By Katherine Duke ’05
This summer Amherst alumni guide us through hidden histories, faraway lands and even our deepest inner selves.
It all starts with Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict, by John B. Judis ’63 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). John T. ’76 and Winifred C. Young, writing as “J. W. Yanowitz,” also explore the Arab/Israeli conflict in their novel Guns for Judea: The Story of a Boy Soldier in the Middle East During World War One (CreateSpace).
After that: The Crusade Years, 1933–1955: Herbert Hoover’s Lost Memoir of the New Deal Era and Its Aftermath, by George H. Nash ’67 (Hoover Institution Press). Chase Morsey Jr. ’41 reveals The Man Who Saved the V-8: The Untold Stories of Some of the Most Important Product Decisions in the History of Ford Motor Company (CreateSpace). And Alan Blum ’69, M.D., presents the short film Blowing Smoke: The Lost Legacy of the Surgeon General’s Report (University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society).
While Michael Wayne ’69 is Imagining Black America (Yale University Press), Junius Williams ’65 explains the Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power (North Atlantic Books).
Tony Brasunas ’96 leads the way to Double Happiness: One Man’s Tale of Love, Loss, and Wonder on the Long Roads of China (Torchpost Creative), and Susan McWilliams ’98 goes Traveling Back: Toward a Global Political Theory (Oxford University Press).
For inspiration, look to Fred Sievert ’70’s God Revealed: Revisit Your Past to Enrich Your Future (Morgan James Publishing) and Kimberly Palmer ’01’s The Economy of You: Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur and Recession-Proof Your Life (AMACOM).
Drink up Andrew G. Schneider ’03’s novel Undercaffeinated and Overexposed: The Tale of a Coffee Shop Princess (self-published). Revel in The Modernist Masquerade: Stylizing Life, Literature, and Costumes in Russia, by Colleen McQuillen ’94 (University of Wisconsin Press). And listen to The Six Brandenburg Fantasias, composed and conducted by Lawrence Axelrod ’81 and performed by Ensemble Nouvelle Époque (innova).
Illustration by Anthony Russo