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ANDOVER BOOKSHELF COLLECTIONS OF NOTHING
DREAM GARDENER
DICTATORSHIP
University of Chicago Press by William Davies King ’73
GHE Books by George H. Edmonds, faculty emeritus
Floricanto Press by Peter A. Neissa, faculty
William Davies King started collecting things as a child and continued those urges while at PA—primarily with metal found objects. ”First it was junk, then ephemera… and eventually it all came to some 75,000 items of stuff no one (else) would ever be likely to want,” he says. Fascinated by the detritus of everyday life, King says he became “one of those crazy collectors,” and the book “concerns the phenomenon of collecting, the mania of acquisition.” King lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and is a professor of theatre at UC–Santa Barbara.
As a follow-up to his book Wyomissing: An American Dream, former English instructor George Edmonds elaborates on the life of one of Wyomissing’s leading citizens via this well-researched biography. American horticulturist Bertrand H. Farr (1863–1924), aka the Dream Gardener, was internationally renowned for his development of hardy plants, especially varieties of irises, peonies, and day lilies. Edmonds lives in Andover, Mass., with his wife, former Secretary of the Academy Pat Edmonds.
A dictatorship or dominant society uses language as an instrument of power to impose its cultural values or manipulate others into acting in accordance with its beliefs. Subtitled The Imposition of U.S. Culture on Latin America Through Translation, Peter Neissa examines Latin American texts and their English translations to demonstrate how language can be used to maintain cultural or political supremacy. Neissa is chair of the PA Spanish Department and lives on campus with his wife, Louisa.
BARS & BLADES
IMPRESSIONISM AND THE MODERN LANDSCAPE
A ROYAL BLUE BOY
TCR Corp. by George A. Berry III ’37
University of California Press by James H. Rubin ’61
Carlyle Press by Romerio D. Perkins ’70
Bars & Blades is a large-scale illustrated history of T.C. Industries, written to celebrate the company’s 125th anniversary in 2006. It focuses on George Berry’s 71-year involvement with the company— from summer laborer in 1935 at the manufacturing company then known as American Terra Cotta Company and owned by his father, through Berry’s presidency 1956–1984, to an expanded corporation now run by his two sons. Now retired from daily management, Berry is still involved in planning and projects.
Instead of focusing on Impressionist artists’ typical bucolic subjects, this book presents and discusses artworks from that era that depict more urban, industrial, and technological scenes— of roads, bridges, trains, rivers, canals, ports, city spaces, and commoners of the 19th century. James Rubin is an art history professor at SUNY–Stony Brook and Cooper Union and lives in New York City. This is the eighth book he has written about art.
Romerio Perkins warmly shares himself through his heartfelt reminiscences, observations, and wisdom in this provocative, jazz-like poetry. The book’s seven categories of poems are Seeing in Time and Chance, Madness, Peace, Wisdom, Checkers and Chess, A Lover Dreams, and Faith and Grace. “Romerio’s poems ask quietly for your full attention. Some demand it. Here’s the good news: they reward it, too,” says classmate Frank Herron. Perkins lives in Tallahassee, Fla., and manages Cat Island Corp., a business development company.
SOUTHERN SEAHAWK Bleak House Books by Randall Peffer, faculty Subtitled A Novel of the Civil War at Sea, Randall Peffer’s latest yarn was inspired by the true story of Confederate war hero Rafael Semmes, commander of the ships Sumter and Alabama. Nicknamed the “Southern Seahawk,” Semmes was a successful and feared maritime predator who caused many Yankee ship captains to refuse to sail until he was caught. This is the first of a forthcoming Seahawk Trilogy. Peffer is an English instructor and lives on campus.
TRY TO REMEMBER Dana Press by Paul R. McHugh ’48 Dr. Paul McHugh was director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and psychiatrist in chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1975 to 2001. He introduces his book with the question he asked throughout his distinguished career: “What’s wrong with psychiatry?” Answering in a style accessible to lay readers, he discusses the false recovered memory diagnoses prevalent in the 1990s and their resulting damage to both patients and the psychiatry profession itself. McHugh lives in Baltimore, Md., with his wife, Jean, and was recently honored by the National Academy of Sciences with an international award in mental health.
BLACK & WHITE AND DEAD ALL OVER Alfred A. Knopf by John Darnton ’60 John Darnton’s latest novel, a murder mystery, is a blend of fact, fiction, and cynical humor. On page one, muchfeared New York Globe editor Theodore Ratnoff is found spread eagle in a pool of blood in the paper’s newsroom. It quickly becomes apparent that nearly all his coworkers seem to have a motive. Darnton lives in London and is the London bureau chief of the New York Times, for which he has worked for 40 years as a reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent.
Been published recently? Please send your book to Sharon Magnuson, Office of Communication, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161. After your book is announced in the Bulletin, it will be donated to the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library. Autographed copies appreciated!
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