Ink

A healthy sampling of alumni- and faculty-produced publications

Love at a Girls’ School
By Diana Altman ’63 

This funny and touching collection of short stories previously published in the Notre Dame Review, North American Review, The Sea Letter and other respected literary journals, includes several set at an institution that may feel quite familiar to regular readers of CC Magazine. Using her penetrating eye, wicked sense of humor and vivid imagination, Diana Altman shares her take on college life in the 1960s.

Listen, Wonder, Ask
By Elly Berke ’09 

When Nadine asks a new friend if she has a coming-here story too, she sets off a chain of neighbors and new friends asking thoughtful, curious questions and listening to those around them. This lyrical, pay-it-forward story encourages children to engage with those around them and see each similarity and differenc as part of the colorful landscape of community.

Nabokov’s Secret Trees
By Stephen H. Blackwell ’87

In nearly all his literary works, Vladimir Nabokov inscribed networks of trees to create meaningful patterns of significance around one or more of his passionate interests—in consciousness, memory, creativity, epistemology, ethics and love. This book explores this neglected area of his art, one that positions nature as a hidden but vital core of his work.

In the Life Ever After
By Alice K. Boatwright ’69

In book three of the Ellie Kent mystery series, Ellie and Graham Kent finally take a honeymoon, but their holiday mood is interrupted by the news that convicted murderer Corinna Matthews has been released from prison. Ellie’s efforts to support Corinna are complicated by her increasing doubts about what really happened 15 years earlier, as well as by a disturbingly suspicious death in the present.

Bare Nipples: Poetic Stops on My Healing Journey
By Blair Nichols Chandler ’83

This interactive book of sacred intimate poetry touches on love, death, dreams, longing, shame and personal passions to help readers find their voice, inspiration, healing and compassion in their own experiences and truths. 

I’m Here to Ask for Your Vote: How Presidential Campaign Visits Influence Voters
By Christopher J. Devine ’06

During presidential campaigns, candidates crisscross the country nonstop. But do all those campaign visits make a difference come Election Day? If so, how and under what conditions? Devine, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton, provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategy and effectiveness of presidential campaign visits.

Twelve Feminist Lessons of War
By Cynthia Enloe ’60

Drawing on firsthand experiences of war from women in Ukraine, Myanmar, Somalia, Vietnam, Rwanda, Algeria, Syria and Northern Ireland, Twelve Feminist Lessons of War shows how women’s wars are not men’s wars. With her engaging trademark style, Cynthia Enloe demonstrates how patriarchy and militarism have embedded themselves in our institutions and our personal lives. 

How Technology, Social Media, and Current Events Profoundly Affect Adolescents
By Mark A. Goldstein and Myrna Chandler Goldstein ’70

Using research and clinical studies, this husband-and-wife team examines 18 contemporary issues—including sleep, stress, anxiety, depression, substance use, cyberbullying, racism and poverty—and their impact on the biological, psychological and social domains in adolescents. An analysis of current events, including the COVID pandemic and war, completes the book. 

Treatments for Anxiety: Fact Versus Fiction
By Myrna Chandler Goldstein ’70 and Mark A. Goldstein

This book examines 25 well-known and well-studied options for combating anxiety, including first-line treatments such as benzodiazepines, SSRIs and cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as complementary modalities such as animal therapy, exercise and dietary supplements. Each entry discusses a treatment’s origins and underlying principles, how and in what contexts it is used, and potential side effects and risks.

Downfall of the Straight Line
By Charles O. Hartman, Lucy Marsh Haskell ’19 Professor Emeritus of English

Charles Hartman’s eighth book of poems vibrates with dazzling rhythms, masterful syntax, linguistic wit, and descriptions that are precise and surprising at the same time. From a dead backyard tree to a Greek city, from a lovers’ bed to a lost lover, the poems display both intellectual depth and emotional complexity.

Distant Journeys 
By David Katzenstein ’76

This visual chronicle of humanity takes readers on photographer David Katzenstein’s 49-year artistic journey through 37 countries. Drawn from an exhaustive body of work, the 120 duo-tone images taken between 1974 and 2023 are thoughtfully accompanied by excerpts from The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. 

The Future Was Now 
By Chris Nashawaty ’91

In the summer of 1982, eight science fiction films were released within six weeks of one another: E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior. Expertly researched, energetically told and written with an unabashed love for the cinema, The Future Was Now is a chronicle of how a revolution sparked in a galaxy far, far away finally took root and changed Hollywood forever.

If Anything Happens to Me
By Luanne Rice ’77

This heart-pounding young adult thriller from New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice follows two girls desperate to catch a murderer still on the loose. Eight months after the body of Eloise Parrish is found in the woods, the case is growing cold, and only Eloise’s sister, Oli, seems to care. But then Oli finds another girl left for dead, in the exact spot Eloise’s body was found. The two girls join forces to unravel a mystery that is all too real—and all too dangerous. 

MAJIKAL
By Ben Robinson ’82

Following his 2020 autobiography/film The Outlaw Hero, Ben Robinson offers what is “MAJIKAL” about pop culture, the zeitgeist and strife vs. enlightenment. From ancient acupuncture to 21st-century body piercing, this non-traditional book—featuring cover art by Charles Chu—contains humorous, insightful essays on master actor Gary Swanson, the CIA’s first nonfiction magician John Mulholland, little-known facts about the legendary Houdini, and much more.  

We Had Fun and Nobody Died
By Amy T. Waldman ’81 with Peter Jest

This entertaining and irreverent biography provides a rare window into the music industry from a fiercely independent promoter’s perspective. Documenting decades of rock, folk and alternative shows, it’s an inspiring story of a one-of-a-kind character whose stubborn streak, soft-heartedness and love of music helped him put Milwaukee on the live music map.