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SUMMER 2014
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26
Off the Shelf
Dr. Karen Robbins,
associate professor of
history at St. Bonaventure, released her book
"Forgotten Federalist" in November 2013.
The book is the first modern biography of
James McHenry, a Scots-Irish immigrant.
Trained as a physician, he joined the Ameri-
can Revolution when war
broke out. He then
switched to a more mili-
tary role, serving on the
staffs of George Washing-
ton and Lafayette. He en-
tered government after
the war and served in the
Maryland Senate and in
the Continental Congress.
As Maryland's represen-
tative at the Constitutional Convention,
McHenry helped to add the ex post facto
clause to the Constitution and worked to in-
crease free trade among the states.
As secretary of war, McHenry remained
loyal to Washington. Upon becoming presi-
dent, John Adams retained McHenry, but
Adams began to believe McHenry was in
league with other Hamiltonian Federalists
who wished to undermine his policies. Thus
when the military buildup for the Quasi-War
with France became unpopular, Adams used
it as a pretext to request McHenry's resigna-
tion.
Yet Robbins asserts that Adams was mis-
taken, that the friendship between McHenry
and Hamilton had grown sensitive and there
was a brief falling out. Moreover, McHenry
had asked Hamilton to withdraw his applica-
tion for second-in-command of the New
Army being raised.
Dr. Denny Wilkins'
first novel is a love
story in more ways than one. Without the
supportive embrace of a respected peer and
two former students, "mapping Utah"
would still be a Word file on his computer,
said Wilkins, who will
soon be starting his 19th
year as a professor of
journalism and mass
communication at SBU.
Subtitled "love and war
in the wilderness,"
Wilkins' "mapping Utah"
is about a 30-year-old
woman named Kara who
flees a stifling job and re-
lationship in Seattle and
follows the prompting of a mysterious map
into the majesty of Utah. There, she encoun-
ters Noah, a licensed pilot who adores his
hermitic existence in Greasewood Draw,
where he battles the destruction of delicate
wildlife areas by dropping paint bombs from
an ultralight plane onto off-road vehicles.
Jack Nash hauls in a fortune for his envi-
ronmentally immoral ORV expeditions and
wants Noah dead. All three lives collide
under the staggering beauty of the desert
landscape, where passion and grit battles
greed and power, and only one side will sur-
vive. Wilkins drew upon his degrees in geol-
ogy, environmental studies, and
communication to write "mapping Utah."
For information, visit mappingutah.com.
John G. Aicher, '52,
has assembled a
number of essays that he has written into a
memoir titled "Footprints." It contains short
essays about topical subjects as well as
longer ones about important events in his
life, from his volunteer work in state prisons
to his time spent as an artillery officer in
Korea to significant events within his own
family.
There are references to
his life at St. Bonaventure,
as well; the university
played a vital part in the
development of Aicher's
character and he carries
Franciscan attitudes with
him to this day.
Finally, one will find
tales from his life as a
practicing attorney that counter any opinion
that the practice of law is boring. Aicher's
comments on current events and his involve-
ment in courtrooms, prisons, and politics will
hold your interest and stir your emotions.
The book is available in hardcover, softcover,
and ebook from both Amazon.com and
Barnes & Noble.
Learn more: www.johngaichermemoir.com.
Translated from Italian by
Santi Buscemi,
'66,
"The Marquis of Roccaverdina" by Luigi
Capuana (1839-1915) is a masterpiece of
world literature. The novel is at once the best
and most representative opus of the Sicilian
veristi (naturalists), who wrote in the late
19th century. Published in 1901, "The Mar-
quis of Roccaverdina" is a psychological tour
de force that analyzes the life of a Sicilian
aristocrat who refuses to choose between
his passion for a beautiful peasant woman
and the demands of a moribund social struc-
ture that precludes his marrying beneath his
station. Attempting to resolve the dilemma,
he makes a decision that leads to a life tor-
tured by jealousy, guilt and self-recrimina-
tion.
Published by Dante Uni-
versity Press, this is the
second of Buscemi's trans-
lations of Capuana. His
first is "Sicilian Tales," a
collection of 20 fairy tales
appearing in a bilingual
edition and published by
Dante University Press in
2009. The translator is the
son of Sicilian immigrants
from the province of Agrigento. He majored
in English at St. Bonaventure and now
teaches at Middlesex County College in Edi-
son, N.J.
Michael Hannan, '66,
has published his
third mystery novel, a sequel to the previous
two. Beloved characters from his novels
"Louie's Diamonds" and "The Rolling
Stones" take the page once more in "Scram-
bled Eggs," in which thieves, detectives and
collectors clash in their mutual desire to get
their hands on one of the Fabergé Imperial
Eggs. The colorful cast will chase their quarry
from New York to Woodstock, Vt., from
Chicago to south Louisiana, until they con-
verge in a finale that will shock readers
everywhere. A fourth book in the series is
forthcoming.
Hannan has worked as an independent
school teacher and administrator, teaching
philosophy, English, and computer science,
and serving as dean of academics, principal,
and headmaster. In retirement he has
worked as database manager for the local
Marine Laboratory. Hannan and his wife,
Gloria (Filippini), '66,
live on Sanibel Island.
They have two sons and two granddaugh-
ters.
Susan Evans, '73,
uses high spirits and
humor as she writes about a serious disease
in her book, "Don't Write the Obituary Yet."
Evans, a retired Bradford, Pa., English
teacher, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
in 2012 and is now in remission. As a fun
person who was not going to let cancer get
in the way of a good laugh, Evans didn't
have to look far to find the humor: She was
initially told that she had a 25-pound tumor.
Later she learned that the chart had a miss-
ing decimal -- and the tumor was actually
2.5 pounds.
One of her goals in writing the book was
to let other women know they can and
should be assertive during the medical