Class Authors

Reminiscences of an Accidental Embezzler
Howard E. Hallengren, author 
The book tells the story of a young highly accomplished Swiss man who is apparently destined to be the head of a major bank in Zurich. He makes the mistake of trying to carry out a seemingly foolproof embezzlement from the bank. This attempt leads him on an increasingly risky path from Zurich to New York to Los Angeles and back to New York, ultimately culminating late in his life in trying to carry out one of the greatest, most daring, and most spectacular embezzlements ever attempted.

Crisis in U. S. Health Care: Corporate Power vs. the Common Good
John Geyman, M.D., author  
The problems of U. S. health care are of intense public interest today. The debate over where to go next to rein in costs and improve access to quality health care has become bitterly partisan, with distorted rhetoric largely uninformed by history, evidence, or health policy science. Based on present trends, our expensive dysfunctional system threatens patients, families, the government, and taxpayers with future bankruptcy. This book takes a 60-year view of our health care system, from 1956 to 2016, from the perspective of a family physician who has lived through these years as a practitioner in two rural communities, a professor and administrator of family medicine in medical schools, a journal editor for 30 years, and a researcher and writer on health care for more than four decades. There has been a complete transformation of health care and medical practice over that time from physicians in solo or small group practice and community hospitals to an enormous, largely corporatized industry that has left behind many of the traditions of personalized health care. This is an objective, non-partisan look at the major trends changing U. S. health care over these years, ranging from increasing technology and uncontrollable costs to depersonalization and changing ethics in medicine and health care. This book points out some of the highs�and lows�of these changes over the years, which may surprise some readers. It also compares three basic alternatives to reform the system for the common good vs. the continuing greed of corporate stakeholders and their shareholders.

Jean Statton interviewed George Newlin for her March 29, 2006, column in the Princeton NJ Town Topics>

George C. Newlin is a man of many talents. The term "polymath" comes to mind, and, indeed, the designation fits. A corporate lawyer, venture capitalist, amateur concert pianist and opera singer, he has succeeded in whatever he set out to do. It is his third and current career, however, which he says gives him the most pleasure.

"Categorically, this is the most enjoyable of any of my careers," says Mr. Newlin.

"Some people are forces of nature, and George is certainly a force of nature, given his boundless energy," says John Logan, Literature Bibliographer at Princeton University's Firestone Library.

Describing George Newlin's life succinctly is a challenge. Now an energetic 75, he was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and moved to Scarsdale in Westchester County, N.Y. when he was seven. George attended public schools in Scarsdale, especially enjoying English classes, and he was a great reader. "I loved the historical books on the Civil War and also Mark Twain, and Scaramouche" he recalls. He played tennis, and liked summer visits to New England. "We had family trips to Rockywold at Squam Lake in New Hampshire, and I went to camp at Lake Winnepesaukee, also in N.H.I enjoyed all of that." But it was music that consumed most of George's time and interest as he was growing up. "I started piano lessons at seven, and then studied at the Westchester Conservatory of Music," recalls Mr. Newlin.

At Scarsdale High School, George excelled not only in music, but also in academics, and was involved in extra-curricular activities, such as serving as president of the French Club and other organizations. He was especially known in school both for his piano performances and his smooth baritone singing voice in school musicals, including Gilbert & Sullivan productions.

After graduating from Scarsdale High in 1948, he headed for Princeton, his only choice of college. "I had read a Life Magazine piece about reunions at Princeton, and they seemed great," explains Mr. Newlin. "I had also heard of the Triangle Club and thought I'd like to be in that."

At Princeton, George majored in music, history, and religion, joined the Glee Club and Triangle, and also played squash. Performances in Triangle were especially fun, and led to an appearance on the Ed Sullivan TV show during which George performed a solo Charleston dance routine.

"I ended up liking Princeton," observes Mr. Newlin, "but there was a certain snobbish aspect to life there in 1948, especially if you hadn't gone to a private prep school." On the other hand, there were a number of veterans, returning after World War II, whose presence gave added dimension to the student dynamic. He remembers, too, an important social change during his years at Princeton.

"Jinks , E. Harris Harbison , was one of the best professors," continues Mr. Newlin."He taught Renaissance and Reformation ('Ren & Ref'), and it was an amazing class. At the end of the lecture, you just sat in awed silence."

Graduating in Princeton's famous class of 1952, known for its large number of members who went on to distinction in various fields, George then decided to attend Yale Law School. When one is gifted in many areas, choices can be difficult. Which to pursue seriously and with total focus? As he says, "I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

Master's Degree - Unfortunately, this never materialized due to a fire in a house off-base in which Mr. Newlin was severely burned. "I was taken to Brooke Army Hospital in Texas, notable for its burn unit," he recalls.

