<i>In the Wind</i> is Barbara Fister’s second mystery.

Covenantal Coversations is Darrell Jodock’s latest work.

Gustavus Adolphus College will hold its annual Gustavus Author Tea from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 29 at the Courtyard Café, located in the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center.

Sponsored by the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library and the Book Mark, this event acknowledges and celebrates individuals from the campus community who have written or contributed in some way to a published book during the current academic year.

The following individuals and publications will be celebrated this year:

Covenantal Coversations edited by Darrell Jodock
Jodock, the Drell and Adeline Bernhardson Distinguished Professor of Religion, explores the results of 60 years of Jewish-Christian dialogue for understanding Christian teaching. Each chapter is built on conversations between leading thinkers of the two faiths. Specifically, the book delves into the theological framework shared by Christians and Jews, their special historical relationship, post-Holocaust developments, and trouble spots which persist today.

Controversies in Political Theology by Thia Cooper
Cooper, an assistant professor of religion, addresses the question of whether Christians should be struggling toward development or liberation. The book explores the theologies of development and liberation, from their beginnings in the 1960s through their changes to the central arguments today.

In the Wind by Barbara Fister
Fister, a librarian, draws on parallels between the Vietnam War era and today’s climate for civil liberties in her second mystery. Anni Koskinen offers a woman a ride out of town, only to be accused of aiding a fugitive wanted for the 1972 murder of an FBI agent. Koskinen signs on to help the defense in an investigation that leads her down Chicago’s mean streets, up to the White Earth Reservation, and into the vortex of a no-holds-barred federal investigation as the past collides with the present and the political becomes all too personal.

Esbj! The Heart and Mind of a Professor by Dennis Johnson with Robert Esbjornson
Johnson, former interim president of the college who held many administrative titles during his career, and Esbjornson, former religion professor who died this past October, combined to present the memoirs of Esbjornson’s 33 years at Gustavus.

Le premier regard, essays d’anatomie metaphysique by Laurent Dechery
Dechery, a professor in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, studies Leonardo da Vinci, René Descartes, George Berkeley, Denis Diderot, and others in this multi-disciplinary book on perception in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, Systematic Catalogue, Renaissance Medals (Volume One, Italy; Volume Two, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and England (by John Graham Pollard) with technical contributions by Donald Myers
Myers, director of the Hillstrom Museum of Art and an instructor in the Department of Art and Art History, was formerly a curator in the sculpture department at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and contributed extensive technical descriptions for each of around 800 Renaissance and later portrait medals in the collection of the National Gallery of Art that are catalogued in this two-volume set.

For more information on this event contact Judy Schultz in the Book Mark at jdschult@gustavus.edu or 507-933-6017.

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Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

Barbara Ehrenreich

Gustavus Adolphus College will host social critic and author Barbara Ehrenreich, who wrote the nationally renowned book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (2001). The highlight of Ehrenreich’s visit will be a public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24 in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall. Ehrenreich will be available to sign copies of her books immediately following the lecture.

Much of Ehrenreich’s writing is a reflection of her own personal experiences. To write Nickel and Dimed, she experienced firsthand the plight of millions of Americans who work for poverty-level wages. She moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a hotel maid, house cleaner, waitress, and Wal-Mart salesperson. Through her experience, she discovered — and wrote about — the difficulties involved with living at the poverty level.

Ehrenreich’s social critiques and political essays explore a diverse range of issues. Other than Nickel and Dimed, a small list of Ehrenreich’s works include: Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War (1998), Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005), and For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts’ Advice to Women (2005).

In Blood Rites she explored the origins of our species’ attraction to violence and specifically tried to answer why humans are drawn to war and even see it as a kind of sacred undertaking. Her most recent book, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy, will be released in July 2007.

The event is sponsored by the Campus Activities Board and is open to the public. Tickets are required and may be purchased at the event for $5 per person; Gustavus students, staff, and faculty may attend for free. To obtain additional information about the event, e-mail Assistant Director of Student Activities Ryan Yunkers at ryunkers@gustavus.edu or call 507/933-6282.

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Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

The public is invited to hear Dalton Conley, author of Honky, speak at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20 in Christ Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus College. Honky is this year’s Gustavus Reading in Common book as well as the featured book for the Unity in Community—St. Peter Reads program. This event is free.

During Conley’s visit to St. Peter, he will also attend several discussions on Monday, Sept.18: at 9 a.m. at the St. Peter Food Co-op; at 12 p.m. at the St. Peter Community Center; and at 7 p.m. at Waldo’s Coffee Company. There will also be a dinner and discussion preceding the event at Christ Chapel on Wednesday, Sept. 20. The dinner will be held at 5 p.m. at Whiskey River; advance reservations are required.

Dalton Conley is University Professor and Chair of Sociology at New York University. He is author of several books focusing on race and socioeconomic issues, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Salon.com, and Feed Magazine.

For more information, please contact Judy Schultz at (507)933-6017 or at jdschult@gustavus.edu.

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Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510