Books by Mount Holyoke
Alumnae and Professors: O

Ultramodern: Samuel Marx: Architect, Designer, Art Collector By Liz O'Brien '83 Pointed Leaf Press. 2007. Liz O'Brien '83 is honoring a man whose accomplished work many have overlooked. Ultramodern celebrates this architect and furniture designer of the first half of the twentieth century, whose work has been called "quintessentially modern" but grounded in the Beaux-Arts tradition. With more than 200 photographs, O'Brien's book captures the creativity and unorthodox use of space of Marx's diverse designs. A leading force in discovering the work of mid-century designers, O'Brien also wrote Class Act: William Haines, Legendary Hollywood Decorator. Her decorative arts gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York specializes in furniture, jewelry, lighting, and textiles from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Sudden Thaw By Peggy O'Brien (Margaret J. O'Brien '67) Orchises Press. 2004. Though Sudden Thaw is O'Brien's first book of poetry, it is the work of an "already mature poet," says reviewer and MHC lecturer Mary Jo Salter. The poems span a range of themes, including memories of O'Brien's parents, the difficulties and dreads of artistic pursuits, artistic freedom, being a daughter, and motherhood. "Although she writes from her nerve-ends, O'Brien never takes her eye off the evolving shape of her poems," says poet Michael Longley. Salter further describes O'Brien's poetry as "wit and heartbreak in equal measure, felicity of imagery and sureness of tone ... Peggy O'Brien [is] a discovery to reread with deepening admiration." Peggy O'Brien teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the editor of Wake Forest Book of Irish Women's Poetry, 1967-2000 and the author of Writing Lough Derg: From William Carleton to Seamus Heaney

Quiet Storm: Voices of Young Black Poets Selected By Lydia Omolola Okutoro '98 Jump at the Sun (Hyperion). 1999. Anthology of poems representing the voices of young adults of various African ancestries and ranging in topic from black pride to spirtuality to honoring elders. Encourages readers from all cultures to explore the many threads of their ancestral roots. Poems by well-known poets introduce each themed section. Lydia Omolola Okutoro's writing has appeared in many publications, including Essencemagazine. She is working on her second book.

Singing with Angels: Liturgy, Music and Art in the Gradual of Gisela von Kersenbroeck By Judith H. Oliver '69 Brepols Publishers. 2007. Lowered expectations for women date back to medieval times. In this manuscript, Oliver examines the story of Gisela von Kersenbroeck, a nun in the convent of Rulle, Germany, whose artistic work in a gradual (a music book that contains all the chants sung at Mass) is rarely attributed to her because of its high quality. Oliver notes the way the gifted artist interwove words, images, and music with chant texts, and turned musical notes into artistic embellishments. Judith H. Oliver '69 is a professor of art history at Colgate University.

Thirsty Moves to a Foster Home By Kathleen A. Olmstead '57 Tassie. 2001. This special-interest children's book, geared toward children aged five through twelve in foster care, is a valuable tool for foster parents, social workers, and others involved in the foster-care system. It is the story of three children in foster care whose experiences parallel those of a kitten named Thirsty. Thirsty's questions about his situation are those that foster children often don't dare to ask. But by asking them, Thirsty learns, among other things, that he has not done anything wrong and that he is not different from other kittens. Kathleen A. Olmstead's social work career includes years of working with families and children in foster, residential, and outpatient care.

Keywords and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology Edited By Wendy M. Olson '91 and Brian K. Hall Harvard University Press. 2003. Keywords and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology provides a close look at one of the most exciting areas of contemporary biology and covers the basics of the field. The fundamental principle of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") is that evolution acts through inherited changes in the development of the organism. The book - the field's first comprehensive reference work - shows how embryonic development relates to life-history evolution, adaptation, and responses to and integration with environmental factors. Wendy M. Olson is an assistant professor of biology at the University of Northern Iowa. She is a former postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University.

The Poincare Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe By Donal O'Shea Walker & Company. 2007. In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute identified the Poincare Conjecture, which speaks to the possible shape of the universe, as one of the seven great and essential unsolved conundrums of the new millenium. MHC Professor of Mathematics Donal O'Shea has written a compelling, accessible account of this famous unsolved puzzle and the reclusive Russian mathematician, Grigory Perelman, who proved it. Through the lens of the conjecture, O'Shea brings to life the vibrant field of mathematics and the human drama connected with genius. Donal O'Shea is Elizabeth T. Kennan Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, dean of faculty, and vice president for academic affairs at Mount Holyoke. He is coauthor of Using Algebraic Geometry.