Virginia Brackett
Personal Information
Description
Virginia Brackett, Ph.D, serves at Park University (MO) as Professor of English and Director of the Park University Honors Academy (www.park.edu/honors). She received Outstanding Faculty Awards in 2006 and 2008. In 2010, she was named Park's Distinguished Humanities Professor, and in 2012, Park's Distinguished Faculty Scholar. She founded and directed the Park University Ethnic Voices Poetry Series, a Missouri Arts Council grant-funded program (www.park.edu/ethnicpoetry) from 2007 - 2014 and Poetry@Park ( and was recognized as a 2010 Distinguished alumni by Pittsburg State University where she received her MA degree. Additional funding awards include a National Endowment for the Arts "Art Works" grant. Brackett has published two e-books, a fantasy time-travel book "Girl Murders" and a children's book "Angela and the Gray Mare," available at Amazon.com. Her traditional print publications include her picture book, "What Is My Name?" (2012) and more than 120 articles and stories for adults and young adults. Her 15 books have received various citations. Her first book, "Elizabeth Cary: Writer of Conscience" (Morgan Reynolds) was included in the 1997 New York Library Catalog of Recommended Reading for Teens. "Restless Genius: The Story of Virginia Woolf "(Morgan Reynolds) was a recommended feminist book for youth by Amelia Bloomer Project, 2005 (Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table, ALA); a PSLA YA Top Forty Nonfiction 2004 Title, and was included in “Writers of Imagination” series, Tristate Series of Note, 2005. "A Home in the Heart: The Story of Sandra Cisneros" (Morgan Reynolds), was a Tristate Book of Note and included in the PSLA YA Top Forty Nonfiction 2004 Titles. "The Facts on File Companion to the British Novel: Beginnings through the 19th Century" is a recommended purchase for libraries by the publication "Choice". "The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry: 17th & 18th Centuries" was named a Booklist Editor's Choice, Reference Sources, 2008. Brackett also holds degrees in Business and Medical Technology. Her University website address is
Books
John Brown, abolitionist
Few historical figures are as intriguing as John Brown, the controversial Abolitionist who used armed tactics against slavery and single-handedly changed the course of American history. This brilliant biography of Brown (1800--1859) by the prize-winning critic and cultural biographer David S. Reynolds brings to life the Puritan warrior who gripped slavery by the throat and triggered the Civil War.When does principled resistance become anarchic brutality? How can a murderer be viewed as a heroic freedom fighter? The case of John Brown opens windows on these timely issues. Was Brown an insane criminal or a Christ-like martyr? A forerunner of Osama bin Laden or of Martin Luther King, Jr.? David Reynolds sorts through the tangled evidence and makes some surprising findings.Reynolds demonstrates that Brown's most violent acts--his slaughter of unarmed citizens in Kansas, his liberation of slaves in Missouri, and his dramatic raid, in October 1859, on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia--were inspired by the slave revolts, guerilla warfare, and revolutionary Christianity of the day. He shows us how Brown seized the nation's attention, creating sudden unity in the North, WHERE the Transcendentalists led the way in sanctifying Brown, and infuriating the South, where proslavery fire-eaters exploited the Harpers Ferry raid to whip up a secessionist frenzy. In fascinating detail, Reynolds recounts how Brown permeated politics and popular culture during the Civil War and beyond. He reveals the true depth of Brown's achievement: not only did Brown spark the war that ended slavery, but he planted the seeds of the civil rights movement by making a pioneering demand for complete social and political equality for America's ethnic minorities. A deeply researched and vividly written cultural biography--a revelation of John Brown and his meaning for America.From the Hardcover edition.
The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry, 17th and 18th-centuries (Companion to Literature)
"The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry, 17th and 18th Centuries is an encyclopedic guide to British poetry from 1600 to 1800. Intended for high school and college students, this new resource covers some of the finest and most popular poetry in the English language, with more than 400 entries ranging in length from 300 to more than 2,500 words. Additional helpful features include a glossary of poetic terms, bibliographies to help guide further research, and extensive cross-referencing."--Jacket.
Menachem Begin
Discusses the life and career of Menachem Begin, including his time as a freedom fighter, his political beliefs, and his time as Israel's prime minister.
Classic Love and Romance Literature
If you want to see how men and women have looked at love, and each other, over the centuries, just open this endlessly readable encyclopedia: an A-to-Z guide to the literature of love. From Romeo and Juliet to Rebecca, nearly 300 entries treat scores of the most memorable novels and plays, providing information on authors, works, characters, and themes. Coverage is fair and square: Men and women get equal time; both literary and popular fiction are treated with respect; and minority voices are clearly heard. Thoroughly illustrated, cross-referenced, and indexed, Classic Love and Romance Literature accomplishes what the best reference books always do: It sends you back to the originals.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Describes the life and career of the twentieth-century American author whose works include "The Great Gatsby" and "This Side of Paradise."