Biography: general Books

Book SynopsisFrom Farmer and Sailor to Mountain Man, Crow Killer, and Town Sheriff,One man's reputation lives past all othersWhen it came to western mountain men, no one on earth ever matched the physical prowess or will to survive of John Liver-Eating Johnson. Throughout his life, John Johnston was known by several names, including Crow Killer and Liver-Eating Johnson (without the t), names he earned through his penchant for killing Crow Indians before cutting out and eating their livers. Born around 1824 in New Jersey, Johnston headed west after deserting from the U.S. Navy and became a well-known and infamous mountain man. His many lives would involve him working as a miner, hunter, trapper, bootlegger, woodcutter, and army scout. When his Flathead Indian wife and child were killed by Crow Indians while he was away hunting and trapping, he swore to avenge their deaths and began his next life as a man after revenge . He killed hundreds and earned hi

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Book SynopsisDavid Rothenberg''s multilayered life thrust him into Broadway''s brightest lights prison riots political campaigns civil rights sit-ins and a Central American civil war. In his memoir ÊFortune in My EyesÊ his journey includes many of the most celebrated names in the theater: Richard Burton Elizabeth Taylor Bette Davis Sir John Gielgud Peggy Lee Alvin Ailey Lauren Bacall Christine Ebersole and numerous others.ÞHe produced an Off-Broadway prison drama ÊFortune and Men''s EyesÊ which reshaped his life. John Herbert''s chilling play led directly to the creation of the Fortune Society which has evolved into one of the nation''s most formidable advocacy and service organizations in criminal justice.ÞRothenberg was Elizabeth Taylor''s opening night date at the Richard Burton Hamlet ä a distant cry from his entering Attica prison during that institution''s famed inmate uprising; these are just two of the experiences revealed in this memoir. As a theater publicist and producer

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Book SynopsisRichard Wesley was witness to a revolution. As both a celebrated participant and eager student of the Black Theater Movement in the late 1960s, he became part of a seismic force in American culture, breaking down barriers and helping to disrupt the cultural landscape. It's Always Loud in the Balcony: A Life in Black Theater, from Harlem to Hollywood and Back is both history and memoir, tracing Wesley's roots from riot-torn Newark, New Jersey, across the rocky terrain of Harlem, and finally to Hollywood, where he became partners with Sidney Poitier, writing several successful films before returning to New York and the theater worlda trip that Wesley has wryly characterized as black power to black establishment. Wesley unfolds the history of black theater with love and precision, from the emergence of Amiri Baraka, and his own debut, the fiercely militant Black Terrorwhich landed him a deal with the legendary producer Joseph Pappthrough his moviemaking experience in Los Angeles, working

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Book SynopsisOwned by his father, Isaac Harold Anderson (1835-1906) was born a slave but went on to become a wealthy businessman, grocer, politician, publisher, and religious leader. Alicia Jackson presents a biography of Anderson and in it a microhistory of Black religious life and politics after emancipation.

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Book SynopsisIn 1945, Elsie C. Bechtel left her Ohio home for the tiny French commune of Lavercantière, where for nearly three years she cared for children displaced by the ravages of war. Bechtel's diary, photographs, and letters home to her family provide the central texts of this study. From 1945 to 1948, she recorded her encounters with French society and her immersion in the spare beauty of rural France. From her daily work came passionate musings on the emotional world of human interactions and evocative observations of the American, Spanish, and French co-workers and children with whom she lived. As a volunteer with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Bechtel was part of the war relief efforts of pacifist Quakers and Anabaptists. In France between 1939 and 1948, MCC programs distributed clothing, shared food, and sheltered refugee children. The work began in the far southwest of France but, by the time Bechtel completed her service in 1948, had moved to the Alsace region, where French MTrade ReviewFrom the time I began reading until I reached the end, I was mesmerized by this sacred journey back in time through the eyes of Elsie Bechtel. Equally impressive is the gaze of M. J. and Nancy Heisey on Miss Elsie's writings and the time period in which she lived and worked. Their care for Elsie and for the history in this space and time is palpable. -- Violet Dutcher, Eastern Mennonite UniversityCombined with her letters and photographs home, the Heiseys' extensive scholarship offers readers a rare glimpse into daily realities of an American woman’s experience as a relief worker. What emerges is a very human, well-rounded portrait of the inner life of a volunteer. We sense Elsie finds strength to overcome hardships through the heritage of her genuine faith, her determined efforts to learn French, and growing friendships with a few of her co-workers who share a common mission nurturing troubled children. Relief Work as Pilgrimage left me with the desire to have met and known this remarkable, adventuresome woman! -- Linda L. Hunt, Co-founder of the Krista Foundation for Global CitizenshipTable of ContentsChapter 1: Elsie Bechtel: Pilgrimage and Anabaptist Relief Work Chapter 2: Elsie Bechtel’s Writings: Waiting and Beginnings Chapter 3: The World and the Lavercantière Refuge Chapter 4: Elsie Bechtel’s Writings: Lavercantière as Muse Chapter 5: Travels to Lavercantière, 2006-2007

