My Adventures with Your Money
T.D. Thornton ’90, St. Martin’s Press
Before there was Bernie Madoff or Lou Perlman there was George Graham Rice, the so-called Jackal of Wall Street. In My Adventures With Your Money: George Graham Rice and the Golden Age of the Con Artist, T. D. Thornton ’90 sets the story of one of the most famous early 20th century con men against the backdrop of the ascendancy of American greed and an era obsessed with get-rich-quick schemes.
In the early 1900s, Rice made stock market manipulations valued at billions in today’s dollars by inventing fictitious boom towns in Death Valley and flagrantly exaggerating worthless mining claims throughout the West. As a shameless racetrack hustler, he cultivated a national following of 100,000 daily subscribers who paid for the privilege of being tipped to bet on hopeless nags. In Manhattan’s financial district he sparked riots by perfecting the art of “bucket shop” trading with the sole purpose of bilking the public blind. In My Adventures With Your Money, Thornton gives the readers a real-life version of “The Sting“ with an unsavory and yet charming anti-hero at its center.
The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American Presidency
Ellen Fitzpatrick, Harvard University Press
Hillary Clinton may be making history in her bid for the American presidency, but she’s not the first woman to run for the United State’s highest office. That distinction goes to Victoria Woodhull, an early leader of the suffrage movement who launched an unsuccessful bid for the Oval Office in 1872. Durham professor of history Ellen Fitzpatrick’s new book, The Highest Glass Ceiling, tells the story of Woodhull as well as Margaret Chase Smith (1964) and Shirley Chisholm (1972), who each challenged persistent gender-based barriers in their quest for the White House. Detailing the myriad forms of influence, opposition and intrigue these three women faced, Fitzpatrick provides excellent and timely context for Clinton’s current presidential race.
Lost and Found
Andrew Merton, Accents Publishing, LLC
Durham Emeritus English professor Andrew Merton masterfully condenses his life into potent, brilliantly composed, minimalist snapshots in this collection of biographical poems. Chronologically arranged, delicately layered, and driven by savage honesty and subtle tenderness, Lost and Found is an intense meditation on love, loss, loneliness, and the meaning of one’s existence.
Tim Keefe: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Pitcher and Player-Rights Advocate
Charlie Bevis ’75, McFarland Press
One of the greatest pitchers of the 19th century, Tim Keefe was an ardent believer in an artisan work ethic that was becoming outmoded in burgeoning industrial America. Charlie Bevis ’75 tells the tale of baseball’s “master craftsman,” who compiled 342 career victories during a 14-season major league career.
Picturing Class: Lewis W. Hine Photographs Child Labor in New England
Robert Macieski, University of Massachusetts Press
From newsies in Connecticut to sardine canners in Maine, social photographer Hine traveled through the region in the early 1900s, photographing working-class children for the National Child Labor Committee. In Picturing Class, UNH Manchester history professor Macieski explores the social and cultural production of Hine’s photographs and the social reproduction of his subjects.
Finding a Way to Play: The Pioneering Spirit of Women in Basketball
Joanne Lannin ’73, Portlandia Press
In Finding A Way to Play, former UNH basketball player Joanne Lannin ’73 highlights women who have gone to great lengths to play the game, from pioneers who played despite concerns about risks to health and femininity to minorities who endured racial discrimination or hid their identities for fear of being denied the chance to play or coach.
Wolf’s Mouth
John Smolens ’82, Michigan State University Press
John Smolens ’82 sheds light on one of World War II’s forgotten stories — a brutal prison camp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — in Wolf’s Mouth, which follows Italian officer and POW captain Francesco Verdi from North Africa through Michigan’s north woods and to a new life in Detroit, where he struggles to leave the past behind him.
The Vow
Felicty Goodrich ’08, Lake Union Press
In The Vow, Felicity Goodrich charts the relationship between Anna, a devoutly Catholic girl who lives in rural Poland, and her village priest, Szymon, as they cling to one another for support against the violence of the world around them in the waning days of World War II.
Whiskey, Etc.
Sherrie Flick ’89, Queen’s Ferry Press
A paperboy seduced over a glass of milk. A dinner prepared for a dead man. Stained coffee cups, curled-up dogs and canoes snug in their sheds. In Whiskey, Etc., a collection of short-short stories by Sherrie Flick ’89, it’s the particulars that draw you closer to a muddled loneliness housed behind cozy facades.
Originally published in UNH Magazine Spring 2016 Issue
