McGraw-Page Library News & Updates

Thinking about studying abroad?  The McGraw-Page Library has a display of books to help navigate the adventure of college outside of the United States.  Here are a few of our top picks:

Prepare for Departure
by Shelley Story

Being prepared to go abroad isn’t achieved by packing the right things in your bags. Real preparation is built with plans, process, and practice. This book will walk you through all three, and give you a strong foundation that sets you up for your best possible study abroad experience.

LB2376 .S86 2016
Catalog Link – Prepare for Departure

Global Dexterity
by Andy Molinsky

What does it mean to be a global worker and a true “citizen of the world” today? It goes beyond merely acknowledging cultural differences. In reality, it means you are able to adapt your behavior to conform to new cultural contexts without losing your authentic self in the process. Not only is this difficult, it’s a frightening prospect for most people and something completely outside their comfort zone. But managing and communicating with people from other cultures is an essential skill today. Most of us collaborate with teams across borders and cultures on a regular basis, whether we spend our time in the office or out on the road. What’s needed now is a critical new skill, something author Andy Molinsky calls “global dexterity.” In this book Molinsky offers the tools needed to simultaneously adapt behavior to new cultural contexts while staying authentic and grounded in your own natural style. Based on more than a decade of research, teaching, and consulting with managers and executives around the world, this book reveals an approach to adapting while feeling comfortable–an essential skill that enables you to switch behaviors and overcome the emotional and psychological challenges of doing so. From identifying and overcoming challenges to integrating what you learn into your everyday environment, Molinsky provides a guidebook–and mentoring–to raise your confidence and your profile. Practical, engaging, and refreshing, “Global dexterity” will help you reach across cultures–and succeed in today’s global business environment.
HD62.4 .M64 2013
Catalog Link – Global Dexterity

Preparing to Study Abroad: Learning to Cross Cultures
by Steven Taylor Duke

This book is designed to help you prepare for your study abroad experience so you can get the most from it, and gain critical intercultural skills while crossing cultures. It offers strategies for learning about and exploring cultural differences and similarities of the country you will visit; and advice about how to actively observe and participate in the life of the locality in which you will find yourself. Each chapter illustrates key concepts through the personal accounts of students. This book aims to help you with your own personal journey, and to make your study abroad experience as meaningful, rewarding, and insightful as possible.
LB2375 .D85 2014
Catalog Link – Preparing to Study Abroad

Find more resources on the Mc-Graw Page Library website.

According to James’ Scanlon’s history of Randolph-Macon College, 207 Randolph-Macon College alumni served in World War I. Eight of these RMC veterans lost their lives in the conflict.

Evan A. Edwards, R-MC Class of 1894, served as the Regimental Chaplain in the U. S. Army’s 140^th Infantry (Sixth Missouri).

The regiment trained at Fort Doniphan in Oklahoma, shipping out to France in June 1918. The unit fought along the Western front as part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive until the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

Edwards recounts his service with the unit in his memoir
From Doniphan to Verdun: The Official History of the 140^th Infantry (Lawrence, Kansas: The World Company, 1920). [archiveorg fromdoniphantove00edwa width=560 height=384 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true]

The Library’s copy of Edwards’ book is inscribed: “Presented to R.M. College by the author, Jan. 1921” and is housed in the Randolph-Macon College Archives. 

The Students’ Army Training Corps (SATC) was created in 1918 by the US War Department to expedite the training of soldiers during World War I. A SATC division was established at Randolph-Macon College in August 1918, providing students an opportunity to continue their studies while fulfilling their draft obligations. In addition to their RMC course work, the young men participated in military training exercises.

The SATC had a short and interrupted life at Randolph-Macon College. In October 1918, many RMC students were afflicted by the world-wide flu pandemic. When the armistice brought the war to end on November 11, 1918, the SATC soon demobilized until a similar training corps was established in World War II.

While the SATC helped the college maintain its enrollment during the war, President Robert E. Blackwell gave an unenthusiastic report of the Students’ Army Training Corps in a letter to a government official in December 1918.

“The influenza struck us the first of October before we had inducted a single man. For several weeks we were struggling with that without a single trained nurse and with nearly one third of the students in the hospital. During these weeks the classes met, but we could not expect to make any progress. After inductions took place and most of the students were out of the hospital, the attendance on the classes was not much better owing to various military duties. Every student, for instance, was on guard duty for twenty-four hours every sixth day and was in no condition to study or receive instruction the day after… The military work was done well and enthusiastically till November 11. Then all enthusiasm died out of that. Then everybody was too far behind in studies to take any interest in them. These are the short and simple annals of the S.A.T.C.   Very respectfully, R.E.B.”

Three on the Third is a monthly series in which we highlight three books new to the library collection. Summaries of the books will be provided along with shelf location and a link to the item in the catalog.  This month we have three exciting new additions to our collection in the field of Criminology.

Intellectual Disability and the Death Penalty
by Marc J. Tasse & John H. Blume

This book documents the legal and clinical aspects of the issues related to intellectual disability and the death penalty.  Intellectual Disability and the Death Penalty provides a comprehensive review of the legal and clinical aspects of the death penalty and intellectual disability; offers a detailed discussion of the Supreme court decision in Atkins v. Virginia as well as a review of court decisions since that 2002 ruling; details the diagnostic issues related to determination of intellectual disability, such as the assessment of intellectual functioning, adaptive behavior, and age of onset; and shares best practices in clinical assessment and important forensic matters that must be considered.
KF9227.C2 T37 2018
Catalog Link – Intellectual Disability and the Death Penalty

Locking up our Own
by James Forman Jr.
An original and consequential argument about race, crime, and the law today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics–and their impact on people of color–are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime. As Forman shows, the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office around the country amid a surge in crime. Many came to believe that tough measures–such as stringent drug and gun laws and “pretext traffic stops” in poor African American neighborhoods–were needed to secure a stable future for black communities. Some politicians and activists saw criminals as a “cancer” that had to be cut away from the rest of black America. Others supported harsh measures more reluctantly, believing they had no other choice in the face of a public safety emergency. Drawing on his experience as a public defender and focusing on Washington, D.C., Forman writes with compassion for individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas–from the young men and women he defended to officials struggling to cope with an impossible situation. The result is an original view of our justice system as well as a moving portrait of the human beings caught in its coils.
HV9950 .F67 2018
Catalog Link – Locking up our Own

A Conviction in Question
by Jim Freedman
An engrossing narrative of the first case to appear at the International Criminal Court, A Conviction in Question documents the trial of Union of Congolese Patriots leader and warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Although Lubanga’s crimes – including murder, rape, and the forcible conscription of child soldiers – were indisputable, legal wrangling and a clash of personalities caused the trial to be prolonged for an unprecedented six years. This book offers an accessible account of the rapid evolution of international law and the controversial trial at the foundation of the International Criminal Court. A Conviction in Question examines the legal issues behind each of the trial’s critical moments, including the participation of Lubanga’s victims at the trial and the impact of witness protection. Through eye-witness observation and analysis, Jim Freedman shows that the trial suffered from all the problems associated with ordinary criminal law trials, and uses the Lubanga case to further comment on the role of international courts in a contemporary global context.
KZ1216.D95 F74 2017
Catalog Link – A Conviction in Question