Author Spotlight: Jeffery P. Bonner

Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos by Jeffrey P. Bonner

Written in a lively, accessible style, Sailing with Noah explores the role of zoos in today’s society and their future as institutions of education, conservation, and research. Along the way, Bonner relates a variety of true stories about animals and those who care for them (or abuse them), offering his perspective on heavily publicized incidents and describing less-well-known events with compassion and humor in turn. By bringing the stories of the animals’ lives before us, Bonner gives them a voice. He strongly believes that zoos must act for living things, and he argues that conservation is a shared responsibility of all mankind. This book helps us to understand why biodiversity is important and what it means to be a steward of life on earth.

Q: Why did you choose the name Sailing with Noah for this book?

In the last chapter I talk about how much I hate it when people refer to zoos as arks.  But the Biblical story of Noah always seemed important to me.  I’ve always viewed it as a parable that speaks to our obligation to care for all living things.  I think of the world as the ultimate ark – a small, fragile sphere that holds all of life as we know it.  In the end, we’re all Noahs of a sort.  All of us hold the ability to steward life on Earth in our hands.

Q: You cite a visit to an aquarium and the awe an electric eel inspired in you as the moment you were changed for good. Can you think of any other moments like this where things seemed to just “click” for you? 

I can think of a lot of times where things just clicked.  The first that pops to mind was when I took my first anthropology course.  I went to the first class and then came back to my dorm and began to read the text.  I don’t know how much of it I read in one sitting, but I flipped open the book to find out where the author worked (Columbia University) and decided on the spot that I would go to graduate school there.  Of course, there’s also the first date with my wife…

Q: What did you find to be the most challenging thing about writing this book? 

The real challenge writing this book turned out to be available time.  I really didn’t have any.  I wound up working on it pretty much every Sunday that I was in town.   The stories were the easy part.

Q: How do you feel about the current expansion plans for the St. Louis Zoo? 

I guess I’d have to say that I’ve never been busier in my life.  Part of that is due to the expansion plans, but you also have to consider that we’re still building projects that resulted from our current fund-raising effort, “The Living Promise Campaign.”  I don’t travel as much as I used to, but I still have two trips that I’m leading up to Churchill, Manitoba, to see polar bears this fall.  There seem to be so many things happening all at once.  But I love working on the expansion; the only problem is that I already have a full-time job.

Q: What would you like readers to take away from this book?    

I hope they’ll gain a better understanding of the role of modern zoos.  More important, I hope that this book will make people care more about living things. I want people to feel a sense of responsibility and understand that even the smallest of things, if we all do them, can have a huge impact on our environment.

Q: What are you currently working on? 

In terms of books, I’m writing fiction now.  The problem is more one of time than anything else, so I’m not making much progress.  Work pretty much has overtaken me and my work/life balance seems to be more than a little out of whack.  But I’m collecting some story ideas for a sequel.  Who knows?  Maybe another is coming (someday).

Author Spotlight: Stephen W. Hines

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist: Writings from the Ozarks edited by Stephen W. Hines

Before Laura Ingalls Wilder found fame with her Little House books, she made a name for herself with short nonfiction pieces in magazines and newspapers. Read today, these pieces offer insight into her development as a writer and depict farm life in the Ozarks—and also show us a different Laura Ingalls Wilder from the woman we have come to know.

Q: Laura Ingalls Wilder is the sort of writer who captures your heart. Her writing was tempered with wisdom and kindness. The Little House books are still read again and again by children all over the world; she’s inspired so many people. What will readers who remember her fondly from The Little House days learn about her from the newspaper columns you have collected in this book?

In Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist, Mrs. Widler's fans will encounter the adult Laura, and they will hear her as a slightly different voice. Here is a woman deeply involved in the day-to-day work of helping to run an Ozark farm, but she is also a woman interested in the world, politics, and the social issues of her day.

Q: Laura Ingalls Wilder may not have identified herself as a feminist, but she undoubtedly influenced countless people who would. Do her Missouri Ruralist columns offer any further insight into her views on equality?

