You Should Read....: 2017 - Nonfiction

Recommended by Steve Setchell, Alumni Engagement.The fledgling United States was losing the war for independence. The British held New York and seemed to know where to attack the Continental forces' weaknesses. To counter British spying, George Washington organized a network of spies in New York who risked their lives (hanging without trial was the penalty for discovery) to pass along intelligence to the patriots. Working on Long Island and Manhattan, Washington's spies were instrumental in turning the tide for the U.S. This unseen war behind the war for independence has rarely been mentioned by historians until Alexander Rose's excellent treatment of the subject. By the way, it has been made into a still-running Netflix series titled Turn.

Recommended by Caroline Gilson, Libraries. This is an ongoing series you can find in the General Collection at the Prevo Science Library. Each book in the series takes a single animal, bird, insect or amphibian and covers its biology as well as cultural and historical roles. Each book is paperback, about 200 pages, with many color images and photos. I've read Giraffe and Elephant. There are over 80 books so far in the series, and the Prevo Science Library has a standing order, meaning we get the newly published titles automatically.

Recommended by Claire Halffield, Class of 2017 (and Student Body President). You will cherish every page of Between the World and Me because Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in a poetic fashion. Between the World and Me opened my eyes to many of the struggles that members of marginalized communities faced and continue to face on a daily basis. Coates writes this book to his son, who is growing up in a world vastly different yet simultaneously quite similar to his experience growing up as a Black man in the United States. To read this book, you must understand that your values and current beliefs might be challenged. You will not feel comfortable when you are reading this book, but in my experience as a reader, I grew immensely.

Recommended by Perrin Duncan, Class of 2017. If you want to avoid the quarter-life crisis, you should pick up The Defining Decade. This book discusses the importance of taking advantage of time in our 20's to help find success in our 30's and beyond. It's an interesting, easy read, self-help book that is relatable and fun! Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist and shares relevant stories of her patients throughout the book to help navigate careers, love, and your mind. She gave a TED talk which offers a good preview of the book's main message, but it is definitely worth taking the time to read!

Recommended by Christina Paul, Public Safety.True story of 26 Mexicans who tried to cross into the US through the desert, only 12 survived. This book is filled with bravery and heartbreak and will have you holding your breath and on the edge of your seat page after page. Also, it just may give you a different perspective on the controversies over our southern border. This is a book that will touch your soul.

Recommended by Samuel Autman, English. Leslie Jamison is the rare bird who writes fiction and nonfiction with equal flair. These essays are raw, ragged and extremely polished, and manage to bend into the world as much as they do her soul. A dazzling array of dislocation and physical violence are juxtaposed against her deft knowledge of the western canon, she’s not smart without being showy. For creative nonfiction students, no one does a more superb job at reflecting on what’s clearly been a rough journey than this stylist.

Recommended by Midori Kawaui, class of 2017. A Civil War cartographer telling his story of incarceration through sketches.

Recommended by Jeff McCall, Communication & Theatre. General Sherman was considered mentally unstable by many who knew him, and indeed, Sherman suffered through many personal setbacks and challenges during his life. But his leadership in the Atlanta campaign helped turn the tide of the Civil War. Sherman inflicted much property damage on the South, but his campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas caused relatively few casualties among his Union soldiers and even his Confederate foes. Sherman believed in winning with flanking and logistic strategies. My great-great grandfather, William Henry Harrison McCall, served in Sherman's army as part of the 125th Illinois Volunteer Regiment. The 125th led the Union charge at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.

Recommended by Drew Harris, Class of 2020. People who live in glass houses should definitely NOT throw stones.

Recommended by Dave Berque, Computer Science, and Dean of Academic Life. Amazon's web site describes Grit this way:

"In this instant New York Times bestseller, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed—be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people—that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”"

While written for a more general audience, Duckworth's writing has clear applications to students, and to everyone works with them.

Recommended by Jeff McCall, Communication & Theatre. This powerful biography provides deep insight to the wisdom and leadership of one of the greatest native American chiefs. Red Cloud worked hard to achieve peace in the American west, but also knew how to wage war when necessary. This book carefully explores the complexities of westward expansion, with particular sensitivity to the challenges and injustices faced by native Americans on the plains.

Recommended by Miranda Spivack: A riveting, yet dispassionate and journalistic account of what happens to a country when efforts to protect freedoms are thwarted by an authoritarian regime aided by outside forces.

Recommended by Annalysse Mason, Class of 2017. Puts insanely complicated information in understandable terms. Good before bed reading.

Recommended by Angela Castaneda, Sociology & Anthropology. With the increase in debates on bans, borders, and walls, Jason De León's ethnographic work in The Land of Open Graves unpacks the human consequences of US immigration policy. It addresses ethical issues at the heart of migration: Do nations have an ethical obligation to do the least harm to migrants when establishing and enforcing immigration laws? What role does our country have in encouraging, discouraging, or limiting migration? How should discussions about migration be conducted? And whose voices should be included in such discussions? De León uses a four-field approach to anthropology to document the stories, objects, and bodies left behind in the Sonoran Desert.

