New & Notable
Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal
Conor Grennan (Col ’96)
William Morrow
While Grennan was volunteering at an orphanage in war-torn Nepal, he was stunned to learn that many of the children were not orphans at all. Their families in remote villages had paid child traffickers huge sums to protect their children from the civil war, and the traffickers had abandoned the children in the capital city, Kathmandu. Grennan struggled to reunite these lost children with their families.
Riffraff
Stephen Cushman (faculty)
Louisiana State University Press
In Middle English, riffraff means “every particle” or ”things of small value.” In this poetry collection, snippets of the often ignored—a woman passed out in the street or decrepit, toothless dogs—become meditations on the gifts of experiences that might at first seem distasteful.
Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong
Brandon L. Garrett (faculty)
Harvard University Press
After a 45-minute defense by his inexperienced lawyer, Earl Washington was found guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to death. Later, DNA testing cast doubt on his conviction and saved his life. Garrett examines what went wrong in 250 cases in which convicts were later exonerated by DNA testing, exposing how and why the criminal justice system sometimes convicts the innocent and lets the guilty walk free.
School for Tricksters: A Novel in Stories
Chris Gavaler (Grad ’06)
Southern Methodist University Press
This book is a fictionalization of real-life figures Ivy Miller—a white girl seeking a free education—and Sylvester Long—a black youth fleeing the Jim Crow South. They masqueraded as Indians so that they could attend the prestigious Carlisle Indian School during the early 20th century. Their stories overlap with that of fellow student and future Olympian Jim Thorpe, whom Miller married, and explore the complexity of racial identity in segregated America.
Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe
Jenny Hollowell (Grad ’03) Henry Holt
After growing up a Jehovah’s Witness in Virginia, Birdie Baker moves to LA to become an actress. Working as a body double and perpetually on the cusp of success, Baker falls in and out of love with Hollywood’s glitz, glamour, narcissists, bohemians, sleaze and unexpected grace.
Turning the Tide: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic
Ed Offley (Col ’69)
Basic Books
During 1942 and 1943, German U-boats threatened the supply line of merchant ships between the U.S. and Britain. The Atlantic was the U.S. springboard to Europe—and its loss would have effectively lost the Allies the war. Using archival research and interviews with survivors, Offley shows how a few battle-hardened American, British and Canadian sailors turned the tide in the Atlantic theater.