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

AMANDA DAVIS ’93

Wonder When You’ll Miss Me

(HarperCollins/William Morrow, 2003)

In this heartbreaking coming-of-age debut novel, Davis tells the tale of 16- year-old Faith Duckle, a rape survivor who runs away to join the circus after committing a violent act of revenge. After her tortuous experiences at a mental institution and high school, Faith finds comfort and community in the itinerant world of animal trainers, trapeze artists, clowns, and other eccentrics? characters who become touching and believable thanks to Davis’s deft and lucid prose. The author avoids sentimentality as she reveals Faith’s transformation from a confused runaway to a more confident young woman with hope for the future. At the book’s conclusion, her life is far from perfect, but the lessons she learns on the road make for a memorable journey.

—David Low ’76

Editor’s Note: Tragically, Amanda Davis died this March along with her mother and father when their small plane crashed in North Carolina. Friends will read from her works at reunion this year.

CHRISTINA KLEIN ’86

Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945?1961

(University of California Press, 2003)

After World War II, American writers and artists in a variety of fields? books, magazines, movies, and theater?turned their attention to American citizens working, living, and traveling in Asia and the Pacific. In her provocative study of Cold War history, Klein explores the relationship between popular culture and U.S. foreign policy in Asia by investigating how the ideals of international interdependence were promoted in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals, James Michener’s writing, and articles in such magazines as Saturday Review and Reader’s Digest. Those interested in American studies, U.S. history, or Asian studies should find this book an entertaining read.

—DL

FICTION

PETER BLAUNER ’82

The Last Good Day

(Little Brown, 2003)

CAROLYN PARKHURST ’92

The Dogs of Babel

(Little Brown, 2003)

NONFICTION

ROBERT ABEL JR. ’65, MD

The DHA Story: How Nature’s Super Nutrient Can Save Your Life

(Basic Health, 2002)

CHARLES B. ALLING JR. ’44

A Mighty Fortress: Lead Bomber Over Europe

(Casemate, 2002)

GASTON BACHELARD AND KENNETH HALTMAN ’80 (translator)

Earth and Reveries of Will: An Essay on the Imagination of Matter

(Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, 2002)

PHILIP BOEHM ’80 (translator), MICHAL GRYNBERG (editor)

Words to Outlive Us: Eyewitness Accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto

(Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, 2002)

JAMES OLIVER CURY ’89

The Playboy Guide to Bachelor Parties

(Simon and Schuster, 2003)

SMOKEY D. FONTAINE ’93

E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX

(Harper Collins, 2002)

J. ALLAN HOBSON ’55, MD

Dreaming: An Introduction to the Science of Sleep

(Oxford University Press, 2003)

WILLIAM HOWELL ’93

Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action

(Princeton University Press, 2003)

GERALD EVERETT JONES ’70 AND PETE SHANER

Real World Digital Video

(Peachpit Press, 2002)

LINCOLN KAYE ’80

Cousin Felix Meets the Buddha and Other Encounters in China and Tibet

(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003)

REBECCA KNIGHT ’98

A Car, Some Cash, and a Place to Crash

(Rodale Press, 2003)

LESLIE MORALES ’76

Esther Dyson: Internet Visionary

(Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2003)

ARDEN REED ’70

Manet, Flaubert, and the Emergence of Modernism: Blurring Genre Boundaries

(Cambridge University Press, 2003)

HELEN RIESS ’78 MD, AND MARY DOCKRAYMILLER

Integrative Group Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa

(Columbia University Press, 2002)

BEN MINTEER AND BOB PEPPERMAN TAYLOR ’80

Democracy and the Claims of Nature: Critical Perspectives for a New Century

(Rowman & Littlefield, 2002)

NANCY J. TROY ’74

Couture Culture: A Study in Modern Art and Fashion

(The MIT Press, 2003)

RICHARD L. ZWEIGENHAFT ’67 AND G. WILLIAM DOMHOFF

Blacks in the White Elite: Will the Progress Continue?

(Rowman & Littlefield, 2003)

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

Bright Balkan Morning: Romani Lives and the Power of Music in Greek Macedonia

Photographs by Dick Blau, Text by Angeliki Vellou Keil and Charles Keil, CD soundscapes by Steven Feld.

This imaginative book about Greek Macedonian Romani (Gypsy) musicians tells a story of coexistence, interdependence, and crosscultural understanding in the Balkans by interweaving stunning photographs, first-person narratives, and recorded music.