ILL-FATED FRONTIER: Peril and Possibilities in the Early American West by Dr. Samuel Forman C’73 (Lyons Press, 2021, $26.95.) This turbulent and visceral portrait of the wild American frontier in 1789 begins with an optimistic plan and ends with a body pickled in a barrel of rum. Through the plantation-building exploits of Revolutionary War antihero Gen. David Forman, this history probes a world of slaveholders, abolitionists, Spanish colonials, and rough travel to examine the dream of an inclusive American experience and its reality. Buy this book
STRANGE BRIGHT BLOOMS: A History of Cut Flowers by Randy Malamud C’83 (Reaktion Books, 2021, $40.) Flowers grace our lives at moments of celebration and despair. They brighten our homes, our parties, and our rituals. In this examination, Malamud explores our relationship with cut flowers, but also painted flowers, glass flowers, pressed flowers, flowery church hats, weaponized flowers, and much more. Buy this book
HE GETS THAT FROM ME by Jacqueline Berkell Friedland C’99 L’00 (SparkPress, 2021, $16.95.) Maggie Fisher, a struggling young mother, answers an ad offering thousands of dollars to be a gestational surrogate. After delivering twin babies she finally gets her life on a positive trajectory, and she can’t fathom why, 10 years later, the fertility clinic is calling to ask for a follow-up DNA test. Buy this book
VICIOUS INFANTS: Dangerous Childhoods in Antebellum US Literature by Laura Soderberg Gr’16 (University of Massachusetts Press, 2021, $27.95.) Drawing upon prison documents, medical records, periodical fiction, and a range of literary works from Herman Melville to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Soderberg reveals that many children were not only cut off from family and society in the early 19th century, they were also preemptively excluded from the rewards of citizenship and adulthood. Buy this book
FRANKLIN FIELD SATURDAYS: Celebrating 65 Years of Penn Football in the Ivy League (1956–2021) by Ted Gilmore W’70 (Shorehouse Books, 2021, $14.99.) Gilmore presents a compilation of narrative and pictorial snapshots of 65 memorable Ivy League football games played at Franklin Field since the conference began round-robin play in 1956. Buy this book
POLITICS AS SOUND: Washington, DC, Hardcore 1978–1983 by Shayna Maskell C’01 (University of Illinois Press, 2021, $24.95.) Maskell explores DC’s hardcore punk scene, led by bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, and examines the genre’s aesthetics and the unique impact of DC’s sociopolitical realities on the sound, and the scene, that emerged. In doing so, she tells the story of how a generation created music that produced—and resisted—politics and power. Buy this book
INTO THE BLUE: A Virgin Islands Mystery by Megan O’Leary C’02 (Monstera Leaf Press, 2021, $15.99.) As first mate on a Caribbean tour boat, Lizzie Jordan’s motto is “Bring everyone back alive.” She’s never had to think very hard about that motto, until now. When a body is found on the shores of the vacation hotspot she calls home, pressure mounts and Lizzie finds herself on the run from the police. Buy this book
GAG REFLECTIONS: Conquering a Fear of Vomit Through Exposure Therapy by Dara Lovitz C’00 and Dr. David Yusko (Toplight Books, 2021, $19.99.) Lovitz spent years trying traditional talk therapy and self-help books to reduce her anxiety around vomiting (a fear known as emetophobia). With a therapist’s guidance, she exposed herself to the thing she had avoided all her life. Within weeks she showed improvement and within months she had overcome emetophobia. Buy this book
DINNER WITH ELEANOR by Helen Niemtzow Pratt GAr’64 (Post Hill Press, 2021, $26.00.) Pratt’s memoir tracks her immigrant family’s history, as well as her own impressive life. While attending Penn’s Graduate School of Architecture, she met and later married Roger Pratt GAr’64, son of famed political activist Trude Lash, and shared an intimate meal with Lash’s close friend, Eleanor Roosevelt. Buy this book
THE CAESARS PALACE COUP: How a Billionaire Brawl Over the Famous Casino Exposed the Power and Greed of Wall Street by Sujeet Indap WG’06 and Max Frumes (Diversion Books, 2021, $24.45.) Financial journalists Indap and Frumes illuminate the 2015 bankruptcy brawl over casino giant Caesars Entertainment, which they call the most brutal corporate restructuring in Wall Street history. Buy this book
THE EXPERIENCE MAKER: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait to Share by Dan Gingiss C’96 (Morgan James Publishing, 2021, $17.95.) Gingiss is a customer experience coach who shares his proprietary WISER method of business (Witty, Immersive, Shareable, Extraordinary, Responsive) in this handbook that shows business owners how to turn customers into marketers by recommending a company’s products and services. Buy this book