Richard H. Allen '68 and Lucille V. Allen '69 have written Essex and Essex Junction (Images of America: Vermont) (Arcadia Publishing, 2004). According to the publishers, readers will learn that early settlers tapped the waterpower at Hubbel's Falls and tilled the fertile land of Essex town in western Vermont. The advent of the railroad brought prosperity in the mid-1800s and a name change for the village of Essex Junction. Fort Ethan Allen further boosted the area's prominence and increased activity in the town. When IBM came to Essex, the area experienced the rapid growth and resulting challenges similar to that felt throughout much of Vermont. Today the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction are vibrant communities with fascinating histories.

The Allens, 32-year residents of Essex, are active members of the Essex Community Historical Society and co-editors of the society's newsletter. Richard has authored and co-authored several other books on state and local history.

Diana Abu-Jaber PhD '86 has published The Language of Baklava: A Memoir (Pantheon, 2005). According to the Publishers, “Diana Abu-Jaber weaves the story of her life in upstate New York and in Jordan around vividly remembered meals: everything from Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts with her Arab-American cousins to goat stew feasts under a Bedouin tent in the desert. These sensuously evoked meals in turn illuminate the two cultures of Diana's childhood–American and Jordanian–and the richness and difficulty of straddling both. They also bring her wonderfully eccentric family to life, most memorably her imperious American grandmother and her impractical, hotheaded, displaced immigrant father, who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children.”

Abu-Jaber is the author of Crescent, which was awarded the 2004 PEN Center USA Award for Literary Fiction and the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award and was named one of the twenty best novels of 2003 by The Christian Science Monitor, and Arabian Jazz, which won the 1994 Oregon Book Award and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. She teaches at Portland State University and divides her time between Portland and Miami.

Rachel Rashkin '00 has published Feeling Better: A Kid's Book About Therapy (Magination Press, 2005). According to the publishers, the author uses a journal format, in which 12-year-old Maya chronicles her emotional ups and downs and describes the process of psychotherapy. She begins by describing a change in her feelings and functioning: a lack of interest in things she used to love, difficulties in school, and problems getting along with her friends and family--none of the problems extreme but serious enough to merit attention and intervention. The problems are portrayed as quite general, in order to reach the widest possible audience. The focus is not about resolving Maya's particular problems but about informing the reader about the process of psychotherapy and its potential usefulness.

Rashkin has an MS in Child Development from The Erikson Institute. She has created a website for children and parents about psychotherapy called: www.helpingkidsheal.com, and has second book being published (Eggshells Press) called: 'An Umbrella for Alex', which deals with how children cope in difficult family situations.Rashkin has a MS in Child Development from The Erikson Institute. She has created a website for children and parents about psychotherapy called: www.helpingkidsheal.com, and has second book being published (Eggshells Press) called: 'An Umbrella for Alex', which deals with how children cope in difficult family situations.

David Schultz '80 has published the Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America (M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2005), which examines the history and hotly contested debates surrounding the concept and practice of civil liberties. It provides detailed history of court cases, events, Constitutional amendments and rights, personalities, and themes that have had an impact on our freedoms in America. The Encyclopedia appraises the state of civil liberties in America today, and examines growing concerns over the limiting of personal freedoms for the common good.

Schultz is a professor in Hamline's Graduate School of Management, as well as a professor in the School of Law and the department of criminal justice and forensic science.