Alumni in Print

Finding Josie

Wendy Bilen,  MFA Creative Writing ’06

In Finding Josie (Wisconsin Historical Society, 2008), Bilen pieces together the history of her grandmother, Josie Broadhead, born in 1911 and raised on the North Dakota prairie. But it is more than memoir or family history. The book also tells of Bilen’s own journey and the surprising ways our lives intersect with the lives of our ancestors.

Bilen has written for various publications and venues, including the Washington Post, The Country Today, and North Dakota Public Radio. She teaches English at Trinity University in Washington, D.C.

Customer Service: Skills for Success

Robert Lucas, MA Interdisciplinary Studies ’92

This book (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2007) features how-to topics for customer service professionals and covers the skills and concepts needed for success in a customer service-driven industry. Lucas provides readers with techniques to use in creating a service environment where customers needs are identified and addressed.

Lucas is a managing partner of Global Performance Strategies, a consulting firm in Orlando, Florida, and president of Creative Presentation Resources, an e-commerce company selling creative learning tools. He has written or contributed to 28 books since 1994.

The Journey of the Accidental Leader

Steve Gladis, MA English ’84

The Journey of the Acci-dental Leader (HRD Press, 2008) is a fictional story of a young man who is thrust into a leadership position he didn’t want nor ask for. Gladis draws from his own practical experience as a Marine Corps officer to pull in readers and keep them entertained, informed, and prepared for their own personal leadership journeys.

A former University of Virginia professor and chief of the Law Enforcement Communications Unit at the FBI, Gladis is president and CEO of the International Coach Foundation and teaches a new Corporate Communication Certificate Series at Mason designed for emerging leaders.

Atlantic Loyalties: Americans in Spanish West Florida, 1785–1810

Andrew McMichael, BA History ’93

Atlantic Loyalties (University of Georgia Press, 2008) is a study of the Baton Rouge District of Spanish West Florida from 1785 through 1810, which carefully chronicles the political, cultural, economic, and social factors that gave meaning to the French, Spanish, British, and American settlers. The book analyzes the Anglo Americans rebellion in 1810 and the latter results of freedom, plantation agriculture, and frontier settlement that shaped life in North America.

McMichael is an assistant professor of history at Western Kentucky University, author of History on the Web, and an assistant editor of two volumes of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University. He works with the Ecclesiastical Sources in Slave Societies project to advance the study of slavery.

Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility

Andrew L. Yarrow, PhD History ’06

This book details the rise of federal debt in the United States and the effects that it may hold for Americans if it isn’t brought under control through a bipartisan approach to restore the nation’s fiscal health. Forgive Us Our Debts reveals how to control entitlements and return the nation’s finances to long-term sustainability for both economic and moral reasons.

Yarrow is vice president and Washington director of Public Agenda and teaches modern U.S. history at American University. He previously reported for the New York Times, contributing frequent op-ed pieces and many popular and scholarly articles.