Also inside: - Coe College

More documents

Recommendations

Info

www.coe.edu 2 Shirer memorieS Sought I am writing a biography of Coe alumnus William L. Shirer ’25 (1904-1993), who won fame as a CBS radio foreign correspondent in the late 1930s and early 1940s and as the author of 17 books, several of which were bestsellers — including “Berlin Diary” (1941), “rise and Fall of the Third reich” (1960) and “The Nightmare Steele exploreS obama candidacy In his beautifully wrought and thought-provoking new book, “A Bound Man,” the award-winning and bestselling author Shelby Steele ’68 attests that Senator Barack Obama’s groundbreaking quest for the highest office in the land is fast becoming a galvanizing occasion beyond mere presidential politics, one that is forcing a national dialogue on the current state of race relations in America. Says Steele, poverty and inequality usually are the focus of such dialogues, but Obama’s bid for so high an office pushes the conversation to a more abstract level where SLINGA DA INk Years” (1984). My book, tentatively titled “A Complex Fate: William L. Shirer and the American Century” will be published by the University of Missouri Press. The Courier invites letters on its contents or topics related to the college. Letters may be edited for style, length and clarity. Send letters to: courier@coe.edu or Coe Courier 1220 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 PUSHA DA PEN race is a politics of guilt and innocence generated by our painful racial history — a kind of morality play between (and within) the races in which innocence is power and guilt is impotence. Steele writes of how Obama Shirer graduated from Coe with a BA in 1925 and immediately set out for Europe, where he spent much of the next 16 years; however, he always maintained ties to Ce- is caught between the two classic postures that blacks have always used to make their way in the white American mainstream: bargaining and challenging. Bargainers strike a “bargain” with white America in which they say, I will not rub America’s ugly history of racism in your face if you will not hold my race against me. Challengers do the opposite of bargainers. They charge whites with inherent racism and then demand that they prove themselves innocent by supporting black-friendly policies like affirmative action and diversity. Steele maintains that Senator Obama is too constrained by dar rapids, where his mother lived, and to Coe, where he had many friends. I would very much like to hear from any Coe alumni who have recollections of Shirer or information about him to share. I can be reached via e-mail at ken.cuthbertson@queensu.ca. Thank you. Ken Cuthbertson Editor, Queen’s Alumni Review Queen’s University Kingston, ON., CANADA these elaborate politics to find his own true political voice. Obama has the temperament, intelligence, and background — an interracial family, a sterling education — to guide America beyond the exhausted racial politics that now prevail. And yet he is a Promethean figure, a bound man. Says Steele, Americans are constrained by a racial correctness so totalitarian that we are afraid even to privately ask ourselves what we think about racial matters. Like Obama, most of us find it easier to program ourselves for correctness rather than risk knowing and expressing what we truly feel. Obama emerges as a kind of Every- Winter | 2008
man in whom we can see our own struggle to accept and honor what we honestly feel about race. In “A Bound Man,” Steele makes clear the precise constellation of forces that bind Senator Obama, and proposes a way for him to break these bonds and find his own voice. The courage to trust in one’s own careful judgment is the new racial progress, the “way out” from the forces that now bind us all. “A Bound Man,” 160 pages, is available in hardcover for $22 from Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1416559175. gorman’S lateSt myStery lauded Cedar rapids author Ed Gorman ’68 received a starred review from Library Journal for his new Sam McCain mystery “Fools rush In.” In the seventh installment in the series (each bears the name of a popular period song as its title), gumshoe McCain is asked by the town judge to look into the death of a young black man who has been dating the daughter of a wealthy white senator. The year is 1963, the height of the Civil rights Movement, but the few African Americans who live in the small town of Black river Falls, Iowa, do not interact with the white upper class as equals. Coe College Courier The Library Journal said the whodunit is “not only a compelling crime novel but also a powerful depiction of the deep-rooted prejudice and social inequities in middle America.” Said reviewer Harriet klausner, “Gorman once again combines a fine murder investigation with a touch of nostalgia inside of the grand scale of the local, regional and national freedom marches that changed America.” “Fools rush In,” 229 pages, is available in hardcover for $25 from Pegasus Books NY. ISBN 1933648325. guenther’S Vietnam trilogy continueS “Dodge City Blues,” the second novel in the lost Vietnam trilogy by Dan Guenther ’66, has been published by redburn Press and is available online through Amazon. com and Barnes&Noble.com. Like Guenther’s 1990 novel, “China Wind,” Southeast Asia is the setting for “Dodge City Blues.” A Viet Cong assassination squad exploits the Marine battle plan in Dodge City. To overcome their enemy, the Marines must reinvent their operational approach, linking with both an Australian Special Service advisor and the republic of korea Marines to develop an innovative and effective team. “It is a must read for veterans of prior wars and those who wish to grasp the nuances of the universal conflict we have subjected our best to fight,” said retired Marine Col. Bob Fischer, a former advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps and a lecturer on strategy and tactics of the insurgent at Naval War College. Additional reviews were provided by former Coe classmates and fellow authors Ed Gorman ’68 and Dow Mossman ’66. Gorman called it “a hell of a good book, frightening, sad and powerful.” Mossman said, “From the opening page, ‘Dodge City Blues’ gathers momentum — a read one can’t put down.” The third book in the trilogy, “The Townsend’s Solitaire,” is set in Yellowstone during the early 1980s. It is scheduled for publication in 2008. “Dodge City Blues,” 300 pages, is available in paperback for $14.95 from redburn Press. ISBN 1933704020. alumna exploreS Kenyan hiStory Kenda Mutongi ’89, associate professor of history at Williams College, is the author of a new book titled “Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in kenya.” Mutongi specializes in East Africa, urban history, and transport history and culture. She grew up in Maragoli, a small village in Western kenya that lies close to Lake Victoria and the equator. The area had been under British colonial rule since the early 1900s, but local African leaders took over when kenya declared its independence in 1963. Here Mutongi encountered a paradox: Maragolis of her parents’ generation still looked back fondly on the colonial rule, even though 3 www.coe.edu
Page 1 and 2: Cover Story: Coe’s Defining Momen
Page 3: Vol. 107 No. 3 Winter 2008 Editor L
Page 7 and 8: even when their subject is sufferin
Page 9 and 10: Coe College Courier Photo by Frank
Page 11 and 12: season as she had four top-10 finis
Page 13 and 14: No CouNteRfeit Bill Don’t look fo
Page 15 and 16: “I knew it was a matter of time,
Page 17 and 18: NFL Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy
Page 19 and 20: like a long time, his back pain wor
Page 21 and 22: Cody Staker ’90 (wearing shorts)
Page 23 and 24: ENT FrOzEN IN TIME Student Senate P
Page 25 and 26: A display of college archives in Do
Page 27 and 28: iNg 2007 Defensive back Jeremy Squi
Page 29 and 30: Andrew Decker ’09 is one of 60 st
Page 31 and 32: BY GEOrGE A look back at Coe throug

Also inside: - Coe College

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?