Bryn Mawr Authors

Two Sisters of Fayetteville

Two Sisters of Fayetteville
$11.38

by Tamar Anolic '03


 

A B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

Two Sisters of Fayetteville also won Honorable Mention for Young Adult Fiction in the Firebird Book Awards for Fourth Quarter, 2022.

Seventeen-year-old Joanna Upshaw and her sister, sixteen-year-old Hannah, are two of twelve siblings in an insular, conservative, and evangelical Christian family- same as the Duggars, whose reality show they watch on TV. Joanna in particular is exhausted by the demands of helping her mother with the housework and childcare attendant in such a large family. She is also beginning to realize that she doesn't measure up to her parents' vision of a perfect Christian woman- or to any of their strict rules.

Hannah is the sister that Joanna is closest to, the one that shares her fatigue and anxiety. Both of them have spent their whole lives learning that their highest calling is to marry and have as many children as possible. However, as Joanna watches Hannah and two of their brothers court with the intention of marrying, she questions whether she is capable of doing the same, especially as her parents shoo her marriage prospects away one at a time. Afraid of becoming the old maid that never amounts to anything, Joanna finally makes plans to get away from her parents forever.

Fans of Jennifer Mathieu's Devoted and Julia Watts' Quiver will like this book.

ISBN/SKU: 
9798849876559
Publication Date: 
September 30, 2022
Author: 

European Expansion and Representations of Indigenous and African Peoples

European Expansion and Representations of Indigenous and African Peoples
$44.95

by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz

This book presents a bold, multifaceted interpretation of early English imperial actions by examining the ways in which English empire-builders and travelers interacted with Indigenous and African peoples during the long process of colonization in the Americas.

Ignacio Gallup-Díaz argues that early English imperial actors were primarily motivated by practical concerns rather than abstract ideologies--from reacting to, learning from, and avoiding the ongoing Spanish and Portuguese imperial projects to the dynamic collision of English imaginings of empire with the practical realities of governing non-European peoples. The text includes an appendix of primary sources that allows students and instructors to engage with English imperial thinking directly. Readers are encouraged to critically examine English accounts of this period in an attempt to see the Indigenous and African peoples who are embedded in them.

European Expansion and Representations of Indigenous and African Peoples provides an invaluable new framework for undergraduate students and instructors of early American history, Atlantic history, and the history of race and imperialism more broadly.

ISBN/SKU: 
9780815376446
Publication Date: 
April 15, 2020
Publisher: 

Game of Cones

Game of Cones
$26.00

by Cynthia Blair BMC '75 - published under the psuedonym Cynthia Baxter

In Cynthia Baxter's fourth Lickety Splits Mystery, ice cream shoppe owner and amateur sleuth Kate McKAy doesn't waffle around scooping up new clientele at a historic hotel, but her hopes of becoming the Hudson Valley's reigning ice cream queen melt fast when murder checks-in!

From the moment Kate arrives at the imposing Mohawk Mountain Resort, not even luggage brimming with hot fudge can sweeten her stay. Instead of savoring alone time with her on-again boyfriend Jake and leading workshops on whipping together delectable frosty treats, she finds herself stranded at the isolated hotel with a small group of nutty characters--and a dead body.

When the corpse of wealthy cosmetics executive Bethany La Montaigne is suddenly found following a blackout, any of the five strangers trapped with Kate and Jake could be the killer. Chilled to the core, Kate vows to discover whether the victim's mortal enemy was a smooth-talking playboy, bubbly millennial, mousy librarian, charming Englishman, or the Mohawk's creepy general manager...

Bethany's life was chock full of scandals and there's little doubt that someone refused to endure another taste. With just a sprinkling of clues, it's up to Kate to bring justice to a culprit who believes that revenge is a dish best served cold...

ISBN/SKU: 
9781496726827
Publication Date: 
November 24, 2020

Last Licks

Last Licks
$15.95

by Cynthia Blair BMC '75 - published under the psuedonym Cynthia Baxter

It's autumn in the Hudson Valley, and Kate McKay has some tricks up her sleeve for a deliciously spooky season at her Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe. But with a cold-blooded murderer thrown into the mix, the scares are about to become a little too real . . .

Kate receives the shock of a lifetime when she's blindsided by an offer she can't refuse. An assistant movie director desperately wants to shoot a key scene at Lickety Splits and she's willing to pay big bucks to sweeten the last-minute deal. All Kate has to do is tolerate a bustling film crew for a few hours and provide one important prop--a scoop of handmade ice cream . . .

But when up-and-coming actress Savannah Crane drops dead after spooning down some chocolate almond fudge, Kate's first taste of Hollywood might be her last. Determined to clear her name, Kate finds herself churning through a long list of unsavory characters to catch the real killer lurking around town. As she uncovers the truth about the jealous rivals and obsessive stalkers who haunted Savannah's life, Kate soon realizes that tangling with the late starlet's "fans" could make this her most terrifying fall yet . . .

