Harvard Authors' Bookshelf
Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and a Story of Reconciliation
J. Chester Johnson ’66
Amazon Bestseller & on a Goodreads' list of Best Nonfiction Books. An American race massacre & racial reconciliation. Pegasus/Simon & Schuster.
Summing Up: A Professional Memoir
Bertram Fields, J.D. ’52
A delightfully readable tour of a remarkable career among the rich and famous. Fields has spent his entire professional career as an attorney. Get it on Amazon.
Gloriana: Exploring The Reign Of Elizabeth I
Bertram Fields, J.D. ’52
A breathless account of Elizabeth’s rise to power. Was she “The Virgin Queen”? Did she sanction murder? Fully illustrated in color. Get it at Amazon.
Shylock: His Own Story
Bertram Fields, J.D. ’52
Now, Bertram Fields gives us Shakespeare's enigmatic Shylock's full story, his dangerous background, his loves and challenges, and his motivation for the demand of a pound of flesh. Get it at Amazon.
Destiny: A Novel of Napoleon & Josephine
Bertram Fields, J.D. ’52
Napoleon & Josephine. A story of loyalty, betrayal, and tempestuous love set against a sweeping background of intrigue, terror and war. Get it at Amazon.
The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez
Rudy Ruiz ’90, M.P.P. ’93
“With an atmospheric setting and beguiling prose…well-developed characters, and charming elements of magic realism, Ruiz conjures a magnetic story…”—ALA Booklist. RudyRuiz.com.
Valley of Shadows
Rudy Ruiz ’90, M.P.P. ’93
“Ruiz’s engaging tale…is immersive and atmospheric. Ruiz deftly combines elements of romance, historical mystery, horror and magical realism to deliver a richly satisfying adventure.”—ALA Booklist. RudyRuiz.com.
The Leadership PIN Code
Dr. Nashater Deu Solheim, HNI ’16
A unique and proven framework for negotiating and influencing in daily work. With 3 simple keys, you get what you need while also maintaining positive relationships.
Re-Educating Myself
Bob Gebelein ’56
An epic search for a new civilization, showing how “human nature” itself can be changed. This second edition contains updated language and a preface with my thoughts since the book was first published. On Amazon.com.
Dirty Science
Bob Gebelein ’56
WINNER OF 4 BOOK AWARDS. Self-knowledge for academia: How dirty politics overpowers critical thinking and blocks academic freedom. Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook on Amazon.com.
Life Is Not a Straight Line
Katherine Williams, Ed.M.’84, Ed.D. ’87
Collection of 51 stories presented as poems about decisions made that changed lives; with the imagined musings of a head of state who made decisions that started a war and changed countless lives. https://amzn.to/3zftEsr
The Boy Who Took Marilyn to the Prom
Henry Massie ’63
"...a mesmerizing story...poignantly melancholic...psychologically sophisticated..." Kirkus. "A thought-provoking reflection on the dark side of glamour..."—Midwest Book Review.
Aging With a Plan, Second Edition
Sharona Hoffman, J.D. ’88
A comprehensive, concise, and engaging resource addressing legal, medical, financial, social, and other challenges of aging and caregiving. Extensive research, anecdotes, practical advice. On Amazon.
The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class
Edward Conard, M.B.A. ’82
Top Ten NY Times Best-selling Author Larry Summers: "a valuable contribution." www.EdwardConard.com. Available on Amazon, at local bookstores.
How I Predicted the Injury to President Reagan Sixteen Years Before the Event
Karl Meyer ’77
The genesis of an experiment to discover whether Our Creator endowed the author with a right to liberty from school attendance. On Amazon.com.
Jesus Among the Homeless
Foreword: Julia C. Davis, Ed.M. ’73
Wilma Faye Mathis, Contributing Author: Jeanne DeFazio
This go-to manual written in laymen's terms is an invaluable asset for anyone ministering to the homeless.
Harvard Square: A Love Story
Catherine J. Turco ’99, M.B.A. ’03, Ph.D. ’11
A gripping history of the Square—why it is so beloved, why each generation laments “it’s not what it used to be,” and what it teaches us about local downtowns everywhere.
Land of Bear And Eagle: A Home in the Kodiak Wilderness
Tanyo Ravicz ’83
The testament of one of Alaska's last homesteaders, this book offers a vision of what it means to be wedded to a place and fully alive to the world. Hancock House Publishers & Amazon
The Woman in Green
Larry Lockridge, Ph.D. ’69
The last standalone yet interrelated novel of The Enigma Quartet. Artwork: Marcia Scanlon. “Brilliantly skewers the pretensions of our modern dystopian age with devastating humor.”—Robert J. Mrazek. Amazon, Barnes & Noble.
Prepare for Crisis, Plan to Thrive:The Inside Story of How One Company Did It Right
Tom Raffio, FMLI ’78 and Diane H. Schmalensee
Available at The Bookery (Manchester, NH), Gibson’s Bookstore (Concord, NH), and Amazon.com.
