THE HEART OF HAITI By Andrea Baldeck M’79 GM’84. (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Publications, 2005. $49.95.) Vivid black-and-white portraits of Haitians are matched with Creole proverbs in this fine-art photography book. Baldeck worked in Haiti during the mid-1980s as a volunteer physician, and returned in 1996 as a photographer; her images reveal the hope, resignation, and strength of the Haitian people. Order this book
PRODIGY By Dave Kalstein C’99. (St. Martin’s Press, 2006. $23.95.) In the year 2036, the world’s most prestigious boarding school is facing a crisis. The Stansbury School boasts eight U.S. senators and two Supreme Court Justices among its graduates (thanks partly to its use of designer drugs to enhance students’ mental and physical growth), but a string of murdered alumni leads to the uncovering of a massive conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the government. A thriller about America’s obsession with genius that asks: What is the price of perfection? Kalstein, a former staffer for GQ magazine, also wrote and directed Recess, a short film set at a utopian prep school in the year 2034. Order this book
VIRGINITY LOST: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences By Laura M. Carpenter G’95 Gr’99. (New York University Press, 2005. $20.00.) In a study of virginity-loss based on interviews with young men and women of various sexual orientations, Carpenter—an assistant professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University—presents a rich array of first-time experiences. This book asks if there is an ideal way to lose one’s virginity, what compels the big step, and what “going all the way” means for young gays and lesbians. Order this book
FINANCIAL STATECRAFT: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy By Benn Steil W’85 and Robert E. Litan (Yale University Press, 2006. $38.00.) Nations interact economically not only in trade but also in the purchase and sale of financial assets across the board. Roughly 90 percent of the nearly $2 trillion worth of currency that moves across borders every day is unrelated to trade in goods and services. This book examines how the American government has influenced international capital flows and how it can be more effective. Steil is director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. Order this book
TOWN HOUSE: Architecture and Material Life in the Early American City By Bernard L. Herman Gr’78. (University of North Carolina Press, 2005. $45.00.) In this history of early American urban dwellings, Herman—director of the Center of American Material Culture Studies and professor of art history at the University of Delaware—examines domestic buildings from Charleston to Portsmouth, as well as those in English cities and towns, to determine why people built their houses the way they did and how their homes fit in with everyday city life. Order this book
TWO MEN AND MUSIC: Nationalism in the Making of an Indian Classical Tradition By Janaki Bakhle G’97.(Oxford University Press, 2005. $19.95.) At the end of the 19th century, two men with very different visions worked to reinvent Indian classical music as a national tradition. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar wanted music to be cleansed of its earthy associations and put in the service of Hindu proselytizing, whereas Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande envisioned it as a modern, secular art. Bakhle, assistant professor of history at Columbia University, examines their contradictions and compromises as Indian classical music was transformed in relation to gender, caste, religion, and the public cultural sphere. Order this book
