New reads from Duke authors include a take on what it takes to be successful in the job market today (hint: it’s a lot of luck), a history of racial identity among Latinos in the South and the science behind being a good neighbor.

Below is a roundup of some of the most recently published and soon-to-be-out titles.

Many of the books, including new editions of previous titles, can be found on the “Duke Authors” display shelves near the circulation desk in Perkins Library. Some are available as e-books for quick download. Most can also be purchased through the Gothic Bookshop.

[If you are a member of the Duke faculty or staff who will be publishing a book of interest to a general audience, send us a message at dukenews@duke.edu along with your publisher’s brief description.]

Jeremy S. Begbie: Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World (Baker Academic)

Begbie, the director of the Duke Initiatives in Theology and Arts, analyzes reductionism and its effects, showing how the arts can resist reductive impulses by opening us up to an unlimited abundance of meaning.

Taylor Black: Style: A Queer Cosmology  (NYU Press)

Moving through time in his book, Black, assistant professor of English, sketches American cosmologies of style as a mode of personal expression. With assistance from Quentin Crisp, it features iconic American artists such as Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery O’Connor, Nikki Giovanni and Bob Dylan.

Joseph Blocher and Darrell Miller: New Histories of Gun Rights and Regulation: Essays on the Place of Guns in American Law and Society” (Oxford University Press)

This compilation from two Duke law professors offers diverse perspectives on American gun rights and regulations, shedding new light on historical claims and suggesting answers to current legal controversies.

Luke Bretherton: A Primer in Christian Ethics: Christ and the Struggle to Live Well  (Cambridge University Press)

How does Christian belief and practice relate to living well amid the difficulties of everyday life and the catastrophes and injustices that afflict so many today? In this introduction to Christian ethics, Bretherton provides a new framework for addressing this question. He is Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology.

Ariel Dorfman: The Suicide Museum (Penguin Random House)

The New York Times Book Review calls this novel, about a billionaire Holocaust survivor who hires a writer to uncover the truth of Salvador Allende’s death, “an intricate examination of guilt and grief…evocative of Philip Roth.” Dorfman is Walter Hines Page Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Literature. See NPR story.

Susan Eastman: Oneself in Another: Participation and Personhood in Pauline Theology (Cascade Library of Pauline Studies)

Eastman’s essays range from exegetical and historical analysis to interdisciplinary explorations of issues in theology, global events and medical ethics. She is Associate Research Professor Emerita of New Testament.

Eric Elbogen, co-author: Violence and Mental Illness: Rethinking Risk Factors and Enhancing Public Safety (NYU Press)

Whenever the latest act of mass shooting occurs, mental illness is inevitably cited as a preeminent cause by members of the news media and political sphere alike. Duke psychiatry professor Elbogen and co-author Nico Verykoukis documents how mental illness is vastly overemphasized in popular discussion of mass violence, which in turn makes us all less safe. See School of Medicine story.

Peter Feaver: Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the U.S. Military (Oxford University Press)

Feaver, professor of political science and public policy, addresses questions about public confidence in the military and why it matters, and argues confidence is shaped by partisanship, social desirability bias and other factors. “I hope we can create a norm that says we need to treat the military as non-combatants in the culture wars,” Feaver told Duke Today.

Curtis Freeman: Pilgrim Journey: Instruction in the Mystery of the Gospel (Fortress Press)

Pilgrim Journey guides newly baptized Christians to discern the mysteries of the gospel, written as a series of letters by Interpreter, the teacher, to Pilgrim, the newly baptized Christian. Each letter is shaped by the prophetic imagination of the biblical illustrations of William Blake and the narrative spirituality of The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Freeman is research professor of theology and Baptist studies.

Roseen Giles: Monteverdi and the Marvelous (Cambridge University Press)

In a new study of composer Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567–1643) literary personality, Giles, an assistant professor of music, integrates musical and poetic analysis to create an approach to text-music relations that addresses scholars of both literature and music.

Stephanie Li: Ugly White People: Writing Whitness in Contemporary America (University of Minnesota Press)

Ugly White People explores representations of whiteness from 21st-century white American authors, revealing white recognition of the ugly forms whiteness can take. Li, a research professor of African & African American studies, contextualizes a series of literary novels — by Dave Eggers, Sarah Smarsh, J. D. Vance, Claire Messud, Ben Lerner and others — as influenced by changes in racial and political attitudes.