Certainly, she believed in a kind of equality, but that equality probably did not extend as far as it would in some quarters today. I doubt that Mrs. Wilder would have entertained the idea of a house husband, yet she certainly wanted to vote and hated the idea that when improvement organizations were formed, they were often constructed so as to have a "woman's auxiliary," which did a lot of work for which it did not get credit. She didn't want to be an auxiliary anything. She enjoyed political discussion. She was well-read and made so by her daughter Rose.

Q: How did compiling these essays expand your view of Wilder as a pioneer and a writer?

The essays gave me a more complete "biography" of Laura. I learned about a whole part of her life with which I was unfamiliar. The children's stories were great, but Mrs. Wilder continued to have a fascinating life after she left the Dakota prairie. The mature woman was a joiner, an organizer, a doer, a force in her community. No wonder she writes so much about simply coping with being busy!

Q: Wilder is known to have had a strained relationship with her daughter. Does she write about her role as a mother?

There is a fair amount of material concerning her and Rose, but very little that is negative. They didn't wash their underwear in public in those days. Laura was proud of Rose's accomplishments as a writer. And Rose had a penchant for wanting to look after her mother. They spent a good deal of time trying to mother each other

Q: Laura Ingalls Wilder is renowned for having been a hard worker, and she also had a great sense of humor. What is something fun that readers can learn about her from this book?

She fed turtles that came to her back door and tied notes to the dog's collar to tell Almanzo when it was time for lunch. She liked to tell jokes on herself.

Q: What is next for you? Do you have any upcoming books or projects we can anticipate?

Well, my book on the Titanic, Titanic: One Newspaper, Seven Days, and the Truth That Shocked the World, is readily available at the Titanic museum in Branson and at other Titanic locations, and I am busily at work on another title called Treasures in Heaven.

Author Spotlight: Jerrianne Hayslett

Anatomy of a Trial: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from The People vs. O.J. Simpson by Jerrianne Hayslett

As the Los Angeles Superior Court’s media liaison, Jerrianne Hayslett had unprecedented access to the trial—and met with Judge Lance Ito daily—as she attempted, sometimes unsuccessfully, to mediate between the court and members of the media and to balance their interests. In Anatomy of a Trial, she takes readers behind the scenes to shed new light on people and proceedings and to show how the media and the trial participants changed the court-media landscape to the detriment of the public’s understanding of the judicial system.

Q: The Simpson trial remains a subject of national and international interest despite the fact that it occurred eighteen years ago.  What does Anatomy of a Trial contribute to the discussion we are still having about the Simpson trial?

With the case embodying murder, money, mystery, celebrity, sex, race, a sports legend, and grandstanding lawyers against a Hollywood backdrop, Simpson became the hallmark for using the court as an entertainment venue. Comparisons with and attempts to replicate the made-for-TV Simpson phenomenon in subsequent trials with similar elements was and continues to be inevitable.

Anatomy of a Trial, with its in-person, behind-the-scenes observations and analysis, shows how everyone associated with that case contributed to the soap opera that gripped the public for nearly a year. The book includes ways the judiciary and the media can get through high-profile situations without damage to their reputations or credibility.

Q: The public has not been particularly sympathetic to Lance Ito since the trial’s beginning. Do you think Ito’s public treatment was unwarranted?

The public persona of Judge Ito is based almost entirely on television images, interpretation of his actions and supposedly learned opinions.  Anatomy of a Trial examines Ito the man, the judge and the media analyst behind the black-robed TV portrait. My daily access to him and his understanding—and miscalculation— of the media provides a view that in many respects challenges the caricature captured in the box.

Q: How did Lance Ito’s personality and judicial style shape not only the events of the trial, but also the perception of those events?

Ito was selected as the Simpson-case judge specifically because of his quick grasp and knowledge of the law and his calm, deliberative courtroom demeanor. His judicial style is to give opposing sides wide latitude in presenting their cases, but within the dictates of the law and court rules. His style and manner is informed by his cultural heritage that stresses respect and courtesy and he expected the attorneys and media in the Simpson case to respond in kind. At the same time, he considered himself a public servant conducting the people’s business and believed they had a right to observe proceedings in his courtroom. When the Simpson case landed in his court he was an experienced high-profile-trial judge and veteran of intense media coverage. Although not oblivious to the gathering Simpson media storm, he believed it would subside once the initial phase of the trial was under way. He failed to recognize the tsunami it became until it inundated him and the court.