Includes mouthwatering ice cream recipes from the Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe!

ISBN/SKU: 
9781496714190
Publication Date: 
August 25, 2020

Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked

Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked
$26.99

by Marcia Biederman BMC '70

The best-known educator of the twentieth century was a scammer in cashmere. "The most famous reading teacher in the world," as television hosts introduced her, Evelyn Wood had little classroom experience, no degrees in reading instruction, and a background that included work at the Mormon mission in Germany at the time when the church was cooperating with the Third Reich. Nevertheless, a nation spooked by Sputnik and panicked by paperwork eagerly embraced her promises of a speed-reading revolution. Journalists, lawmakers and two US presidents lent credibility to Wood's claims of turbocharging reading speeds through a method once compared to the miracle at Lourdes. Time magazine reported Woods grads could polish off Dr. Zhivago in one hour; a senator swore that Wood's method had boosted his reading speed to more than ten thousand words per minute.

But science showed that her method taught only skimming, with disastrous effects on comprehension--a fact Wood was aware of from early in her career. Fudging test results, and squelching critics, she founded a company that enrolled half a million. The course's popularity endured even as evidence of its shortcomings continued to accumulate. Today, as apps and online courses attempt to spark a speed-reading revival, this engaging look at Wood's rise from mission worker to marketer exposes the pitfalls of embracing a con artist's worthless solution to imaginary problems.

ISBN/SKU: 
9781641601627
Publication Date: 
September 3, 2019
Author: 
Publisher: 

Can College Level the Playing Field?

Can College Level the Playing Field?
$29.95

by Sandy Baum BMC '72

Why higher education is not a silver bullet for eradicating economic inequality and social injustice

We often think that a college degree will open doors to opportunity regardless of one's background or upbringing. In this eye-opening book, two of today's leading economists argue that higher education alone cannot overcome the lasting effects of inequality that continue to plague us, and offer sensible solutions for building a more just and equitable society.

Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson document the starkly different educational and social environments in which children of different races and economic backgrounds grow up, and explain why social equity requires sustained efforts to provide the broadest possible access to high-quality early childhood and K-12 education. They dismiss panaceas like eliminating college tuition and replacing the classroom experience with online education, revealing why they fail to provide better education for those who need it most, and discuss how wages in our dysfunctional labor market are sharply skewed toward the highly educated. Baum and McPherson argue that greater investment in the postsecondary institutions that educate most low-income and marginalized students will have a bigger impact than just getting more students from these backgrounds into the most prestigious colleges and universities.

While the need for reform extends far beyond our colleges and universities, there is much that both academic and government leaders can do to mitigate the worst consequences of America's deeply seated inequalities. This book shows how we can address the root causes of social injustice and level the playing field for students and families before, during, and after college.

ISBN/SKU: 
9780691171807
Publication Date: 
May 17, 2022

Drawing Down the Moon

Drawing Down the Moon
$36.00
$25.25
$25.25 - $36.00

by Radcliffe Edmonds

An unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman world

What did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? In Drawing Down the Moon, Radcliffe Edmonds, one of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world, provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as "magic" and set apart from "normal" kinds of practices, Edmonds gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and later Western tradition.

Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, Edmonds delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, Edmonds journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia--ancient tablets, spell books, bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, and amulets and talismans. He considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.

An investigation of the mystical and marvelous, Drawing Down the Moon offers an unparalleled record of the origins, nature, and functions of ancient magic.

ISBN/SKU: 
9780691156934
Publication Date: 
July 2, 2019
Author: 

Lonely Spirit

Lonely Spirit
$7.99

by Tamar Anolic '03


 

A B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

 

The Lonely Spirit is also a winner for historical fiction in the Firebird Book Awards. It was Long Listed for the Historical Fiction Company's Book of the Year Awards, and received the "Highly Recommended" award of excellence from the Historical Fiction Company.

 

"This book is exemplary... A quick read with a huge plot that will leave the reader wanting more. Quinn is a great character. The time period of the mid 1800s in the West and the tensions between the Comanches and the Army is well described and adds a wonderful dimension to the story of Quinn.... What a nice read! I didn't know what to expect as I began to read and I enjoyed every aspect of it. The pacing, organization and structure were well executed. You bring the reader right into the heart of the story as Quinn begins his journey to find out who he truly is. His story is so compelling, I was literally turning the pages to find out what happens next. Great job! ... Quinn is a fantastic character. He doesn't fit into either world and must forge his own way to discover who he is and where he does belong. He's so well fleshed out and so compelling, I was actually sad when I came to the end. The secondary characters were also well fleshed out and believable. You do a good job creating another character in the Old West itself. You bring the location to life in a vivid way." Judge, 30th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards.