There Are No Do-Overs: The Big Red Factors for Sustaining a Business Long Term
Tom Raffio, FLMI ’78, Dave Cowens and Barbara McLaughlin
Insight on creating a winning team at the office by reviewing lessons from the basketball court. Amazon.com.
The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance
Diane L. Rosenfeld ’96 A revolutionary call to action for women and their allies to protect one another from patriarchal violence. Foreword by Ashley Judd.
Launchpad Republic
Howard Wolk, M.P.A. ’02 and John Landry, Former HBR
A historical overview of entrepreneurship in America that explains why and how the political economy has sustained creative destruction for over 200 years.
Better Golf Better Life
Dr. Richard Goldberg, S.M. ’01
A professor of psychiatry provides a unique approach to unlocking golf's transformative power. We play golf to be better people, not just better golfers. And, your golf will improve. Get it on Barnes & Noble.
In Other Lifetimes All I've Lost Comes Back to Me
Courtney Sender, M.T.S. ’18
“A stunner”—Deesha Philyaw; “Fierce”—Alice McDermott; “Literary rock ‘n’ roll”—Aimee Bender; “Miraculous”—Ann Patchett. Debut stories for any-one who’s known love or loneliness.
Your Invisible Network
Michael Melcher '85
Your skills, passions, and hard work will only achieve their potential when paired with meaningful relationships. Your Invisible Network provides a practical, nuanced plan for building a network to supercharge your growth.
Where Paralytics Walk and the Blind See
Mary Dunn, J.D. ’01, M.T.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’08
This book engages with the early modern past to invite readers to consider alternative understandings of infirmity, disease, and death.
Tales of the Village Rabbi: A Manhattan Chronicle
Rabbi Harvey M. Tattelbaum ’55
Early 60s Greenwich Village was the quirkiest, jazzy, eccentric, and urban of environments. The author was known as the Village Rabbi of the Village Temple. In the spirit of Sholom Aleichem.
Outrage: The Arts and the Creation of Modernity
Katherine Giuffre ’85
"Giuffre's book is the newest and best addition to a tradition of academic scholarship on cultural conflict and the politics of the arts."—Jennifer Lena, Columbia University.
Come from Nowhere
Ann Bennett Spence,
A.M. ’69 (pen name Bian An)
Childhood memoir by daughter of a Chinese mother and American father who met in Beijing during Japan's invasion of China. As Chinese, American, and both, An(n) lived this story that stretches from China's civil war to the Vietnam War.
Pericles and Aspasia: A Novel of Ancient Greece
Yvonne Korshak ’58
Pericles, the visionary of democracy, and the influential courtesan Aspasia find love against the odds, their story bringing to life the arts, politics, and history of a brilliant classical world.
Parenting MBA: How to Apply What Makes You Successful at Work to the Most Important Job of Your Life
Joshua Leibowitz, M.B.A. ’97
If H.B.S. and McKinsey raised children together, this easy-to-read advice book would hold their parenting strategies.
Beyond the Pale
Douglas Beresford ’78
At a boys’ prep school in the 1930s, four classmates (including Jack Kennedy ’40 and Avery Dulles ’40) explore the occult. The boys find their relationships with the world—and with each other—sorely tested.
Age of Consent
Amanda Brainerd ’89
“A bracing debut...a nostalgic trip into the early 1980s and the downtown art scene...parental neglect and the ways young women are taught to see sex as transactional make this more than a throwback.”—Publishers Weekly.
To Venus and Back: One Man's Quest to Rediscover Love
Turner Grant (pen name of alum)
Two years after the unexpected death of his wife, the author embarked on a journey to find his future, both in life and love. He soon found himself adrift in the digital-dating world. On Amazon.
Alive in This World
Lyssa Black Fassett, M.T.S. ’96
In this aching memoir, the author grapples with the sudden death of her 22-year-old son, taking us along with her on a journey from broken to wholly renewed in remarkable and unexpected ways.
Making the World Over
R. Marie Griffith, Ph.D. ’95
Examines the histories behind issues at the root of U.S. conflicts, from race and immigration to reproductive rights. Griffith “confronts the ugliness of who we are as Americans and dares to imagine us otherwise,” writes Eddie Glaude.
How the Leopard Changed its Spots—Evolutionary Values for an Age in Crisis
Julian Gresser ’65, A.M. ’67, Visiting Mitsubishi Professor (HLS, 1976-77, 1980)
This lyrical autobiography urges that new thinking and evolutionary values are critical for our collective survival.
My Life and Times
William B. Wray (Pete), J.D. ’76
Narrative of a life both ordinary and extraordinary, including at Harvard Law School 1973-76, as geologist, lawyer & businessman. In paperback or hardcover, 906 p. At Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
The Ted Letters: The Life and Death of a Clozaril Patient
Anne Vohl ’71
A retired lawyer’s letters to her deceased son. A schizophrenic, he was Nevada’s first Clozaril patient. This volume argues for wider usage of the drug with better attention to its side effects.
