Category: Books

Lauren Hirshberg (MSJ02)

Suburban Empire takes readers to the US missile base at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, at the matrix of postwar US imperial expansion, the Cold War nuclear arms race, and the tide of anti-colonial struggles rippling across the world. Hirshberg shows that the displacement of indigenous Marshallese within Kwajalein Atoll mirrors the segregation and spatial politics of the mainland US as local and global iterations of US empire took hold. Tracing how Marshall Islanders navigated US military control over their lands, Suburban Empire reveals that Cold War-era suburbanization was perfectly congruent with US colonization, military testing, and nuclear fallout. The structures of suburban segregation cloaked the destructive history of control and militarism under a veil of small-town innocence.

Lisa L. Lewis (IMC91)

In 2015, when Lisa L. Lewis started looking into why high schools start so early in the morning, she had no idea where it eventually lead. After the 7:30 a.m. start time at her son’s high school prompted her involvement, her writing on the topic sparked California’s landmark law (the first of its kind in the nation) requiring health secondary school start times and her new book, The Sleep-Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, And How Parents And Schools Can Help Them Thrive.

Her book synthesizes the research on sleep, provides parents with practical guidance, and also includes a deep dive into tech use and sleep, along with an examination of how sex and gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity can affect sleep. The book has been described as “a call to action” by Arianna Huffington and “an urgent and timely read” by Daniel H. Pink.

“Adolescents are chronically sleep-deprived, with far-ranging implications for their well-being – including their mental health,” Lewis said. “My hope is that spreading awareness of how critical sleep is for our teens will help prompt ongoing meaningful change.”

Deborah “Dobsy” Karabin (BSJ73)

PROCEEDS FOR THIS KIDS BOOK BENEFIT UKRAINIAN REFUGEES.

My paternal grandparents lived there.

This book is about Bita Ukrainian Warrior Dog, which is the title.

She meets a band of pups from Paris led by Metro, an American poodle named after my own dear dog. Bita is separated from her family and finds a Ukrainian soldier who is later wounded. Bita tracks him down, finds her family and surprises everyone including herself with a big bundle of joy.

Gary Weiss (MSJ76)

Back in the fall of 2016 we heard the news about the passing of Eddie Antar, “Crazy Eddie” as he was known to millions of people, the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history. Few things evoke the New York of a particular era the way “Crazy Eddie! His prices are insaaaaane!” does. The journalist Herb Greenberg called his death the “end of an era” and that couldn’t be more true. What’s insane is that his story has never been told.

Before Enron, before Madoff, before The Wolf of Wall Street, Eddie Antar’s corruption was second to none. The difference was that it was a street franchise, a local place that was in the blood stream of everyone’s daily life in the 1970s and early ’80s. And Eddie pulled it off with a certain style, an in your face blue collar chutzpah. Despite the fact that then U.S. Attorney Michael Chertoffcalled him “the Darth Vader of capitalism” after the extent of the fraud was revealed, one of the largest SEC frauds in American history after Crazy Eddie’s stores went public in 1984, Eddie was talked about fondly by the people who worked for him. They still do–there are myriads of ex-Crazy Eddie employee web pages that still attract fans, and the Crazy Eddie fraud scheme is now taught in every business school across the United States.

Many years have passed since the franchise went down in spectacular fashion but Crazy Eddie’s moment has endured the way that iconic brands and characters do–one only need Google the media outpouring that accompanied his death. Maybe it’s because it crystallized everything about 1970s New York almost perfectly, the merchandise and rise of consumer electronics (stereos!), the ads (cheesy!), the money (cash!). In “Retail Gangster,” investigative journalist Gary Weiss takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most unbelievable business scam stories of all time, a story spanning continents and generations, reaffirming the old adage that the truth is often stranger than fiction.

Reviews:

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/books/review-retail-gangster-gary-weiss.html

Wall Street Journal

https://www.wsj.com/articles/retail-gangster-review-lets-make-a-deal-11661205935

David Dennis (MSJ09)

A dynamic family exchange that pivots between the voices of a father and son, The Movement Made Us is a unique work of oral history and memoir, chronicling the extraordinary story of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and its living legacy embodied in Black Lives Matter. David Dennis Sr., a core architect of the movement, speaks out for the first time, swapping recollections both harrowing and joyful with David Jr., a journalist working on the front lines of change today.

