Alumni Ink

Shaken and Stirred


A Most Stirring and Significant Episode: Religion and the Rise and Fall of Prohibition in Black Atlanta, 1865-1887 is the first book-length study of African American involvement in the nineteenth-century temperance movement. Author H. Paul Thompson Jr. 05PhD, chair of the Department of History and Political Science at North Greenville University in South Carolina, examines the ideology, institutions, and processes through which white and black Northerners introduced temperance to postbellum black Atlanta and provides an analytical and colorful description of Fulton County, Georgia's 1885 and 1887 "local option" prohibition elections. These elections proved to be a turning point in the Southern temperance movement and to have national political implications. The Southern temperance-turned-prohibition movement could never again be the same after white reformers concluded that black Atlantans' votes had overturned prohibition.

Me and My Shadow

Richard Anderson was the last person to see his friend Melanie alive. She vanished when they were six and, while the police never found Melanie, a part of her remained—a living shadow that is now Richard's closest friend. For ten years, Richard has never questioned the shadow that keeps him company—until a new girl moves to town, claiming to be Melanie. In his sophomore novel, All Those Broken Angels, young fiction author Peter Adam Salomon 89C follows up on his 2012 debut novel Henry Franks, which was named one of the ten "Books All Young Georgians Should Read" by the Georgia Center for the Book in 2014.

A Man of His Word

The word integrity comes at us from every angle, context, setting, and venue. An Atlanta apartment complex is named "Integrity Heights." A car dealer promises on its outdoor sign, "We sell integrity." A mortuary declares, "We offer integrity when you need it the most." A United States senator describes a Supreme Court nominee as "a man of integrity." During the recession, in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, one citizen wrote, "Wall Street was where integrity went to die." In Integrity: The Indispensable Element, author Jim Thomas 64L tackles the abstract definition of integrity and bridges the gap between the virtue in thought and action. Thomas, a retired attorney and founder of the consulting group Alliance for Integrity, also is author of Individual Integrity.

The 'In' Crowd

With the Teen Popularity Handbook: Make Friends, Get Dates, and Become Bully-Proof, authors and identical twins David Bennett 02T and Jonathan Bennett 02T promise that by following their tips and advice, "Any teen can become popular." Throughout the self-help book, the authors use personal anecdotes from their youth and adulthood as examples and lessons for young readers to learn from and either follow or avoid. They offer tips on attitude, body language, confidence, flexibility, and humor, and then assign "homework" at the end of each chapter they say can help kids who seek popularity to attain skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.

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