Q: The presence of the media in the Simpson trial affected the public’s perception of the proceedings in a profound way. What impact do you think this continues to have on high-profile trials?

The imprint of Simpson on the judiciary and, to a lesser extent, the media remains fresh and stinging. Many judges, to avoid being pilloried and second-guessed, saw the need to maintain control, not just of their courtrooms, but of how they are portrayed. They fear the unbridled and voracious media appetite they saw unleashed in the Simpson trial and keep their doors closed to camera coverage, if possible. That fear continues as court systems, state legislatures, and other countries cite the Simpson trial in banning cameras from their trial courts. As cases such as Terri Schiavo, Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart and Casey Anthony have shown, the media have done little to redeem or reform themselves.

Anatomy of a Trial argues that the public became the ultimate loser because of the Simpson-media excesses. The nonstop media punditry infused with industry and individual-career promotion has left most people with poor understanding between media access and media intrusion. The book also includes examples of some judges who defied the camera-ban trend, and discusses a medium that is making courtroom cameras more acceptable to some members of the judiciary.

Q: Do you have any upcoming projects or books readers can anticipate?

I keep current on key issues related to court-media and high-profile-case issues, which I blog about frequently on my “Anatomy of aTrial” blog. I contribute articles and essays to court and law-related publications and to general-interest media. I am also nearing completion of an historical fiction manuscript of a multiple lynching in the Midwest more than eighty years ago in which an African-American defendant has a far different court outcome than O.J. Simpson did in 1995.

Author Spotlight: Steven Watts

The MagicKingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life by Steven Watts

 

The Magic Kingdom sheds new light on the cultural icon of "Uncle Walt." Watts digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche-his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of Disneyland and Disney World, The Magic Kingdom offers a definitive view of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.

Q. How have Walt Disney’s contributions to American culture influenced you personally?

 

As a child in the 1950s and early 1960s, I grew up when Walt Disney was a pervasive influence in American life.  I watched his various television shows ranging from Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club and Davy Crockett to Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.  I’m sure those images embedded themselves in my mind, and later on when I began to think about Disney’s significant impact on modern American values they rose to the surface.

Q. Did you choose to write about Disney simply because of his huge influence on American culture or was there more to the decision?

I wrote about Disney not only because of his enormous impact on American life from the 1930s to the 1960s, but because of the controversy surrounding him.  Most serious evaluations of Disney by scholars and writers had been rather negative—some extremely so—and I thought they shortchanged his influence.  So I attempted to write a more dispassionate, balanced assessment that tried to figure out why he was so popular, rather than simply denouncing him for being childish, syrupy, and reactionary.

Q. We tend to see you drawn towards a diverse subject range in your writings, from Walt Disney to Hugh Hefner. What is it about these people that makes you want to write about them?

In my biographies on Disney, Henry Ford, Hugh Hefner, and most recently Dale Carnegie, I have treated people who have shaped mainstream, popular values and attitudes among Americans in the twentieth century.  Their impact was enormous and all of them, in my view, had received rather shallow examinations from previous writers.  I attempted to rectify that.  Moreover, they were all fascinating, complex personalities and that attracted my by biographical interest as well.  Finally, they were all Midwesterners, and as a dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterner I have always suspected that figures from the middle of the country have been shortchanged in favor of those from the coasts.  So the books reflect my pride of place.

Q. Since you wrote this book several years ago, much has changed in the world of Disney. How do you think Walt Disney would feel about the changes the company has seen?

I think Walt would be largely pleased.  The company since his death, of course, has had a number of ups and downs over the years, but mostly it has presented a great many creative movie productions and developed the theme parks to reach an ever expanding audience.  By and large, the company has balanced genuine creativity with vast popular appeal, which was Walt’s formula from the beginning.