Emily Lund and Tyler Hansen: Napkin Theology: Small Drawings about Big Ideas (Cascade Books)

Lund of the Divinity School and Tyler Hansen of Alumni Engagement and Development provide an accessible introduction to Christian theology, illustrated with simple, memorable drawings that describe the classic concepts of Christian belief. The length of a CliffsNotes guide, the drawings explain terms like creatio ex nihilo and eschatology for the laymen.

Randy Maddox: The Works of John Wesley Volume 28: Letters IV (1766–1773) (Abingdon Press)

Maddox, William Kellon Quick Professor Emeritus of Theology and Methodist Studies, presents the fourth volume of Wesley’s letters, casting light on the growth of his movement. It includes more than 100 items not found in previous editions of Wesley’s letters.

Cecilia Marquez: Making the Latino South: A History of Racial Formation (UNC Press)

First in a series from UNC Press on Latinx histories, Marquez’s book examines the progression of racial identity among Latinos in the second half of the 20th century. She is Hunt Family Assistant Professor of History. See Trinity College story.

Noah Pickus, co-author: New Global Universities: Reinventing Education in the 21st-Century (Princeton University Press) December 2023

Pickus and co-author Bryan Penprase reimagine higher education around the world by chronicling lessons learned from the creation of eight new colleges and universities in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America. Pickus is associate provost at Duke and dean for academic strategy and learning innovation at Duke Kunshan University.

Luke Powery: Living the Questions of the Bible (Cascade)

We may think the Bible is about getting answers, but the Bible is also a question book, revealing how the life of faith is a quest with and for God. By exploring various passages in the Bible, Powery, professor of homiletics and dean of Duke Chapel, attempts to invite readers into an interrogative spirituality.

Luke Powery, co-author: Getting to God: Preaching Good News in a Trouble World (Cascade)

Powery and co-authors Joni S. Sancken and John Rottman tackle the old challenge of how preachers should name God in their world. They show a way forward by walking readers through a sermon-creation process for specific challenging circumstances with the aim of getting to God.

Emily Smith: The Science of the Good Samaritan (Harper Collins)

Smith mixes her expertise as an epidemiologist, her Christain faith and her personal experience with COVID to show in this book that everyone can be a better neighbor to those around them. She is assistant professor of emergency medicine, surgery and global health.

Jing-Sheng Jeannette Song, editor: Research Handbook on Inventory Management (Edward Elgar Publishing)

Despite more than five decades of progress, inventory management remains a challenge. With an expanse of inventory scholars from major research universities, this handbook explores areas such as mathematical modelling, as well as the unique challenges posed to multiple industries. Song is R. David Thomas Professor of Business Administration.

Janet Soskice: Naming God: Addressing the Divine in Philosophy, Theology and Scripture (Cambridge University Press)

The William K. Warren Foundation Research Professor of Catholic Theology, Soskice’s new book explores the importance of 16th-century philosopher Descartes’ efforts to move from naming to defining God via a series of metaphysical attributes. This made God a being among beings. Soskice argues that reclaiming divine naming is not only overdue but can also re-energize the relationship between philosophy and religious tradition.

Jessi Streib: The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay after College (University of Chicago) November 2023

A discovery that job market success after college is largely random, or dumb luck, forces a reappraisal of education, opportunity and the American dream. In The Accidental Equalizer, Streib, associate professor of sociology, provides a frank appraisal of how this “luckocracy” works and its implications for the future of higher education and the middle class.

Victoria Atkinson White: Holy Friendships: Nurturing Relationships that Sustain Pastors and Leaders  (Fortress Press)
Pastors and Christian institutional leaders serve better when they feel supported, yet many leaders sacrifice critical relationships, citing lack of time or competing priorities. This book by the managing director of grants at Leadership Education at the Divinity School explores how holy friendships can change institutions and systems, helping pastoral leaders cultivate beloved community.

Will Willimon: Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation (Abingdon Press)

It’s not within our own power to make a fresh start, writes Willimon, a former Duke Chapel dean and current professor of the practice of Christian ministry. He says if we’re to change our future, it must come as a gift, something not of our devising but through the help of a God who cares about us and is able to change anything. In this book, Willimon points to the God who brings heaven to earth and changes everything. Watch a short video.