Remembering Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, who died Jan. 10, became the first man to scale Mt. Everest largely through "happenstance," says Hamilton College history professor Maurice Isserman. However, Isserman - who has co-authored a history of Himalayan mountaineering to be published this spring - says Hillary had the character to withstand all of the public acclaim that came with the achievement and the generosity to never forget the Sherpas who helped him.

The Welfare Debate

The controversy over how to help poor people largely boils down to tension between the rhetoric of the "good Samaritan" and that of those who fear creating dependency and corruption, says Illinois Wesleyan University Associate Professor of Political Science Greg Shaw. In his new book, Shaw examines the history and rhetoric that have led to a stalemate in the discussion of welfare in America.

Bennington Faculty Make NYT 'Notable Books' List

Works by two Bennington College faculty members were included in The New York Times Book Review's recent list of 100 Most Notable Books of the Year. They were literature faculty member Steven Bach’s biography Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl and MFA faculty member Tom Bissell’s memoir, The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam.

The Sky is Not a Ceiling

As an astronomer, Aileen O'Donoghue has spent a lifetime struggling to answer the question: "What's out there?" In the course of her quest, the stars drove O'Donoghue back to morning Mass. Her new book, The Sky Is Not A Ceiling, lays out the spiritual and scientific journey of the St. Lawrence University Priest and Associate Professor of Physics.

What Would Socrates Say?

A new book edited by Alexander George, professor of philosophy at Amherst College, brings together some of today’s most esteemed philosophers to answer real questions from real people. The book, entitled What Would Socrates Say?, draws from AskPhilosophers.org, a popular Website created by George in which modern day philosophers use their their knowledge of the arguments laid down by Aristotle, Camus, Locke, Socrates, and others to answer questions submitted to them by the public.