Mr. Newlin's law career flourished in the succeeding years, and then in 1971, he headed in a new direction, moving from law to finance; in particular, investment banking and venture capital work. He joined Dominick & Dominick, Inc. for which he served as Corporate Counsel and Vice President, Finance.

Financial End - "I decided I wanted to get in on the action," he explains.

"Totally out of the blue, my wife of more than 20 years, filed for divorce," recalls Mr. Newlin.

"Dickens is a great plotster, but I think his specialty is his characters," points out Mr. Newlin. Who could forget Madam Defarge (described by Mr. Newlin as "a grim knitter"), Sydney Carton, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber, Pip, Uriah Heep, the Artful Dodger, Scrooge? And they can all be found, at length, with all the other Dickens' characters in Mr. Newlin's volumes.

in addition, scholars in Victorian literature have praised Mr. Newlin's efforts to create a readily accessible means to identify characters and ideas in the Dickens oeuvre. John Jordan, Professor of Literature, and Director, The Dickens Project at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has known Mr. Newlin since the 1980s and is impressed with the magnitude of his work.

"George began attending the annual Dickens Universe program at UC Santa Cruz as one of the 'lay' members of the audience, not as one of the scholars, but he soon stood out from the other amateurs by virtue of his encyclopedic knowledge of Dickens.

Although not a teacher by profession or training, George has thrown himself into the world of 'education', understood in the broadest sense, with the energy and verve of a 21-year-old.I wish all my students had his excitement and curiosity about 19th Century fiction." Adds David Parker, Curator Emeritus, The Dickens House in London, who has been a friend of Mr. Newlin for 15 years, and who enjoys their mutual visits in New York, London, and Princeton: "His reference books to the works of Victorian novelists are quite simply indispensable.

With George, everything is there. He is writing works, which, I can assure you, will outlive the most penetrating literary criticism or the most erudite literary theory.

"I also enjoy receiving emails from George, asking me to go to some branch of the British Library and trace forgotten articles by Trollope or George Eliot.

The success of the Dickens volumes led Mr. Newlin to expand his study of Victorian fiction, and his investigation into the work of Anthony Trollope directed him to Princeton and ultimately to take up residence in the town of his alma mater. His interest in Trollope was a natural outcome of his previous exploration of Dickens, explains Mr. Newlin. Continuing his pursuit of the Victorians, Mr. Newlin delved into the works of George Eliot, and a 2-volume set will be published this May.

Mr. Newlin's investigation of these writers reinforces an observation by Brendan Gill in The New Yorker article. "The Victorians are immensely satisfying to read," points out Mr. Newlin.

In addition to these comprehensive volumes, Mr. Newlin has written two student guide books or case studies on A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

Mr. Newlin has also become very involved with his Princeton class, of which he is very proud, and was editor of the 756-page year book for the 50th reunion in 2002.In addition, he compiled a companion book of essays, including the reports of such classmates as James Baker, III, Frank Carlucci, Donald Oberdorfer, Moorhead Kennedy, William Gough, Joel Henkel, and Richard Kazmaier, representing the fields of government, journalism, foreign service, physics, and athletics. At the occasion of the reunion, Mr. Newlin gave a piano recital in Richardson Auditorium which also honored his former professors, Milton Babbitt and E.T. (Ed) Cone.

Mr. Newlin also enjoys traveling, especially to Vermont and Montana in the U.S. and to England, and the Amalfi Coast in Italy. He visits New York City regularly, where he spends time with friends and colleagues at his club, and also attends the theater.

He is proud of his children, including an adopted daughter, Elizabeth, and grandchildren, whose pictures are prominently displayed in his apartment. "I feel I have had a very rich life, and I am grateful for it," he reflects.

In Princeton, Mr. Newlin is also very active with the Quakers."The Quaker Meeting House here is an amazing place," he points out.

When not reading the Victorians in search of his next analytical anthology, Mr. Newlin often returns to other well-loved books. "My favorite is always the one I am working on," he remarked.

