For more titles by Big Red authors, peruse our previous round-ups<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you published a book you’d like to submit? Scroll down for details!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And did you know that Cornell has an online book club? Check it out!<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drew Nieporent \u201977<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The star restaurateur<\/a> is known for popular, critically acclaimed NYC eateries of the 1980s and \u201990s like Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, and Nobu. His memoir<\/a> traces his life and career, beginning with childhood in the city\u2014where his dad\u2019s connections as an employee of the state liquor authority garnered them countless free meals out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the young Nieporent, that sparked an early love not just of food, but of the dining scene; the role of restaurateur seemed glamourous, akin to that of a film director casting a movie and overseeing its production every evening.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n The memoir\u2014whose title nods to its author\u2019s sometimes-abrasive reputation\u2014follows Nieporent to the Hotel School, where he made a name for himself but also clashed with faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His education continued on the job, with stints as a cruise ship waiter and in management positions at famed eateries like Tavern on the Green, before he opened his first restaurant on a then-unfashionable block of NYC\u2019s emerging Tribeca neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNieporent revels in the world he details,\u201d says a New York Times<\/em> review. \u201cThere\u2019s the headwaiter who \u2018accidentally\u2019 drops palmed bills from reservation-less customers to deftly calculate how good a table he should give them, and the old-school chef who drinks too much and sends out platters of strip loin that\u2019s \u2018borderline mooing\u2019 to a corporate lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Julie Kane \u201974<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kane is a former poet laureate of Louisiana, a professor emerita at Northwestern State, and a current faculty member at Western Colorado University. Her sixth volume of poetry<\/a> includes selections from her five previous books and other award-winning work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe title of this milestone collection acknowledges Kane\u2019s place in the tradition of women confessional poets, evokes the nickname of a common Louisiana flower, and nods to the honesty and frankness that characterize her poems\u2019 speakers,\u201d states the publisher, Louisiana State University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div> The publisher describes the Arts & Sciences alum<\/a> as \u201csteeped in both Boston Irish-American and New Orleans cultures\u201d; the former is reflected in such works as a poem titled \u201cThe Good Women\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThree out of four \/ are named Mary, \/ these good Irish women \/ who surface at wakes \/ like earthworms after rain. \/ Death makes them bake \/ turkeys, casseroles, \/ applesauce cakes. \/ They breathe the thick \/ incense of flowers \/ for strength, dispense \/ prayers like milk \/ from each massive breast.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin Kordziel \u201991<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing under a pen name<\/a>, Kordziel crafts a techno-thriller<\/a> about a young doctor who treats a woman\u2019s minor injury\u2014and learns that her blood contains nanobots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The discovery sends the two of them on the run for their lives, fleeing the bad actors who seek to use the tech for nefarious purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a suspenseful read, part morality tale, part thriller,\u201d a review in Aspects of Crime<\/em> magazine says of the book, which was released by a small publisher based in London. \u201cIf you like genre-bending crime fiction, this is a page turner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n A retired corporate attorney with a JD from Duke, the ILR alum previously penned The Champion Maker<\/em>, a speculative thriller about the dangers of genetic enhancement of competitive athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew Ross Sorkin \u201999<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The journalist and author<\/a> of the bestselling Too Big to Fail<\/em>\u2014about the 2008 financial crisis\u2014now tackles<\/a> the stock market crash of 1929 that spurred the Great Depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorkin informs readers early on that his book is as much a warning for our own time as it is a story about a bad day in October,\u201d says a New York Times<\/em> review. \u201cSurveying the \u2018market manias\u2019 in today\u2019s crypto and artificial intelligence sectors, he writes that \u2018each wave seduces us into thinking that we\u2019ve learned from history, and, this time, we can\u2019t be fooled. Then it happens again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div> Tapping some never-before-accessed sources, Sorkin chronicles the Roaring Twenties excess, corruption, double-dealing, and lack of governmental oversight that fueled the bear market\u2014and the crash that followed, erasing fortunes and jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMr. Sorkin\u2019s coverage of the crisis in 2008 was based on hundreds of interviews, but most of the people in this tale have been dead for decades,\u201d says the Economist<\/em>. \u201cYou