Taken together, their stories paint a critical portrait of America, casting one nation’s image through the lens of two individual Black men and their unique relationship. Playful and searching, anxious and restorative, fearless and driving, this intimate memoir features scenes from across David Sr.’s life, as he becomes involved in the movement, tries to move beyond it, and ultimately returns to it to find final solace and new sense of self—revealing a survivor who travels eternally with a cabal of ghosts.

A crucial addition to Civil Rights history, The Movement Made Us is the story of a nation reckoning with change and the hopes, struggles, setbacks, and triumphs of modern Black life. This is it: the extant chronicle of why we live, why we move, and for what we are made.

Greg Presto (BSJ04, MSJ07)

Exercise can do so much more than just make you sweat. It can also take you across the world to bike with zebras, back in time to the decks of the Titanic, or into the shoes of pro athletes, Hollywood superstars … and even presidents of the United States.

Whether you’re a beginner who can barely make it off the couch or a gym junkie who can’t stop moving, The Workout Bucket List is bursting with seriously fun fitness challenges and adventures for every type of person … and body! There are workouts, plans, races, and ideas to build your own ultimate life list of adventures—with options you can try at home, in your local gym, and across the globe. Inside this book you’ll:
· Race your bike over mountains against a locomotive
· Run in the world’s largest 10K
· Do leg day like America’s toughest firefighter
· Swim a mile in Mr. Rogers’s sneakers
· Tackle a workout using equipment from the Titanic
· Conquer the world’s tallest climbing wall
· Catch a big wave in the Big Apple
And hundreds more!

Lauren Kessler (BSJ71)

95 percent of the millions of American men and women who go to prison eventually get out. What happens to them?
A gripping and empathetic work of immersion reportage, Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home, by veteran journalist Lauren Kessler reveals what awaits the hundreds of thousands released from prison every year: the first rush of freedom followed quickly by institutionalized obstacles and logistical roadblocks, grinding bureaucracies, lack of resources, societal stigmas and damning self-perceptions, the often overwhelming psychological challenges. Free follows six people whose diverse stories paint an intimate portrait of struggle, persistence, and resilience.

Alan Heymann (BSJ97)

Human beings are expert storytellers. “Don’t Just Have the Soup” is a collection of 52 analogies from Alan Heymann’s executive and leadership coaching practice. Sometimes, the analogies come to his own mind. Sometimes, they hatch from the minds of clients or other coaches.

Analogies are a simple way to weave stories together and meet people where they are. In coaching, they’re a powerful tool for reframing what the client is experiencing.

They’re organized around 6 topics: The leader mindset, Communication, Time and attention, Relationships, Transitions and Coaching.

Linda K. Wertheimer (BSJ86, MSJ86)

Faith Ed, Teaching about Religion in an Age of Intolerance, gives an intimate cross-country look at the ongoing debate over how to handle religion in the schools. Veteran education journalist Linda K. Wertheimer traveled to communities around the nation, listening to voices on all sides of controversies over teaching about religion, including those of clergy, teachers, children, and parents who are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sikh, or atheist. Her investigation, which includes a return to her rural Ohio school system, which once ran weekly Christian Bible classes, reveals a public education system struggling to find the right path forward and offers a promising roadmap for raising a new generation of religiously literate Americans.

Lori Marshall (BSJ86, MSJ88)

“One-Way Ticket to L.A.” is the story of how a nurse from Ohio found love in Hollywood. Written by Barbara Marshall with her daughter Lori Marshall, the memoir chronicles Barbara’s journey from nursing school to Los Angeles where she met a fast-talking comedy writer from the Bronx named Garry Marshall. He would go on to direct movies with Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Julie Andrews and more. Together, Barbara and Garry built one of the most respected marriages in Hollywood. With mutual love and encouragement, their fairy tale lasted 53 years. The book was published by Sarah Street Press in early 2021.