Shelf Life
Married at Fourteen
Teenage rebel-turned prize-winning poet Lucille Lang Day (M.S., ’99; M.F.A., ’04) will have readers at the first sentence of her extraordinary new memoir. Expect to smile, to cringe and ultimately to come away inspired by this startling story of a teenage mother who transformed herself from gas station attendant to the holder of four advanced degrees. Well-paced and without a maudlin moment, Lang Day’s book also serves as a reminder that it is never too late for anyone to chart a new course in life.
Core Samples from the World
New Directions
Forrest Gander’s (M.A. ’81) pulitzer-nominated poetry collection extends the remarkable possibilities of the haibun — an ancient Japanese literary form — as he examines the cultures and geographies of regions as diverse as China, Mexico and Chile. Black and white photographs create an interesting tension where image and lyric converse.
A Hundred Flowers
St. Martin's Press
Gail Tsukiyama (B.A.,’75; M.F.A.,’81) set her latest novel in 1950s-era China when Chairman Mao imprisoned those who questioned the Communist party. The story opens after Sheng, the patriarch of an ordinary family, is sent to a labor camp for “reeducation,” leaving his wife and son to come to terms with his absence.
The Battle of Birch Coulie
University of Nebraska Press
John Christgau (B.A., ’58; M.A., ’61) recounts the dramatic events surrounding the decisive battle in the 1862 war between white settlers and the Dakota Indians in Minnesota. readers come away with a new understanding of the battle, which led to the largest mass execution in American history.
An Unknown World: Notes on the Meaning of the Earth
Tarcher
As a child, professor of philosophy Jacob Needleman struck up a friendship with another young boy who, just a few months later, would die of leukemia. the brief relationship forced the boys at ayoung age tocontemplate the meaning of life, death and the universe. Needleman draws upon that relationship to ask, “what is the purpose of the Earth itself?”
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