Q. Did you find any unexpected information about Disney (the man, the company, or both) during your research?

The unexpected information came with regard to his personality, which was something I had known little about before, having mainly a series of images of the kindly “Uncle Walt” from television and publicity.  I quickly discovered that he was a very complicated individual with an array of facets to his personality: not only a kindly, avuncular figure but a demanding taskmaster, a hard-driving creative figure, a cranky “wounded bear,” and a larger-than-life studio head who could be equal parts domineering and inspirational to the great many artists and staffers who worked for him.

Q. What would you like readers to take away from this book?

I would like readers to come away with, first, a greater appreciation of how and why Walt Disney became such a popular figure in modern American life; how and why he reflected mainstream American values so brilliantly; and how and why his unique personality contributed to his great success as a major cultural figure.

Q. Are you currently working on any projects?

I have just finished a biography of Dale Carnegie, which will be appearing in early fall 2013, and am just embarking on a cultural biography of John F. Kennedy.

New E-Books from the University of Missouri Press

Over the past few months, we have made some of our best-selling books newly available in digital formats. All of these are great reads that would be perfect as travel companions.

Before Laura Ingalls Wilder found fame with her Little House books, she made a name for herself with short nonfiction pieces in magazines and newspapers. Read today, these pieces offer insight into her development as a writer and into her life as a farm wife in the Ozarks—and also show us a different Laura Ingalls Wilder from the woman we have come to know. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist distills the essence of her pioneer heritage and will delight fans of her later work as it brings to life a vanished era.

Steven Watts’s The Magic Kingdom sheds new light on the cultural icon of "Uncle Walt." Watts digs deeply into Disney's private life, investigating his roles as husband, father, and brother and providing fresh insight into his peculiar psyche--his genuine folksiness and warmth, his domineering treatment of colleagues and friends, his deepest prejudices and passions. Full of colorful sketches of daily life at the Disney Studio and tales about the creation of Disneyland and Disney World, The Magic Kingdom offers a definitive view of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.

As the Los Angeles Superior Court’s media liaison, Jerrianne Hayslett had unprecedented access to the O. J. Simpson trial—and met with Judge Lance Ito daily—as she attempted, sometimes unsuccessfully, to mediate between the court and members of the media and to balance their interests. In Anatomy of a Trial: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from "The People vs. O.J. Simpson," she takes readers behind the scenes to shed new light on people and proceedings and to show how the media and the trial participants changed the court-media landscape to the detriment of the public’s understanding of the judicial system.

In Women Escaping Violence, Elaine Lawless juxtaposes battered women's stories told in their own words with a feminist analysis of how these women use the power of narrative to transform their sense of self and regain a place within the larger society. Lawless shares the heart-wrenching experiences of women who have escaped violence by fleeing to shelters with little more than a few items hastily shoved into a plastic bag, and often with small children in tow. The book includes women's stories as they are told and retold within the shelter, in the presence of other battered women and of caregivers, analyzing the uses made of these narratives by those seeking to counsel battered women as well as by the women themselves.

A black man praised by white America, George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was an anomaly in his own time. George Washington Carver: In His Own Words, edited by Gary R. Kremer, offers a choice selection of Carver's writings that reveals the human side of the famous black scientist, as well as the forces that shaped his creative genius.

On January 2, 1932, near Springfield, Missouri, ten poorly armed law enforcement officers set out to arrest two local farm boys for auto theft. A few minutes later, six of the officers lay dead and three were wounded. The two killers, Jennings and Harry Young, were from a peaceful, tiny community named Brookline in central Greene County, Missouri. The "massacre" itself took place at the quiet orderly farm home of the Young family. In Young Brothers Massacre, Paul and Mary Barrett trace the personalities of those involved, describe the events of the fateful day, and examine the aftermath of the killings, detailing what was called "the greatest man hunt in the history of Texas," which culminated in the brothers' deaths in Houston

You can buy any of these e-books from Amazon, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Chegg, Ebrary, EBSCO, Google, Kobo, OverDrive, Sony, and the Press’s own web page, where you will also find many more e-books available.

More new e-books are featured on the Press’s Special Offers page for the month of June, along with a selection of our best-selling ebooks and a special coupon offer.

Do you have a favorite University of Missouri Press book you'd like to have available as an e-book? If so, let us know in the comments.