Recent books from the Goucher community

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The Molino: A Memoir

By Melani Martinez, M.F.A. ’05

(University of Arizona Press, September 2024)

Set in one of Tucson’s first tamal and tortilla factories, The Molino reckons with one family’s loss of home, food, and faith. Weaving together history, culture, and Mexican food traditions, Melani Martinez shares the story of her family’s life and work in their eatery, El Rapido. Opened by Martinez’s great-grandfather in 1933, El Rapido served tamales and burritos for nearly 70 years. When the business closes, the family disbands. When she finds her way back home, the tortillería’s iconic mural provides a gateway—revealing a sacred presence alive in Tucson.

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A Woman I Once Knew

Rosalind Fox Solomon ’51

(MACK Publishing, September 2024)

After studying with Lisette Model in the early 1970s, Rosalind Fox Solomon became renowned for her unflinching photography of everyday life around the world. Meanwhile, for five decades Solomon studied the evolution of her aging body through self-portraits and embraced the self-estrangement the camera affords. A Woman I Once Knew brings these self-portraits together alongside texts by Solomon to form a unique work of autobiography. Solomon’s writings allude to the periodic depressions and euphoric experiences in other cultures that defined her extraordinary life and shaped her empathetic approach to photography.

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Haunt Sweet Home

Sarah Pinsker ’99, Kratz Writer-in-Residence

(Tordotcom Publishing/Macmillan, September 2024)

When aimless Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show, she quickly determines her role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and scares new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along is herself. Haunt Sweet Home is a supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

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Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America’s Second Slavery

By Earl Swift, M.F.A. ’11

Mariner Books (HarperCollins Imprint, April 2024)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Chesapeake Requiem comes a work of nonfiction telling the story of the mass killing of 11 Black farmhands on a Georgia plantation in the spring of 1921—a crime that exposed the existence of “peonage,” a form of slavery that gained prominence across the American South after the Civil War. By turns police procedural, courtroom drama, and political exposé, Hell Put to Shame is a story that remains relevant a century later, as the nation continues to wrestle with race and justice.

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Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life

By Clare Croft ’00

(Duke University Press Books, October 2024)

Jill Johnston was a major queer presence in the history of dance and 1970s feminism—the first critic to identify postmodernism’s arrival in American dance and a fierce advocate for the importance of lesbians within feminism. In Jill Johnston in Motion, Clare Croft examines Johnston’s journalism, books, appearances as dancer and audience member, and participation at feminist protests. By bringing together Johnston’s criticism, activism, writing, and physicality, Croft emphasizes the effect the arts had on Johnston’s feminist thinking in the 1970s and traces lesbian feminism’s roots in avant-garde art practice.

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The Essential Jill Johnston Reader

Edited by Clare Croft ’00

(Duke University Press Books, October 2024)

Jill Johnston began the 1960s as a dance columnist for The Village Voice, and by the next decade she was known as a keen observer of postmodern art and lesbian feminist life. This book collects dozens of pieces from her career, many of which appeared in The Village Voice and The New York Times. Including personal essays, travel writing, artist profiles, and reviews, as well as her series of columns for the Voice in which she came out as a lesbian, these pieces demonstrate her philosophies and writing style.

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Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson

Edited by Jesse J. Holland, M.F.A. ’12

(Titan Books, January 2025)

The new Captain America has a heavy shield to hold. As a Black man, Sam Wilson knows he must be twice as good to get half as much credit. In these 13 stories by celebrated Black authors, including one by the book’s editor, Jesse J. Holland, Captain America must thwart an insurrectionist plot, travel back in time, foil a racist conspiracy, and save the world. These are stories of death-defying courage, Black love, and self-discovery. These are the stories of a superhero learning what it means to be a symbol.

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Nobody Cares What You Think

By Chris Arvidson, M.F.A. ’05

(Finishing Line Press, January 2025)

Nobody Cares What You Think, from poet Chris Arvidson, goes right on ahead and tells you exactly and frankly what she thinks. The poems speak about the absurdity and the glory of living a life in our present and observe how our pasts shape us. Highlighting the silly and the sublime, the poems navigate the reader along a path, helping us figure out how we can move through our world with a modicum of self-awareness, and maybe even a little grace.