Insight: R. Townley Paton and the World's First Eye Bank
Paperback – June 9, 2016
by David Paton MD (Author)
An annotated biography of Dr. R. Townley Paton, MD; founder of the world's first eye-bank. Starting with a lively history of the Paton family and its origins, the book then delves into the fascinating career of one of the world's most renowned eye surgeons and his quest to create the world's first viable eye bank.
About the Author
David Paton MD FACS DSci (hon) is a graduate of Princeton University, The Johns Hopkins Medical School, The Wilmer Institute and five years on the Wilmer faculty before continuing an academic career in Houston, later elsewhere. Having the familial dyslexia, it may be of some interest to add that for four years he was the Dean of Admissions for The Johns Hopkins Medical School. Since dyslexia is often associated with creativity, it may also be relevant to report that he was the Founder and First Medical Director of Project ORBIS, later re-named ORBIS International, a re-fit former commercial aircraft designed to teach the modern ingenuities of ophthalmology on a global scale

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Through his Father�s Letters, Bradt �52 Reveals the Struggles of Wartime Families
Hale Bradt �52

In 1980, Hale Bradt �52 began a decades-long project to learn about his family�s past after discovering the very personal letters his father, Wilber Bradt, wrote during World War II as a soldier in the Army�s 43rd Infantry Division.

The result is a trilogy titledWilber�s War: An American Family�s Journey Through World War IIthat chronicles Bradt�s father�s experiences in the Pacific theater and the effects of the war on his family. Illustrated with news clips, family photos, maps, and letters, the self-published trilogy is being released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the war�s end on Aug. 14.

During his research, Bradt found some 700 letters by his father, who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and was a professor at the University of Maine before the war. Bradt, a professor of physics emeritus at MIT and the author of two textbooks on astrophysics, studied documents in archives and talked to veterans and family members who had been mentioned in the letters. Much of the research was done in the early 1980s, when contemporaries of his father were still alive. Bradt also traveled to the Pacific battlefields � the Solomon Islands and the Philippines � and interviewed a Japanese colonel.

Wilber�s letters offer a picture of his wife, Norma, and her struggles at home, which included hiding a pregnancy from her family. The letters track the couple�s relationship during Wilber�s three-year deployment, his difficult return home, and, tragically, his suicide at the end of the war. "Seeking out the story behind the story in my parents� lives and of incidents in the Pacific was absolutely fascinating to me,� Bradt says. "I have gotten to know my parents much better than most of us ever do.�

Hale Bradt says there's a 20 percent discount on his new trilogy [see Did you Know column on this page] if your use the coupon code PUWW when ordering through the book's website.

Sprague Electric: An Electronics Giant's Rise, Fall, and Life after Death Paperback – April 15, 2015 
by John L. Sprague (Author)

The rise of the Sprague Electric Company from a kitchen-table high-tech startup with a niche electronic product is representative of much of the U.S. electronics industry. Sprague Electric began in 1926 in the Quincy, Massachusetts kitchen of a young naval officer, Ensign Robert C. Sprague, and became a thriving manufacturer employing thousands of workers. It built a broad product line of electronic components, achieving international sales and a reputation for the highest quality. It then declined, went through a series of acquisitions, and eventually dissolved. 
Sprague Electric provides a valuable business and technological history, which serves as a lens for the stories of thousands of companies all over the world. It is the story of corporate success, and a cautionary tale of what to avoid. The Sprague Electric story portrays the value of investment in research and development, and also the effects of raw material supply chains on product lines. It is a story of a company’s relations with the town where its factories were located, the small New England mill town of North Adams, Massachusetts, and how labor relations — initially cordial— later soured. It is a story of how a vulnerable company weathered the stresses of the Great Depression and triumphed, only to be brought down by the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s. It is a history of acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs— some of them botched— and of the strategic and tactical mistakes that eventually caused the company to vanish. Its principal manufacturing plant is now an acclaimed art museum. Yet, Sprague Electric’s successor companies continue its legacy in the electronic components industry. Corporations formed from its different business units and operations are now spread around the world.

Posted April 20

A New Book by John Geyman, M.D. Coming Soon

How Obamacare is Unsustainable by John Geyman, M.D.

To be published in January, 2015 by Copernicus Healthcare, ISBN paper: 978-0-9887996-9-1, Paperback: $18.95 /

Confusion and controversy have plagued the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) since its enactment in March 2010. Republicans have generally opposed the legislation and attempted to obstruct it in parts or repeal it altogether. Democrats have tended to support it, defending it against the opposition but wary of some of its problems. Patients and families are caught in the middle as the debate heats up in election years.

This is the first book to take an evidence-based approach to assessment of the good and bad about this signature domestic legislation of the Obama presidency aft er fi ve years of experience. Th e evidence already shows that the three major aims of the ACA—to provide near-universal access to health care, to contain costs and make health care affordable, and to improve the quality of U.S. health care—are not being met. Evidence and experience show that the ACA’s approach to health care reform will not work. As it fails, the big question is what next? The case is made—on economic, social and moral grounds—that a single-payer improved Medicare for all system will meet the ongoing goals of reform. This book explains how all Americans can gain universal access to comprehensive health care, paying less than we do now, with more value and less bureaucracy.

