Whitman Authors

David Allard ’51, Evans, Ga., is the author of “Uncle Clayton: A Soldier’s Life in Letters, 1898-1901.” “The Drama department at NYU, directed by Mary Robinson, put on a production based on the letters in my book,” Allard said. “It opened May 3 and ran for a week at the Robert Moss Theater in New York City. The production takes place during the Spanish American War. My wife and I flew up for opening night.”

Junius Rochester ’57 has co-authored “Purple and White: Extraordinary Journeys of the Class of 1951, Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington,” (Tommie Press, 2012). This 110-page history of the post-World War II years at Garfield includes photos and drawings and more than 80 short bios from students. The students were Japanese who had just emerged from camps; Jews who had experienced the Holocaust; Chinese, many of whom were mistaken for Japanese; African Americans who had escaped Jim Crow laws in the Old South; and students from affluent neighborhoods bordering Lake Washington.

Joe McCray ’64 has written his fourth novel, “Fool Gone Missing,” based on his old law office case files. Set in San Francisco, the book explores the dynamics of private advocacy as practiced by Joseph Anthony Cleary and Daniel Dermot O’Neil, who must deal with the relentless ambitions of Grant “Dash” Jennings and the destruction it causes. To read more, see joemccray.com/blog/books.

David Case ’66 together with his co-author David Voluck released the third edition of “Alaska Natives and American Laws” (University of Alaska Press). Nearly 40 years later, the book is still the only work of its kind, canvassing federal law and its history as applied to American Indians in Alaska. Divided conceptually into four broad themes of indigenous rights to land, subsistence, services and sovereignty, the book offers a thorough and balanced analysis of the evolution of these rights.

Jack Greene ’71 has co-authored a fifth book with Alessandro Massignani. “Hitler Strikes North: The Nazi Invasion of Norway and Denmark, 9 April, 1940” was published by Frontline Books. The German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940 brought a sudden and shocking end to the “Phoney War” in the West. In a single day, multiple seaborne and airborne landings established German forces ashore in Norway, overwhelming the unprepared Norwegian forces and catching the Allied Powers completely by surprise. The strategic importance of Scandinavian iron ore, shipped through the port of Narvik to Germany, was the main cause of the campaign. The German attack was their first joint air, sea and land operations, making large-scale use of air-landing and parachute forces, and the Luftwaffe’s control of the air throughout the campaign would prove decisive. Making full use of Norwegian, Danish and German sources, this book is a full account of this highly significant campaign and its aftermath both for the course of the Second World War and the post-war history of the two countries conquered with such unprecedented speed.

Alexander Maksik ’95 has written his second novel, “A Marker to Measure Drift” (Knopf, July 2013). This book is described as an electrifying novel that tracks a woman’s journey from the horrors of Charles Taylor’s Liberia to abject poverty and self-exile on a Greek island, where she must grapple with a haunted past and find a way back into human society. “A Marker to Measure Drift” is a novel about memory, how we live with what we know, and whether and how we go forward, intact and whole, after the ravages of loss.

Katey Schultz ’01 writes that her debut short story collection, “Flashes of War,” was published May 2013 by Loyola University Maryland. The collection features military and civilian characters in and around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Katey will spend the remainder of 2013 and much of 2014 on a book tour. “I’d love to see fellow Whitties as I hit major cities! Please drop me a line.” See www.kateyschultz.com.

Robert Allen Skotheim, who served as Whitman’s president from 1975 to 1988, has published an autobiography titled Robert Allen Skotheim: A Memoir. It includes chapters on his time at Whitman as well as his formative years, early career, tenure as president of the Huntington Library and interim presidency of Occidental College. The book is currently available for purchase at the Whitman College Bookstore.