Jan|Feb Alumni Authors

By Ryan Duffy in Jan | Feb 2018, TXEX on January 1, 2018 at 9:00 am | No Comments

The Throne of Caesar
by Steven Saylor, BA ’78

Days after the slaying of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, the poet Helvius Cinna is mistakenly assassinated at the famed Roman statesman’s funeral. This thriller, which culminates in Cinna’s murder, follows retired detective Gordianus the Finder as he investigates conspiracies against Caesar to no avail and must subsequently press for justice with little time to spare.

 

 

True Growth: Simple Insights on How to Live and Lead With Authenticity

by Byrd Baggett, BBA ’72, Life Member, et al

True Growth is a series of short essays offering lessons in leadership, anecdotes of personal development, and a wellspring of advice. Written primarily by retired U.S. military leaders, the entries are categorized by different qualities that any leader should possess. Each excerpt contains useful takeaways, opportunities for reflection, and suggestions for further reading.

 

From Both Sides Now

by Col. Harry C. Stevenson, BA ’66, Life Member

An infantry-foot-soldier-turned-fighter-pilot, Stevenson’s career spanned multiple wars and periods of peacetime as his assignments and engagements zigzagged across the globe. Stevenson was front and center through various eras of modern U.S. military history, and his story spans from the Tet Offensive to Desert Storm to the rise of U.S. special operations.

 

Thomas Jefferson—Revolutionary: A Radical’s Struggle to Remake America

by Kevin R.C. Gutzman, BA ’85, MPA, JD ’90

Gutzman upends conventional wisdom by charging that Thomas Jefferson, one of America’s most famous and historically significant leaders, was also its most revolutionary founding father. Drawing on extensive records and watershed moments in U.S. history and Jefferson’s life, the author explains that the former president was a complicated figure who sought to radically remake government, expand citizenship, and redefine fundamental rights.

 

Death, Taxes, and a Shotgun Wedding

by Diane Kelly, BBA ’88, JD ’90

With the grand finale of her 15-book Death and Taxes series, Kelly marks the end of a collection of stories that managed to spice up the unsexy topic of taxation. The end is nigh for heroine Tara Holloway as she juggles wedding planning and a rental scam case before suddenly receiving a spate of repeated, anonymous, and credible threats to her life. In Holloway’s last hurrah, she must first uncover her would-be killer and shake the perpetrator before it’s too late if she ever hopes to walk down the aisle.

 

McCarthyism: Memories of a Blacklisted Bert Corona

by Carlos Larralde and Michael Lynch, BA ’93, Life Member

Bert Corona was a Latino labor union leader from California who was blacklisted during one of the most repressive chapters in U.S. history. While McCarthyism was America’s heyday of hysteria, Corona was never deterred from fighting for fairness under the law for Latinos and laborers. With almost no remaining documentation on Corona, the authors draw on extensive personal relationships with Corona to compose his biography.

 

One Brave Man

by Hansen Alexander, BA ’83, Life Member

One Brave Man sets out to vindicate Roger Clemens, a decorated former MLB pitcher beset by allegations of anabolic steroid usage. Poring through press accounts and legal testimony, Alexander spent the better part of a decade on the trail of claims that Clemens used steroids. The book recalls the long shadow of these accusations, bats down many claims that Alexander finds spurious, and doubles as a comprehensive biography.

 

Alligator Creek

by Lottie Guttry, BM ’56, Life Member

Guttry’s historical novel distills a true family story with masterful narration. The book is set in the final days of the Confederacy and in the postbellum South, one that must come to grips with the defeat of its soldiers, its cause, and its very existence. Alligator Creek grapples with the real-life emotional hardships and difficult questions surrounding slavery, war, devotion, and suffering.

 

Necessities

by Boyd Taylor, BA ’52, LLB ’55, Life Member

The fourth book in the Donnie Ray Cuinn series, Taylor takes the reader through the trials and tribulations of David Lewis, a veteran of the Iraq war who has lost both of his legs. Now a newspaper reporter, Lewis rekindles a relationship with the heiress of a large publishing company and soon finds himself embroiled in the chaos and drama of the family business. In this suspenseful, spellbinding legal thriller, nothing is unthinkable—not even murder.

 

A Reckoning in the Back Country

by Terry Shames, BA ’66

Shames’ seventh book in this mystery series is chock-full of folksiness and evocative of small-town Texas. Samuel Craddock, an ex-police chief, must solve the strangest of cases: the vicious assault of an out-of-towner by aggressive canines. His detective work is thrown off by personal developments and several twists: A dog fighting ring has cropped up on the outskirts of town, pet dogs have been disappearing, and the victim comes with a shady past.

 

Pink Bluebonnets

by Sussie Jordan, BA ’70, Life Member

Pink Bluebonnets is a piece of fiction, but is sprinkled with mementos from Jordan’s life and witty bits of authentic Texan lore. From the perspective of five Texan women, this story speaks to the battle for freedom and what’s right, from their ancestors’ fight for independence centuries ago to the protagonists taking down present-day sex trafficking rings.

 

 

Think Again!

by Peter E.
Greulich, BA ’79

IBM weathered economic downturns to become a corporate juggernaut, yet its rise was based on principles that the company now disregards, Greulich says. From three decades at IBM, he gathered insight about company history, optimal operating strategies, and each CEO’s leadership style. Now, he says, IBM must return to balancing the interests of its stakeholders while looking at the long-term if it wants to stay on top.

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