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New & Noteworthy

Summer 2018

The World Is Awake: A Celebration of Everyday Blessings by Linsey Davis (Col ’99) with Joseph Bottum

A sunrise paints the sky, animals are on parade and the wind whispers bedtime stories in this winsome rhyming tale. The authors celebrate the everyday gifts, from good food to “skies wrapped in blue,” that might otherwise be taken for granted. Colorful illustrations add to the book’s playful nature.


Running With Raven: The Amazing Story of One Man, His Passion, and the Community He Inspired by Laura Lee Huttenbach (Col ’05)

Huttenbach tells the story of Robert “Raven” Kraft, who has run 8 miles on the sands of Miami Beach every day since 1975—even in hurricanes. More than 2,600 people from around the world have joined him for a Raven Run only to return again and again to a community of runners where everyone belongs.


Frederick Douglass: America’s Prophet by D.H. Dilbeck (Grad ’12, ’14)

Dilbeck examines the life of Douglass through the lens of the abolitionist’s faith, which served as motivation and guidebook for his work. Despite the frustrating hypocrisy Douglass observed among American Christians, Dilbeck emphasizes the unwavering faith of a man who proclaimed that, through God, “truth, justice, liberty and humanity will ultimately prevail.”


The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington (Col ’89)

In this chilling tale of injustice, two wrongful convictions in the 1990s become evidence of a larger scheme between a medical examiner and a dentist acting as a bite expert. These men took advantage of a broken judicial system to help imprison countless innocent people until a few others finally began to question them.


Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline by Andrew W. Kahrl (Faculty)

Ned Coll quit his job in 1964 to help Hartford’s African-American population, which was relegated to substandard housing and subject to widespread, if not codified, discrimination. His work led to a campaign to “free the beaches” from the private ownership of beach clubs for the enjoyment of all the state’s residents, an effort met with resistance.


Enemies in Love: A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance by Alexis Clark (Grad ’01)

When Elinor Powell, a black nurse in the segregated U.S. Army Nurse Corps, arrived at POW Camp Florence in Arizona during World War II, she never expected to fall for a handsome German working in the kitchen. A rebellion against armies, countries and their respective racial codes, their love survived the war, but it wasn’t the last of their battles.