Bookshelf

Get the Damn Story: Homer Bigart and the Great Age of American Newspapers by Thomas W. Lippman ’61. This comprehensive biography of an influential journalist demonstrates the value of a free press to a democratic society (Georgetown University Press, $29.95).

Dot by Ron Padgett ’64. Padgett’s latest collection of poetry illuminates how wonders can be found even in mundane experiences and unremarkable objects (Coffee House Press, $16.95).

The Kafka Studies Department by Francis Levy ’69. Inspired by Franz Kafka, this set of interconnected short stories is infused with dark humor and insight about the human condition (Heliotrope Books, $18.50).

Save Me a Seat!: A Life with Movies by Rick Winston ’69. Film lover Winston details the challenging but rewarding work of creating one of Vermont’s leading cultural institutions, the Savoy Theater in Montpelier (Rookstock Publishing, $18.00).

Building a Unified American Health Care System: A Blueprint for Comprehensive Reform by Dr. Gilead Lancaster ’79. Lancaster proposes a system run by health- care professionals that would offer universal coverage and access (Johns Hopkins University Press, $39.95).

The Room at the End of the Universe: True Stories About the Struggle Against Brain Disease by Dr. Anthony Adamo ’82. Through the stories of patients struggling with life-threatening neurological diseases, neurologist Adamo conveys the lessons that can be learned from adversity (Outskirts Press, $21.95).

Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age by Dr. Carl D. Marci ’91. Marci, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, reviews the mounting evidence that overuse of smart phones and social media is rewiring our brains (Harvard University Press, $27.95).

Petrushka by Keith O’Shaughnessy ’94. In these absurdist poems and fables, characters toil under the glare of a violently subversive Petrushka puppet in a quasi-Russian dreamscape (Ragged Sky Press, $20).

Education Restated: Getting Policy Right on Accountability, Teacher Pay, and School Choice by Elliot Regenstein ’94. In his first book, Regenstein, a partner at the law firm Foresight Law + Policy, offers a pragmatic approach to education policy change in three hot-button areas (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, $38.95).

Dear Chrysanthemums: A Novel in Stories by Fiona Sze-Lorrain ’03. The debut novel from poet and translator Sze-Lorrain features Asian women reckoning with the past, violence, trauma and exile (Scribner, $18).

A Sweet Lowcountry Proposal: A Novel by Preslaysa Williams ’03. In this Charleston-based romance, the second in Williams’ Lowcountry series, a wedding dress designer finds love with the archivist of a Black history museum (Avon, $16.99).

My Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon ’06. Woon’s YA thriller is set at an elite private school in Washington, D.C., where a “fixer” named Hana makes her classmates’ secret problems go away (Katherine Tegan Books, $19.99).

Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn’t Built for Us by Alison Mariella Désir ’07. Désir, an athlete and activist, draws on her experience to explore why the sport of long-distance running has never been truly open to Black people (Portfolio, $27).

The Jockey & Her Horse: Inspired by the True Story of the First Black Female Jockey, Cheryl White by Sarah Maslin Nir ’08 and Raymond White Jr. Pulitzer Prize-nominee Nir’s children’s story about White and her horse, Jetolaro, is the second in the Once Upon a Horse series (Harry N. Abrams, $16.99).

This Won’t Help: Modest Proposals for a More Enjoyable Apocalypse by Eli Grober ’12. A collection of satirical essays about the chaos of our times from Grober, a New Yorker and McSweeney’s regular (The Experiment, $25.95).

Take the Lead: Hanging On, Letting Go, and Conquering Life’s Hardest Climbs by Sasha DiGiulian ’16. World champion climber DiGiulian tells her story and shares the power of perseverance and positivity (St. Martin’s Press, $29).

— Jill C. Shomer