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Book SynopsisOver the course of nearly a decade, Phillip McReynolds conducted a series of interviews with prominent American philosophers including, among others, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Joseph Margolis, Richard Bernstein, Bruce Wilshire, John Lachs, Richard Shusterman, and Crispin Sartwell. The American Philosopher: Dialogues on the Meaning of Life and Truth brings these interviews together, bridging a wide variety of topics both personal and professional, and ultimately addressing what it means to be an American philosopher. With interviews that are both philosophical and biographical in nature, this book will be of interest to those who specialize in pragmatism and the history of American philosophy, academics in fields such as comparative literature, history, political science, sociology, and American studies, and to anyone with an interest in America as an ideaTrade ReviewLively and penetrating, McReynolds explores both the biographical roots and socio-cultural backgrounds of American philosophy. Should be read by anyone looking for refreshing thoughts on what philosophy is good for. Wholeheartedly recommended even by a non-American philosopher for non-American philosophers, even those who aren’t pragmatists. -- Emil Višňovský, Comenius University & Slovak Academy of SciencesWhat is American philosophy? While typically understood as a revolt against certain traditional fixations in philosophy, American Philosopher provides a fresh and positive account. McReynold’s candid interviews with sixteen preeminent figures yield insightful, imaginative, and wry visions about what American philosophy is, today—and why it matters. -- David Hildebrand, University of Colorado DenverMcReynolds interviews fifteen philosophers who are working in America, in—or in the neighborhood of—the pragmatist tradition. The volume presents not only well-known figures (Rorty, Putnam) but a number of important thinkers who are less familiar outside the circles of academic philosophy. McReynolds elicits informative, often fascinating accounts of how these scholars came to philosophy, what they see as distinctive about the American philosophical tradition, how they understand their peers' views, and what they think the American philosophical orientation can do for us now. The American Philosopher presents a valuable portrait of the robust discussions that comprise American philosophy today. -- Kelly A. Parker, Grand Valley State UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Finding Philosophy’s Place 1. Cultivating the Experience of Philosophy in America: John E. Smith 2. Philosophy as Self-Creation: Richard Rorty 3. There are No Nobel Prizes in Philosophy (And There Shouldn’t Be): Hilary Putnam 4. Philosophy as Problem Solving: John Lachs 5. The Philosopher as Heretic and Cultural Explorer: Douglas Anderson 6. Family Ties and Improvisation in Philosophy: Vincent Colapietro 7. Anything Goes: Joseph Margolis 8. Beyond Theory and Praxis: Richard Bernstein 9. From Pastors to Professionals: James Campbell 10. Philosophers as World Travelers: Judith Green 11. Beyond Ontological Insecurity: Bruce Wilshire 12. Embodying Philosophy in America: Richard Shusterman 13. Practical Philosophy: Lucius Outlaw on Keeping Mind and Body Together in a Racist Society 14. Philosophy as Technology for Living: Larry Hickman 15. Philosophy and Social Vision: Erin McKenna on Practical Utopianism 16. American Anarchist: Crispin Sartwell

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Book SynopsisThis collection introduces the reader to third-generation Holocaust narratives, exploring the unique perspective of third-generation writers and demonstrating the ways in which Holocaust memory and trauma extend into the future.Trade ReviewThis collection considers works written by grandchildren, great nieces and nephews, and other relatives about family members who lived during the Hitler years. The term third generation raises some issues. In speaking about the literature of the Holocaust, “the literature of the first generation” meant the testimony of those who lived through the horrors of the Third Reich, those who either survived the death camps (Primo Levi, Ellie Wiesel, Imre Kertesz, et al.) or lived in hiding in the ghettos or as partisan fighters. It did not include those who lived safely through the Nazi years in protected areas or foreign countries. When critics and scholars begin to use terms such as 3G literature and introduce expressions such as 1.5G, 2G, 2.5G, and 3G, one senses that 3.5G and 4G loom in the future; lost is the emphasis on the quality of the story, novel, memoir, biography, film, or research being produced. Generational criticism privileges familial relationships. At its worse, it exploits the experiences of others. Important in this regard is critique of how writers far removed from the Holocaust preserve memory and provide witness to a past they never experienced. The best of these essays do that well, and this book is valuable for doing that service. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *A valuable, searching collection of Third Generation views of the Holocaust, views still proximate to that event and yet increasingly distanced from it. The accounts selectively presented here are both reflective and provide intimate detail, and Aarons' skill in editing brings out with great clarity the effect of time's passage on memory, art, and trauma in the aftermath of the Holocaust. -- Berel Lang, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, SUNY at AlbanyVictoria Aarons once again firmly establishes that the post-Holocaust universe is her domain. With great sensitivity, editorial skill and insight, she has unearthed the generational consequences of a crime that was beyond description, and yet so many writers were compelled to do that very thing. -- Thane Rosenbaum, Thane Rosenbaum, author of "The Golems of Gotham," "Second Hand Smoke," and "Elijah Visible"In this important and visionary new book on third-generation Holocaust narratives, Victoria Aarons assembles a sturdy architectonic of memory's afterimage. Through a "visible bridge"—the continued outpouring of exceptionally well-written and international memoirs and fiction on the Holocaust—the essays affirm that memory is a structure that leaves third-generation survivors, and those coming later, with no alibi against witnessing. In her remarkably lucid introduction, Aarons reminds us that while some of us witness, all of us are companions on a (still) unfinished search. -- Holli Levitsky, Loyola Marymount University, affiliated professor of the University of HaifaTable of Contents1. A Special Kind of Kinship: On Being a ‘3G’ Writer, Erika Dreifus 2. Memory’s Afterimage: Post-Holocaust Writing and the Third Generation, Victoria Aarons 3. A Visible Bridge: Contemporary Jewish Fiction and the Return to the Shoah, Avinoam Patt 4. Story-telling, Photography, and Mourning in Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost, Paule Lévy 5. Life After Death: A Third Generation Journey in Jérémie Dres’ We Won't See Auschwitz, Alan Berger 6. The “generation without grandparents”: Witnesses and Companions to an Unfinished Search, Malena Chinski 7. Avatars of Third-Generation Holocaust Narrative in French and Spanish, Alan Astro 8. Measure for Measure: Narrative and Numbers in Holocaust Textual Memorials, Jessica Lang 9. Against Generational Thinking in Holocaust Studies, Gary Weissman 10. Simon and Mania, Henri Raczymow, translated by Alan Astro Preface: Henri Raczymow, Writer of the Second-and-a-Half Generation in France, Alan Astro

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Book SynopsisThis collection introduces the reader to third-generation Holocaust narratives, exploring the unique perspective of third-generation writers and demonstrating the ways in which Holocaust memory and trauma extend into the future.Trade ReviewThis collection considers works written by grandchildren, great nieces and nephews, and other relatives about family members who lived during the Hitler years. The term third generation raises some issues. In speaking about the literature of the Holocaust, “the literature of the first generation” meant the testimony of those who lived through the horrors of the Third Reich, those who either survived the death camps (Primo Levi, Ellie Wiesel, Imre Kertesz, et al.) or lived in hiding in the ghettos or as partisan fighters. It did not include those who lived safely through the Nazi years in protected areas or foreign countries. When critics and scholars begin to use terms such as 3G literature and introduce expressions such as 1.5G, 2G, 2.5G, and 3G, one senses that 3.5G and 4G loom in the future; lost is the emphasis on the quality of the story, novel, memoir, biography, film, or research being produced. Generational criticism privileges familial relationships. At its worse, it exploits the experiences of others. Important in this regard is critique of how writers far removed from the Holocaust preserve memory and provide witness to a past they never experienced. The best of these essays do that well, and this book is valuable for doing that service. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *A valuable, searching collection of Third Generation views of the Holocaust, views still proximate to that event and yet increasingly distanced from it. The accounts selectively presented here are both reflective and provide intimate detail, and Aarons' skill in editing brings out with great clarity the effect of time's passage on memory, art, and trauma in the aftermath of the Holocaust. -- Berel Lang, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, SUNY at AlbanyIn this important and visionary new book on third-generation Holocaust narratives, Victoria Aarons assembles a sturdy architectonic of memory's afterimage. Through a "visible bridge"—the continued outpouring of exceptionally well-written and international memoirs and fiction on the Holocaust—the essays affirm that memory is a structure that leaves third-generation survivors, and those coming later, with no alibi against witnessing. In her remarkably lucid introduction, Aarons reminds us that while some of us witness, all of us are companions on a (still) unfinished search. -- Holli Levitsky, Loyola Marymount University, affiliated professor of the University of HaifaVictoria Aarons once again firmly establishes that the post-Holocaust universe is her domain. With great sensitivity, editorial skill and insight, she has unearthed the generational consequences of a crime that was beyond description, and yet so many writers were compelled to do that very thing. -- Thane Rosenbaum, Thane Rosenbaum, author of "The Golems of Gotham," "Second Hand Smoke," and "Elijah Visible"Table of Contents1. A Special Kind of Kinship: On Being a ‘3G’ Writer, Erika Dreifus 2. Memory’s Afterimage: Post-Holocaust Writing and the Third Generation, Victoria Aarons 3. A Visible Bridge: Contemporary Jewish Fiction and the Return to the Shoah, Avinoam Patt 4. Story-telling, Photography, and Mourning in Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost, Paule Lévy 5. Life After Death: A Third Generation Journey in Jérémie Dres’ We Won't See Auschwitz, Alan Berger 6. The “generation without grandparents”: Witnesses and Companions to an Unfinished Search, Melena Chinski 7. Avatars of Third-Generation Holocaust Narrative in French and Spanish, Alan Astro 8. Measure for Measure: Narrative and Numbers in Holocaust Textual Memorials, Jessica Lang 9. Against Generational Thinking in Holocaust Studies, Gary Weissman 10. Simon and Mania, Henri Raczymow, translated by Alan Astro Preface: Henri Raczymow, Writer of the Second-and-a-Half Generation in France, Alan Astro

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Book SynopsisThe Political Life of Bella Abzug, 19201976: Political Passions, Women's Rights, and Congressional Battles, by Alan H. Levy, marks the first full biography of Bella Abzug. Abzug was one of woman in politics in mid- and late-twentieth-century America. Levy traces the New York City world of Russian-Jewish immigrants into which Abzug was born. He then examines her education through Columbia Law School, her marriage, and her early work both as a labor attorney and as an advocate for many controversial causes, including that of an African-American falsely accused of raping a white woman in Jim Crow Era Mississippi. Levy studies Abzug's work for nuclear disarmament, her activism against the Vietnam War, and her successful bid for Congress in 1970. From there, the biography details the myriad of issues with which Abzug grappled as a Member of Congress from 1971 to 1977, and ends with her close loss to Daniel Patrick Moynihan in a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1976. A second book, studying the reTrade ReviewWell researched and carefully written, Levy’s The Political Life of Bella Abzug is a perfect text for students in history, political science, women’s studies, gender studies, and American studies. Graduate students will find rich sources to mine and ideas to confirm and challenge. Finally, the lively readability of Levy’s text makes it a book that general readers will enjoy, particularly in the current contentious political climate that is sometimes mistaken as uniquely combative and obstructionist. Politicians in the 1970s and 1980s also played hardball, and as Levy’s work confirms, Abzug played that way too. * Journal of American History *Alan Levy artfully creates a vivid portrait of Bella Abzug from her birth in the Bronx in 1920 (one month prior to the ratification the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote) to political defeat in 1976, with more to come in a much anticipated sequel. As an advocate for the poor, oppressed minorities, women, blacks, Hispanics, and gays, she had no peer. A page turner, this book reads like a psychological novel that explains the rise and fall of a brilliant if flawed woman. -- Joseph Dorinson, Long Island University, BrooklynTable of ContentsIntroduction. Chapter 1. Live and Let Live Chapter 2. World War II, Law School, and Marriage Chapter 3. Working People Chapter 4. An Explosion in My Mind Chapter 5. Back Downtown Chapter 6. She Always Did Her Homework Chapter 7. Go ____ Yourself Chapter 8. These Motherf_____s Chapter 9. Her Eyes Were Murderous Chapter 10. Priscilla Ryan Chapter 11. From Nixon to Ford Chapter 12. The Last Word Chapter 13. A Staggering Work Load: Caring for the District and the Nation Chapter 14. Safe Seat to No Seat Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisThis study is an intellectual biography of Nikolai N. Bolkhovitinov (19302008), the prominent Soviet historian who was a pioneering scholar of US history and USRussian relations. Alongside the personal history of Bolkhovitinov, this study also examines the broader social, cultural, and intellectual developments within the Americanist scholarly community in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Using archival documents, numerous studies by Russian and Ukrainian Americanists, various periodicals, personal correspondence, diaries, and more than one