Review

Winter 2013

The Barbless Hook: Inner Sanctum of Angling Revealed

Dennis D. Dauble ’78 MS

FishHead Press, 2013

In the tradition of Patrick McManus ’56, ’59, Dennis Dauble ventures into that conjoined alternate universe of outdoor sport and humor, the difference between the two being that Dauble tends to catch more fish. Perhaps that is because Dauble was a fish biologist and McManus was an English major.

Regardless, Dauble sets the tone for the book with an epigram by yet another piscatory alum, Ray … » More …

Winter 2013

Battered Women, Their Children, and International Law

Taryn Lindhorst ’84 and Jeffrey L. Edleson

Northern University Press, 2013

The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ruled that any child taken from one parent by another across international borders must be returned to their home country for custody to be properly and legally determined. While this saves parents who are victims of child abduction, it doesn’t account for those, especially women, who felt the need to emigrate to free … » More …

Fall 2013

New & noteworthy

Luna Sea

by Kim Roberts ’82

2012

Aloha Jones, harbormaster at Lahaina, Maui, investigates the murder of a local troublemaker in this mystery set in Hawaii and filled with sharks and funky characters on the dark side of paradise.

The Boys From Ireland: An Irish Immigrant Family’s Involvement in the Civil War

by Neil W. Moloney ’53

2012

In this historical fiction, a group of dispossessed Irish immigrants find themselves embroiled in America’s Civil War, enduring poverty, starvation, and the loss of family members.

Biodesign Out for a … » More …

Fall 2013

Rugged Mercy: A Country Doctor in Idaho’s Sun Valley

Robert S. Wright

WSU Press, 2013

When 13-year-old Robert Henry Wright was caught spying on a kitchen table appendectomy, he was pulled in to assist. Inspired by that experience, the Hailey, Idaho, boy spent his early 20s in medical school, at first struggling to memorize the complex anatomy of the human body. After graduating, he married his childhood sweetheart, moved home to Idaho, and became a successful doctor, beloved in his community.

It … » More …

Fall 2013

Love Reports to Spring Training

Linda Kittell

Turning Point Books, 2013

Baseball lends itself as metaphor like no other sport. Boxing might come close, but its inherent brutality and changing cultural tastes have removed it from the public’s awareness.

But baseball endures and permeates our culture, and even a non-fan can appreciate the sport’s dramatic interplay of quietude and adrenaline. In Love Reports to Spring Training, Linda Kittell exploits this richness through a deeply satisfying … » More …

Fall 2013

Oceania and the Victorian Imagination: Where All Things Are Possible

Richard D. Fulton ’75 PhD and Peter H. Hoffenberg

Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013

Devotees of Victorian-era writers like Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Joseph Conrad may well recognize the current of interest in Oceania, or the South Pacific, that runs through their stories.

During that period, from the 1830s to 1901, tales, photographs, travel books, and essays all fed and informed the … » More …

Summer 2013

New & noteworthy

Blazing a Wagon Trail to Oregon: A Weekly Chronicle of the Great Migration of 1843
by Lloyd W. Coffman ’87
Caxton Press-University of Nebraska, 2012

Diaries, letters, and reminiscences of pioneers tell the story of the earliest wagon trains to undertake the six-month trek from Missouri to Oregon in 1843, as they faced bad weather, threatening Indians, and scarce supplies.

Career Choices for Veterinarians: Private Practice and Beyond
by Carin A. Smith ’84
Smith Veterinary Consulting, 2011

The opinions and insights of experienced veterinarians offer examples of how veterinary students, current … » More …

Summer 2013

WSU Cougars from A to Z

Carla Nellis ’90
Green Beanie Books, 2012

Young future Cougars and current fans of the University will enjoy this volume of WSU facts, stories, and profiles put together in an alphabetical “A is for…” format and illustrated with full-page watercolors. Nellis, a 1990 communications graduate, dug through WSU’s history to tell the tales of “F for Ferdinand’s,” “G for Go Cougs!,” “N for Neva Abelson,” and so on. The book covers a lot of ground … » More …

Summer 2013

Chicago, Barcelona Connections

Greg Duncan ’98
New Origins Records, 2012

The Latin-themed recording is one of the great subgenres of jazz, going back at least as far as Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and running through the likes of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” and the Getz/Gilberto collaboration that brought “Girl from Ipanema” to hi-fi consoles across the land. Greg Duncan is stepping up with his own contribution, marshaling an Illinois Arts Council grant and Kickstarter funding to bring us an … » More …

Summer 2013

We Are the Bus

James McKean ’68, ’74
Texas Review Press, 2012

This small book of poetry plays on themes of reminiscence, travel, and the bliss of simple things like being a boy with a Racket Box full of fireworks. This collection of 42 poems won the 2011 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize.

In it McKean transports us to some lovely places. Fishing on the Sandy River, climbing up to the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, floating on … » More …