It Happened in Monterey: Modern Rock’s Defining Moment
Elaine Mayes, ’58
Britannia Press, 2002
$29.95

It was the weekend that launched San Francisco’s summer of love. For three days in June 1967, the seminal Monterey International Pop Festival featured a musical pantheon—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who and more—ministering to a congregation of 160,000 flower children. Photographer Mayes captured the action, onstage and off; reminiscences by participants from Jerry Garcia to Ravi Shankar accompany her pictures. Mayes recently retired as head of photography at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to pursue creative work full time.

Green Angel
Alice Hoffman, MA ’75
Scholastic Press, 2003
$16.95

The bestselling novelist’s fifth book for adolescents tackles themes of loss, self-destruction and healing in a quasi-fable about a girl named Green. When her family dies in a massive explosion whose aftereffects approach biblical proportions, Green shuns human contact and adopts a tough, bitter persona to block out memories and emotions. With a little help from nature and a touch of the author’s magic realism, Hoffman’s heroine slowly regains life and love.

Determining Damages: The Psychology of Jury Awards
Edie Greene, ’75, and Brian H. Bornstein
American Psychological Association, 2003
$39.95

How do you assign a fair dollar value to someone’s life, happiness or reputation—and how do 12 ordinary people, given minimal guidance, agree on such an assessment? The authors take a hard look at criticism about jury decisions in lawsuits for damages and conclude that while some reforms could improve the system, by and large it works remarkably well.

Miracle Girl
Keith Scribner
Riverhead Books, 2003
$24.95

Hope and hucksterism lock horns in a dying industrial city when a young woman has visions and the sick suddenly heal, drawing hordes of miracle-seeking “pilgrims.” The movers and shakers in this town that Starbucks forgot—an irascible bishop and a sleazy developer—are, by turns, charming, shameless and hilarious. Scribner, a former Stegner fellow who teaches writing at Oregon State, has crafted a quirky, heartfelt second novel with a plot twist that ’s bound to surprise.

Hunting Midnight
Richard Zimler, MA ’82
Delacorte Press, 2003
$24.95

Zimler’s last novel, like his 1998 bestseller The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, illuminates dark corners of history with memorable characters and a suspense-filled plot. Set in early 19th-century Portugal, the story focuses on a family torn apart by secrets and betrayals in a community scarred by the Inquisition. The protagonist, part Portuguese and part Scottish, struggles to right the wrongs of anti-Semitism and, later, of slavery in America.

The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949-1967—Vol. 2: Political Turmoil
Clark Kerr, MA ’33
UC Press, 2003
$34.95

The second half of the UC emeritus president and former Berkeley chancellor’s memoirs provides an insider’s thoughts on the university’s most politically wrenching era. Some highlights: the Loyalty Oath controversy in the McCarthy years, the Free Speech Movement of the early ’60s and Clark’s own dismissal by the Board of Regents in 1967.

Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values
Roy Williams and Vic Preisser, ’62, MBA ’64
Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2003
$29.95

Testing the Chinese adage that wealth never survives three generations, the authors’ extensive studies show that 70 percent of estate transfers fail—that is, heirs lose control of the money. This recipe for success hinges on developing a family mission and involving every member in decisions from an early age.

Gut Feelings: A Writer’s Truths and Minute Inventions
Merrill Joan Gerber, Gr. ’63
U. of Wisconsin Press, 2003
$24.95

The author observes that writing amounts to examining one’s life over and over again, and such a preoccupation leaves little time for “wild and wrenching moments.” But there is plenty of drama—the suicides of one of her students and a brother-in-law; the vitriol of her hostile mother-in-law—as well as quieter reminiscences in this mostly true-life essay collection.

Feather River Country Adventure Trails
Tom DeMund, ’57
Know DeFeet Publishing Co., 2002
$19.95

This guidebook describes 100 northern Sierra hikes within a 30-mile radius of Graeagle, Calif. The author, who has spent decades exploring lesser-known trails, offers maps, photographs, tips and commentary on the region’s history, flora and fauna. He includes information on camping and winter conditions.

RETURN TO TOP