A Long Way from Rough Creek

Ruth Parsons (MSW ’71, PhD ’85), professor emerita in the Graduate School of Social Work

Ruth Parsons grew up on a small farm in the Appalachian Mountains along Rough Creek. Her world was defined by material poverty and rich ties to family and the land. While recognizing the ways she was shaped by the land, the people and the language of that place, she had her eyes set on exploring what was beyond those hills.

For Parsons, education was the way out. In her new memoir, “A Long Way from Rough Creek,” Parsons reflects on her years as a student at DU during Woodstock West, teaching from 1978 to 2000 and sailing in the Caribbean for 20 winters, among other adventures. Throughout, she found the joy of living without fear, exploring the unknown, taking risks and being open to what’s present and what’s to come.

Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Building a Lasting Love

Howard Markman, Galena Rhoades and Scott Stanley, professors in the Department of Psychology

“Fighting for Your Marriage” is based on the widely acclaimed PREP approach (Prevention and Relationship Education Program). In their newest book, the authors break down how to avoid divorce using the basics of happy, communicative relationships. Research has found that couples who use these strategies can handle conflict more constructively, protect their happiness and reduce the odds of breaking up.

“This [book] is the best wedding present,” says Rhoades. “Everybody should learn these skills and develop those ground rules for how they want things to go in their marriage, and it will, as we know from research, lead to better experiences together.”

The Applicant

Nazli Koca (PhD ’24)

“The Applicant” is the 2024 Colorado Book Award winning novel by Nazli Koca that explores what it means to be an immigrant, woman and emerging writer. Leyla is a Turkish twenty-something living in Berlin who failed her thesis, lost her student visa and sued her German university in an attempt to reverse her failure. What used to be at arm’s reach— writerly ambitions, tight-knit friendships, a place to call home—is now imperiled. While she waits for the German court’s verdict on her future, Leyla begins to parse her unresolved past and untenable present in the pages of her diary. She gives voice to the working class and immigrant struggle to find safety, self expression and happiness.

The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy

Suisheng Zhao, professor and director of the Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies

In “The Dragon Roars Back,” named one of the best books of 2024 by Foreign Affairs magazine, Suisheng Zhao presents a robust and empirically rich rebuttal of the theory that China’s foreign policy is the natural result of the global balance of power. Instead, he argues, its position emerges from the idiosyncratic visions of transformational leaders—Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping—who have charted unique courses of Chinese foreign policy in the quest for security, prosperity and power. Zhao examines how these leaders reshaped the broader political and institutional environment to advance their foreign policy agendas in the path of China’s ascendance.

Beat the Drum for Justice

Christopher Cross (JD ’79)

In this historical novel, Christopher Cross delves deep into America’s troubled racial history by tracing the fictional life of Gabriel Adams from the 1850s to the early 1900s. Gabriel journeys alongside key figures like John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass through pivotal events such as the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction. Cross paints a portrait of the deep-seated racial prejudice and national shame that stem from slavery, the setbacks of Reconstruction and the Supreme Court’s failure to protect civil rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments leading to the era of Jim Crow and segregation.

Landsberg

Barbara Sutton King (BA '66)

“Landsberg” is set in a small German city by the same name in picturesque Bavaria that is struggling to recover from a devastating war. It’s 1952, and Beth Warren, an unconventional military wife, lands in the middle of this former “Hitler town” and begins to ask questions about the town’s recent past. Not to be distracted by cobblestones and medieval charm, Beth begins to peel back the facade of this fairy-tale town. In the process, she uncovers some unsavory truths about the town, the war, the U.S. military and even her own marriage.