Looking for literary diversion during the dog days of summer? Check out new books from University of Oregon faculty and alumni below. You’ll find more at Oregon Quarterly and can also submit your own latest work.
Faculty
“American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory” by Matthew Dennis, professor emeritus of history and of environmental studies, College of Arts and Sciences. Dennis considers a range of fraught public objects across the expanse of American history, from the gold epaulettes that George Washington wore into battle to the atrocious artifacts of lynching, Civil War souvenirs, and the bullet-riddled door of the Pulse nightclub.
“Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home” by Lauren Kessler, MS ’75 (journalism), professor emerita, School of Journalism. In this empathetic work of immersion reportage, Kessler reveals what awaits the hundreds of thousands of people who are 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, and the sometimes overwhelming psychological challenges.
“Invisible Things” by Mat Johnson, Philip H. Knight Chair, creative writing and English departments, College of Arts and Sciences. When sociologist Nalini Jackson joins the SS Delany for the first manned mission to Jupiter, all she wants is the chance to conduct the first field study of group dynamics on long-haul cryoships. But what she discovers instead is an entire city encased in a bubble on Europa, Jupiter’s largest moon. Nalini and the rest of the crew soon find themselves abducted and joining its captive population.
“Mind in Nature: John Dewey, Cognitive Science, and a Naturalistic Philosophy for Living” by Mark L. Johnson, professor emeritus, Philip H. Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences; and Jay Schulkin, research professor, University of Washington. This dialogue between contemporary neuroscience and John Dewey’s seminal philosophical work “Experience and Nature” explores how the bodily roots of human meaning, selfhood, and values provide wisdom for living.
“So Simple a Beginning: How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World” by Raghuveer Parthasarathy, Alec and Kay Keith Professor, physics, College of Arts and Sciences. Parthasarathy shows how the new science of biophysics is transforming our understanding of life on Earth and enabling potentially lifesaving but controversial technologies such as gene editing, artificial organ growth, and ecosystem engineering.
“The Songs of Clara Schumann” by Stephen Rodgers, Edmund A. Cykler Chair, School of Music and Dance. Schumann was regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era; in highlighting the powerful and distinctive features of her songs, Rodgers explores questions that foster a deeper understanding of the work of female composers.
Alumni
“Monstersona” by Chloe Spencer, BA ’17 (journalism). After her parents’ divorce, sixteen-year-old Riley Grishin is forced to move from Portland, Oregon, to Little Brook, Maine, a small town that serves as the headquarters for Titan Technologies, an international science corporation. Riley spends most of her days running through the woods with her dog, Tigger, and eavesdropping on her classmates—in particular, the gorgeous, but very strange, Aspen Montehugh. On the night of the homecoming game, Riley wakes up to find that her town is on fire and being terrorized by an unseen monster. With the flames rapidly spreading, Riley and Tigger have no choice but to pile up in their beat-up pickup truck and flee the town. But as they’re driving away, they come across the only other survivor: Aspen.
“Pushed: Miners, a Merchant, and (Maybe) a Massacre” by Ana Maria Spagna, BA ’89 (Clark Honors College, English). Amid the current alarming rise in xenophobia, Spagna stumbled upon a story: one day in 1875, according to lore, on a high bluff over the Columbia River, a group of local Indigenous people murdered a large number of Chinese miners—perhaps as many as three hundred—and pushed their bodies over a cliff into the river. She set out to discover exactly what happened and why.
“The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram: An Elizabethan Sailor in Native North America” by Dean Snow, PhD ’66 (anthropology). In 1582, the allure of the New World of North America was palpable for Queen Elizabeth I and her court. The Queen’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, needed information about the unfamiliar continent—and his only source was Black sailor David Ingram, one of the few living Englishmen to have traveled substantially in North America.
“The Ice Sings Back” by M Jackson, PhD ’17 (geography). When a young girl goes missing in the remote wilderness of the western Oregon Cascades, her disappearance sets off a chain of events that reveal a long history of violence, abuse of power, and environmental precarity. This is a story of how four women make sense of the everyday extraordinary traumas that contour their lives, and how their individual strengths come together to sing a fierce hymn of survival.
“The Neighbors We Want” by Tim Lane, BA ’06 (magazine, Spanish). Adam is having a hard time adjusting to the stay-at-home-dad life. The sleepless nights and the constant diaper changing are not what he expected after he was abruptly fired from his job. Then again, Adam wasn’t prepared for his relationship with his wife Sarah to slowly come apart at the seams either. This psychological page-turner, perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn, explores how far couples will go to keep their marriage intact—unless their secrets tear it apart first.
“Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest” by Josephine Woolington, BA ’13 (journalism, political science). Reconnect with the natural world through essays that blend science and prose. In her debut work, Woolington turns back the clock to review the events that have challenged Pacific Northwest wildlife in an effort to provide a deeper sense of place.