hundred interviews, it demonstrates how concepts, genealogies, and images of modernity shaped a national self-perception of the intellectual elites in both nations during the Cold War.Trade ReviewZhuk’s Nikolai Bolkhovitinov and American Studies in the USSRis a painstakinglyresearched, if not always carefully edited, intellectual biographyof an academic “liberal Westernizer” (158) whorose to become a leading light among Soviet scholars ofNorth American history and politics. * American Historical Review *The author’s style is informal and engaging. Historians, sociologists, and political psychologists— and not only those who study the Cold War—will be enlightened and should find this book very useful in their studies and classes. * Slavic Review *Zhuk’s book is an intellectual biography of Nikolai Bolkhovitinov. . . the book is worth reading, both to follow one Soviet academic through his scientific life during the Cold War and to get a sense of the opportunities that opened up for Soviet historians after the collapse of the Soviet Union. * Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History *Sergei I. Zhuk tells the compelling and largely unknown story of how Soviet Americanists both provided a solid foundation for relations between the Soviet Union and the United States throughout much of the Cold War and drew on their knowledge of the United States to erode the ideological blinders inhibiting reform within the Soviet Union. By focusing on Nikolai Bolkhovitinov—a modest, hard-working scholar who was well-regarded for his integrity by Soviet and American colleagues alike—Zhuk amplifies the ways in which large-scale political and social transformations can begin with the most quiet among us. Anyone wanting to understand why the Soviet Union collapsed would do well by reading this study. -- Blair Ruble, Woodrow Wilson CenterThis superbly researched book, which mines Soviet and American archives, the Soviet press, and includes a rich trove of personal interviews, makes a significant and original contribution to the cultural history of the Cold War. As a former Soviet Americanist who is presently a leading specialist in late Soviet cultural history, Sergei I. Zhuk is uniquely placed to write this fascinating study. -- Denise J. Youngblood, University of VermontThis study is an unvarnished account of how ‘an idea of America’ shaped Soviet intellectuals, both in their idealism and national ressentiment. Sergei I. Zhuk’s history of the rise and fall of American studies in the Soviet Union—highly personal, yet rigorously academic—contains valuable lessons for today’s observers of Russian–American relations. -- Vladislav Zubok, London School of Economics and Political ScienceTrained as an American studies expert in the former Soviet Union, Sergei I. Zhuk has written an engaging and informative account of the shaping of generations of Soviet American specialists, drawing on archives, interviews, and his own experience under the guidance of his teacher, Professor Nikolai Bolkhovitinov. -- Hiroaki Kuromiya, Indiana University BloomingtonTable of ContentsChapter 1: Institutionalization of American Studies in the USSR and Academic ExchangesChapter 2: The United States in the Soviet Interpretation under Stalin: From Lev Zubok to Aleksei EfimovChapter 3: “Stalin’s Last Generation”: Nikolai Bolkhovitinov and Making a Soviet Americanist after the Second World WarChapter 4: Khrushchev Thaw, Nikolai Bolkhovitinov and the Discovery of the Origins of Russian–US RelationsChapter 5: The Rise of Soviet Americanist: Nikolai Bolkhovitinov during the Early Brezhnev Era (1964–70) Chapter 6: Nikolai Bolkhovitinov and Academic Détente, 1971–79Chapter 7: “Out of Favor”: Bolkhovitinov’s Career and Shaping of the New Directions in the Soviet Studies of US History, 1979–85Chapter 8: Socialist Modernity, Soviet Americanists, and “Epistemological Revolution” of PerestroikaEpilogue: State Business in Russian/Soviet Historical Perspectives on the US from Nicholas I to Putin

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Book SynopsisThis book comprises essays honoring the life and work of Yiu Sing Lúcás Chan, S.J., who died unexpectedly on May 19, 2015, at the end of his first year as a member of the faculty in the Department of Theology at Marquette University. The editors intend to commemorate Chan's brief but productive career by furthering the critical conversations he started. The essays included thus touch on aspects of the brilliant young Jesuit's wide-ranging work in the fields of scriptural research, moral theology, and systematic theology. Each essay either engages Chan's scholarship directly or seeks to advance his design to bridge the disciplinary gaps between scriptural research and constructive theology. This book includes contributions by noted Roman Catholic theologians James F. Keenan, S.J., Bryan N. Massingale, and John R. Donohue, S.J., as well as two original poems by his Marquette colleagues dedicated to Lúcás.