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 Thomas Perry \u201969<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perry was a prolific mystery author and screenwriter<\/a> whose work included the now-classic thrillers The Butcher\u2019s Boy<\/em> and Metzger\u2019s Dog<\/em>, as well as the TV series \u201cThe Old Man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He passed away in September 2025, months before the publication of this last entry<\/a> in his long-running series about his heroine Jane Whitefield, a woman of Native American ancestry who specializes in helping people escape dangerous situations and then safely vanish into new lives.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here, Jane and her husband are settling into new parenthood when some of the enemies she has accrued over a decade of essentially acting as a one-woman witness relocation program conspire to put her family\u2014and former clients\u2014in danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPerry, always a master at ratcheting up tension and delivering high-octane action scenes, showcases all his talents here,\u201d says a review in the New York Times<\/em>. \u201cIntentionally or not, the novel has a whiff of melancholy. This final Jane Whitefield novel is the farewell his readers needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neeraj Khemlani \u201992<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat would happen if you bought a handful of stocks and then left them alone for some time, like stashing valuables in a coffee can?\u201d posits the publisher, Columbia University Press. \u201cIf you picked the right ones, you might wake up one day with life-changing wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CALS alum is the former president of CBS News, as well as a past editor-in-chief of the Daily Sun.<\/em> In this nonfiction book<\/a>, he explores the tactics of an investor who studied the commonalities among so-called \u201c100-baggers\u201d\u2014stocks that have multiplied 100 times in value over the course of decades.<\/p>\n<\/div> The investor then built a portfolio of them for his children, with the aim that its worth could eventually grow to $500 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to describing this unusual approach to building wealth, Khemlani shares his efforts to create a \u201ccoffee can\u201d legacy for his own kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Coffee Can<\/em> Investor<\/em> is a gem of a book that combines good journalism with strong storytelling,\u201d famed news anchor Dan Rather says in a blurb. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible story of two fathers\u2019 love for their children and their desire to leave them a future as big and bright as the Texas sky.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah Ferguson-Wagstaffe Ahrens, PhD \u201906<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In what\u2019s described as \u201cpoetic memoir<\/a>,\u201d the doctoral alum in English contemplates both motherhood and disability through the lens of the minotaur\u2014the half-human creature hunted by Theseus in Greek mythology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The work opens with a female minotaur lost in a labyrinth, then traces its narrative back to the origin of the author\u2019s own hearing loss and her struggle to understand how her young children\u2019s brains are wired differently from those of neurotypical kids.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat makes her book especially moving,\u201d Cornell professor Roger Gilber says in a blurb, \u201cis its candid interweaving of the most intimate experiences\u2014medical crises, disability, the challenge of parenting neurodivergent children\u2014with the tale of the minotaur, whom Ahrens boldly recasts as a mother helping to guide her young through and from the maze of her own being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to writing poetry, creative nonfiction, and academic essays, Ahrens <\/a>teaches in Harvard\u2019s Division of Continuing Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As she writes in one of the book\u2019s poems: \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference \/ between a maze and a labyrinth? \/ I can\u2019t remember, \/ so I keep looking it up. \/ A maze has many possible paths, \/ not all leading to the center. \/ They say that some \/ are dead ends. \/ A labyrinth has only one path \/ that leads to the center. \/ They say you can\u2019t \/ get lost in a labyrinth<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amy Jo Burns \u201903<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Burns\u2019 third novel<\/a> centers on two female folk singers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One is a young star who vanishes without a trace in 1973, after a bravura performance at Nashville\u2019s Grand Ole Opry; the other, introduced two decades later, is an 18-year-old in Appalachia whose father may have been the last person to see the star alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWeaving together themes of artistic sacrifice, heartbreak, and the power of familial legacy,\u201d says Booklist<\/em>, \u201cBurns captures rural Appalachia and Nashville\u2019s country music scene in vivid detail.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to her fiction, the ILR alum<\/a> penned the literary memoir Cinderland<\/em>. In March 2026, Wait for Me<\/em> was a featured pick for the \u201cToday\u201d show\u2019s \u201cRead with Jenna\u201d book club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe novel is insightful in its depiction of complex relationships between women,\u201d says Kirkus<\/em>, \u201cand of the grueling and sometimes dark sides of the music business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kim Haines-Eitzen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A scholar of religion, Haines-Eitzen<\/a> is the Hendrix Memorial Professor of Near Eastern studies in Arts & Sciences. In this volume from Princeton University Press, she offers a \u201cbiography\u201d<\/a> of the well-known Gospel\u2014demonstrating how it stands out from the others, how it was received by early Christians, why it\u2019s so revered by American evangelicals, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe primary argument I make is that the history of the Gospel of John, from its origin in the late first century to the modern day, is a contentious one,\u201d Haines-Eitzen told the Cornell Chronicle<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven though it\u2019s been beloved and influential, the Gospel of John has been used to justify violence against Jews and others throughout history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the professor explains, John has been cited to legitimize the burning of synagogues, and is still quoted by white supremacists in support of antisemitic violence. While some Christians focus on its appeals to love one another, others promote its exclusionary elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow does a first-century text come to have such a complex and multivalent history?\u201d Haines-Eitzen asks. \u201cThat\u2019s the question I wanted to answer in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alexander Michailoff \u201924<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you are reading this, chances are you live in a democracy, and that is exactly who this book is for\u2014people in places where open dialogue matters most,\u201d the co-authors write in their first chapter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn autocracies, books like this one often do not see the light of day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subtitled The Rise of a Fractured World Order<\/em>, the volume<\/a> analyses the challenges facing liberal democracies in an era when autocracy is increasing around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div> It addresses such topics as the rise of populism, the impacts of social media, immigration, artificial intelligence, and the decay of individual democratic systems\u2014with the power of economic forces as a key element throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Says the publisher, Wiley: \u201cThe book explains why the creation and distribution of wealth matters in creating nations where democracy can flourish, and the populace at large can win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Dyson alum, Michailoff is an associate<\/a> with the professional services firm KPMG.<\/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 May 18, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n This month\u2019s featured titles include a \u2018poetic memoir,\u2019 a study of the Gospel of John, and the final mystery from a genre luminary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":10399,"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-71717","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\/2026\/05\/the-tree-of-light-and-flowers-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>The Tree of Light and Flowers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Coffee Can Investor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>Mother Minotaur<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWait for Me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/WaitforMe-A.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/gospel-of-john-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>The Gospel of John<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nConsequences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/consequences-A.jpg\")
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