Spartan Bookshelf
Visionary Fiction
For her debut novel, From Ashes Into Light (Raincloud Press, 2016), East Prussia native Gudrun Mouw, ’69 MA English, drew on “her own fascinating life,” according to North State Public Radio, and also conducted research for the novel in Dachau, Prague and Salzburg. Described as a tale of “tragedy, spirituality, family, and personal redemption,” the work received the 2016 Visionary Fiction and New Age Fiction Award from International Book Awards, an awards program sponsored by bookvana.com.
Tracking the Value of Composition
Assistant Professor Ryan Skinnell, Department of Rhetoric and Composition, examines the “most common course in American higher education” in Conceding Composition: A Crooked History of Composition’s Institutional Fortunes (Utah State University Press, 2016). Using archival research conducted at six universities, the book charts the institutional value of composition over nearly a century.
The Archaeology of Colonial Nevis
Department of Anthropology Associate Professor Marco Meniketti’s Sugar Cane Capitalism and Environmental Transformation (University of Alabama Press 2016) traces the development of the small Caribbean island of Nevis from its European settlement in 1627 to its role as a British mercantile hub through archaeological and landscape surveys of sugar cane plantation sites. “A long overdue and highly welcomed addition to the existing body of literature on Caribbean historical archaeology,” praised Dr. Georgia L. Fox, Department of Anthropology, CSU Chico.
Tales from Hollywood’s Golden Era
Former TV critic for the San Jose Mercury News, Ron Miller, ’61 Journalism, co-authored Conversations with Classic Film Stars (University Press of Kentucky, 2016), a gathering of interviews with Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Roy Rogers and many other stars. Bay Area Reporter calls it “a fascinating collection of career reflections from Tinseltown names,” and Library Journal “highly recommended” it for its “significant portrait of Hollywood history.” Miller snagged his first celebrity interview while a student at SJSU. The celebrity? Alfred Hitchcock.
