The Boyfriend App, Katie Sise ’01 (Harper Collins). In the author’s debut young adult novel, high school student Audrey McCarthy, still mourning the death of her father, enters a contest for best app, hoping to win enough to pay for college. Her Boyfriend App is a hit, but will it work for Audrey? And can she clear the reputation of her father, whose death in an industrial accident is being blamed on his error? Sise also wrote Creative Girl: The Ultimate Guide for Turning Talent and Creativity into a Real Career.
An Atheist in the FOXhole: A Liberal’s Eight-Year Odyssey Inside the Heart of the Right-Wing Media, Joe Muto ’04 (Dutton). The author gained notoriety in 2012 as the Gawker website’s anonymous Fox Mole columnist. In this R-rated memoir, Muto details his work as a producer for Fox News, offering his perspective on Bill O’Reilly and the channel’s other star anchors, specifics on how its right-wing ideology is promoted and tales of behind-the-scenes mayhem, as well as a look at his life after he was fired for his role as the Fox mole.
The Tilted World, Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly ’93 (Morrow). This work of historical fiction is set against the backdrop of the 1927 Mississippi River flood that killed almost 250 people in seven states and uses “prose that is at once poetic and gritty,” says Publisher’s Weekly. Here the authors tell the tale of Dixie Clay, a bootlegger; Ted Ingersoll, a federal agent; an orphaned baby; and the rising waters in Hobnob, Mississippi. Fennelly is the author of Great with Child and a Pushcart Prize-winning poet.
Unbeatable: Notre Dame’s 1988 Championship and the Last Great College Football Season, Jerry Barca ’99 (St. Martin’s Press). During its third season under coach Lou Holtz, the Fighting Irish didn’t crack the Top Ten in the AP and UPI preseason polls. Eleven games and a Fiesta Bowl later, the unbeaten team reigned as No. 1. “This book,” says Holtz, whom the author interviewed at length, “does a terrific job of detailing the characters and the occasions that made our run to a national championship possible.”
The Grand Adventures of Petit Louis, story and illustrations by Kayce M. Swielson ’09M.A. (Monograph Publishing). A mischievous black-and-white cat with a fine mustache is searching for the perfect birthday present for his owner, Claire. As he wanders through Paris, painting mustaches on famous works of art and notable French landmarks, the rather vain feline gets gift ideas from his various friends, including a baker, flower seller and waiter. Designed for readers ages 6 to 12, the book introduces them to the history, language and culture of France.
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The Saint Joseph Plot: A Thriller, John M. Persinger ’12J.D. (Presque Isle Media). After a severely beaten young woman collapses on a Notre Dame campus filled with football fans, police begin the search for their primary suspect, an alcoholic priest. When law student George DeMarco agrees to harbor the fugitive, he enters a world of violence and corruption as he searches for the truth behind the attack on a congressman’s daughter.
Mother Knows Best: The New Story of Notre Dame, Atty. William O’Connor ’74 (Xlibris). From Room 232 of Zahm Hall comes the witty perspective of William O’Connor, a proud, rambunctious member of the Class of 1974. The author recalls his years at the University: when he saw Father Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, usher in co-education, when his parents got a less-than-ideal impression of his dorm life and when Rocky Bleier visited campus for the first time after Vietnam. The author’s take on his adventures is hilarious, unexpected and purely Notre Dame.
For Notre Dame: Battling for the Heart & Soul of a Catholic University, Wilson D. Miscamble, CSC, ’77M.A., ’80Ph.D., ’87M.Div. (St. Augustine’s Press). After 25 years of teaching at Notre Dame, the award-winning scholar and noted professor is more than equipped to tell the story of the University’s interwoven Catholic and educational identities. His spirited essays expound on the controversies and pervading discussions that have shaped Notre Dame’s student and faculty cultures.
Right or Wrong? Forty Years inside Notre Dame, Charles E. Rice (St. Augustine’s Press). The professor emeritus of Notre Dame’s Law School exhumes his biweekly columns from the campus newspaper The Observer. Beginning in 1970, his columns analyzed Notre Dame’s relationship with the Church. After the Land O’Lakes Declaration of 1967, Rice used The Observer as a public forum to tackle such tough topics as abortion, just war principles and euthanasia from a Catholic perspective.
