Monk’s Notre Dame: People, Places and Events, Rev. Edward A. Malloy, CSC, ’63, ’67M.A., ’69M.A. (Corby Books). The latest book by Notre Dame’s president emeritus draws on his more than 60 years of observing campus. He reflects on all 17 Notre Dame presidents, the growth of the physical plant, flora and fauna, and University traditions. Readers well- acquainted with the University’s grounds may be drawn in by the quirky facts: the five arches on campus, the tallest structure (the spire atop the Basilica), Badin Hall’s role as a former home of the bookstore and Malloy’s offering of the “Ten Most Beautiful and/or Interesting Views on Campus.”
The Critical List, John Wenke ’74 (Regal House Publishing). Frayed family ties spark into emotional — and sometimes physical — conflicts in Wenke’s collection of short fiction. A widowed and abused woman, a brain-damaged veteran, a teenager contemplating murder and a philosophy professor cast into homelessness are among the people on the edge who populate Wenke’s stories, which Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford praises for “their stare-you-down directness.”
The Defender: The Battle to Protect the Rights of the Accused in Philadelphia, Edward W. Madeira Jr. and Michael D. Schaffer ’69 (Temple University Press). In 1934, three decades before the United States Supreme Court affirmed the right to legal representation for poor people accused of crimes, two Philadelphia attorneys started the Voluntary Defender Association to provide such counsel. Madeira, an attorney and longtime board member of the organization, and Schaffer, a former Philadelphia Inquirer journalist, document the history of the organization known for pioneering work on juvenile justice, death row and parole issues, and alternative sentencing.
Doing Mercy: A Path to Contemplation, Rev. Joseph V. Corpora, CSC, ’76, ’83M.Div. (Corby Books). Corpora’s reflections are a regular and popular feature of this magazine’s website, and his latest collection includes some of his most inspiring pieces. One of 700 priests appointed in 2016 by Pope Francis to serve as Missionaries of Mercy, Corpora has written extensively about the experience, including two previous books. Whether helping migrants at Texas border camps, serving as a confessor for Lourdes pilgrims or caring for his elderly father, Corpora’s humane encounters embody the active nature of mercy that the book’s title implies.
Bulletproof, Monica T. Rodriguez ’90 (DogStar Publishing). Rodriguez’s first novel is a technothriller portraying the potential dark side of the latest advances in genetic engineering. Born with a special ability due to altered genes, Justine Bernard leads an anonymous life in Manhattan, hiding from secretive government scientists who want her DNA to create an army of supersoldiers. One night she steps out of the shadows and uses her telekinesis to stop a bullet meant for a New York police detective, and her carefully constructed life falls apart. To preserve her anonymity and freedom, Justine will face a choice she never imagined — and a sacrifice no one should have to make.