The last issue of the semester wouldn’t be complete without dreams of the rest and relaxation that USM students are yearning for. Here is a list of books for your travels, your beach bag, or to join you in that hammock.
Professor Matthew Killmeier
Communication & Media Studies
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
“Great book, especially for those familiar with the movie. It’s a non-fiction that links agriculture to business”
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
“I would recommend this book particularly to students in communication and media studies. It’s a story about the Spanish civil war from an insider’s perspective. Very relevant to today.”
Professor Ronald Schmidt
Political Science, Honors
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
“This is what I’m planning on reading. It’s about the private and nationalist ceremonies by which Americans tried to deal with the unprecedented level of death involved in the Civil War.”
Mark Danner’s Torture and Truth
“I’m reading it this summer for my own research. It is an examination of the policy decisions that led to a policy of torture in the ‘War on Terror.'”
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
“It’s terrific — a novel about the relationship between two families, that deals with art, ideas, tragedy and New York City nightlife in the late ’70s and early ’80s. A brief summary can’t really do it justice — it’s just amazing.”
Professor Juris Urbans
Art Department
Antonio Lopez Garcia Drawings/ Paintings/ Sculpture by multiple authors; published by Rizzoli.
“A wonderful overview of the work of this great (but little-known in the U.S.), 72-year-old Spanish artist. He has a show up right now through July 27, at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston.”
Vija Celmins published by Phaidon
“Celmins is probably the most famous Latvian-born artist in the world. She has lectured and been (an art) juror at USM.”
A Nervous Splendor – Vienna 1888-89; by Frederic Morton, published by Penguin
“A more normal, very readable book, it is about fin-de-siecle Vienna, and the artistic and intellectual talents among them Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Schnitzler, and Gustav Klimt, who made a new world in the transition to the 20th century. This is also a book that you can take with you on an airplane.”