Bookshelf

When Michaels Met the Unusual: The Perfect Couple by Dr. James Marsh Sternberg ’58. Sternberg, a champion bridge player and instructor, describes the Michaels Cuebid and the Unusual Notrump, the most popular two-suited bridge hands (AuthorHouse, $17.99).

Hidden Maryland: In Search of America in Miniature by Eugene L. Meyer ’64. An illustrated guide of the Free State’s various regions, with profiles of famous Marylanders (independently published, $27.78).

Witness 2017–2020 by Hilton Obenzinger ’69. Obenzinger’s poetry collection chronicles four years of trouble in America (Irene Weinberger Books, $16.95).

Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties by John D’Emilio ’70. A memoir of D’Emilio’s life, from a working-class Bronx childhood to becoming a pioneer in the field of LGBTQ history (Duke University Press Books, $29.95).

The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir by David Lehman ’70. Lehman explores a variety of outstanding noir films and books, from the famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity) to the lesser known (Cornell University Press, $26.83).

Our Unfinished March: The Violent Past and Imperiled Future of the Vote — A History, A Crisis, A Plan by Eric H. Holder Jr. ’73 with Sam Koppelman. The former attorney general charts the history of voter discrimination and argues for new protective measures (One World, $28).

Late Life by Stephen Ackerman ’79. This debut poetry collection from Ackerman, a retired attorney for the New York City Law Department, is described as “21st-century love poems for grown-ups” (Silverfish Review Press, $18).

Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond 1977–2020 by Barry Singer ’79. Originally published in 2003 as a history of the previous 25 years in musical theater on and off Broadway, this new edition extends the narrative from 2004 to the recent present (Applause, $37.95).

Habsburg Madrid: Architecture and the Spanish Monarchy by Jesús Escobar ’89. Escobar, a professor of art history at Northwestern, argues that the buildings of Madrid tell a different story about the 17th-century Habsburg dynasty (Penn State University Press, $102.35).

A Vision Splendid: The Discourses of David O. McKay by Anne-Marie Wright Lampropoulous ’89. Speeches by McKay, a former president and apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are compiled and analyzed in categories including dedications, sermons and civic addresses (Greg Kofford, $22.95).

Panes of the Glass Ceiling: The Unspoken Beliefs Behind the Law’s Failure to Help Women Achieve Professional Parity by Kerri Lynn Stone ’97. Stone reframes the discourse about the “glass ceiling” that women face with respect to workplace inequality (Cambridge University Press, $34.99).

From Bureaucracy to Bullets: Extreme Domicide and the Right to Home by Bree Akesson ’01 and Andrew Basso. The authors focus on domicide, or the violent, intentional destruction of a home, as an overlooked human rights issue (Rutgers University Press, $38.95).

Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs and the Era That Remade the World’s Game by Joshua Robinson ’08 and Jonathan Clegg. How the rivalry between two of the world’s greatest soccer players has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry (Mariner Books, $29.99).

The Monsoon Diaries: A Doctor’s Journey of Hope and Healing from the ER Frontlines to the Far Reaches of the World by Dr. Calvin D. Sun ’08. Sun’s account of working in the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic is interspersed with reflections on his global travels (Harper Horizon, $27.99).

Hacking Artificial Intelligence: A Leader’s Guide from Deepfakes to Breaking Deep Learning by Davey Gibian ’12. AI is transforming the world but is vulnerable to hacking; Gibian sheds light on hacking risks and provides a framework to assess them before problems arise (Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, $33.48).

Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by Emily Tamkin ’12. Drawing on more than 150 interviews, Tamkin, a senior editor at The New Statesman, tracks the evolution of Jewishness throughout American history (Harper, $28.09).

— Jill C. Shomer