magazine, the “bible of the dairy industry,” and is the author of two books-No Richer Gift and Wait 'til the Cows Come Home: Farm Country Rambles with a New York Dairyman.
Larry Koved '82
Enterprise Java Security: Building Secure J2EE Applications
Addison-Wesley
ISBN 0321118898, $49
Online commerce, one of the fastest-growing segments in information technology, is changing how business is conducted. Security concerns and risk management come along with this new technology. In response, various security technologies, such as anti-virus scanners, firewalls, and intrusion-detection systems, are burgeoning. With Enterprise Java Security: Building Secure J2EE Applications, Larry Koved, a research staff member and manager in the Security, Privacy & Cryptography Department at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, and his colleagues Marco Pistoia, Nataraj Nagaratnam, and Anthony Nadalin hve provided application developers and programmers with the know-how they need to use the latest Java security technologies in building secure enterprise infrastructures. It is a guide to the current status of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2ee), and Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), security architectures and offers practical solutions and usage patterns to address the challenges of Java security.
Koved has published more than twenty-five articles and technical reports on user interface technologies, virtual reality, hypertext and mobile computing, static analysis of Java code, and security. He also has presented at several conferences. Currently, his interests include security of mobile code, component software, and static analysis of OO languages.
Dan Gordon '87
Cape Encounters: Contemporary Cape Cod Ghost Stories
Cockle Cove Press
ISBN 0974898368, $14.95
Dan Gordon, co-author of Cape Encounters, says he maintained a journalist's perspective and a healthy skepticism when he set out to collect ghost stories on Cape Cod. For a decade, he and co-author Gary Joseph interviewed nursing home residents, members of senior centers and fire departments, staffs at historical societies, and any lead that began with, “No, I don't have any ghost stories, but a friend of mine…” In characteristically understated Yankee style, he simply allowed people tell their stories and soon learned, “Cape Codders take their ghosts in stride,” relating their sightings and paranormal experiences as simply part of their daily lives. Few interviewees used the word “haunted” to describe the presence with which they share their living spaces. Some shared how their experiences have changed their outlook or how their minds were broadened. In the end, the book is as much about the storytellers as it is their stories.
Gordon and Joseph convey the stories in respectful tones without becoming patronizing or sensational. Neither the authors nor the storytellers are proselytizing for the true believers of the paranormal. Cape Encounters is simply a bundle of ripping good yarns presented respectfully, thoughtfully, and often quite touchingly.