Dwight's Recommended Reads

Fall semester is in full swing and we're happy to meet students from Chattanooga State's Class of 2016! Be sure to stop by KLIC to study, checkout books, and meet your librarians. Each academic division at Chattanooga State has a liaison, i.e. subject specialist, who is here to help professors and students. Professors, your library liaison is your direct connection to library services. They'll create custom designed library instruction classes for your course and assignments. Students, these librarians are familiar with your major and your assignment requirements. Your liaison is a great asset when you're feeling lost or overwhelmed.  

To promote this great resource, we're starting a new series where our library liaisons recommend some good reads to faculty and students. Our first highlighted liaison librarian is Dwight Hunter!

Hi everyone at Chatt State and beyond!

I am Dwight Hunter, and I’ve been a part of the Chatt State community since 1992 – a long time! I believe in the mission and the purpose of Chatt State – that is why I am here. My library liaison areas are the Math and Science Division (biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, veterinary technology); and these departments: paralegal, accounting, political science.
 
About Dwight:
You can find out more about me from the “Not So Frequently Asked Questions” blog series introducing each library staff person; find out which rock ‘n roll band influenced my poetry writing and more.

I was introduced to the world of advanced mapping in a summer class at UTK. For my final project in that class, I chose a few sports books from the Chatt State Library (KLIC) and mapped a location for each book with links to the library catalog. 

Popular Guides:
Copyright and Fair Use for Students (co-editor with Pam Temple)
Copyright and Fair Use for Faculty (co-editor with Pam Temple)
Parks and Recreation Month
Constitution Week
Native Americans
Law

Dwight's Recommended Reads:

1. Seeing Southeastern Geology Through Chattanooga by Habte Giorgis Churnet
My son has a geology degree, and now, I have awareness of our surroundings here in Chattanooga. Did you know that a layer of shale is called Chattanooga Shale? Or that Lookout Mountain is actually an anticline slope for a much taller mountain, long washed away?

2. America’s Public Lands by Randall K. Wilson
One of my favorite guides is Parks and Recreation Month. The guide focuses on America’s public lands – for our preservation and enjoyment.

3. O Pioneers by Willa Cather
Willa Cather wrote many novels based on the Plains. Cather lived in the Red Cloud, Nebraska area. Red Cloud is a city named after a proud Native American leader and is a city within 25 miles from my teenage-years church/parsonage.

4. R. H. Hunt – Master Architect of Chattanooga by Gavin Edward Townsend
Seen some beautiful, old buildings in downtown Chattanooga? It is likely those buildings were designed by R. H. Hunt.

5. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
A rare science-fiction book I actually like. The mixing of a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter with spiritual values and human discovery is applicable to sociocultural human understanding.

6. Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen by Joe Drape
I played sports as a Redman; I’m a graduate of Smith Center high school. I donated this book to the library. The author, Joe Drape, is a sports writer for the New York Times – excellent writing.

7. The Boys of Winter by Wayne R. Coffey
I became a hockey fanatic after one of the greatest moments in American sports history: the 1980 U.S. hockey Olympic gold-medal team. Also, I love to say, “Go Preds!!” (Nashville Predators)

8. Chattanooga Landmarks by Jennifer Crutchfield
One of those books that helps you understand the Chattanooga area. Written by a well-known Chattanooga resident and writer.

9. What’s the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank
A book that explains the selling of values despite a lack of contextual development.

10. Dakota: A spiritual geography by Kathleen Norris
If you grew up in the Plains, having a deep spiritual root in the land and the sky would be a necessity for understanding day-to-day life.

11. The Black Towns by Norman L. Crockett
One of the first all-black towns mentioned in this book is Nicodemus, Kansas. So much of my diversity attitude came about from Nicodemus. I grew up in my elementary school childhood near Nicodemus. The memories of going to Nicodemus church revivals and barbeque picnics are etched into my mind, still even now.

12. Chasing Shadows by Ken Hughes
The whole perceived anxiety expressed by the Nixon Administration permeates this book. Watergate affected my altruistic faith in government leaders.

13. The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird
Why did Robert Ames die before he could complete his mission? We’ll never know but this book written by Kai Bird gives the “what ifs” a life in the early death of a CIA agent extraordinaire. Remember Robert Ames. Could we be enjoying Mideast peace now if he wasn’t killed in Beirut?

14. Rez Life by David Treuer
To me, our Native Americans tribes and their people have received the worst treatment possible for as long as we have been a nation. This book explains in graphic details how that worst treatment has manifested in today’s sorry situation on the reservations.

15. Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis
Because my wife’s family, and therefore our children, have a Cherokee heritage; I find any book about the Trail of Tears chilling. This book is autographed by the author to the Chatt State Library.

16. Liberty's Exiles by Maya Jasanoff
In the fall of 1783, the United States post-Revolutionary War population went through global diaspora – one out of every 40 Americans left America behind for India, for Canada, for Jamaica, and for other British lands. These Americans did not feel comfortable staying in America with their loyalty to the British Crown. The author focuses on the fascinating tales of some of these families.