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Prelude Where is Lúcás? Irfan Omar Part One: Cross Cultural, Systematic, and Ethical Dialogues 1. Hospitality: A Timely, Biblical Virtue from the Book of Ruth to Today James F. Keenan, S.J. 2. The Welcome Table: The Table Fellowship of Jesus and Its Implications for Racial Justice, Bryan N. Massingale 3. An Ode to My Brother Lúcás Chan, S.J.: A Latin American Response to His Ethical Approach John S. Thiede, S.J. 4. The Significance of Lúcás Chan Cross-Cultural Approach to Biblical Ethics to African Reading of the Bible Joseph Ogbonnaya 5. Solidarity with the Suffering and the Identity of the Theologian George E. Griener, S.J. 6. Ignatian Contemplation of Scripture and the Communal Schooling of Virtue Danielle Nussberger 7. Speaking Truth in Mercy: Compassion and the Moral Meanings of the Bible Sean Larsen 8. The Imperative Connection between Scripture and Ethics in a Catholic Context Conor M. Kelly Part Two: Scriptural Dialogues 9. Torah and Moral Law: a Paradigmatic Case of the Relationship between Bible and Theological Ethics Antonio Autiero 10. Taking the Text Seriously: Learning from Daniel 3’s Appropriation of the Decalogue Paul Cizek 11. “Blessed are the Mourners”: Lamentation and the Path to Justice John R. Donahue, S.J. 12. “How Long O Lord”: Practices of Lamentation and the Restoration of Political Agency Kyle Lambelet 13. Just Reading or a Just Reading: Biblical Stories of Subaltern Virtue Gina Hens-Piazza 14. Model Hospitality: Abraham, Boaz, and the Search for Biblical Exemplars. Michael B. Cover 15. John’s Gospel and the Ethics of Freedom and Love Alexandre A. Martins, MI Postlude Strings and Wind Michael B. Cover Index About the Contributors

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Book SynopsisThis book chronicles the professional life of a career-long, inclusive educator in New York City through eight different stages in special and general education. Developing a new approach to research as part of qualitative methodology, David J. Connor merges the academic genre of autoethnography with memoir to create a narrative that engages the reader through stories of personal experiences within the professional world that politicized him as an educator. After each chapter's narrative, a systematic analytic commentary follows that focuses on: teaching and learning in schools and universities; the influence of educational laws; specific models of disability and how influence educators and educational researchers; and educational structures and systemsincluding their impact on social, political, and cultural experiences of people with disabilities. This autoethnographic memoir documents, over three decades, the relationship between special and general education, the growth of the inclTrade ReviewThe story of educator David Connor is also, as it turns out, the story of the unfolding relationship between special education and disability studies in the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With clarity and humor, as well as love and gratitude for his students and colleagues over the years, Connor weaves his memoir with honesty, compassion, and a keen intelligence. Contemplating Dis/ability in Schools and Society will be treasured by teachers, professors, and others committed to making public education more humane and just for all students, their teachers, and society more broadly. -- Sonia Nieto, University of MassachusettsIn this autoethnographic memoir, David Connor intimately reflects on thirty years as a (special) educator. Organizing the memoir around his career trajectory, Connor compellingly narrates a series of personal and professional experiences beginning with his life as a new teacher, and later as a doctoral student, college professor, and finally, department chairperson. Throughout the book, Connor acknowledges the tensions and conflicted feelings that are shared by many of us whose scholarly work is situated in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) but whose faculty and teaching responsibilities reside in special education programs. David Connor is a prolific writer and compelling scholar whose contributions to education, and DSE in particular, are significant due to the breadth of topics studied and the depth of scrutiny and analysis applied to each project. -- Susan L. Gabel, Wayne State UniversityTable of ContentsA Note from the Editor Note to the Reader Preface: From World’s End to World’s Center Introduction Chapter 1: Classroom Teacher Chapter 2: Staff Developer Chapter 3: Doctoral Student Chapter 4: Teacher Coach Chapter 5: College Professor Chapter 6: Scholar Chapter 7: Doctoral Faculty Chapter 8: Department Chairperson Epilogue Acknowledgments Appendix References About the Author

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Book SynopsisThis book chronicles the professional life of a career-long, inclusive educator in New York City through eight different stages in special and general education. Developing a new approach to research as part of qualitative methodology, David J. Connor merges the academic genre of autoethnography with memoir to create a narrative that engages the reader through stories of personal experiences within the professional world that politicized him as an educator. After each chapter's narrative, a systematic analytic commentary follows that focuses on: teaching and learning in schools and universities; the influence of educational laws; specific models of disability and how influence educators and educational researchers; and educational structures and systemsincluding their impact on