Posted on Jan 25, 2007
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, N.Y. 12308.
Fitz Hugh Ludlow 1856
Edited by Stephen Rachman
The Hasheesh Eater: Being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean
Rutgers University Press
Fitz Hugh Ludlow was a recent graduate of Union College when he vividly recorded his hash-induced visions, experiences, adventures and insights. During the mid-19th century, the drug was a legal remedy for lockjaw, and Ludlow had a friend from whom he received a ready supply. He consumed such large quantities at each sitting that his hallucinations have been likened to those experienced by opium addicts. Throughout the book, Ludlow colorfully describes his psychedelic journey that led to extended reflections on religion, philosophy, medicine and culture.
First published in 1857, The Hasheesh Eater was the first full-length example of American drug literature. The cult-classic reached a new audience after years of obscurity with the Beats in the 1950s and with the San Francisco Bay area hippies in the 1970s. This new edition, edited by Stephen Rachman, associate professor of English at Michigan State University, includes annotations, guiding readers through the text's richly allusive qualities and abundance of references.
Rachman's introduction notes Ludlow's love for writing college songs. Upon the request of his teacher Eliphalet Nott, Ludlow composed “Ode to Old Union,” which became the College alma mater. Ludlow (1836-1870) was a poet, cultural critic, journalist, novelist and traveler. He contributed to Harper's, Vanity Fair and The Atlantic Monthly. Other works include The Primpenny Family (1861) and The Heart of the Continent (1870). He died of tuberculosis in Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 34.
Dr. William Herman Bloom '45
Wit, Wisdom, & Whimsy
American Literary Press, Inc.
“Retired physicians can get a trifle boring with medical reminiscences, both in public and private,” writes Dr. William Herman Bloom in his new collection, Wit, Wisdom, & Whimsy. “Since my life has been enriched by both adventure and curiosity, I have every hope I shall be considerably less boring by concentrating on aviation, bullfighting, boating, fishing, hunting, and all that sort of thing.”
With equal doses of wit, wisdom and whimsy, Bloom's collection of short essays and poetry provides a perfect antidote to the doldrums. His personality, sense of humor, and interesting experiences captivate and entertain. Each vignette makes you feel as if an old friend has just sidled up and slipped his arm around your shoulders to tell you an amusing or enlightening anecdote.
Bloom's career as a neurosurgeon has taken him from medical school to chief resident at Bellevue Hospital to president of the Suffolk Academy of Medicine. He is the author of other books including, After All It's Only Brain Surgery and The Great American Malpractice Dilemma. A longtime resident of Bay Shore, N.Y., he is at work on a book about Mileva Maric Einstein, the neglected and misunderstood wife of Albert Einstein.
Frederick S. Frank '57
Bertrand Evans
The Origins of the Modern Study of Gothic Drama, Together with a Re-Edition of Gothic Drama From Walpole to Shelley (1947)
The Edwin Mellen Press
Originally published in 1947, Bertrand Evans' landmark study of the Gothic drama during its most definitive and dominant period (1760s to 1820s) was the first scholarly attempt to formulate a discrete canon of Gothic plays. In this re-edition, Frank assesses the importance of Evans' monograph as a critical starting point for studies of the Gothic by providing an introduction, updated and expanded endnotes, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Dr. Frederick S. Frank is Professor Emeritus of English at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. His other books include The First Gothic Novel (1987), The Poe Encyclopedia (1997), Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide (2002), and three Guides to the Gothic (1984, 1995, 2005).
Robert Skloot '63
If the Whole Body Dies:
Raphael Lemkin and the Treaty Against Genocide
Parallel Press
Robert Skloot's one-act play explores the life and career of human rights activist Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959). Lemkin's obsession with stopping genocide (a word he coined) led to the adoption of the U.N. Treaty Against Genocide. By turns funny and sad, the play will stimulate discussions-in classrooms, at conferences, and with religious groups-about historical genocide and Lemkin's unfinished mission. Included is the original text of the Treaty Against Genocide.
For Skloot, the play is an attempt to give Lemkin his “due,” to add an artistic statement “to the store of anti-genocide materials,” and to provide an emotional, human connection between the audience and the actors on stage.
If the Whole Body Dies was given its first reading on Dec. 15, 2005 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where Skloot has taught theatre and directed plays since 1968.
Martha Manno '75
Regrets Only: Contemporary Poets on the Theme of Regret
Little Pear Press
Sixty-three poets from the United States, Europe, and Australia contemplate the could-have-beens, squandered chances, near misses, lost loves, shames and sorrows of regret in this collection edited by Martha Manno. With rare insight, tenderness, courage and humor these poems invite us into he richness of lives lived fully. Poets include Barbara Crooker, winner of the Word Press First Book Award, Roy Jobstein, winner of the University of Wisconsin's Felix Pollak Prize, and Willa Schneberg, winner of the 2002 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.
This is the second book from Little Pear Press, which Manno founded in her Seekonk, Mass., home three years ago. “I love reading and I love books, just the physical object of a book, so creating them is engrossing for me,” says Manno. “It's like bringing a baby into the world.” Little Pear Press is truly a family affair. Manno's husband, Dr. Phil Guppuso '73, associate dean at Brown Medical School, is a proofreader, and twin daughters Natalie and Christina are photographer and book and logo designer respectively.
Barry Miller '80 G
MEDICAP: The Best Universal Health-Care Funding Strategy
Vantage Press, Inc.
In MEDICAP, Barry Miller seeks to conquer the seemingly insurmountable hurdle of health-care. His goal: “Truly universal coverage for every American…No control or interference by employers, insurance companies, or government…An end to skyrocketing medical costs…”
Presented in a straightforward manner, the author avoids technical jargon in this admirable endeavor to help the reader untangle the difficult and frustrating knot that is our current health-care system. “My plan,” writes Miller, “is an earnest attempt by an average citizen to alleviate this dreadful complexity [in the present system] and eliminate the thoroughly unneeded, costly and injurious involvement of the several middlemen in the current situation.” The author's unique model is based on a People's Cooperative and is feasible as well as optimal with respect to universality and unfettered high-quality care at or below current levels of funding with, perhaps most significantly, no new taxes.
Barry Miller is a retired nuclear engineer and computer analyst who resides in East Brunswick, N.J. MEDICAP is his first book.
Jordan Smith
(Prof. of English)
The Names of Things Are Leaving
University of Tampa Press
Jordan Smith has published a new book of poetry, The Names of Things Are Leaving (University of Tampa Press). As though he was engaged in a conversation with the reader, Smith moves easily between subjects as diverse as bluegrass, opera, fatherhood, and Federico García Lorca. He also examines the historic landscape of Upstate New York in a personal and imaginative narrative voice that is rich with allusions, bringing to life things long forgotten.
Smith is professor of English at Union College and the author of For Appearances, the first winner of the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. His other books include An Apology for Loving the Old Hymns (Princeton, 1982), Lucky Seven (Wesleyan, 1988), The Household of Continuance (Copper Beach, 1992), and Three Grange Halls, co-winner of the 2002 chapbook award from Swan Scythe Press. His poems have appeared in Antacus, the Paris Review, Poetry, The Woodstock Journal, The Yale Review, New England Review, The Cortland Review and others.
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