“These precise, plain-spoken poems are limned by a subtle music, not to mention a lyric grace that is never overplayed. For in a world as harsh as this one, a world delimited by war, beauty is as appalling as it is necessary. Hugh Martin’s great achievement is to remind us of this necessity, and to assert the power of poetry as witness and as solace.” —James Harms

For more than a decade, Marquette University has honored Frank L. Klement, a longtime member of its history department whose reputation as a historian was established with his “alternative view” of the Civil War, with the annual Frank L. Klement Lectures: Alternative Views of the Sectional Conflict. Lecturers are asked to examine an unexplored aspect of the Civil War or to reinterpret an important theme of the conflict, including, among others, the war’s effect on race and gender, historians’ interest in studying the experiences of representative individuals as well as communities, and the emerging field of memory studies.

Djelloul Marbrook started writing poems in Manhattan when he was fourteen. In his thirties he abandoned poetry after publishing a few poems in small journals, but he never stopped reading and studying poetry. Then at age sixty-seven, appalled by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the poet within awakened. Stuffing sky-blue notebooks in his pockets, Marbrook began walking around Manhattan determined to affirm his beloved home in the wake of the nihilistic attacks. Far from Algiers emerged from hundreds of poems he has composed in the years since.

In the last several decades, literary works from around the world have made their way onto the reading lists of American university and college courses in an increasingly wide variety of disciplines. This is a cause for rejoicing. Through works in translation, students in our mostly monolingual society are at last becoming acquainted with the multilingual and multicultural world in which they will live and work. Many instructors have expanded their reach to teach texts that originate from across the globe. Unfortunately, literature in English translation is frequently taught as if it had been written in English, and students are not made familiar with the cultural, linguistic, and literary context in which that literature was produced. As a result, they submit what they read to their own cultural expectations; they do not read in translation and do not reap the benefits of intercultural communication.

The essays featured in Wider than the Sky range from fresh scholarly analyses to highly personal essays and meditations, each offering thoughts on the emotional, spiritual, and physical healing power gained from reading Dickinson. MacKenzie and Dana invite readers to reflect on how we respond to poems, how they enter into the core of our consciousness, and how we draw strength from what Dickinson called “the Art of Peace.” Wider than the Sky, a resource for Dickinson fans as well as anyone coping with pain, is an important addition to the Literature and Medicine Series.

Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman served as Gen. George Gordon Meade’s aide-de-camp from September 1863 until the end of the Civil War. Lyman was a Harvard-trained natural scientist who was exceptionally disciplined in recording the events, the players, and his surroundings during his wartime duty. His private notebooks document his keen observations. Published here for the first time, Meade’s Army: The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman contains anecdotes, concise vignettes of officers, and lively descriptions of military campaigns as witnessed by this key figure in the Northern war effort.

In addition to its comprehensive and intimate examination of the team’s history, The Philadelphia Phillies addresses the challenge of rooting for an often-struggling home team in a city known for its passionate baseball fans. Lieb’s devotion to his hometown Phillies and overall love of the game and Baumgartner’s unique insight as a Philadelphia sportswriter and former player often lead to thoughtful advice and comfort for long-suffering Phillies fans. A trip through a rocky but remarkable past, The Philadelphia Phillies is another enjoyable addition to the Writing Sports Series.

Fred Lieb’s team history of the Detroit Tigers was originally published in1946 as part of the celebrated series of major league team histories published by G. P. Putnam. With their colorful prose and delightful narratives, the Putnam books have been described as the Cadillac of team histories and have become prized collectibles for baseball readers and historians.

“The publication of The Secret Turning of the Earth announces the arrival of an American poet who moves through space and time—the Venice of 1740, Paris in 1900 , 1948 Boston, present day Columbus—exercising a singular vision. These strong, ambitious poems are mapped out by means of what Anthony Libby calls ‘the geometries of seeing’; they pay that fierce and unwavering attention we expect only from the boldest, most perceptive travelers.”—David Citino

First published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1949, Franklin “Whitey” Lewis’s The Cleveland Indians begins with the organization’s early years as the Cleveland Forest Citys, covers the 1920 World Series victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers, and concludes with the excitement of the 1948 pennant race.