read
Shelf Life
Living Black: Social Life in an African American Neighborhood by Mark S. Fleisher, PhD, research professor at Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Fleisher describes the lives of individuals living in the historic North End neighborhood of Champaign, Ill. The book revolves around Mo and Memphis Washington, who struggle to maintain a stable home, and Burpee, an ex-con from Chicago, who seeks a new start. The neighborhood is nonjudgmental and combats poverty through strong social relationships.
Thomas Hart Benton: Discoveries & Interpretations by Henry Adams, PhD, Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History. Thomas Hart Benton is well known for the controversy surrounding him and his work. In a series of essays, Adams explores Benton's role as an artist, the fights over the subject matters of his murals and his relationship with his student, the artist Jackson Pollock. Adams also describes his experiences exposing fakes of Benton's work.
A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism by William E. Deal, PhD, Severance Professor of the History of Religion and chair of the Department of Cognitive Science; and Brian Ruppert, PhD, an associate professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Deal and Ruppert describe the evolution of Buddhism in Japan across 15 centuries, emphasizing its social context. Using the most recent Japanese and Western scholarship, the authors examine political and cultural contexts, Japanese narratives, and discourse and competition with other religions.
Death's Summer Coat: What the History of Death and Dying Teaches Us About Life and Living by Brandy Schillace, PhD (GRS '04, '10, English), research associate and public engagement fellow at the university's Dittrick Medical History Museum. Schillace delves into myriad practices (from those of Tibetan Buddhists to those found in contemporary Western hospitals), as well as traditions and cultural interpretations associated with death, in a book that crosses centuries and geographic borders. Combining research and her own experiences with death and grief, Schillace seeks to help readers find their own way to live with and accept the inevitable.
Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour, PhD. Damour is a clinical instructor at the university, director of Laurel School's Center for Research on Girls and has a psychotherapy practice. She addresses seven developmental transitions teenage girls experience and answers common questions parents have about their teenage daughters on topics including eating habits and negative social behavior.
