New & Notable
The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic
Stan Ulanski (Grad ’77)
The University of North Carolina Press
This interdisciplinary exploration of the powerful Atlantic current shows how the Gulf Stream helped settle the New World, determines the weather on the East Coast and sustains astonishing sea creatures like the giant bluefin tuna. The economic benefits of the Gulf Stream were so important to early American trade that maps of it—charted with the help of Benjamin Franklin—were kept as closely guarded secrets.
Run in the Fam’ly
John J. McLaughlin (Col ’93)
The University of Tennessee Press
Jack Robertson hopes to rescue his girlfriend and asthmatic son from grinding poverty. He is tempted to commit a crime that could solve his economic woes but might doom him to the same life as his father—one that holds a terrible secret. The author’s background working with homeless and incarcerated people lends his debut novel a raw narrative voice straight from the streets of Oakland.
Le Deal: How a Young American in Business, in Love, and in Over his Head, Kick-Started a Multibillion-Dollar Industry in Europe
J. Byrne Murphy (GSBA ’86)
St. Martin’s Press
The author tells the true story of building an empire of fashion outlets in Europe. A business guide married with an adventure tale, Le Deal offers political intrigue, charming encounters with the British royal family and lessons about the importance of cultural context to a fledgling business.
Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire Between Moscow and Beijing
Jeffrey Tayler (Col ’86)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Traveling overland between Red Square and Tiananmen Square, the author searches for reasons why democracy has yet to thrive in parts of Eurasia. He meets a dissident Cossack advocating mass beheadings, a Muslim in Kashgar calling on the U.S. to bomb Beijing and Chinese youths in Urumqi who desire nothing more than sex, booze and rock ’n’ roll. He is faced with the contradiction of people who value liberty and the free market but idealize tyrants opposed to both.
What Should I Read Next? 70 UVA Professors Recommend Readings in History, Politics, Literature, Math, Science, Technology, the Arts and More
Edited by Jessica R. Feldman (Faculty) & Robert Stilling (Grad ’11)
University of Virginia Press
Seventy professors introduce their area of inquiry and recommend five books. Climatologist Robert E. David notes influential works on global warming; English professor María–Inés Lagos celebrates innovative Latina novelists; and psychologist Judy DeLoache lists insightful titles about children’s mental development.
The Great Wide Sea
M.H. Herlong (Grad ’81, Law ’84)
Viking
When their father disappears on a sailing voyage, three brothers must confront 40-foot waves, gale-force winds and a shipwreck that threatens to tear their boat to pieces. This young adult novel spins a gripping tale of adventure, survival and the bonds of brotherhood.