Well Read Recent works from Willamette faculty members. Corner-Store Dreams and the 2008 Financial Crisis by Peter Wogan Can a Mexican immigrant buy the business of his dreams and still survive the Great Recession of 2008? Anthropology professor Peter Wogan answers that question as he follows Ranulfo Juárez, a longtime Oregon field worker who became a U.S. citizen, in his quest to buy a small bakery. Juárez confides to Wogan his belief in America as “a beautiful country … a place where you can climb to the top of the mountain and nobody tells you, ‘Hey, get down off that mountain.’” As it discovers whether Juárez’s faith in the American Dream is justified, this true story — described as “comical, subversive and inspirational” and “literary anthropology at its best” — casts a light on immigration, corporate greed and intercultural friendship.
The Moby-Dick Blues by Michael Strelow In his latest literary novel, Professor Emeritus of English Michael Strelow imagines what would happen if an original manuscript for Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” resurfaced. In his telling, the situation involves thieves, a university professor, some innocent bystanders, a retired NBA player and Arvin Kraft, the odd, lonely young man who found Melville’s work in the walls of his family’s Boston home. The manuscript — long believed to have been destroyed — may save Kraft’s family from financial despair. But first it leads Kraft and Melville expert Professor Thorne on a coast-to-coast whodunit adventure. Strelow’s lyrical tale offers what one reviewer describes as a “character-driven commentary on how we look at people, as well as how people see themselves.”
The Development of the American Presidency by Richard Ellis Politics professor Richard Ellis has updated his comprehensive and authoritative text to examine Donald Trump’s effect on the institution of the American presidency. Tracing the presidency from the nation’s founding, Ellis provides historical perspective and political insights into how the institution has changed and evolved in relation to the public, Congress, the executive branch and the law. Essential reading both for college students and a general audience, the book, according to one reviewer, helps readers “get beyond the headlines to appreciate the nature of the office and its ever-evolving role in American politics and governance.” This third edition, released in February, includes analysis of the role of the Electoral College in the 2016 election and explores Trump’s effective use of Twitter and social media to bypass traditional media outlets. Additional material addresses presidential pardons and the contemporary relevance of impeachment.
The Third Disestablishment by Steven K. Green In his latest book, Willamette University College of Law professor Steven K. Green examines the development of modern church-state separationism from a legal and cultural perspective. Due to be published by Oxford University Press next spring, “The Third Disestablishment examines the dominant religious-cultural conflicts of the 1930s-1950s between Protestants and Catholics. It also shows how other trends and controversies — such as the impact of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ cases of the late-1930s and early-’40s, Cold War anti-communism, the religious revival and the rise of civil religion, the advent of ecumenism and the presidential campaign of 1960 — impacted both judicial and popular attitudes toward church-state separation. As Green argues, separation of church and state is not just a legal construct; it is embedded in American culture.
Illustration by Jane Mount 26
FALL 2018