ShelfLife@Texas

Microsoft founder Bill Gates praised Distinguished Teaching Professor of History David Oshinsky’s book “Polio: An American Story” (Oxford University Press, 2005) during a speech titled “Why We are Impatient Optimists” last month in Wash. D.C.

Highlighting Oshinsky’s historical account of the polio epidemic in America, Gates addressed the need for improvements in global health care and medical technologies. Watch the video segment.

Learn more about Oshinsky’s book in the feature “More Than a March of Dimes.”

University of Texas at Austin faculty and alumni authors will share their expertise on topics ranging from the fate of Savannah during the Civil War, to mapping a career path, to the culture of Texas barbecue at the 2009 Texas Book Festival Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the Texas Capitol and surrounding areas.

More than 200 writers will showcase their books, including a host of authors from our university. Some of the presenters include:

Author: Jeffrey Abramson, professor of law and government
Book: “Minerva’s Owl:
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Why women have sex has long been a vexing question. In hopes of providing new insight into this provocative topic, psychologists Cindy M. Meston and David M. Buss collected candid stories from more than 1,000 women from 46 states, eight Canadian provinces, three European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and China. The findings, detailed in their new book “Why Women Have Sex,” reveal a shocking array of reasons – from boredom to self-loathing to painful headaches to jealousy. We sat down with the
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Summer is coming to an end, and it’s time to prepare for the coming school year. Time to put down that breezy beach read and pick up a Shakespearean classic. Brush up on the Bard’s classic works of literature by reading Douglas Bruster’s “To Be or Not to Be: Shakespeare Now!” (Continuum, 2007).

In his book, Bruster, professor of English, offers a series of intellectual stories examining Shakespeare’s individual words, idioms and phrases. With a particular focus on the complexities of Hamlet’s “To
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Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, a graduate of the James A. Michener Center for Writers at The University of Texas at Austin, has won the 2009 Keene Prize for Literature for her play titled “Lidless,” a poetic treatment of the issue of torture at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Keene Prize is one of the world’s largest student literary prizes. Cowhig will receive $50,000 and an additional $50,000 will be divided among three finalists.

Cowhig’s play was chosen out of 58 submissions in
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Authors have created a literature around summer: at the pool, by the river, in the sweltering heat or in the shade. Whether it’s swimming, camping, hiking or just relaxing on the porch with a good book, summer is the season for enjoying Texas’ natural splendor.

Professor Emeritus Miguel Gonzalez-Gerth celebrates the season with poems highlighting the Lone Star State’s vast deserts, mountains, canyons and rivers.

He has been published extensively in anthologies and magazines, including “Looking for Horse Latitudes,” (Host Publications; 2008). 

Photo credit:
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In “The Mexican Wars for Independence,” (Hill & Wang, 2009) Timothy Henderson (B.A., History, ’80) tells the complex story of Mexico’s revolution years of rebellion and civic unrest from 1810 to 1821, chronicling the progression of a nation struggling to liberate itself as an independent state.

Written for the general reader, Henderson guides readers through Mexico’s complicated and volatile political struggles, including the deepening divisions of race, class, culture and objectives forged during centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

Set against a sharply detailed background,
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Liberal Arts Career Services Director Kate Brooks will read and sign “You Majored in What: Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career” (Viking, 2009) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7 at Barnes & Noble, located in the Arboretum shopping center on Research Boulevard.

Brooks, who has been guiding students to successful careers for more than 20 years, points out that many college students feel a sense of comfort in thinking that their major will lead them directly to an ideal career
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Award-winning poet, essayist and novelist Ana Castillo will receive the first Américo Paredes Literature and Letters Award from the Center for Mexican American Studies at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center Auditorium.

Born and raised in Chicago, Castillo is best known for her lyrical stories exploring, love, gender conflict and resistance. In a career spanning more than three decades, Castillo has published more than 20 novels, plays, collections of essays, poetry and short stories. Her
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