would be forgiven for forgetting it. The combination of extensive research and a lively tone makes both the crash and the men involved feel more recent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randi Weingarten \u201980<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Weingarten is the longtime president<\/a> of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation\u2019s largest teachers union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her nonfiction book<\/a> presents the case for teachers as defenders of democratic ideals of open inquiry and critical thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In it, she draws on lessons from history\u2014noting, for example, that public schools predate the nation itself\u2014as well as more recent cases of teachers drawn into politically driven battles over content in libraries and classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe correlation between democracy and education is enduring and profound,\u201d the ILR grad writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She goes on to observe: \u201cOn the other hand, diminished critical thinking makes voters ripe for the disinformation that helps undermine democracy. \u2026 In an era where artificial intelligence and social media lack guardrails and nonpartisan media and media literacy are declining, it\u2019s more important than ever that voters have the tools they need to think critically and discern fact from fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heather Alexander \u201989<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alexander has published<\/a> more than 70 works of fiction and nonfiction\u2014from activity books to chapter books to novels for middle-grade readers. Her latest<\/a>, subtitled Spine-tingling Stories from All 50 States<\/em>, offers (slightly) scary tales based on true stories, folklore, and legends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many of Alexander\u2019s publications, it\u2019s geared toward middle-grade readers, aged nine through 12. (She has also produced dozens of chapter books for six-to-nine-year-olds.)<\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cHave you ever seen pictures of playful otters frolicking in a river or ocean?\u201d She writes in the book\u2019s Alaska installment, about the Inuit legend of a shape-shifting creature. \u201cThese tiny, furry marine mammals couldn\u2019t be more adorable if they tried. But don\u2019t be fooled by all the cuteness\u2014something sinister is afloat!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other spectral entities covered in the volume include a New Hampshire witch, a Missouri swamp monster, a chocolate-loving ghost in Iowa, and a headless skeleton pirate in Mississippi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian Kwoba \u201904<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kwoba\u2019s nonfiction work<\/a>, subtitled Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism<\/em>, explores the life and work of the early 20th-century journalist, activist, and educator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harrison emigrated to the U.S. from the West Indies as an orphaned teenager and\u2014exposed for the first time to the nation\u2019s stark racial and economic divides\u2014became an advocate for socialism and racial justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe witnessed staggering luxury for the few alongside crushing poverty for the many,\u201d states the publisher, University of North Carolina Press.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhite mob violence continually haunted Black communities, while imperial conquest and world wars wrought wanton destruction upon entire nations of people. These conditions sparked a global political awakening to which Harrison gave voice as a leading figure in cutting-edge struggles for socialism, internationalism, free love, freethinking, and free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A former philosophy major in Arts & Sciences, Kwoba is an associate professor<\/a> of history and director of African and African American studies at the University of Memphis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To submit your book for consideration, email cornellians@cornell.edu<\/a>. Please note that to be included, books must be recently published by a conventional publisher<\/strong>\u2014not self published, pay-to-publish, publish on demand, partner-published, or similar\u2014and be of interest to a general audience. Books not featured will be forwarded to Class Notes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Published November 17, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n This month\u2019s featured titles include poetry, a famed restaurateur\u2019s memoir, and a chronicle of the 1929 stock market crash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":10397,"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-62251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/Drew-Nieporent-Im-Not-Trying-to-Be-Difficult-Cover.jpg\")
<\/figure>I\u2019m Not Trying to Be Difficult<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNaked Ladies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>Perpetuity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n1929<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>Why Fascists Fear Teachers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHaunted USA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/haunted-USA-A.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/hubert-harrison-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Hubert Harrison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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