{"id":19505,"date":"2023-04-13T04:02:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T08:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=19505"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T18:07:53","slug":"april-2023-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/april-2023-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Your April 2023 Reads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">This month\u2019s featured titles include a sequel to <em>Lovecraft Country<\/em>, a bio of a famed (but publicity-shy) alum, and much more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center rkv-gutter-bottom-quarter\"><em>Did you know that Cornell has an online book club? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbc.guru\/Cornell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Check it out!<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center rkv-gutter-bottom-double\"><em>And for more books by Big Red authors, peruse our <a href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/category\/books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previous round-ups<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Destroyer of Worlds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matt Ruff \u201987<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/the-destroyer-of-worlds-matt-ruff?variant=40490768957474\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ruff\u2019s sequel<\/a> to his bestselling <em>Lovecraft Country<\/em>\u2014which was adapted as a critically acclaimed HBO series\u2014is set three years later, in 1957. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His protagonists, members of a Black family, are still battling on two fronts: they face both malevolent supernatural forces and the evils of Jim Crow-era racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With his latest, <a href=\"http:\/\/bymattruff.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ruff is the author<\/a> of eight novels, including <em>Sewer, Gas &amp; Electric <\/em>and <em>Fool on the Hill<\/em>. The latter, a phantasmagorical tale set at Cornell, was his senior honors thesis in English.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;The Destroyer of Worlds&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19546 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A-263x395.jpg 263w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A-167x250.jpg 167w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/destroyer-of-worlds-A-83x125.jpg 83w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhere its predecessor was constructed of separate stories focusing on different family members, this book operates with more interwoven narratives that Ruff manages to yoke together into one ripping yarn with shocks and surprises at every turn,\u201d <em>Kirkus<\/em> says of <em>Destroyer of Worlds<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis sequel may lack some of the demented grandeur that the TV series cheekily borrowed from its namesake, but it\u2019s still lots of fun\u2014and, at times, historically enlightening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;Myron Taylor&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19547 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A-266x395.jpg 266w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A-336x500.jpg 336w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A-168x250.jpg 168w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/myron-taylor-A-84x125.jpg 84w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Myron Taylor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>C. Evan Stewart \u201974, JD \u201977<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published by an imprint of Carolina Academic Press, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twelvetablespress.com\/publications\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this biography<\/a> explores the life and career of the industrial magnate and philanthropist, who earned a law degree on the Hill in 1894. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main building of Cornell Law School bears Taylor\u2019s name (he also funded construction of the University\u2019s nondenominational religious center, named in honor of his wife, Anabel). But as the book\u2019s subtitle\u2014<em>The Man Nobody Knew<\/em>\u2014hints, although Taylor had prominent roles as CEO of U.S. Steel and U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, he shied away from publicity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis lack of interest in self-promotion stemmed (I believe) from at least two sources,\u201d Stewart writes in his preface. \u201cFirst, as the reader will see, Taylor was very much a 19th-century, Victorian gentleman; and second, Taylor was so successful at everything he had undertaken in his life, he felt no need to convince others of how great he in fact was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Stewart notes, the book originated with one of his own former law professors, the late W. David Curtiss Jr. \u201938, LLB \u201940, who passed the project on to him after becoming too ill to complete it; research included delving into Taylor\u2019s papers in the University archives. A senior partner at the law firm Cohen &amp; Gresser, Stewart is a <a href=\"https:\/\/sce.cornell.edu\/courses\/roster\/prelaw\/faculty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">longtime teacher<\/a> at Cornell\u2019s summer pre-law program in NYC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Woods<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Janice Obuchowski \u201998<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/uipress.uiowa.edu\/books\/woods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">short story collection<\/a> won the John Simmons Short Fiction Prize from (and is published by) the University of Iowa Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It chronicles the lives of people in and around a small college town in Vermont.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs they try to make sense of their worlds, grappling with problems\u2014worried about their careers, their marriages, their children, their ambitions\u2014they also sift through the happiness they have,\u201d says the publisher, \u201cand often find deep solace in the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;The Woods&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19548 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A-263x395.jpg 263w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A-167x250.jpg 167w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-woods-A-83x125.jpg 83w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.janiceobuchowski.com\/\">O<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.janiceobuchowski.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">buchowski<\/a>, an English major on the Hill, has taught at the University of Vermont and Middlebury College. Her debut collection of short fiction includes tales about a wife who fears her spouse is cheating on her; a lonely professor visited by a feral cat; an elderly woman caring for a temporarily bedridden husband; and two recent arrivals from Southern California who are mourning the loss of a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Says <em>Publishers Weekly<\/em>: \u201cObuchowski\u2019s lucid debut collection digs into the isolation and complexities of her characters\u2019 inner worlds.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"740\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;The Way Up&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19544 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A-267x395.jpg 267w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A-338x500.jpg 338w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A-169x250.jpg 169w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-way-up-A-84x125.jpg 84w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Way Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jim Jermanok \u201982<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subtitled <em>Climbing the Corporate Mountain as a Professional of Color<\/em>, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wiley.com\/en-us\/The+Way+Up%3A+Climbing+the+Corporate+Mountain+as+a+Professional+of+Color-p-9781119893264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">career guide<\/a> was coauthored with Errol Pierre, a Black executive whose r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes serving as COO of Empire BlueCross BlueShield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Informed by interviews with nearly a dozen executives of color, it delves into the barriers that members of under-represented minority groups still face in the workplace\u2014inequities that endure despite pledges to increase efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion that many companies made during the racial reckoning of 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCorporate America\u2019s top ranks look nothing like the country they serve,\u201d the authors write in the preface. \u201cWe must consider the daunting statistics for a moment. Black Americans make up 12.4% of our country\u2019s population. But they only represent 8% of white collar professionals, a number that has stayed steady since 2013. This despite an increasing number of Black graduates from colleges and universities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An ILR alum, <a href=\"https:\/\/jimjermanok.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jermanok<\/a> is a writer, director, and producer who penned the 2016 guide <em>Beyond the Craft: What You Need to Know to Make a Living Creatively!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Human Abstract<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Karl Parker, MA \u201901<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parker passed away in 2019; this posthumous <a href=\"https:\/\/threadsunspress.com\/product\/pre-sale-human-abstract-by-karl-parker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">collection of poetry<\/a> was published by Threadsuns, a teaching press at North Carolina\u2019s High Point University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNight-utterances written in the hours before dawn, <em>Human Abstract<\/em> chronicles the passage from winter to spring, and explores the implicit mystery of what it is to be a human in time, capable of humor and longing, desire and violence: gone in a flash,\u201d says the publisher. \u201cThe poems are a reflection of life, breathing, aching to be read.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"727\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;Human Abstract&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19545 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A-272x395.jpg 272w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A-344x500.jpg 344w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A-172x250.jpg 172w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/human-abstract-A-86x125.jpg 86w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Parker was a longtime teacher of literature and creative writing at Upstate New York colleges and universities\u2014including at Cornell, Syracuse, and Hobart and William Smith\u2014as well as at Auburn State Correctional Facility. His previous works include the poetry collection <em>Personationskin<\/em> and two chapbooks, <em>Harmstorm<\/em> and <em>Outsides<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cParker is one of the oddest poets you\u2019re likely to meet,\u201d <em>Publishers Weekly<\/em> said of <em>Personationskin<\/em>. \u201cWith a hyperactive sense of humor and an irreverence to match, Parker creates poems that push so hard at their own boundaries, they\u2019re likely to explode at any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;Taking the Field&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19549 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A-263x395.jpg 263w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A-167x250.jpg 167w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/taking-the-field-A-83x125.jpg 83w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Taking the Field<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Amy Kohout, PhD \u201915<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kohout is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradocollege.edu\/basics\/contact\/directory\/people\/kohout_amy_lee.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">associate professor<\/a> of history at Colorado College. Her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nebraskapress.unl.edu\/nebraska\/9781496215215\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nonfiction book<\/a>, published by the University of Nebraska Press, explores (in the words of the subtitle) \u201csoldiers, nature, and empire on American frontiers\u201d during the late 19th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSoldiers assigned to frontier outposts occupied a hybrid position in the western landscapes where they served: temporary, though not tourists; stationed in these landscapes, though not stationary,\u201d she writes. \u201cThey moved west, sometimes with their families, and made homes and lives at army posts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It was, she notes, a time when many in the U.S. were becoming more and more removed from nature\u2014but those in the armed forces had access to a different perspective, both on the natural world and on the nation\u2019s expanding sphere of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Says the publisher: \u201cKohout shows us how soldiers\u2014through their writing, their labor, and all that they collected\u2014played a critical role in shaping American ideas about both nature and empire, ideas that persist to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-cornell-red-color has-text-color\"><blockquote><p><strong>Classic by a Cornellian<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-style-offset\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Revenant<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Michael Punke, JD \u201989<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2015 film version of <a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9781250101198\/therevenant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Punke\u2019s book<\/a> won three Oscars\u2014including Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and Best Director for Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2014and was nominated for nine more. <em>Kirkus<\/em> called this 2002 <em>New York Times<\/em> bestseller a \u201cgood adventure yarn, with plenty of historical atmosphere and local color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plot\u2014set in 1823 and based on a true story\u2014concerns a fur trapper who is near-fatally mauled by a grizzly bear. After the two colleagues tasked with caring for him instead leave him to die, he traverses the frontier on a quest to exact revenge.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of &quot;The Revenant&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19543 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A-261x395.jpg 261w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A-331x500.jpg 331w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A-165x250.jpg 165w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/the-revenant-A-83x125.jpg 83w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTold in simple expository language,\u201d said <em>Publishers Weekly<\/em>, \u201cthis is a spellbinding tale of heroism and obsessive retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Punke\u2019s other books include the novel <em>Ridgeline<\/em> and the histories <em>Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917<\/em> and <em>Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to his writing, he\u2019s an attorney who has served as U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization. Based in Montana, he\u2019s now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michael-punke-974446101\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vice president<\/a> for global public policy at Amazon Web Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-link has-cornell-teal-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"rkv-gutter-bottom-none\"><em>To submit your book for consideration, email <a href=\"&#x6d;&#x61;il&#x74;&#111;&#x3a;&#x63;o&#x72;&#110;&#x65;&#108;&#108;&#x69;&#97;&#110;&#x73;&#64;&#x63;&#x6f;&#x72;&#x6e;e&#x6c;l&#46;&#101;d&#x75;?subject=New%20book%20submission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#x63;orne&#x6c;li&#x61;n&#x73;&#64;c&#x6f;&#x72;&#110;e&#x6c;&#108;&#x2e;&#x65;&#x64;u<\/a>. Please note that to be included in our listings of new titles, books must be recently published by a conventional publisher\u2014not self published, pay-to-publish, publish on demand, or similar\u2014and be of interest to a general audience. Books not featured will be forwarded to Class Notes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Published April 13, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month\u2019s featured titles include a sequel to <em>Lovecraft Country<\/em>, a bio of a famed (but publicity-shy) alum, and much more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":10398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-19505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Your April 2023 Reads - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This month\u2019s featured titles include a sequel to \u201cLovecraft Country,\u201d a bio of a famed (but publicity-shy) alum, and much more!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/april-2023-reads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your April 2023 Reads - 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