Hello, ’87 friends.

Jonathan Silverman, chair of the English department at UMass Lowell, shared some news that is very on point in light of this month’s “books” theme.

Jonathan is the editor of Astros and Asterisks: Houston’s Sign-Stealing Scandal Explained, which was published by University of Texas Press in 2023.

In addition, Jonathan’s 2020 book Johnny Cash International: How and Why Fans Love the Man in Black, co-written with Irish scholar Michael Hinds, has won the Irish Association for American Studies (IAAS) Peggy O’Brien Book Prize. Presenting the prize, chair of the IAAS Catherine Gander said, “Johnny Cash International by Michael Hinds and Jonathan Silverman is a book about a thoroughly American topic—one that nonetheless traverses all imaginable borders. Blending documentary, ethnography, fieldwork, and rigorous research, it’s an in-depth examination of fandom, of international and translocal community, of creativity and hardship, of how music culture can challenge and transcend the divisions we create of class, race, politics, geography.”

In other book news, Keith Boykin recently appeared on ABC’s The View to discuss his new book, Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? As of this writing Keith is in the midst of several book signing events in England as part of his international book tour.

I would love to hear what you are up to. If you don’t want to write about yourself, send news about your classmates!

—Lisa Snyder, 430 Ward St., Newton, MA, 02459; dartmouth87classnews@gmail.com