 

The Lonely Spirit is a short story collection sprawled across the Old West. As the only half-Comanche U.S. Marshal, L.S. Quinn straddles two worlds, searching for peace in both.
Quinn is one of the best Marshals, well-respected for finding criminals and bringing them to justice. His adventures pit him against criminals like Florence Finnegan, the famous brothel owner and gunslinger, and Jack Mattherson, whose attack on U.S. Senator William Quincy brings out Quinn's desire for revenge. But Quinn isn't always lucky: when one of his partners turns into his enemy on a lonely stretch of land, Quinn no longer knows whom to trust.
The fight between the Comanche and the United States Army is never far from Quinn's mind, either. When the Army kills his fiancée, Quinn must rebuild his life, even as he finds himself a lasting enemy in Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, a respected Civil War veteran.
But Quinn's journeys also bring him into contact with kindness he does not anticipate in such a wild land. To his surprise, sympathy comes in the form of Colonel Robert Graypool, whose level-headed command of the Comanche reservation at Fort Sill brings out Quinn's respect when he least expects it. Humanity also resides in Dr. Mary Newcomb, one of the few women physicians of the day. In both of them, Quinn finds some of the community for which he searches.

ISBN/SKU: 
9798799144579
Publication Date: 
April 30, 2022
Author: 

Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar

Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar
$25.00

by Kavita Das BMC '96

Dancer, film actor, Hindustani classical singer – Lakshmi Shankar was all this and more. Starting her journey as a teenager in Uday Shankar’s breakthrough troupe, she ventured into playback singing after a tragic illness cut short her dance career, going on to be the voice behind films such as Richard Attenborough’s critically acclaimed Gandhi. But her ultimate artistry lay in Hindustani classical music. In this book, Kavita Das, who has known her since childhood, traces Lakshmi’s fascinating story that culminated in a Grammy nomination in 2009. Poignant Song explores the Dancer, film actor, Hindustani classical singer – Lakshmi Shankar was all this and more. Starting her journey as a teenager in Uday Shankar’s breakthrough troupe, she ventured into playback singing after a tragic illness cut short her dance career, going on to be the voice behind films such as Richard Attenborough’s critically acclaimed Gandhi. But her ultimate artistry lay in Hindustani classical music. In this book, Kavita Das, who has known her since childhood, traces Lakshmi’s fascinating story that culminated in a Grammy nomination in 2009. Poignant Song explores the journey of Indian music to the West through the remarkable life of a great artisteof Indian music to the West through the remarkable life of a great artiste.
ISBN/SKU: 
9789352777730
Publication Date: 
December 18, 2018

Promoting Equity and Justice Through Pedagogical Partnership

Promoting Equity and Justice Through Pedagogical Partnership
$35.00

by Alison Cook-Sather, Mary Katharine Woodworth Professor, Department of Education

Faculty and staff in higher education are looking for ways to address the deep inequity and systemic racism that pervade our colleges and universities. Pedagogical partnership can be a powerful tool to enhance equity, inclusion, and justice in our classrooms and curricula. These partnerships create opportunities for students from underrepresented and equity-seeking groups to collaborate with faculty and staff to revise and reinvent pedagogies, assessments, and course designs, positioning equity and justice as core educational aims. When students have a seat at the table, previously unheard voices are amplified, and diversity and difference introduce essential perspectives that are too often overlooked.

In particular, the book contributes to the literature on pedagogical partnership and equity in education by integrating theory, synthesizing research, and providing concrete examples of the ways partnership can contribute to more equitable educational systems. At the same time, the authors acknowledge that partnership can only realize its full potential to redress harms and promote equity and justice when thoughtfully enacted. This book is a resource that will inspire and challenge a wide variety of higher education faculty and staff and contribute to advancing both practice and research on the potential of student-faculty pedagogical partnerships.

Presenting a conceptual framework for understanding the various epistemological, affective, and ontological harms that face students from equity-seeking groups in postsecondary education, Promoting Equity and Justice Through Pedagogical Partnership applies this conceptual framework to current literature in partnerships, highlighting the promise of partnership as the way to redress these harms.

The authors ground both the conceptual framework and the literature review by offering two case studies of pedagogical partnership in practice. They then explore the complexities raised by their framework, including the conditions under which partnerships themselves may risk reproducing epistemic, affective, or ontological harms. Applying the framework in this way allows them to propose strategies that make it more likely for these mediations to be successful.

Finally, the authors focus on the future of pedagogical partnership and share their perspectives on new directions for inquiry and practice. After summarizing the overarching themes developed throughout the book, the authors leave the reader with a set of questions and recommendations for further inquiry and discussion.

ISBN/SKU: 
9781642672091
Publication Date: 
June 24, 2021
Author: 
Publisher: