Posted on Jun 15, 2009
A. LEE FRITSCHLER ’59
Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities
Brookings Institution Press
Contrary to popular belief, the problem with U.S. higher education is not too much politics but too little. Far from being bastions of liberal bias, American universities have largely withdrawn from the world of politics. So conclude Bruce L. R. Smith, Jeremy Mayer and Lee Fritschler in this illuminating book. The book draws on data from interviews, focus groups, and a new national survey by the authors, as well as their decades of experience in higher education to paint the most comprehensive picture to date of campus political attitudes. It finds that while liberals outnumber conservatives within faculty ranks, even most conservatives believe that ideology has little impact on hiring and promotion. Yet this ideological peace on campus has been purchased at a high price. American universities are rarely hospitable to lively discussions of issues of public importance. They largely shun serious political debate, all but ignore what used to be called civics, and take little interest in educating students to be effective citizens. Smith, Mayer and Fritschler contrast the current climate of disengagement with the original civic mission of American colleges and universities. In concluding, they suggest how universities can reclaim and strengthen their place in the nation’s political and civic life.
DANIEL R. SCHWARZ ’63
In Defense of Reading: Teaching Literature in the Twenty-First Century
Wiley-Blackwell
Daniel R. Schwarz, an influential scholar and critic, presents in this book a passionate and joyful defense of the pleasures of reading. Schwarz provides valuable insights for teachers and students on why we read and how we read. The author explores the life of the mind, the rewards and joys of committed teaching, and the relationship between teaching and scholarship in the contemporary university. Schwarz is the Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1968.
RAYMOND ANGELO BELLIOTTI ’70
Niccolo Machiavelli: The Laughing Lion and the Strutting Fox
Lexington Books
Machiavelli is usually understood as a thinker who separated morality from politics or who championed Roman, pagan morality over conventional, Christian morality. In this book, Raymond Angelo Belliotti argues, instead, that Machiavelli's innovation is his understanding of the perhaps irresolvable moral conflicts that exist within political leaders who fulfill the duties of their offices while accepting the authority of absolute moral principles. Machiavelli is a moral pessimist who insists that politicians must “risk their souls” when performing their public responsibilities, according to Belliotti. Politicians and military leaders must dirty their hands in service to their constituents. The book offers a balanced understanding of the Florentine, with special focus on his insights and his myopias. Belliotti is a distinguished teaching professor of philosophy at SUNY Fredonia.
PHILIP ALCABES ’76
Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu
Perseus Books Group
Philip Alcabes argues in this book that our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question—or the actual risks of contagion—but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood. Alcabes examines epidemics through history to show how they reflect the particular social and cultural anxieties of their times. From Typhoid Mary to bioterrorism, as new outbreaks are unleashed or imagined, new fears surface, new enemies are born, and new behaviors emerge. Dread dissects the fascinating story of the imagined epidemic: the one that we think is happening, or might happen; the one that disguises moral judgments and political agendas, the one that ultimately expresses our deepest fears. Alcabes is an associate professor of urban public health at Hunter College of the City University of New York and visiting clinical associate professor at the Yale School of Nursing. He has written op-eds for the Washington Post and contributed essays to The American Scholar, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Virginia Quarterly Review. He lives in the Bronx.
BILL VITEK ’79
The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge
University Press of Kentucky
Human dependence on technology has increased exponentially over the past several centuries, and so too has the notion that we can fix environmental problems with scientific applications. This book proposes an alternative to this worldview. The contributors argue that uncritical faith in scientific knowledge has created many of the problems now threatening the planet and that our wholesale reliance on scientific progress is both untenable and myopic. Editors Bill Vitek and Wes Jackson have collected a group of essays to support the notion that humanity’s ignorance far exceeds its knowledge. Each essay supports the idea that we can never improve upon nature but that we can, by putting this new perspective to work in our professional and personal lives, live sustainably. Vitek is associate professor of philosophy at Clarkson University.
EVAN I. SCHWARTZ '86
Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story
Houghton Mifflin
Finding Oz tells the remarkable tale behind one of the world’s most enduring and best-loved stories. Offering profound new insights into the true origins and meaning of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 masterwork, it delves into the personal turmoil and spiritual transformation that fueled Baum’s fantastical parable of the American dream. Baum failed at a series of careers before setting out on a journey of discovery that would lead to the Land of Oz. Drawing on original research, Evan Schwartz debunks popular misconceptions and shows how the people, places and events in Baum’s life gave birth to his unforgettable images and characters. The Yellow Brick Road was real, the Emerald City evoked the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, and Baum’s mother-in-law, the radical women’s rights leader Matilda Joslyn Gage, inspired his dual view of witches—as good and wicked. Schwartz is a former award-winning editor at Business Week and the author of The Last Lone Inventor, named one of the 75 best business books of all time by Fortune. The idea for Finding Oz came to him while reading Baum’s classic to his daughter at bedtime. For more: www.findingoz.com.
MUSIC ALBUM
JASON BROOME ’91
The Westport Sunrise Sessions 2
Diablo Dulce Records
This 11-song album retains the indie, folk and rock roots of the band’s first record while capitalizing on the band's growing creativity and production skills. Led by singer and guitarist Jason Broome, The Westport Sunrise Sessions have been touring and making records since 1987. The band first collaborated on college breaks, often in the basement and laundry room of Union’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, now the Office of Admissions, as well as various barns and garages in Westport, N.Y. Today, all four members write, sing and are multi-instrumentalists. This makes for a range of sonic variety and an eclectic mix of tunes, featuring everything from clarinet, to Hammond organ, banjo, to propane tanks and plastic bottles. The album features songs ranging from Beatles-esque melodies and lyrical sarcasm of the opening track, “The King,” to the Mariachi flavors and storied sentiments of “Barcelona.” The album is available as a free download on their Web site: www.diablodulce.com/wss.
MICHAEL L. EZRA ’94
Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon
Temple University Press
This book takes a unique stance on the life of Muhammad Ali by exploring the relationships between Ali's public image and the economic consequences of his career. The book argues that, while much of Ali's importance has stemmed from his cultural and political influence, it is impossible to separate those things from their financial impact. It is Ali's economic value as a corporate pitchman as much as his moral authority as a figure of tolerance and righteousness that drives his iconic status today. Ali's status as a great American hero does not simply result from his virtue; it exists because over his long reign as a cultural icon, profit and political capital have accrued from positioning him as such. Ezra is chair of the American Multicultural Studies Department at Sonoma State University and author of Civil Rights Movement: People and Perspectives, a comprehensive reference book that fuses traditional scholarship with cutting-edge research.
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