John Geyman is Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. He has spent 25 years in academic family medicine. He is Past President of Physicians for National Health Program (PNHP), and author of: Souls on a Walk: An Enduring Love Story Unbroken by Alzheimer's, Health Care Wars: How Market Ideology and Corporate Power Are Killing Americans, Breaking Point - How the Primary Care Crisis Endangers the Lives of Americans, Hijacked - The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Healthcare Reform, The Cancer Generation - Baby Boomers Facing a Perfect Storm, Do Not Resuscitate: Why the Health Insurance Industry is Dying, and How We Must Replace It. The Corrosion of Medicine: Can the Profession Reclaim its Moral Legacy?, Shredding the Social Contract: The Privatization of Medicare and Falling Through the Safety Net: Americans Without Health Insurance
Posted January 5

William Blake in the Desolate Market, Hardcover – April 8, 2014 - by G. E. Bentley Jr

Experience taught William Blake that "Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy." His brilliant achievements as a poet, painter, and engraver brought him public notice, but little income. William Blake in the Desolate Market records how Blake, the most original of all the major English poets, earned his living. G.E. Bentley Jr, the dean of Blake scholars, details the poet's occupations as a commercial engraver, print-seller, teacher, copperplate printer, painter, publisher, and vendor of his own books. In his early career as a commercial engraver, Blake was modestly prosperous, but thereafter his fortunes declined. For his most ambitious commercial designs, he made hundreds of folio designs and scores of engravings, but was paid scarcely more than twenty pounds for two or three years' work. His invention of illuminated printing lost money, and many of his greatest works, such as Jerusalem, were left unsold at his death. He came to believe that his "business is not to gather gold, but to make glorious shapes." William Blake in the Desolate Market is an investigation of Blake's labours to support himself by his arts. The changing prices of his works, his costs and receipts, as well as his patrons and employers are expertly gathered and displayed to show the material side of the artistic career in Britain's Romantic period.

Posted December 11

Brief Flights: Transcendent Experiences Inside And Outside,Paperback � February 14, 2008 - by Frederic Alling

Transcendent experiences have been extensively written about, from a psychological perspective by Freud, William James, Maslow and others. However in recent years, advances in identifying a "self-transcendent" personality trait, a "God Gene" and some of the neurochemical brain activities which occur during transcendent states, have opened up a new depth of understanding about this inside dimension of transcendent phenomena. They also offer science's newest challenge to traditional religious experience and belief. In this book transcendent experiences are described by those in a variety of arenas, including traditional religious practices, close encounters with death and other natural phenomena, creativity and the arts, competitive sports, romantic love, and other areas. Those interested in religion and science, as well many general readers, may come to recognize experiences of their own, which they may not have considered religious or transcendent. They may also find comfort from developing a stronger and deeper foundation for their religious beliefs.

Love Letters from the Front: A Lieutenants Journey to Leadership Paperback – November 1, 2014

by Bill MacIlvaine (Author), Rod MacIlvaine (Contributor)

A story of dedication and love. A young man graduates from Princeton: He’s a freshly-minted second lieutenant with dreams and aspirations for his future. He gets married and ships off to an international conflict-zone, and within months he is promoted to Battery Executive Officer. During his tour of duty in Korea he writes 171 love letters to his new bride. These letters sparkle with humor and devotion, but as the months progress, the letters also reveal a growing maturity both as a leader and as a husband. Love Letters from the Front will inspire anyone facing hardship and challenge that those ordeals can fortify character and produce fresh leadership strength.

Bill MacIlvaine (B.A. Princeton University) has held various leadership positions in industry on the east coast and in the Midwest, and ultimately assumed the presidency of a Wisconsin-based manufacturing firm. He completed his career in South Florida in banking, and in retirement served two terms as a city councilman of Naples, Florida. Bill and his wife Lucy were married in 1952 and have four children, ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His avocation is ocean sailing and he has captained multiple charters in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Great Lakes.  Read more at http://lovelettersfromthefront.com/ or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LoveLettersfromtheFront 

Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer
Chauncey Loomis [Modern Library Exploration - April 4, 2000]

The Mayor: How I Turned Around Los Angeles after Riots, an Earthquake and the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial
by Richard J. Riordan (Author), Patrick Range McDonald (Contributor), Hardcover – September 30, 2014

Between 1993 and 2001, Mayor Richard J. Riordan, a maverick multi-millionaire who championed pragmatism over divisive politics, pulled Los Angeles from the brink of collapse and turned around one of the world’s most famous cities. Wildly popular today among Angelenos of all stripes, Riordan continues to be a major force in the political and civic worlds of L.A.