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The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai

Edited by Melissa R. Klapper ’95 and Dianne Ashton

(NYU Press, October 2024)

Emma Mordecai lived an unusual life. She was Jewish when Jews comprised less than 1 percent of the population of the Old South, and unmarried in a culture that offered women few options other than marriage. She was American born when most American Jews were immigrants. She affirmed and maintained her dedication to Jewish religious practice and Jewish faith while many family members embraced Christianity. Yet she also lived well within the social parameters established for Southern white women, espoused Southern values, and owned enslaved African Americans.

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Six Weeks in Reno

By Lucy H. Hedrick ’69

(Lake Union Publishing, March 2025)

A woman at a “divorce ranch” in 1930s Reno strives to live life on her own terms. After 20 years in a loveless marriage, Evelyn Henderson will do anything to escape her life. She boards a train for Reno, a former frontier town booming thanks to “six-weekers”: women who take up residence just long enough to secure an uncontested divorce. Evelyn soon bonds with her housemates, most of whom have never ventured this far from home—or from societal conventions. One thing becomes clear: Six weeks will change her life forever.

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Unhide & Seek. Live Your Best Life. Do Your Best Work.

By Ruth Rathblott ’91

(Singlehanded Press, August 2024)

At the end of each day, you face a moment of truth: Did you show up as your authentic self or hide part of yourself to fit in? If you’ve wondered what might be holding you back, the answer may lie within. This book offers a blueprint for uncovering the person you are meant to be—in your career and life. Through stories, exercises, and strategies, Unhide & Seek will guide you on a journey of self-discovery. Discover your hidden potential, become your best self, and connect deeply with others.

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Breath of Life

By L.H. Moore, M.A.H.P. ’16

(Apex Books, December 2024)

Breath of Life is a collection of the works of L.H. Moore, whose history- and Afrofuturism-inspired short stories, poetry, and essays blur the lines between horror, science fiction, and fantasy. In “Roots on Ya,” a roots man in rural Virginia has to undo a crossing. A scientist has a harrowing experience as she discovers more than she bargained for in the depths of underwater cave tunnels in “Rule of Thirds.” As a symbol of a new country is constructed, all is not what it seems in “With These Hands.”

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Stem Cells to the Rescue

By Helen M. Blau and Margery J. Fain ’70, Ph.D.

(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, October 2024)

When your skin is cut, it heals. When you break a bone, it mends. How does this happen? Because your body is made of cells, including a very special kind called stem cells. They live in many places in your body, such as skin, muscles, bones, and blood. And when any part of your body is injured, stem cells jump into action to repair the damage. This book contains a tale told in rhyme about how stem cells work and what scientists are doing to help them work even better.

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How To Survive Protracted Civil Litigation

By Claudia Barber ’80

(Kingdom Publishing, July 2024)

The legal system was not designed for the economically disadvantaged. This book guides you through some of what to expect and explains why the system does not render justice every day. Having served as a judge from 2005-2016, Claudia Barber understands the judge’s perspective of why the system works for some and not others. It is not a detailed story of every aspect of trial but a synopsis of various stages of litigation, with suggestions for navigating the legal system when financial resources are limited.

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Books & Boozers: A Matter of Murder (The Cape Coral Series)

By Carol Bryan Freeman ’70

(Self-published, June 2024)

Cape Coral, FL, is the setting for a madcap adventure: a Banana Bay Sunset Cruise, a chocolate chip cookie contest, and—murder! Ellen and Charlie Green, seventy-something amateur sleuths, are at it again and reckless as ever. The Bird-Watchers are always ready to rescue their dear friends from impending disaster. Local favorites are a popular feature of Books & Boozers: Harold’s Restaurant, the Boat House, Downtown Farmers’ Market, Deena Da Singer, Calendar Girls, and others. Another cozy murder mystery by Carol Freeman and book 7 of the Cape Coral Series.

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Activate Success: Tips, Tools, & Insights To Be A Leader In Your Niche

By Sujata Ives ’83, Ph.D., and Sandra Horton

(Spotlight Publishing House, May 2024)

This book offers a three-pillar model that involves self-discovery, change readiness, and sustainable impact. Agile business practices were desperately needed at the three levels of individual, team, and organization. The workplace was evolving rapidly and could not keep up. Many leaders were hoping that things would return to normal with expeditious health care. But crisis, war, and turmoil change people. In a quest to understand how to use historical events to adapt to a radical change, the authors observed that employees were yearning for empathy, never prioritized in workplaces before.