The beauty of Maine

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Bookworm

maineFor hundreds of years, photographers, like other artists, have made their way to Maine to capture the natural beauty and human culture of the state. Maine Photography: A History, 1840-2015 (Down East Books, 2016), co-authored by BC alumna Libby Bischof, is the first comprehensive overview of the history of photography in the state. Providing basic knowledge of the most important people and institutions to have promoted photography, this volume also studies the ways in which photography has informed the understanding of the social and cultural history of Maine. Bischof, a cultural  historian, is also the co-author of Maine Moderns: Art in Seguinland, 1900-1940.

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Altbach’s Global Perspectives

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Bookworm

global perspectivesResearch Professor Philip G. Altbach, founding director of the Center for International Higher Education, is a leading authority on higher education worldwide. His new book, Global Perspectives on Higher Education (John Hopkins University Press, 2016), reflects his scholarship based on 50 years of research and teaching. The volume features 18 essays on all aspects of international higher education, including the globalization of rankings, research universities in developing countries, Western impact on Asian higher education, student political activism and challenges facing Brazil, Russia, India and China, among many other topics. CIHE colleagues Laura Rumbley and Hans de Wit, as well as BC alumni Liz Reisburg and Ivan Pacheco, also contributed to the volume.

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Documenting Gendered Violence

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Bookworm

genderedCommunication Professor Lisa Cuklanz is co-editor, along with Heather McIntosh, of Documenting Gendered Violence: Representations, Collaborations, and Movements (Bloomsbury, 2015), which explores the intersections of documentary and gendered violence. Contributors to the text investigate representations through grounded textual analyses of key films and videos, while others use analysis and interviews to explore how gender violence issues impact production and how these documentaries become part of collaborations and awareness movements. Cuklanz contributed the chapter, “Creating a Sense of Reality in Sex Crimes Unit.” Cuklanz also is the author of the books, Rape on Prime Time: Television, Masculinity, and Sexual Violence and Rape on Trial: How the Mass Media Construct Legal Reform and Social Change.

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George Washington Prize finalist

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Bookworm

madison handMadison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention by Boston College Law School Professor and Lee Distinguished Scholar Mary Sarah Bilder has been named a finalist for the 2016 George Washington Prize. The annual award recognizes the past year’s best written works on the nation’s founding era, especially those that have the potential to advance broad public understanding of early American history. Created in 2005 by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Washington College, the $50,000 George Washington Prize is one of the nation’s largest and most notable literary awards. Past recipients have included Pulitzer Prize-wining historian Annette Gordon-Reed and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. The winner of the 2016 prize will be announced on May 25 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Read about Bilder’s book in the 9/17/15 BC Bookmarks post.

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The Grace of Silence

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Bookworm

grace of silenceAward-winning journalist and longtime host and special correspondent for National Public Radio Michele Norris will present “The Grace of Silence and the Power of Words” on Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. in the Heights Room of Corcoran Commons. While exploring the hidden conversation on race unfolding throughout America in the wake of President Obama’s election, Norris discovered that there were painful secrets within her own family that had been willfully withheld. These revelations—from her father’s shooting by a Birmingham police officer to her maternal grandmother’s job as an itinerant Aunt Jemima in the Midwest—inspired a bracing journey into her family’s past. Her book, The Grace of Silence: A Family Memoir (Vintage, 2011), elegantly explores the power of silence and secrets and boldly examines racial legacy and what it means to be an American. Norris has gone on to create The Race Card Project, winner of the 2014 George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in electronic communication. Sponsors: The Division of Student Affairs and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs.

 

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Liberation through Reconciliation

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Bookworm

ernestoSchool of Theology and Ministry Assistant Professor O. Ernesto Valiente taps into his experiences in his native El Salvador for his new book, Liberation through Reconciliation: Jon Sobrino’s Christological Spirituality (Fordham University Press, 2015). Valiente builds on Jon Sobrino’s thought to construct a Christian spirituality and theology of reconciliation that overcomes conflict by attending to the demands of truth, justice and forgiveness. Listen to a fall 2015 presentation by Valiente on “A Liberating Spirituality for a Suffering World.”

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Argentina’s Dirty War Book Discussion

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Bookworm

argentinaAssistant Professor of Sociology Gustavo Morello SJ, will discuss his new book, The Catholic Church and Argentina’s Dirty War, on Feb. 9 at noon in McGuinn 334. The book discussion is sponsored by the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. An RSVP is requested. In his book, Fr. Morello looks at the kidnapping of American Fr. James Week and five seminarians in Argentina as a case study into the relationship between Catholicism and state terrorism during Argentina’s Dirty War. Read more about the book in the 9/8/15 BC Bookmarks.

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Voices of women

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Bookworm

sienaTheologian Mary Catherine Hilkert, O. P. will present “The Word of God Entrusted to the Entire Church and the Voices of Women” on February 8 at 7:30 p.m. Sister Hilkert is the author of Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination and Speaking with Authority: Catherine of Siena and the Voices of Women Today. She has been honored with Washington Theological Union’s Sophia Award for Theological Excellence in service of ministry, Barry University’s Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence, Dominican University’s Veritas Award, and the Ann O’Hara Graff Memorial Award from the Women’s Constructive Theology Seminar of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series.

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Helping English language learners

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Bookworm

brisk bookLynch School of Education Professor Maria Estela Brisk‘s book  Engaging Students in Academic Literacies (Routledge, 2015) is drawn from her experiences helping teachers and students in the Boston Public Schools. Brisk is one of the foremost experts on bilingual education. Her text provides specific information to plan and carry out genre-based writing instruction in English for K-5 students within various content areas. Her approach to teaching writing and academic language is effective in addressing the persistent achievement gap between English language learners and “mainstream” students, especially in the context of current reforms in the U.S.

 

 

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The Dogs of Littlefield

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Bookworm

dogsoflittlefieldThe latest novel by Suzanne Berne, a part-time faculty member in the English Department, is a comedy of manners that explores the unease behind the manicured lawns of suburban America. In The Dogs of Littlefield (Simon & Schuster, 2016), someone is poisoning the dogs of Littlefield, Massachusetts, a leafy and charming town named one of the best places to live in America. With suspense, satirical social commentary and in-depth character portraits, Berne reveals the discontent concealed behind suburbia’s picket fences. First published in the UK in 2013, The Dogs of Littlefield has now been published in America and recently has been reviewed by the New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post, among other outlets. Berne was awarded the Orange Prize for her first novel, A Crime in the Neighborhood. She also is the author of The Ghost at the Table and Missing Lucile.

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