CONWAY, Ark. (Aug. 9, 2005) -“ Hendrix College Professor Alex Vernon, an award-winning writer, is the editor of the newly published book, Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Writing.
The book, published by Kent State University Press, is a collection of scholarly essays that interpret various kinds of military memoirs. Contributing authors include Lynn Z. Bloom, Pat C. Hoy II, Margaretta Jolly, Robert Lawson-Peebles and Robert Shenk.
The critical scholarly essays extend from Xenophon's Anabassis to Anthony Swofford's Jarhead, Anthony Swofford's Jarhead.
Vernon, assistant professor of English at Hendrix, edited the thought-provoking book that includes an introduction and an extensive bibliography.
"War and the military have inspired more first-person written accounts than probably any other experience," Vernon said. "The analytical essays in this book hope to contribute to our understanding of these narratives. Unfortunately, many more such stories are on their way."
Arms and the Self is available at major online bookstores and at www.kentstateuniversitypress.com.
Vernon, primary author of The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War published by Kent State in 1999, received the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award for his work. He has also written Soldiers Once and Still: Ernest Hemingway, James Salter and Tim O'Brien, a book published by the University of Iowa Press that explores how veterans' literature confronts issues of self and community.
A 1989 graduate of West Point who served in the first Gulf War, Vernon has master's and doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina. A member of the Hendrix faculty since 2001, he teaches a variety of 20th century American literature courses and writing courses.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college that emphasizes experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college, the recipient of the 2005 Arthur Vining Davis Foundations' Award for Excellence, has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. In April 2005, Hendrix was selected by the Princeton Review as the nation's #4 "best value" college in its "Top 10 Best Value Colleges" ranking list. For more information about Hendrix, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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Contact: Judy Williams, 501/450-1462, williamsj@hendrix.edu