Jamie Spencer (Washington University in St. Louis, PhD, ’72) is retired English professor for St. Louis Community College. In addition to his articles for The Common Reader, he is a regular reviewer for the Missouri Historical Society’s Gateway magazine. He is author of a study of religious themes in literature, Fictional Religion, and also the novel Modified Raptures (2016, Sentia Publishing).
Hillbilly Elegyis a frank, autobiographical account from an actual, living representative. What makes it all the more credible is that its intimate portrait of the hillbilly world was being written well in advance of the Trump phenomenon.
You may think you know the story behind Auguste Bartholdi's creation of the Statue of Liberty, but you don't know the whole story until you read Elizabeth Mitchell's Liberty's Torch.
Imperial Japan and the history of psychiatry through an American doctor merge and meld in A Curious Madness.
Crimes against humanity get their own diagnosis in Jack El-Hai's The Nazi and The Psychiatrist, a unique tour through both WWII and the history of mental health.