[For this year’s Valentine’s series, I wanted to build on the weekend post on my Dad’s book and highlight a handful of other scholarly books that have been especially meaningful to me. Leading up to a weekend tribute to a scholar I love even more than her book!]
Loving tributes to five books from Fitchburg State colleagues, present and past.
- Imagining Early American Jews (2025): I was inspired to include this post in the week’s series due to this new book from my most prolific colleague, Michael Hoberman. What I especially love about Michael’s many books is that, while they have plenty of meaningful throughlines, they each feature distinct interdisciplinary lenses, reminding me of just how broad and deep a field like AmericanStudies truly is.
- A Newsman in the Nixon White House: Herbert Klein and the Enduring Conflict between Journalistic Truth and Presidential Image (2018): This past Fall my colleague Wafa Unus told me that she had been inspired to move into public scholarly writing (such as her weekly column for the Sentinel & Enterprise) in part by my own work. That was very generous of her to say and certainly appreciated, but in truth Wafa’s been doing that work for a long while, as reflected by her great 2018 book.
- The Ballad of the Lone Medievalist (2018): My colleague Kisha Tracy has written a number of books of her own, all of which are worth checking out too. But I also really appreciate the volume that she and her friend John Sexton co-edited, capturing the voices and experiences of folks who are (like the two of them) the only Medievalists in their departments. It offers and embodies a wonderful combination of academic solidarity and thoughtful memoir, and I love how it pushes all of us to think about what we do and how we do it.
- Scientists, Politics, and the Rhetoric of Public Controversy (2025): Speaking of edited collections, this important recent one features an essay from my colleague Collin Syfert: “What Do We Want? Evidence-Based Science! When Do We Want It? After Peer-Review!: Advocacy and Activism in the March for Science.” As someone who played a very small role in the Boston March for Science, I really love the ways that Collin’s contribution to this project push me to think about the limits and possibilities of such moments, questions that are more vital than ever here in early 2026.
- You’ve Changed (2025): I’ve written about my former colleague and lifelong friend Ian Williams’s books many times in this space (that post links to a bunch of prior ones as well), but here’s a reflection of just how prolific he’s been: I went to his website to remind myself of what I thought was his most recent one from a couple years back, only to learn that he has a new novel! I’m excited to check out You’ve Changed, and to be reminded of the genuine pleasure of reading work from someone I love. And for the best example of that possible, come back tomorrow!
That tribute post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Scholarly books or voices you love?
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