Bert Hubinger ’74, editor of the Journal of the War of 1812, examines the British impressment of American sailors leading up to the War of 1812 in his first historical novel of a planned trilogy, 1812: Rights of Passage (Capstan).

Deborah Michel ’83, a magazine editor and writer, offers a sophisticated comedy of manners about a young couple who are very happily married until suddenly they aren’t, in her debut novel, Prosper in Love (Berkley Trade).

Paul D. Parsons ’75, an orthopedic surgeon in Brentwood, Tennessee, weaves a story about wooden Zulu beads and their 1888 journey from South Africa to England in Baden-Powell’s Beads (Tate), the first book in a four-part series.

Valerie Steele ’78, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, examines the 100 most iconic dresses of the 20th century in The Impossible Collection of Fashion (Assouline).

Mike Lapham ’84, project director and cofounder of United for a Fair Economy’s Responsible Wealth project, asserts that public investments and support play a crucial role in success in The Self-Made Myth: And the Truth about How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed (Berrett-Koehler).

Elliot Olshansky ’04, a sportswriter for NCAA.com, follows the love life of 20-something New Yorker Rob Olson in his debut romantic comedy, Robert’s Rules of Karaoke (TheWrite Deal).

Tom Zoellner, Adv’14, who earned the 2010 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World, uses the 2011 shooting tragedy in Tucson as a jumping off point to expose the fault lines in Arizona’s political and socioeconomic landscape in A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America (Viking Adult).