A Course Called America: Fifty States, Five Thousand Fairways, and the Search for the Great American Golf Course, Tom Coyne ’97, ’99MFA (Simon & Schuster). Having traversed courses called Scotland and Ireland in previous bestsellers, Coyne covers even more ground in his latest. From historic sites that have hosted major championships to ranches and Native American reservations, from sand hills in Nebraska to midnight tee times in Alaska, he plays golf in all 50 states on a quest to determine the course that best exemplifies the game and the nation.
Jungle Surgeon: Twenty-Five Years with an American Doctor Caring for Burmese Refugees, Lawrence Mueller ’71 (Page Publishing). As a U.S. Army surgeon in Korea, Mueller embarked on a lifelong commitment to provide free medical care to people in need. After his honorable discharge and throughout a successful career in vascular surgery, he spent at least one month each year on mission trips to the Thai-Burmese border. Mueller details the difficulties and rewards of performing surgery in extreme conditions, the inspiration his faith provided, and how his training as a magician helped transcend language and cultural barriers.
The Excellent Mind: Intellectual Virtues for Everyday Life, Nathan L. King, ’06, ’09Ph.D. (Oxford University Press). In King’s estimation, an excellent mind is curious, careful, self-reliant, humble, honest, persevering, courageous, open, firm and wise. Guided by philosophical and psychological research, the professor of philosophy at Whitworth University offers insight into practicing and improving those characteristics and argues that they serve much more than academic pursuits. Personal relationships, responsible citizenship, productive discourse and professional success benefit from their cultivation.
Gay, Catholic, and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion, Greg Bourke ’82M.A. (Notre Dame Press). Living as an out gay man in the 1980s and ’90s, Bourke struggled to find acceptance, but he did not become an activist until his ouster as a Boy Scout troop leader in 2012. His memoir chronicles a personal journey that became public with Bourke at the forefront of the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Through it all, Bourke and his longtime partner and now husband, Michael De Leon, have remained active members of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky, raising their two adopted children in the parish.