Dr. Vanita Neelakanta on Science Fiction in America

“We live science fiction.” —Marshall McLuhan

This course is designed to introduce students to America's fascination with science fiction, its major

themes and preoccupations, significant authors (Bradbury, Heinlein, LeGuin), genres, and media. It has

been argued that science fiction and “speculative” fiction represents a viable way to make sense of our

everyday world. Our primary focus will be on how these texts help us understand American culture

and politics through encounters with unfamiliar worlds, species, and technology. By the end of the

course, students should be able to critically engage with science fiction, and identify its broad socio-

Dr. Jack Sullivan on Emigres in Hollywood Course

“This course explores Hollywood's “exiles in paradise,” the great European directors who immigrated

to Hollywood, many during the Nazi era, and changed the direction of American movies. These include

Rouben Mamoulian, Fritz Lang, James Whale, Michael Curtiz, and Alfred Hitchcock. The course also

takes in Golden Age Hollywood emigre composers who invented film music: Eric Korngold, Max Stei-

ner, Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa, and Franz Waxman. Bringing the course up to date is a study of

contemporary Hollywood emigres such as Roman Polanski, Ang Lee, and Lasse Hallstrom, whose films

provide a fresh, often startling perspective on American culture.

Dr. Jim Castagnera on Kennedy Assassination Course

On the first night of class, I asked the 30 students, "How many believe that JFK was assassinated as the

result of a conspiracy?" Twenty-nine raised their hands. Assassination conspiracy theories have been

a cottage industry for 50 years with an estimated 1,000 books published on the subject. Suspects have

included the CIA, the Mafia, Anti-Castro Cubans, LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover... or some combination of these

with or without Oswald in the mix. Remarkably, after 50 years of investigation and speculation, no de-

finitive answer has emerged. I don't expect that my 30 students and I will change that. However, each

student is required to create a "case notebook" and to use that notebook to write a final exam, which

Cynthia Lucia

Jack Sullivan

Mickey Hess

Meet the Author

Meanings of

Audiences: Comparative Discourses (Routledge)

American Studies Speaker Program Louis Masur, Professor of American Studies at Rutgers, speaks Nov. 13 on Lincoln and emancipation at the West-minster Princeton Campus as part of Jack Sullivan’s “From

to ” class. This talk connects Professor Masur's new book, , with Spielberg's film. Professor Masur published a front page piece on the subject in the week of the film’s release.

Michael Dylan Ferrara (2011) is

now the co-founder and curator for the i = u music

festival in London. which celebrates improvisation

in music and improvisatory collaboration with

dancers, actors, filmmakers and visual artists.

Alex D'Amico (2011)

graduated from Fordham

Law School in May, 2013. H

e

is now working for a law firm.

Jonathan Slawson (2009) is Director of the “Noatables: Youth Donor Pro-

gram at Carnegie Hall. He can

get Rider students tickets to Car-negie Hall concerts for only

$21.00 if they donate $20.00 to the hall.

Michele Graczyk (2012) is

Finance Coordinator at Nick-

elodeon.

Samantha Apgar (2010) is Business Operations Coor-dinator at the Kimmel Cen-ter in Philadelphia.

I have been interning at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens the past few months and am

enjoying a great experience. The school is one of the best archaeological and research facilities in

Greece. As a development, marketing, and event intern, I assist in organizing meetings and dinners, cul-

minating in the annual Managing Committee Meetings held in Chicago this December. I am in regular

contact with chairs of different committees across the country and get to meet some of the most promi-

nent classical researchers in the world. Thus far I have had an amazing time working in the administra-

tive office in Princeton with a wonderful group of fun, diverse people. When I found out I was going to

have my own office overlooking Princeton University I was ecstatic, perhaps overly so. Seriously,

though, how cool is that?! I would love to have a career in the history field and I could not have asked

for anything more than what ASCSA has had to offer. I feel privileged to be associated with such a re-

nowned institution and will always be grateful for the opportunity they have given me.

~Christopher Nini, 2014

For my spring 2013 internship, I worked at Skyhorse Publishing, an independent publishing company

founded in 2006, which publishes thousands of titles in various genres. This internship has now become a

full-time job! My duties include reviewing submissions on various subjects, including history, athletics, and

Green Living. I read submissions from diverse authors, each of whom has a unique style and voice. While

sometimes find it difficult to say why I didn’t like a particular book or writing style, there are times when I

find a book I truly fall in love with. Once I find a book that would be a good match for the company, I ana-

lyze its content and research an assortment of topics pertaining to the book market. This all goes into my

reader’s report.

One of my most interesting projects was helping write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg. After the late

Mayor Koch died, Skyhorse sent Mayor Bloomberg a letter and a book that remembered the late Mayor

Koch. I cannot say how much I appreciate working for Skyhorse Publishing. Before this I had no idea if

publishing was the right area for me, but this internship has shown me the skills I will need to be in the

publishing world and has awakened a passion for this line of work.

A Spectacular Internship

Internship to Full-time job

~Andrea Cocozza, 2013

AMS Newsletter Director: Dr. Jack Sullivan Layout Design: Tara DeLorenzo