Our roundup of noteworthy publications by Wesleyan alumni, faculty members, and parents.

DOMINIQUE BROWNING ’77

Around the House and in the Garden

(Scribner, 2002)

For several years, House & Garden editor–in–chief Dominique Browning has written a monthly column that combines personal vignettes with observations about home improvement, gardening, and raising children. In this consistently intelligent and gracefully written book, the author brings together previously published material with additional new essays to create a poignant account of the importance of taking special care of one’s home for a sense of well–being. Browning writes: “Home is the place we control, the place where we have final word about what goes where, what stays, what feels comfortable, what is life–enhancing.” She shares moving stories about her relationship with her sons and her ability to find solace after a painful divorce by renovating her house, nurturing her garden, and playing Bach on a grand piano.

—David Low ’76

ELIZABETH MCALISTER, assistant professor of religion

Rara: Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora

(University of California Press, 2002)

Elizabeth McAlister’s fascinating study is the first ethnography of Rara festivals and performances. Rara is an annual six–week street festival in Haiti, a time when participants play music, dance, and perform rituals for Afro–Haitian deities, and followers of the Afro–Creole religion called Vodou march in public to take an active political role. Rara season is one of the few times during the year that Haiti’s disenfranchised poor majority may assemble freely in large numbers, allowing them the opportunity to critique politicians in power as they also recall a history of the Americas that is usually silenced. The book includes a CD featuring vibrant percussive Rara music.

—DL

NONFICTION

RON ASHKENAS ’72, DAVE ULRICH, and STEVE KERR

The GE Work–Out

(McGraw– Hill Professional Publishing, 2002)

DEMETRIUS L. EUDELL, Assistant professor of history

The Political Languages of Emancipation in the British Caribbean and the U.S. South

(The University of North Carolina Press, 2002)

MARIE DE GOURNAY

Apology for the Woman Writing and Other Works, translated by Richard Hillman ’71 and Colette Quesnel

(The University of Chicago Press, 2002)

JEAN SILVER–ISENSTADT ’90

Shameless: The Visionary Life of Mary Gove Nichols

(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002)

JIM KAMM ’92 and MATTEO MOLINARI

Oops: Movie Mistakes That Made the Cut

(Citadel Press, 2002)

LAWRENCE JACKSON ’90

Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius

(John Wiley & Sons, 2002)

MARK KNOWLES ’76

Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing

(McFarland & Co., 2002)

SARAH A. LEAVITT ’92

From Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice

(The University of North Carolina Press, 2002)

ALEXIA LEWNES ’85

Misplaced: New York City’s Street Kids

(Xenium Press, 2002)

STUART B. LEVY, MD, HONORARY D.Sc. ’98

The Antibiotic Paradox

(Perseus Publishing, 2002)

EPIFANIO SAN JUAN JR., Visiting Professor of English

Racism and Cultural Studies: Critiques of Multiculturalist Ideology and the Politics of Difference

(Duke University Press, 2002)

ARTHUR R. UPGREN, J. Monroe Van Vleck Professor of Astronomy, Emeritus

The Turtle and the Stars: Observations of an Earthbound Astronomer

(Times Books, 2002)

FICTION AND POETRY

ALISA KWITNEY ’87

The Dominant Blonde

(HarperCollins, 2002)

JACK MCDEVITT MALS ’72

Chindi

(Ace Books, 2002)

KEVIN PRUFER ’92

The Finger Bone

(Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2002)

MICHAEL D. TERRY ’69

So Shine Before Men

(Sunstone Press, 2002)

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

JUSTINE LARBALESTIER

The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction

This lively account addresses the role of women and feminism in the development of American science fiction during its formative years of the mid–20th century. Larbalestier examines science fiction’s engagement with questions of femininity, masculinity, sex, and sexuality as she refers to stories, letters, and articles in science fiction magazines and fanzines.