Your artistic endeavors. Books, music, motion pictures.

Amy Bass ’92, Not the Triumph but the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2002, 400 pages. Beginning with the racial eugenics discussions of the early 20th century and their continuing reverberations in popular perceptions of black physical abilities, Bass, an assistant professor of history at Plattsburgh State offers a history of the black athlete and explores African American attempts to challenge these stereotypes, including the events that culminated with the Mexico City protest during the 1968 Olympics. She also examines media coverage of athletic events and the way sports are bound up in popular constructions of the nation.

Anne W. Dodd and Jean L. Konzal, How Communities Build Stronger Schools, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, 2002, 347 pages. If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a community to make a school, say authors Anne Dodd, visiting senior lecturer in education at Bates, and Jean L. Konzal. The notion that a school is a building open a few hours every day ignores the reality that children learn constantly in all parts of their lives. The authors suggest a radical, democratic vision of the public school where everyone — not just students, teachers, and parents — plays a part in shaping our children.

Frederick Drayton ’59, Boss Road: A Spiritual Journey from Job One to Retirement, Washington, D.C.: Drayton Communications, 2000, 376 pages. In this memoir, Drayton offers recollections of “60 years of life under persons I called boss and over persons who called me boss.” Drayton’s road of bosses began in Fall River, Mass., wended its way north to Bates (readers will enjoy Drayton’s tales of Bates student work), then veered sharply south to Washington, D.C. Sharing his mind, heart, and soul, Drayton tells of the relationships with people who had authority over him.

Kathy Lynn Gorton Emerson ’69, Face Down Across the Western Sea, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2002, 240 pages. Amazon.com says that Kathy Lynn Emerson’s series of Elizabethan mysteries featuring Susanna, Lady Appleton, “just keeps getting better.” No. 7 in the mystery series includes the wealth of period details familiar to Emerson fans and features a group of 16th-century scholars attempting to discern England’s rights to the New World, and the strong-minded heroine’s investigations into a crucial missing transcript and a murderer’s motives.

Donald H. Graves ’52, Testing Is Not Teaching, Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 2002, 100 pages. Author Graves argues that a rush to implement high-stakes testing, narrow standards, and top-down management of public education ignores the interests of two key stakeholders: students and teachers. Suggesting that testing encroaches on teacher freedom, Graves considers how narrow standards can reduce student achievement and discusses practices that support humane teaching in a testing environment.

Dave Lounsbury ’72, editor-in-chief, Medical Aspects of Harsh Environments, Vols. 1 and 2, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, Borden Institute, 2002, 609 pages (Vol. 1), 595 (Vol. 2). Timely in light of military actions in Iraq, Volume 1 describes and illustrates the medical conditions caused by heat and cold, ranging from heat-illness prevention to the treatment of hypothermia. Volume 2 discusses medical considerations with respect to mountain environments, high altitudes, and conditions below sea level, including human adaptation to these harsh environments and the physical, cognitive, and psychological effects of exposure.

Brian McGrory ’84, The Nominee, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, 2002, 376 pages. Boston Globe columnist and former political reporter McGrory follows his best-selling debut novel, The Incumbent, with another political thriller that “crackles with newsroom energy,” according to Publisher’s Weekly. Reporter Jack Flynn “investigates corruption that’s seemingly close to home: his beloved employer, the Boston Record, is about to be taken over and dumbed down by schlock-media mogul Terry Campbell,” while also investigating the controversial presidential nomination of a Massachusetts governor as U.S. attorney general. Readers will enjoy the spirited analysis of journalism today and the sympathy McGrory shows for the newspaper industry.

James C. O’Connell ’73, Becoming Cape Cod: Creating a Seaside Resort, Durham, N.H., University Press of New England, 2002, 192 pages. Generously illustrated with rare postcards, the book traces Cape Cod’s early resort history in the 1800s, the impact of the automobile on creating a tourist region, and contemporary measures the region is taking in the face of development pressures. O’Connell draws upon his experiences with the Cape Cod Commission, a regional planning agency, offering part social history, part cautionary tale in this meditation on preserving authentic places.

Bill Sherwonit ’71, Denali: The Complete Guide, Portland, Ore.: Alaska Northwest Books, 2002, 312 pages. Sherwonit, a veteran explorer of the Denali wilderness, emphasizes discovery over directions in this comprehensive guidebook for a region whose centerpiece is North America’s highest peak, 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, or Denali (“The High One”), increasingly the preferred name. The book focuses on six-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve and includes information on neighboring Denali State Park and the highway and railway approaches from Anchorage to Denali.

Bill Sherwonit ’71, Iditarod: The Great Race to Nome, Seattle, Wash.: Sasquatch Books, 2002, 133 pages. Reviewing the history of Alaska’s famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from its pioneer origins in the early 1970s through the high-tech, high-speed races today, Sherwonit also explores the origins of the Iditarod Trail itself and describes two early 1900s events that would influence the modern Iditarod: Nome’s All-Alaska Sweepstakes races and the 1925 “Great Race of Mercy,” in which mushers and dogs transported antitoxin serum to Nome to stop an outbreak of diphtheria.

William H. Tucker ’67, The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund, Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2002, 286 pages. The award-winning author examines the controversial Pioneer Fund, long suspected of funding genetic studies that advance a racist agenda — a charge denied by the fund’s leaders. Examining archival correspondence, Rutgers Professor of Psychology Tucker links the fund’s founder to a Klansman’s crusade to expatriate blacks in the 1930s. Other evidence, Tucker says, links the Pioneer Fund to concerted and clandestine activities — such as opposition to the civil rights legislation in the ’50s and ’60s — thus revealing its devious mission to prevent full participation of African Americans in society.

Earle Zeigler ’40, Who Knows What’s Right Anymore: A Guide to Personal Decision-Making, Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford, 2002, 274 pages. Zeigler suggests that our increasingly global village needs a cross-cultural approach to ethical decision-making. To meet this challenge, the author offers initially a “three-step” formula based on time-proven ethical advice from three great early philosophers (Kant, Mill, Aristotle), then supplements their wisdom with that of later thinkers.

Earle Zeigler ’40, Whatever Happened to the Good Life: Or Assessing Your RQ (Recreation Quotient), Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford, 2002, 90 pages. Zeigler offers readers the opportunity to determine their “recreational quotient” based on involvement (or lack of same!) in a broad spectrum of recreational pursuits. After seeing the score, readers can then take the necessary steps to raise their RQ. “We now need to know how people can find happiness, satisfaction, and a high quality of life despite the increased tempo of living often amidst badly crowded conditions,” says the author.

Scott C. Williamson ’87, The Narrative Life: The Moral and Religious Thought of Frederick Douglass, Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2002, 160 pages. Frederick Douglass, whose speeches, autobiographies, and editorials have been written of frequently, has been the recent subject of intellectual biographies. But Douglass’ moral and religious thought has received less critical attention. Williamson, the Robert H. Walkup Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, focuses on Douglass’s early years, a unique approach in itself, and finds enduring moral and religious themes.

Publishers’ Web sites and other promotional information have been used in compiling synopses. We will include books, music, motion picture recordings, and other creative works by alumni and faculty in this section if information regarding the work (name of author or artist, title, publisher or studio/label name, date of publication, and a synopsis) is received. Review copies of books and CDs are always appreciated and will be forwarded later to the Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. Send to: Managing Editor, Bates Magazine, 141 Nichols Street, Lewiston, Maine 04240, or e-mail magazine@bates.edu.