BOOKS
The American Ascendancy:
How the United States Gained and
Wielded Global Dominance
by Michael H. Hunt
How did the U.S., which started as a relatively weak and insignificant country, become
the world’s most powerful nation? Hunt
examines this question in his book, which
traces the nation’s humble roots to its emergence as a world leader. Hunt, Everett H.
Emerson Professor of history at UNC, argues
that the accumulation of wealth, the development of national purpose and a pursuit of
international goals with deliberation and
patience — along with good timing and luck
— transformed the U.S., allowing it to
exceed the rest of the world in output, power
and pride, to go unmatched in military
power and to develop an international economy with appealing socio-economic values.
If That Ever Happens to Me:
Making Life and Death Decisions
after Terri Schiavo
by Lois Shepherd ’ 84
Making decisions for a terminally ill
individual is a position no family member
wants to face, yet thousands of people each
day confront end-of-life choices. Though
preparing for such decisions, such as by
creating detailed wills, might seem wise,
Shepherd argues that these documents
actually can weaken, rather than bolster,
patient choice. Through her study of the
medical, legal and media history of Terri
Schiavo’s case, Shepherd suggests new
ethics for end-of-life decision making that
consider more than the right to refuse
treatment and the right to life. The debate
about these rights, Shepherd suggests,
allows us to evade harder questions.
The People and Their Place:
Legal Culture and the
Transformation of Inequality
in the Post-Revolutionary South
by Laura F. Edwards ’ 87 (MA, ’ 91 PhD)
After the Revolutionary War, the U.S.
legal system favored maintaining peace to
protect the social order and its patriarchal
hierarchies. Edwards suggests that during
the time just after the war, ordinary people
were central to keeping peace, including
those with few rights — even slaves. But
by the 1830s this system changed as support grew for a legal system that excluded
some people who had not specifically been
granted individual rights. Edwards examines legal and political change and sheds
light on key issues in U.S. history, including
the persistence of inequality in the face of
expanding democracy.
Resilience: Reflections on the
Burdens and Gifts of Facing
Life’s Adversities
by Elizabeth Edwards ’ 71
Like many people she met while on the
campaign trail in 2004, Elizabeth Anania
Edwards ’ 71 has faced serious adversity in
her life: the loss of a son, a battle with breast
cancer and the public reaction to her husband’s infidelity while he was seeking the
presidency. In Resilience, Edwards draws on
her life experiences, as well as those of many
others who have dealt with adversity, to craft
a meditation on the gifts that can be found
during life’s biggest challenges. This is the
second book from Edwards, who also
earned her law degree from UNC in 1977,
about facing difficulty. Her 2006 book,
Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from
Friends and Strangers, became a best-seller.
The United States and the Cuban
Revolution: That Infernal Little
Cuban Republic
by Lars Schoultz ’ 73 (PhD)
In this comprehensive study of U.S. policy toward the Cuban Revolution,
Schoultz observes that even the most
patient U.S. officials have been tempted to
repeat what an exasperated President
Theodore Roosevelt told a friend in 1906:
“I am so angry with that infernal little
Cuban republic that I would like to wipe
its people off the face of the Earth.”
Schoultz, William Rand Kenan Jr. professor
of political science, argues that since the
Cuban Revolution in 1959 Cubans’ historical insistence on their right to self-determination has irritated U.S. administrations,
influenced domestic and foreign policy and
led to a freeze in diplomatic relations.
The Walter Davis Story: One Man
Who Made a Difference
by Ned Cline
In the preface of his biography of
Walter Davis, Cline wrote that Davis often
said his story was too unbelievable to print.
Cline traces Davis’ life from tales of schoolboy mischief to his trip to Midland, Texas,
where, with borrowed money and a used
pickup truck, he struck it rich in oil transport. Later, Davis, both gruff and generous,
became one of the largest benefactors of
UNC, where he was a trustee, and other
colleges. Davis paid all or part of tuition for
more than 1,000 students, and he helped
finance health service organizations that
have improved lives in more than 50 countries. The book, published by his widow,
also reveals that Davis had a secret, second
daughter by a previously secret wife.
