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Summer Books: 9 Books by Graduate Center Scholars That Will Take You Far Afield

Summer Books: 9 Books by Graduate Center Scholars That Will Take You Far Afield

June 20, 2023

Recently published books by faculty members, students, and alumni offer uncommon escapes.

Summer 2023 books by GC faculty and alumni

Completely anecdotal studies show for many of us, the ideal summer book isn’t always a hot romance (though of course we are fans of those, too!). If you’re looking for a book to pack in your beach tote or carry-on, consider these new titles from Graduate Center faculty, students, and alumni that will transport you back in time, or into the imagined reaches of the cosmos, or deep below the surface of the sea.

Explore the enduring mystery of a notorious but long-forgotten blaze that tore through Manhattan in The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution, by Professor Benjamin L. Carp (GC/Brooklyn College, History).

Richard Wolin and his book "Heidegger in Ruins"

Ponder the compromised legacy of 20th-century philosopher — and Nazi party member — Martin Heidegger, whose writings are gaining popularity among far-right activists, in Distinguished Professor Richard Wolin’s (Comparative Literature, History, Political Science) latest book, Heidegger in Ruins: Between Philosophy and Ideology.

Ness Brown and her new book, The Scourge Between Stars

Travel with a starship captain who must hunt down an unknown intruder in order to return to our solar system in the sci-fi horror novel The Scourge Between Stars, by Astrophysics master’s student Ness Brown.

Christopher A, Loperana and his new book "The Ends of Paradise: Race, Extraction, and the Struggle for Black Life in Honduras"

Learn about the challenges faced by Garifuna, a Black Indigenous people whose presence in Honduras predates the nation’s independence, in The Ends of Paradise: Race, Extraction, and the Struggle for Black Life in Honduras, by Professor Christopher Loperena (Anthropology).

Join a father’s investigation of the death of his daughter, a 19-year-old law student in Guatemala City and one of 500 Guatemalan women murdered in 2005, in the new book by Professor Victoria Sanford (GC/Lehman College, Anthropology), Textures of Terror: The Murder of Claudina Isabel Velasquez and Her Father's Quest for Justice.

Nancy Miller, Tahneer Oksman, and their book on mentorship

Get an inside look at the complexities of mentoring relationships in Feminists Reclaim Mentorship: An Anthology, co-edited by Distinguished Professor Nancy K. Miller (English, Comparative Literature, French, Women’s and Gender Studies) and Tahneer Oksman (Ph.D. ’13, English).

David Waldstreicher and Phyllis Wheatley book

Delve into the life and work of Phillis Wheatley, the first African and the third woman in the American colonies to publish a book of verse, in Distinguished Professor David Waldstreicher’s (History, American Studies, Africana Studies) biography, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence.

Alumnus Ryan Donovan and his new book "Broadway Bodies"

Consider how the norms of theatrical casting have narrowed who gets to perform — and whom audiences get to see — in Broadway musicals in Ryan Donovan’s (Ph.D. ’19, Theatre and Performance) Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity.

Writer Brad Fox (Ph.D. ’22, English) and his book "The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths"

Plunge into the world of the Bathysphere — a 1930s spherical deep-sea submersible — in the creative nonfiction book The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths, by Brad Fox (Ph.D. ’22, English).

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