social, political, and cultural experiences of people with disabilities. This autoethnographic memoir documents, over three decades, the relationship between special and general education, the growthTrade ReviewFor those interested in pondering how the individual development of an educator can parallel the evolution of a field, David Connor’s book will not disappoint as it vividly portrays the complexities of an innovative educator’s life, demonstrating how the professional and personal are inextricably tied. . . One of the greatest strengths of Contemplating Dis/Ability in Schools and Society is the way in which Connor weaves together the history of the field with the story of his evolution as a lifelong educator. Education is a human endeavor, and to understand how trends evolve is to understand how they rest within the individual educators and scholars who collectively constitute the field. Thus, the reader walks away feeling not only that they know the author more intimately but that they understand in greater depth the course which the field of education (including special education and disability studies) has taken. Connor’s writing in Contemplating Dis/Ability in Schools and Society is warm and inviting. . . . In short, I find this book to be as innovative as its author, offering a unique and personal account of an often clinically-oriented field. * Teachers College Record *The story of educator David Connor is also, as it turns out, the story of the unfolding relationship between special education and disability studies in the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With clarity and humor, as well as love and gratitude for his students and colleagues over the years, Connor weaves his memoir with honesty, compassion, and a keen intelligence. Contemplating Dis/ability in Schools and Society will be treasured by teachers, professors, and others committed to making public education more humane and just for all students, their teachers, and society more broadly. -- Sonia Nieto, University of MassachusettsIn this autoethnographic memoir, David Connor intimately reflects on thirty years as a (special) educator. Organizing the memoir around his career trajectory, Connor compellingly narrates a series of personal and professional experiences beginning with his life as a new teacher, and later as a doctoral student, college professor, and finally, department chairperson. Throughout the book, Connor acknowledges the tensions and conflicted feelings that are shared by many of us whose scholarly work is situated in Disability Studies in Education (DSE) but whose faculty and teaching responsibilities reside in special education programs. David Connor is a prolific writer and compelling scholar whose contributions to education, and DSE in particular, are significant due to the breadth of topics studied and the depth of scrutiny and analysis applied to each project. -- Susan L. Gabel, Wayne State UniversityTable of ContentsA Note from the EditorNote to the ReaderPreface: From World’s End to World’s CenterIntroductionChapter 1: Classroom TeacherChapter 2: Staff DeveloperChapter 3: Doctoral StudentChapter 4: Teacher CoachChapter 5: College ProfessorChapter 6: ScholarChapter 7: Doctoral FacultyChapter 8: Department ChairpersonEpilogueAcknowledgmentsAppendixReferencesAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisThe image of a voice in the wilderness evokes an outcast who has been condemned and banished by society. That image fits the scholar-priest Joseph de Prémare who spent the last thirty-eight years of his life (1698-1736) mainly in remote areas of China. He was condemned to silence by not only his religious superiors, but also by intellectuals in Europe. He was silenced because his Figurist theories were regarded as dangerous and implausible. And yet the irony of this silencing is that Father Prémare was one of the most knowledgeable Sinologists of all time. As a missionary in towns in the southern province of Jiangxi, he was freed from many pastoral duties by an assisting catechist and able to devote himself to intensive study of Chinese texts. He was practically a scholar-hermit who left the urban, politicized atmosphere of Beijing after only two years to return to Jiangxi province. There he cultivated Chinese literati who helped him assemble a remarkable collection of classical texts.Trade ReviewDavid Mungello’s work, while drawing on important publications by pioneers such as Knud Lundbæk, does at last give us a convenient synopsis of the career of a man whose breadth of reading in Chinese was probably over a century ahead of anyone else in the West. For that alone he surely does deserve to be remembered, and for ensuring that David Mungello certainly deserves our thanks. * Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *Through these five chapters Mungello gives an intimate, almost encyclopedic overview of the fate of Prémare and of Figurism. He paints a picture of a fervent missionary and scholar. This work is concise and gives an excellent overview of the history of Figurism along the red thread of Prémare’s life and work in China and its ultimate failure to “save” the China mission. . . Mungello also makes a beautiful statement on academic freedom, even though, or maybe because, Prémare’s thoughts