Shelf Life
Martin Sneider, M.B.A. ’68
A Jewish-American family saga about the rise (and fall?) of its fashion-retailing empire. When Josh learns of his father’s penchant for treachery, he must face the fact that his dream to lead the company may have exceeded its shelf life.
Francisco de Goya and the Art of Critique
Anthony Cascardi, Ph.D. ’80
From Zone Books, this landmark study probes the relationship between Goya’s extraordinary and sometimes baffling work and the interconnected issues of modernity, Enlightenment, and critique.
The Ocean Above Me
Kevin Sites, NF ’10
Trapped in a capsized shrimping trawler, a former war correspondent is forced to confront a deadly secret from his past as he struggles to survive in this gripping novel of trauma, loss, love, and redemption. Award-winning author.
The Desire for Mutual Recognition
Peter Gabel ’68, J.D. ’72
Gabel calls for new social-spiritual activism. Great social movements can generate immense social change, bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice, and transform the world.
College Life Management: What's Your A7MQ?
Rozalia Williams, Ed.D. ’00
Guides students through the art and science of answering seven major questions (A7MQ) that prepare them to take charge of their lives and attain their aspirations. Visit: www.HigherEd.Life
Caroline
Adrian Spratt, J.D. ’79
“[Spratt] unravels the slow processes by which friends, family members, and lovers change one another, writing in prose that’s psychologically exacting but infused with poetic resonance.”—Kirkus. Visit: adrianspratt.com/book
Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America
Monique Rainford, M.D. ’95
A groundbreaking primer exploring adverse maternal-health outcomes for Black women and what can be done to improve them.
First Contact Last Resort: Book 1
Mike Alvarez Cohen, M.B.A. ’87
A team of scientists will have to prove their surprising discovery or surrender it to conspiracy in this breakout, soft sci-fi series exploring the pitfalls and virtues of human nature. Available at singularitive.com.
American Conspiracy
M.J. Polelle, J.D. ’63
A presidential election turns into a political and constitutional nightmare when the presumed president-elect is assassinated. “A stellar novel of action, adventure, and intrigue.”—Steve Berry, NYT bestselling author. Order: mjpolelle.com
The Orphans of Davenport
Marilyn Brookwood Ed.M. '08
How a band of young psychologists in 1930s Iowa shattered the nature-versus-nurture debate and overthrew long-accepted racist and classist views of childhood development. “This spirited history soars.” Publishers’ Weekly.
The Illusion of Determinism: Why Free Will Is Real and Causal
Edwin A. Locke ’60
The doctrine of determinism is self-refuting and free will is a form of causality involving the capacity to choose to focus one’s mind at the conceptual level or to evade the effort.
The Selfish Path to Romance
Edwin A. Locke ’60 and Ellen Kenner
Most people believe that altruism is the key to romantic happiness with the women sacrificing to the men (who may be narcissists). This book shows that mutual support works better.
Freddie’s Last Ride
M.A. Whelan, Ph.D. ’72, M.D.
“...An unbelievably detailed and compelling chronology... that moves from one vivid scene to the next...The book is about justice and injustice...by a doctor who is both authoritative and dogged.”— Allan Ropper, M.D. Amazon.
The Burnout Challenge
Christina Maslach ’67 with Michael P. Leiter
The authors’ research takes today’s discussions about the nature of the workplace to a new level. Provides pragmatic, creative, and cost-effective solutions to improve employee well-being.
The Value of Drawing Instruction in the Visual Arts and Across Curricula
Seymour Simmons III, Ed.D. ’88
The case for learning to draw in the digital age, cultivating visual thinking across disciplines, and holistic development across the lifespan. Now in paperback.
Voice & Verse: Joys and How-To’s of Teaching, Reading & Writing Poetry
Paul F. Cummins, M.A.T. ’60
I hope this book will open a few doors, suggest new projects and lessons, and introduce some of the strange and inspiring poets I have met along the way.
Juneteenth Our Day of Freedom
Sharon Dennis Wyeth ’70
The Emancipation holiday, historic and contemporary. Commended by School Library Journal. Sharon Dennis Wyeth has written over fifty books for young readers. www.sharondenniswyeth.com, Amazon or wherever books are sold.
Idea City
David Gamble, M.A.U.D. ’97
Racial strife, political friction, and uncertainty around the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change have amplified inequities. How will these disruptions impact Boston’s future as it prepares to celebrate its quadricentennial in 2030?
America: Underwater and Sinking
James B. Lockhart III, M.B.A. ’74
The “Government is an (underwater) insurance company with an Army.” Lessons learned from the Global Financial Crisis and Social Security reform to help the government to surface.