The Spymistress, Jennifer Chiaverini ’91 (Dutton). The New York Times bestselling author follows her previous book, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, with another tale of heroism and danger, the untold story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Virginia native during the Civil War — and a Union spy. Only posthumously inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame, Van Lew risked everything for her loyalty to the Lincoln White House. USA Today said of Chiaverini’s most recent novel, “History — and its colorful characters — come alive.”
Appletopia: Media Technology and the Religious Imagination of Steve Jobs, Brett T. Robinson ’97 (Baylor University Press). Behind the design and marketing genius of Steve Jobs lies a proficiency in philosophy, writes Brett T. Robinson, visiting professor of marketing at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. Wielding the wisdom of Zen Buddhism, Catholicism and dystopian thought, Jobs constructed a following unlike anything the technology world had seen before. Robinson breaks down those influences to find what turned Apple into a religion and Jobs into its prophet.
Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty, James M. Lang ’91 (Harvard University Press). While dishonesty in the classroom fills public forums across the country, the author focuses on the root of the problem: almost three-quarters of college students cheat during their academic careers. The associate professor of English at Assumption College argues for developing positive deterrents against cheating, such as different course designs, assessment systems and grading criteria. After researching cognitive and behavioral influences on students, Lang demonstrates that better educators will make better students — who are less likely to cheat.
Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition, Gary A. Anderson (Yale University Press). Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology examines how the poor and the virtue of charity factored into early Christian life. Through the lens of both biblical and postbibical texts, Anderson, whose previous book, Sin: A History, won the Christianity Today Book Award in Biblical Studies in 2010, illuminates how charity defines Judeo-Christian tradition. His straightforward prose renders the in-depth Hebrew and scriptural research accessible for all readers.
Leaving: A Memoir, Frank Phelan ’50 (CreateSpace). Former Holy Cross priest Frank Phelan recounts his life from the seminary to his marriage to former nun Anne Francis Cavanaugh. Wrestling with his commitments to the Church and his firm belief in the old way of Catholicism, Phelan thoughtfully conveys his struggle to leave the Church and describes how Anne’s separate path crossed with his.
Theft of the American Dream: Understanding the Financial Crisis and What You Can Do to Salvage Your Legacy, J.F. Swartz ’71 (iUniverse). The U.S. financial system threatens to unravel the savings plans of middle class Americans, the author says, and he offers what he sees as the most viable investment strategies. With an insightful, slightly irreverent tone, Schwartz’s warnings are designed to make readers think twice about their money and where they put it.
The Widow’s Son: A Tropical Island Mystery, Robert Diemer ’81 (Golden Gate Publishing). Crafted through his experience as a lawyer “practicing in paradise,” the author weaves a suspense set in Micronesia, including a bank robbery, a hostile judge and a nightmare client. The unfortunate lawyer, Drake Burnham, pities himself until his client is murdered, and the real trouble begins.
Humpty, Dumpty: A Child’s Conundrum, Frank J. Minetti (Brighton Publishing). After a divorce, the relationship between a child and the separated parent may become strained and or may even break. Frank J. Miele ’64, who published this book under a pen name, reflects in this memoir about the stress and alienation that followed his experience with divorce.
Coach for a Nation: The Life and Times of Knute Rockne, Jim Lefebvre (Great Day Press). The award-winning author of Loyal Sons revisits the hard work and glory of Notre Dame’s infamous head coach, Knute Rockne. Set against the backdrop of a struggling American economy, Lefebvre’s book reignites Notre Dame football with the same passion that made Rockne’s team a household name. The legacy left by Rockne pervades to this day, and Lefebvre’s book hones in on the beloved coach’s skills and ethics that changed football for good.
The Many Faces of Beauty, edited by Vittorio Hosle (University of Notre Dame Press). In 2010, The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS) sponsored “The Many Faces of Beauty” conference, which offered a deep dive into the debate on beauty and aesthetic theory. This collection of 16 essays from prominent artists, scientists, mathematicians and critics features three Notre Dame scholars: the Huisking Professor of Theology Cyrial O’Regan, the Rev. Joyce Professor of German Language and Literature Mark Roche, and J. Dudley Andrew ’67. Vittorio Hosle is the former director of NDIAS.