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Various Books

Music's Modern Muse: A Life of Winnaretta Singer, Princesse de Polignac
By Sylvia Kahan '73
University of Rochester Press, 2003
Winnaretta Singer (1865-1943) was an eccentric and extravagant lover of the arts who used her vast Singer Sewing Machine fortune largely to subsidize French musicians, orchestras, and operas. She made a lifelong project of commissioning the musical works of unknown composers for performances in her Paris salon. Kahan, a pianist and scholar, serves on the faculties of the City University of New York's Graduate Center and College of Staten Island.

Dr. Spock's Pregnancy Guide
By Marjorie Greenfield '78
Pocket Books, 2003
Obstetrician Marjorie Greenfield, a member of the new team of medical experts at the Dr. Spock Company, has written this month-to-month pregnancy guide to help couples make health and baby-preparation choices based on their personal values while still being guided by accurate information. A professor at Case Western Reserve University and 15-year OB/GYN, Greenfield has been named to numerous "Top Doctor" guides.

Deaf Side Story: Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets, and a Classic American Musical
By Mark Rigney '89
Gallaudet University Press, 2003
In 2000, the new head of the drama department at MacMurray College put on a production of West Side Story using a cast of deaf and hearing students. In chronicling its progress, this book shares the challenges of teaching students to sing, sign, and dance while managing concerns posed by the school, the deaf community, and the students themselves. The ultimate success of the show illustrates how individuals from different cultures can come together to perform a classic American art form. Rigney is an author and playwright in Evansville, Indiana.

Radiant Cool: A Novel Theory of Consciousness
By Dan Lloyd '75
MIT Press, 2004
With a missing body, a female sleuth, and a sinister Russian agent, this novel has the makings of a gripping thriller. But embedded within the story are scholarly ideas about the philosophy of consciousness, making this a metaphysical thriller and scientific detective story. Lloyd, a professor of philosophy at Trinity College, is said to have broken "new ground in the genre of philosophical fiction."

Managing Artists in Pop Music: What Every Artist and Manager Must Know to Succeed
By Mitch Weiss '74 and Perri Gaffney
Allworth Press, 2003
Through stories of famous artist-manager teams, the authors analyze, criticize, and detail what a manager ought to learn to be an effective advisor and artist representative. Among them are acquiring clients, negotiating contracts, administering taxes and finances, and dealing with promoters, the media, and unions. Weiss has been a musical and theatrical manager for 25 years.

Building Democracy in Contemporary Russia
By Sarah L. Henderson '93
Cornell University Press, 2003
Many of the Western efforts of the 1990s that poured huge amounts of money and expertise into Russia to help build a democratic society have encouraged the development of civic groups that are unable to sustain themselves. This is a threat to long-term civic stability and the promise for democracy in modern-day Russia. A professor at Oregon State University, Henderson served in Moscow as a consultant to the Ford Foundation and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

The Sleeping Father
By Matthew Sharpe '84
Soft Skull Press, 2003
After unintentionally swallowing a harmful combination of antidepressants, a divorced dad of two teenagers emerges from a coma with brain damage. His children, the conflicted and caustically witty Chris, and the serious, earnestly spiritual Cathy, take charge of their father's rehabilitation. The New York Times, in its favorable review of the novel, describes Sharpe as a "rare find: an ironist who actually seems to like other people." Sharpe teaches creative writing at Columbia University and Bard College. This is his second novel.