Recommended by Derek Ford, Education Studies: While many people in the U.S. would readily denounce or ridicule the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (or North Korea), most would admit that they have little knowledge about the country’s history, its people, or its political structure. This is not because the country is a mystery or a big secret, but rather because we only get a very narrow and one-sided caricature of it. In this short and concise book, one of the world’s most renowned North Korean scholars presents a compelling history of modern Korea and of U.S.-North Korean relations. North Korea: Another Country is a popularized and condensed translation of Cumings’ lengthier and more academic works. It’s a book that gets behind the sensationalized headlines (and shows why those headlines are very often later retracted), one that articulates and explains the mentality and logic of the country as it has developed in a complicated world situation.

Recommended by Vanessa Dickerson, English. This collection of Baldwin's essays takes us into the mind of writer whose understanding of America is as incisive today as it was over a half of a century ago.

Recommended by Nahyan Fancy, History. The book is a comic-style representation of a journalist's year-long stay (1991-1992) in the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine during the first intifada. The book is seen as a landmark in the development of graphic form of New Journalism. It does a fabulous job of bringing out the real lived experiences of a people under occupation that are barely mentioned in the sanitized media narratives of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Recommended by Jeff McCall, Communication & Theatre. Admiral Spruance is perhaps the most overlooked military genius of World War II. He was not flashy or self-promoting, but he was intensely analytical and strategic. He deserves much credit for American victory at the pivotal Battle of Midway. He commanded the powerful Fifth Fleet, which won every major action in the Pacific. Spruance was from Indianapolis and his flagship was the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis. My father was an air-sea lookout on the USS Indianapolis and was often stationed on the bridge while Admiral Spruance was in command. Spruance was a man of few words, but he commanded with vision and determination.

Recommended by Jeff McCall, Communication & Theatre. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a brilliant legal thinker. This book provides a direct look into the thought processes of Justice Scalia. He clearly believes judges should adhere to a strict reading of the Constitution and that laws passed by legislative bodies should be read for their literal meaning. This, Scalia says, keeps the nation's power in the hands of citizens and their legislators, not in judges.

Recommended by Tineke D'Haeseleer: What have Holbein’s painting “The Ambassadors” and Montaigne’s cat in common? Here they both function as entry points into a deep study of cooperation, where it has gone wrong, and how we can repair it. Sennett's wide-ranging overview of the history of how humans build societies (and where we fail) is a must read in these times of talk about echo-chambers and silos. He shows that cooperation is never easy and it can be painful but we can and must overcome those hang-ups and rebuild our society.

Recommended by James Wells, Classical Studies. There is a strong case to be made that Jay Wright is the greatest living American poet. Transfigurations collects poetry published between 1971 and 2000, but Wright has published five collections of poetry since then. A lot of people consider Wright a difficult poet. Consider this example from his 2013 collection of poetry *Disorientions: Groundings*:

I live in Xico,
near to a cemetery which holds no one I know—
campesinos, licenciados, amas de casa,
trasnochadores, all the floral intelligences
that compose a village life.
I have followed the land's curve
away from a salutary pyramid, the smoke
that covers a wintry valley, to end here,
happily dancing in Xico's haze, content
with the Veracruzana day, lying briefly on its back,
cooling its body.
I could be pacified by tombs,
but none appears.
Yesterday,
I heard Langston singing his rivers...

There is this really great line in the ancient Greek poet Pindar that goes: "To one who seeks it / even staggering wisdom is not fraudulent." The implication being that pretty often when something awesome (that is, in the sense the word used to have before "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") appears beyond the horizon of expectation it looks contrived to those whose skepticism, or even fear, wonder provokes. In poetry business calling someone's poetry "difficult" can be sometimes a statement of fact, but sometimes it is the retaliatory code for perception that has slammed into the wall of its limitations. Jay Wright is a real live person who walks this America, this Earth, and it is not altogether bad to be reminded once in a while that the impossible is, if not possible, actual.

Recommended by Wes Wilson, University Archives. The fledgling United States was losing the war for independence. The British held New York and seemed to know where to attack the Continental forces' weaknesses. To counter British spying, George Washington organized a network of spies in New York who risked their lives (hanging without trial was the penalty for discovery) to pass along intelligence to the patriots. Working on Long Island and Manhattan, Washington's spies were instrumental in turning the tide for the U.S. This unseen war behind the war for independence has rarely been mentioned by historians until Alexander Rose's excellent treatment of the subject. By the way, it has been made into a still-running Netflix series titled Turn.

Recommended by Liz Eslami, English. This is the story of what it means to fall in love with a place, to meet that place on its own terms, to allow that place to shape you into someone unrecognizable to yourself. It is about being in a place because you want to be there, not because you're there for a job, or a lover, or by accident. It is about making mistakes and trusting yourself enough to know that you can fix them: fix a fence, fix a chainsaw, fix yourself. It sounds like hyperbole, but Winter changed my life twice, both when I first read it in grad school, and later, when it led me to Montana. Here's hoping it does the same for you.