4
FALL 2012 | St. Lawrence University Magazine
REVIEWS
Books
By Our Alumni
(
Presented alphabetically by author)
Speaking at a Reunion Weekend book-signing in
Brewer Bookstore,
Chris Angus ’72
said he likes
to bridge time periods and academic disciplines in
his fiction. He has done just that in the three (that’s
right, three) novels he has brought out this year. In
The Last Titanic Story
(
Iguana Books, 2012), the
sinking of the great ocean liner 100 years ago, a
World War II German U-boat with a mysterious
cargo and the present are linked in a thriller that
includes anthropological research, stolen treasures, a
race across the Arctic and a coveted diary.
Flypaper
(
Cool Well Press, 2012) leaps even greater spans,
as DNA anomalies, religious fervor, an incurable
pandemic and a 20,000-year-old mummy figure in
a suspenseful tale that takes us from China to the
nation’s Capitol to the Adirondacks. And
London
Underground
(
Iguana Books, 2012) involves the
contents of a looted 17
th
-
century Spanish galleon
and genetically altered super-rats that threaten the
British Isles.
—
NSB
What started as a hobby collecting old photo-
graphs of the storied Thousand Islands has grown
into a fascination with historic stereographs – an-
tique 3-D photographs – and a passion for preserv-
ing Thousand Islands history for teacher and ama-
teur historian
Tom French ’85
.
His book,
River
Views: A History of the Thousand Islands in 3-D
(
privately published, 2011), includes more than
100
sepia-toned stereograph cards that illustrate the
history of the fabled vacation mecca, as well as a
unique feature, a collapsible viewer so that readers
can enjoy the images in 3-D. The stories behind the
old photos add another entertaining dimension to
the book.
—
Todd Moe
French, with his mother,
Nellie Taylor, left, and
daughter Emma, received
a Silver Medal for Best
Regional Non-Fiction Book
in the Northeast at the
May Independent Book
Publishers Awards in New
York City.
Adapted with permission from the November-
December 2011
Adirondac
,
the magazine of the
Adirondack Mountain Club, based on an interview
with the author on North Country Public Radio on
Aug. 24, 2011.
JimGarbarino ’68
holds the Maude C. Clarke
Chair in Humanistic Psychology at Loyola Uni-
versity Chicago, where he founded the university's
Center for the Human Rights of Children. His new
book,
The Positive Psychology of Personal Transforma-
tion: Leveraging Resilience for Life Change
(
Springer,
2011),
reflects all his years of doing psychology in
difficult situations. It is easy to feel hopeless and
indifferent to the problems of others, but Garbarino
contends that this is the peak time for people to
enhance their optimism, empathy and emotional
responsiveness.
—
NSB
Denmark resident and jazz authority
Fradley
Garner ’54
has adapted, edited, augmented and
annotated the first English edition of
Harlem Jazz
Adventures – A European Baron’s Memoir,
1934-
1969 (
Scarecrow Press, 2012), by the Danish
journalist and jazz aficionado Timme Rosenkrantz.
Long out of print, the book has doubled in size
thanks to Garner’s expertise and familiarity with its
subject matter. Here are Benny Goodman, Duke
Ellington, Count Basie, Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday
and Louis Armstrong, the royalty of the Big Band
era. Vintage photos bring the characters to life. For
a video about the book, go to
www.jazzbaron.com
.
—
NSB
Mike Hamill ’99
is well positioned to write a
guidebook to climbing the highest mountains on
all seven continents – he’s done it, more than once.
In Climbing the Seven Summits
(
The Mountaineers
Books, 2012), he tells the rest of us how to reach
one of humankind’s most demanding goals, safely
and knowledgably. He even includes an eighth
summit, as a nod to a dispute about whether certain
islands belong to Asia or Australia. Along with
all the usual attributes of a good mountaineering
guide – budgeting, training, gear, maps, survival
tips – Hamill displays his liberal arts background
by including commentary on the natural, human
and cultural history of the region surrounding each
peak.
—
NSB
Chris Kelly '69
is the co-author of an historical
novel,
The Lost Tavern
(
AuthorHouse, 2011). It
takes place in the 1700s on Cape Cod and the high
seas. The notorious pirate Sam Bellamy plays a role
as romance, betrayal, shipwrecks and violence play
out against the setting of a rapidly evolving New
England. The “lost tavern,” center of the action, is
an historic site that was excavated in the 1970s, set-
ting the scene for this swashbuckling adventure tale.
—
NSB
To check on the
availability of any of
these books, inquire
at St. Lawrence’s
Brewer Bookstore, www.
brewerbookstoretext.com or
315-229-5460.
Ed Note: “Operator error” in
the shifting of files for the last
two issues of
St. Lawrence
may have resulted in the loss
of some material on books by
alumni. Anyone who sent in-
formation about his or her new
book between summer 2011
and spring 2012 and does not
see anything about the book
here should contact the editor,
nburdick@stlawu.edu
.