Indiana University Press blog

Staff pick: A Guide to Caves and Karst of Indiana by Samuel S. Frushour

Reviewed by production assistant, Laura Hohman

Those familiar with the geology and landscape of southern Indiana may know what karst topography is. Caves, sinkholes, springs, and disappearing streams and rivers all make the landscape both spectacular and fascinating. Utilizing these karst features and ecosystems is an amazing variety of unique (and often rare or endangered) wildlife. Humans are only occasional visitors to these underground worlds, but having once visited these subterranean landscapes, they may crave more extensive knowledge of how they are formed and what lies within.

A Guide to Caves and Karst of Indiana by Samuel S. Frushour gives the reader an excellent overview in a convenient to carry field guide sized book. Contained within its pages is a general overview of all things related to Indiana karst—cave formation, features, fauna, information on tourist and wild caves, and safe/ethical caving practices. It is everything the beginning cave enthusiast wants or needs to know about our local caves. The color photos, detailed cave maps, and the durable book design are merely a bonus to the information provided.

Sam Frushour, the retired Head of the Field Services Section of the Indiana Geological Survey is what the caving community refers to as a "big name caver." I’ve known Sam for years (and I’ve gone caving with him more than once), so I can assure you of the reliability of his knowledge base. His expertise with respect to caves is extensive, and he’s exactly the person you would go to with questions about caves—geology, biology, history, conservation, cave rescue, etc.

Staff pick: What This River Keeps by Greg Schwipps

Reviewed by journals marketing manager, Linda Bannister

“He was ready to help catch the remaining fireflies. Ready to cram all the lightning bugs into the old jar, all of them, all the light that container of glass could possibly hold.”—What the River Keeps, pg. 266. 
 
What This River Keeps is focused on southeastern Indiana, a place where roots go back for generations, a place about land and gritty ordinary people and their yearnings to make the most of a hard earned living, loss, and love. At the center of the narrative is an elderly couple, Frank and Ethel and their adult son Ollie, who are about to lose, to eminent domain, a farm that has been theirs for nearly a century as the river in the title is flooded to make way for a reservoir—and “progress.”
 
What made this book a gripping read for me is the way the story is revealed in the details. Indiana stones, trees, and wildlife and farm animals are poetically described and intertwined with the unfolding story of heartbreaking circumstances. A drive on a country road on a summer night, brash and crusty young men prowling the fairgrounds for girls, trimming green beans for canning, and junked old cars all are images that reveal the universal pain and hope in ordinary lives.
 
Camping out on a cold sand bar, preparing bait, casting lines, deploying seasoned equipment, launching an old fishing boat, the movement of the river, the deep, dark pools where catfish lurk: all are described with reverence in a way that elevates the ordinary to the important and the treasured.
 
The characters are exposed with both rawness and affection. They are flawed and broken, haunted by regret and guilt, hungry for connection, and yearn for the past. There are no easy answers for the issues and sorrows that the characters face. The author is fair in his representation of the complexity of the conflicting values we are caught in when land and community clash and tragic loss results. But he makes me believe there is beauty that transcends loss and gives hope.
 
This book reminded me of the unique value of my Indiana home, both in its natural beauty and the beauty of family and community. Although I plan to give it as a gift to several Hoosiers I know, the experience it reflects goes well beyond Indiana.

Staff recommendations for 50% off spring book sale

Today is the first day of spring, and we're celebrating with a 50% off book sale! It can be a daunting task to make a selection from our 2,000+ titles, so we surveyed our staff to see which books they recommend to jump-start your spring reading. We hope you find something you like from the list below, which includes a wide range of interests from American History to Women's Studies! Check out the IU Press website for a complete list of books. Our sale ends March 22, so don't delay purchasing your favorite titles at half off!

American History

• Defeating Lee
  Dave Hulsey, Director of Sales and Marketing
• The Darkest Dawn
  Rich Pierce, Systems Analyst/Programmer
• Somebody’s Darling
  Bernie Zoss, Production Director
• Dillinger: The Untold Story
  Rhonda Vander Dussen, Sales and Marketing Assistant
• A Life is More Than a Moment
  Mary Lou Shelly, Senior Customer Service Representative

Anthropology

• Connected in Cairo
  Angela Burton, Managing Editor
• The Art of Loving Krishna
  Marvin Keenan, Project Manager

Art & Photography

• Contemporary Quilt Art
  Linda Bannister, Journals Marketing Manager
• Saving the Big Cats
  Kate Matthen, Marketing and Sales Coordinator
• Real Stories of Big Cat Rescues
  Mary Beth Haas, Sales Manager

Education

• Searching for Hope
  Mandy Clarke, Trade Marketing and Publicity Manager
• Conversations with Great Teachers
  Rebecca Tolen, Sponsoring Editor

Film & Media

• The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies
  Dan Pyle, Production Coordinator and Vendor Liaison
• The Magazine Article
  Joy Andreakis, Electronic and Serials Publishing Manager

Literature & Essays

• Earth Works
  Laura Baich, Electronic Marketing Manager
• Rural Free
  Jennifer Witzke, Marketing Designer
• Petersburg
  Peter Froehlich, Rights Manager

Books from the Global African Voices series:

• Little Mother
  Dee Mortensen, Senior Sponsoring Editor
• Life and a Half
  June Silay, Project Manager
• Murambi, The Book of Bones
  Jennifer Coyle, Customer Service Representative

Book from the Break Away Books series:

• The Glimpse Traveler
  Sarah Jacobi, Assistant Sponsoring Editor

Book from the Library of Indiana Classics series:

• A Girl of the Limberlost
  Kathy Stout, Accounting Associate

Music

• Debussy Redux
  Raina Polivka, Sponsoring Editor
• Beethoven in America
  Pam Rude, Senior Book Designer

Nature

• Wildflowers and Ferns of Indiana Forests
  Linda Oblack, Sponsoring Editor
• 101 Trees of Indiana
  Nancy Lightfoot, Project Manager
• Fishes of Indiana
  Steve Carter, Warehouse Manager
• Mammals of Indiana
  Laura Hohman, Production Assistant
• Perennials Short and Tall
  Dan Nichols, Operations Director
• The Natural Heritage of Indiana
  Tony Brewer, Composition Coordinator

Politics

• Richard G. Lugar, Statesman of the Senate
  Janet Rabinowitch, Director

Railroads

• Moonlight in Duneland
  Mary Blizzard, Book Designer
• The Indiana Rail Road Company
  Jamison Cockerham, Book Designer

Science

• Dinosaurs of Eastern Iberia
  Bob Sloan, Editorial Director
• Why You Can Never Get to the End of the Rainbow And Other Moments of Science
  Ted Boardman, Technology Director

Women’s Studies

• A Home of Her Own
  Judith Caldwell, Journals Production Manager
• To Write Like a Woman
  Darja Malcolm-Clarke, Project Manager

World History

• Last Folio
  Mollie Ables, Marketing Services Coordinator
• The Style of Paris
  Theresa Halter, Publicity Coordinator

Staff pick: Earth Works by Scott Russell Sanders

Reviewed by electronic marketing manager, Laura Baich

Have you ever connected with an author's writing so much that you wished you could become friends in real life? That's the way I feel about Scott Russell Sanders. Earth Works, his latest collection of essays, is the third book I've read by him, and I'm sure it will not be the last.

The book begins with an essay on essays. Sanders calls this kind of writing "a brash and foolhardy form...which relies on the tricks of anecdote, conjecture, memory, and wit to enthrall us." And enthrall us is exactly what Sanders does as a master craftsman of the essay.

Sanders covers a variety of topics In the book's 30 essays, including his Midwestern background, his father's drinking, his opposition to war, the ideology of consumerism, and our connection to each other and the Earth. But the common thread woven throughout all the essays is Sanders' contemplation of life—not only his, but all life on the Earth—and what it means to be part of the world. 

And this is why I keep returning to Sanders. Because, as he writes in the preface, the sources of many of his essays are questions that "must occur to every inquisitive soul." He eloquently examines thoughts I've had about living a good life, our role in the universe, and our connection to anything eternal. Sanders says that the answers he "come[s] up with are always partial and tentative, subject to rethinking in light of new knowledge or further reflection." But for me, the pleasure in reading the essays comes not so much from discovering his answer to a perennial question of life, but more from learning about the journey he took to get there.

So why else should you read Scott Russell Sanders? The members of the "What Would Scott Russell Sanders Do?" Facebook group sum it up best:

"If ever in need of life guidance, consider: WWSRSD? The man, the myth, the legend... Scott Sanders dispenses wisdom like it's his job—OH WAIT, IT IS."

Staff pick: Searching for Hope by Matthew Tully

Today we are excited to launch a new monthly staff pick feature on our blog! This month's selection is Searching for Hope, reviewed by trade marketing and publicity manager, Mandy Clarke.

Going to high school in an upper-middle class area of Northwest Indiana, extracurricular activities were abundant, the words football and high school were synonymous, and the graduation rate hovered around 95%. My teenage thoughts revolved mainly around my friends, whichever boy I liked, ways to trick my parents into borrowing one of their cars, and gymnastics. You know—the important stuff. I edited the school newspaper and wrote about things like homecoming, prom, and SATs. College was a given.

At Manual High School in Indianapolis where there is no football at all, teenage drama is very real with guns being fired, multiple in-school arrests, its very own police staff, and a graduation rate of 39%. Complete with students who think that’s normal.

In Searching for Hope, Indianapolis Star columnist Matthew Tully describes the time he spent at a low-income Indianapolis Public School as an investigative reporter who stirred an entire city with his weekly front page columns during the 2009-10 school year. The book is not a collection of the columns, but the story of Tully’s personal experience as he enters the lives of these high schoolers, administrators, teachers, counselors, and law enforcement officers.

An identity-less student. An assembly-line mentality. A soon-to-be nationally renowned choir. Thousands of Star readers moved to donate almost $100,000. Administrators hunting down kids just to get state funding—not to educate them. These are just a few of the stories of desperation, inspiration, and hopelessness in this book.

Easy to read, yet not so easy to digest, Searching for Hope reads like fiction—but sadly is not. Highly recommended for general readers, book clubs, and those interested in education and educational policy alike, Searching for Hope will evoke a strong reaction from its readers.