Simply the Best
A Shining Light on   Broadway

 

  
  

 
Ric Burns '78
Ronald Mason Jr. '74
Victor Wouk '39
   
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BOOKSHELF

Republican Empire: Alexander Hamilton on War and Free Government by Karl-Friedrich Walling. This revisionist analysis credits the Class of 1778 member with articulating the values that imbued the new republic with the strength required to wage war while maintaining individual rights, the people's consent, and the rule of law (University Press of Kansas, $40).

Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan [Class of 1858] Reconsidered by Jon Tetsuro Sumida. Analogies from Zen Buddhism and musical performance help elucidate not only the subtleties of modern naval strategy but also the principles and practice of command as expounded by the architect of modern naval warfare (Johns Hopkins University Press/Woodrow Wilson Center Press, $24.95).

Selected Writings of Richard McKeon ['20]. Volume 1: Philosophy, Science, and Culture, edited by Zahava K. McKeon and William G. Swenson. This compilation of articles by the University of Chicago philosophy professor, who died in 1985, demonstrates his contributions as a systematic philosopher as well as a historian of ideas (University of Chicago Press, $50).

The Will to Live On by Herman Wouk '34. From the author of The Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar comes a heartfelt reflection on the state of Jews in the modern world, especially the shrinking but resilient "American diaspora," the troubles rocking the state of Israel, and the forces that have shaped both experiences (Cliff Street Books, $25).

The Psychology of Humor and Wit - From Banana Peels to Viagra Jokes by Donald M. Johnson '36. A Michigan State University professor of psychology emeritus examines the production, appreciation, evolution, effects and social functions of jokes, caricatures and other forms of humor (Fithian Press, $9.95).

Modern Japanese Diaries: The Japanese at Home and Abroad as Revealed through Their Diaries by Donald Keene '42, Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and University Professor Emeritus. Beginning where Travelers of a Hundred Ages (below) leaves off, this appreciation of Japanese diaries shows the ambitions and struggles of Japanese men and women from 1860 and 1920, the period of the end of the shogunate and the beginning of contact with the West (Columbia University Press, $25 paper).

Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Revealed through 1,000 Years of Diaries by Donald Keene '42 Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and University Professor Emeritus. The essays in this reissue of a 1989 collection examine Japanese diaries from the tenth to the nineteenth century, chosen because they leave the "freshest impressions of the writers and their times" (Columbia University Press, $19.50 paper).

Gene Kelly: A Life of Dance and Dreams by Alvin Yudkoff '43. In the first major biography since his death, new research and friends' recollections bring into focus the life of the legendary hoofer, whose charm and athletic dancing style took him from the tough streets of Pittsburgh to the heights of fame on Broadway and in Hollywood (Back Stage Books, $21.95).

Jack Kerouac ['44]: Selected Letters, 1957-1969, edited by Ann Charters. This second volume of Kerouac's letters details the exhaustion, discouragement and declining fortunes that plagued the Beat writer in the dozen years following the publication of On the Road (Viking, $34.95).

Sledgehammer by Walter Wager '44. World War II is over, but when a former member of an elite, covert OSS unit is murdered, his wartime colleagues launch Operation Sledgehammer to find out who killed their friend - and take revenge (St. Martin's Press, $6.99 paper).

Tunnel by Walter Wager '44. As if commuting in New York isn't tough enough, a group of ruthless master criminals have blocked one end of the Lincoln Tunnel with wrecked cars and demanded millions not to launch the missile they've placed at the other end, leaving NYPD Captain Jake Malloy to save the day - and his girlfriend, who is among those trapped inside the tunnel (Forge, $23.95).

The Roots of Things: Topics in Quantum Mechanics by A. Grometstein '45. These essays by a longtime mathematical researcher are designed for the lay reader who wishes to learn about the "deeply radical and fascinating aspects" of the constantly changing field of quantum physics (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, $59.95).

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