were radical and possibly heretical: no one deserves to be silenced. * International Review Of Mission *M. performs a great service not only to sinologists but also to a broader readership, especially Catholics, by retrieving this little-known chapter of Catholic missions in China. In hindsight, the silencing of Prémare was a terrible injustice to this scholarly and saintly Jesuit, whose sole goal in elaborating Figurisme was to facilitate the con- version of the Chinese to Christianity by showing that God was already present at the beginning of their history and has revealed himself to their ancestors. May Prémare’s story provide a cautionary tale to contemporary church leaders, especially in Asia, not to fail to discern God’s hidden presence among their people, and not to silence those who try to point to it. * Theological Studies *Mungello’s erudition and fine prose make this investigation of a most remarkable chapter of the history of the Christian mission in East Asia an inspiring and much-recommended read. * Religious Studies Review *This book is a major contribution to a fascinating aspect of the Jesuit mission in China. Prémare's is a tragic story, and it is well told here, with compelling examples of his 'discovery' in the Chinese classics of prefigurations of Christian Revelation. However ultimately misguided his claims may have been, the author establishes beyond any possible doubt Prémare's encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese language and culture, and his devoted sincerity of purpose. -- Jonathan Chaves, professor of Chinese, The George Washington UniversityNever before has interest in the Jesuit enterprise in China been been more acute, and D. E. Mungello's study of the Jesuit Figurist, Joseph de Prémare, is among the most insightful and informed studies now available. This remarkable work on one of the progenitors of modern Sinology will receive wide acclaim. -- Anthony E. Clark, Whitworth University...[G]iven that David Mungello has spent more than four decades engaged in the study of Prémare and the environment in which he operated, there is clearly no one better placed today to take up the cudgels on his behalf.... David Mungello’s work, while drawing on important publications by pioneers such as Knud Lundbæk, does at last give us a convenient synopsis of the career of a man whose breadth of reading in Chinese was probably over a century ahead of anyone else in the West. For that alone he surely does deserve to be remembered, and for ensuring that David Mungello certainly deserves our thanks. * Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies *Table of ContentsChapter I: WaterChapter II: Drama versus History Chapter III: The VestigiaChapter IV: Daoism and Hieroglyphics in the VestigiaChapter V: Earth to Earth, Dust to Dust

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Book SynopsisThis study comprehensively and systematically explores how Theodore Roosevelt understood, massed, and wielded power to pursue his vision for an America that was the world's most prosperous, just, and influential nation.Trade ReviewNester (St. John's) offers new insight into the concept of power as defined by early-20th-century American culture. Situated at the epicenter of this “American Power” is Theodore Roosevelt, whom Nester refers to as “An American for All Time.” According to Nester, Roosevelt saw life as a constant struggle, and believed that the Gilded Age notion of the survival of the fittest could be applied to the individual American and the country as a whole. To Roosevelt, power came in two forms, soft and hard, and was exemplified by his famous axiom to “speak softly and carry a big stick.” But unlike many counterparts at the turn of the century, Roosevelt did not believe in the winner-take-all mentality, as it related to political power and material resources. Through his detailed analysis of Roosevelt’s life, Nester effectively demonstrates how Roosevelt defined and used power to lead the US to the forefront of world power. In showcasing the rise of American power in the early 20th century, Nester’s coverage of Roosevelt offers a mirror to the challenges of today.Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The secret to the appeal of this charming memoir resides in Matsuhisa's personal simplicity . . . A straightforward memoir sure to please both Nobu fans and Japanese cuisine lovers." * Kirkus Reviews *"More than a culinary-centric memoir, the book carries the wisdom of a successful self-made man who made many mistakes and who had weaknesses and moments of despair . . . relatable life lessons from a passionate spirit are what keep the pages turning." * Eater, The Best Food-Focused Memoirs of Fall 2017 *"An insightful peek into the mind of one of the world's most successful restaurateurs." * Library Journal *"Sweet, charming, experienced, and humble, a world-famous chef reveals the experiences that helped shape him and his thinking, and imparts meaning." * What's Nonfiction? Blog *"Nobu is one of the good guys who has become famous by the old-fashioned tenets of being a family man, hard work, passion, and perseverance even in the face of adversity . . . This is inspiration by example." * The Associated Press *

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