Riordan, a non-ideological Republican who was pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and pro-immigration, was elected to office in the aftermath of the infamous Rodney King beating and subsequent 1992 L.A. Riots, which caused nearly $1 billion in property damage and took the lives of over 50 people. With ineffectual political leadership at City Hall, racial tensions were running high, the economy was in the tank, and the city’s crime and homicide rates grew out of control during the crack cocaine epidemic. And only a few months into Riordan’s young mayoralty, L.A. appeared to be most definitely doomed after the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake rocked the city to its core.

But unlike his combative counterpart in New York City, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Riordan was a healing, compassionate figure that recreated L.A. into a thriving, world-class metropolis—and he’s still a key problem solver in the nation’s second largest city.

As the result of Riordan’s efforts, Los Angeles is now a cultural and event destination. He oversaw and pushed through the construction of Frank Gehry’s masterpiece Walt Disney Concert Hall -- a venture the mayor helped personally fund when private financing stalled -- and the landmark Staples Center. He reformed the nation’s second largest public school system, modernized the Los Angeles Police Department, and reformed Los Angeles’ City Charter. After an unsuccessful run for California governor, Riordan worked for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as his secretary of education.

Riordan’s perspective on effective leadership is like no other.

Readers will also learn about the numerous tragedies Riordan faced and how each event shaped him as a person and as mayor. From the deaths of Riordan’s two young children to the passing of his mother on the eve of his first mayoral election, Riordan’s courage and compassion in the face personal heartbreak illustrates why he is so beloved. Riordan is also a cutting-edge philanthropist who helped dramatically improve literacy rates in such places as Mississippi and has personally donated over $100 million to improve the education of poor children. For years, he has donated half his income to charities. This 330-paged memoir delves into his successes and difficulties during his time as mayor, the ideas and value system that drove his work—such as his deep spiritual beliefs that everyone is equal and deserves the opportunity to succeed—and the life events that shaped him.

Talk of Many Things: Law, Sports, Politics, Nature Paperback – June 3, 2014

George W. Gowen was born in Italy and he says that makes all the difference. He lived in London, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Princeton, N.J. and Charlottesville, VA and since 1957 in New York City where he practices law. He has served in the U.S Army, the U.S. Forest Service, has been counsel to leading sports organizations, and chair of environmental and humane organizations. His legal practice and interests have taken him far and wide around the world. He has been married to Marcia for over fifty-five years and is the proud father of two daughters who have enriched his life by producing four grandchildren for whom this book is written.

Granting a twelve-year-old granddaughter’s request, the author - who also wrote "A Willingness of Heart” - bares the story of his life in new memoir.  In "Talk of Many Things"(published by Xlibris), he recounts his kaleidoscopic life from the cradles of Italy to the Land of the Free. He incorporates hilarious anecdotes, moving encounters and vignettes of life experiences from soulfully-lucrative travels and sojourns far and wide.

James C. Davis

So Far, So Good: An Historian's Memoirs – April 29, 2008 
It's no surprise if you've never heard of the author of SO FAR, SO GOOD. He never starred in movies, dealt in drugs, or ran for President. Well, what did he do? He went to prep school and Princeton. Enlisted in the Army and was sent to Italy, where he reported for an Army newspaper and married. Earned his Ph.D. Taught for a third of a century at the University of Pennsylvania. Wrote six books, including this one and a history of the world. As you see then, these are the memoirs of a history professor. But you'll find this brief self-story engaging and illuminating. Davis illustrates how children figure who they are, how adolescents search for Truth, how Americans viewed the Cold War, and how historians explore where Man has been. And he asks if life on Earth is headed down or up.

           An ever-probing mind propelled Tom to significant accomplishments in twenty-two countries on five continents via four distinctly different careers: Episcopal priest to expatriate communities in Columbia, and facilitating racially integrated leadership workshops during apartheid in South Africa; an inter-organizational systems Ph.D. and state Commissioner of Education; a World Bank developer of educational programs in several third world countries; and, as a vigorous elder, an organic gardener and home renovation carpenter.

           But it was Tom’s ever-questing heart that impelled him finally to a perspective of his life as an abiding search for Home—within himself. That search led him far from his origins, drove him to seek new experiences and challenges, and delivered him in old age to the rigorously honest self-assessment of this plain-spoken memoir.

           In these pages, you will encounter a man who believes in making one’s life count, who is committed to a humble knowing of self, and who loves the world. Join him here as he opens to the grace of finding Home.

The value of a life truly well-lived - Review By J. Davidson on March 28, 2014