Faculty Authors
Liza Donelly has been a cartoonist for over twenty years and teaches American Culture at Vassar College. A contract cartoonist with The New Yorker, her work has also appeared in The New York Times, National Lampoon, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. Ms. Donnelly edited the recently published book, Sex and Sensibility (Harchette, 2008), a collection of 200 brilliant cartoons that forge new ground in the “battle of the sexes.” Her previous book, Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons (Prometheus Books, 2006), is a cultural history of women cartoonists and The New Yorker. Well-reviewed, it is widely considered indispensable by historians of the magazine and cartoon fans.
Rebecca Edwards teaches seminars on the history of the U.S. South and West at Vassar College, in addition to courses on the history of women and the causes and consequences of the Civil War. Her most recent publication, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, 1865-1905 (Oxford University Press, 2006), provides a fascinating look at one of the most crucial chapters in U.S. History. Rejecting the stereotype of a “Gilded Age” dominated by “robber barons,” Ms. Edwards invites us to look more closely at the period when the United States became a modern industrial nation and asserted its place as a leader on the world stage. Angels in the Machinery (Oxford University Press, 1997), offers a sweeping analysis of the centrality of gender politics in the U.S. from the days of the Whigs to the early twentieth century. At present, she is working on a biography of orator Mary Lease, daughter of Irish immigrants who, after disastrous years of farming in Kansas, became one of the foremost leaders of the Populist Party.
Nancy Willard has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in both poetry and fiction. Her book, A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers (Harcourt, 1981), was awarded the Newbery Medal. She is the author of several children’s books and eleven books of poetry, including In the Salt Marsh (Knopf, 2004). Her latest work, The Left-Handed Story (University of Michigan, 2008), is a collection of enlightening and entertaining essays and personal narratives on topics such as the craft of fiction, children’s literature, fairy tales, art, and a chapter on teaching at Vassar. Ms. Willard is a lecturer at Vassar in the English Department.
Mark Schuller has edited several books on anthropology and urban studies and teaches anthropology at Vassar College. In his latest work, Capitalizing on Catastrophe: Neoliberal Strategies in Disaster Relief (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), an international group of scholars and professionals critically examine how local communities around the world have prepared for and responded to recent cataclysms. The book’s principle focus is the increasing trend of reliance on the private sector to deal with natural disasters and other forms of large-scale devastation, from hurricanes and tsunamis to civil wars and industrial accidents. Homing Devices (Roman & Littlefield, 2006), is a collection of ethnographies that address the central problem affecting not only the United States, but also other developed and developing nations around the globe—affordable housing. These ethnographies cut across national and cultural borders, offering a diverse look at housing policies and practices as well as addressing the problems associated with providing or obtaining affordable housing.
Rebecca Edwards teaches seminars on the history of the U.S. South and West at Vassar College, in addition to courses on the history of women and the causes and consequences of the Civil War. Her most recent publication, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, 1865-1905 (Oxford University Press, 2006), provides a fascinating look at one of the most crucial chapters in U.S. History. Rejecting the stereotype of a “Gilded Age” dominated by “robber barons,” Ms. Edwards invites us to look more closely at the period when the United States became a modern industrial nation and asserted its place as a leader on the world stage. Angels in the Machinery (Oxford University Press, 1997), offers a sweeping analysis of the centrality of gender politics in the U.S. from the days of the Whigs to the early twentieth century. At present, she is working on a biography of orator Mary Lease, daughter of Irish immigrants who, after disastrous years of farming in Kansas, became one of the foremost leaders of the Populist Party.
Nancy Willard has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in both poetry and fiction. Her book, A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers (Harcourt, 1981), was awarded the Newbery Medal. She is the author of several children’s books and eleven books of poetry, including In the Salt Marsh (Knopf, 2004). Her latest work, The Left-Handed Story (University of Michigan, 2008), is a collection of enlightening and entertaining essays and personal narratives on topics such as the craft of fiction, children’s literature, fairy tales, art, and a chapter on teaching at Vassar. Ms. Willard is a lecturer at Vassar in the English Department.
Mark Schuller has edited several books on anthropology and urban studies and teaches anthropology at Vassar College. In his latest work, Capitalizing on Catastrophe: Neoliberal Strategies in Disaster Relief (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), an international group of scholars and professionals critically examine how local communities around the world have prepared for and responded to recent cataclysms. The book’s principle focus is the increasing trend of reliance on the private sector to deal with natural disasters and other forms of large-scale devastation, from hurricanes and tsunamis to civil wars and industrial accidents. Homing Devices (Roman & Littlefield, 2006), is a collection of ethnographies that address the central problem affecting not only the United States, but also other developed and developing nations around the globe—affordable housing. These ethnographies cut across national and cultural borders, offering a diverse look at housing policies and practices as well as addressing the problems associated with providing or obtaining affordable housing.