Mason Book Shelf
Evan L. Balkan, MA English ’97
60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Baltimore, Menasha Ridge Press, 2006
This compilation guides readers to the area’s best trails. Each hike profile lists key information on length, hiking time, difficulty, configuration, scenery, traffic, trail surfaces, and accessibility. Detailed trail maps, elevation profiles, and clear directions to trailheads are included, as are nearby activities, including optional trails and side trips to interesting attractions and recreation facilities.
Balkan teaches writing and literature at the Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland). His fiction and nonfiction, most in the areas of travel and outdoor recreation, have appeared in publications in the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Shelly, and daughter, Amelia.
Brian Barker, MFA Creative Writing ’99
The Animal Gospels, Tupelo Press, 2006
The Animal Gospels is a collection of lyric-narrative poems that explore faith, identity, loss, racism, the transience of being, and coming of age in the South at the end of the 20th century.
Barker is assistant director of the Center for Literary Arts at the University of Missouri and managing editor of the journal Center. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, he has received fellowships from Inprint and Krakow Poetry Seminar.
Edward G. Lengel, BA History ’91
General George Washington, Random House, June 2005
In a revealing work based largely on George Washington’s personal papers, Lengel has written the definitive account of Washington, the soldier. The book is informative and engaging and filled with some eye-opening revelations about Washington, the war for American independence, and the very nature of military command.
Lengel is an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia and associate editor of The Papers of George Washington (University Press of Virginia, 1985). A specialist in military history, Lengel wrote World War I Memories: An Annotated Bibliography of Personal Accounts Published in English Since 1919 (Scarecrow Press, 2004)and The Irish through British Eyes: Perceptions of Ireland in the Famine Era (Praeger, 2002).
Carol Metzker, MS Professional Studies ’01
Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn (with Tojo Thatchenkery, associate professor in Mason’s School of Public Policy), Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2006
Appreciative Intelligence provides a new answer to what enables successful people to dream up their extraordinary and innovative ideas; why others join them on the path to their goals; and how they achieve these goals despite obstacles and challenges. Drawing on their own original research and recent discoveries in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Thatchenkery and Metzker outline the evidence for appreciative intelligence, detail its specific characteristics, and show how to develop this skill and use it to become more creative, resilient, successful, and personally fulfilled.
Metzker works as a consultant, helping clients tap into their success stories to uncover best practices, share knowledge, and communicate clearly for successful outcomes. She lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two daughters.
Barbara Tricarico, BA English ’75
Quilts of Virginia, 1607–1899,Schiffer Books, 2006
Tricarico co-wrote, edited, and photographed quilts for this book for the Virginia Consortium of Quilters Documentation Project. The book anticipates Virginia’s 400th anniversary in 2007 by presenting more than 270 historic quilts and ephemera. From quilted armor of the 17th century to crazy quilts of the 19th century, these personal family and museum treasures include homespun work of slaves and fancy work of freed women and First Ladies.
A former high school English teacher, Tricarico is a sign language interpreter for the deaf at Northern Virginia Community College. Quilting and photography have been her hobbies for many years.