BOOKSHELF
NATURAL PASSION:
“A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir” the latest book by Don Worster, KU’s Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Professor of U.S. History, was published this fall by Oxford University Press and is being hailed as a consummate biography of the founder of the Sierra Club. While the book traces Muir from his boyhood in Scotland and frontier Wisconsin to his adult life in California right after the Civil War up to his death on the eve of World War I, critics suggest it differs from earlier Muir biographies because of Worster’s own passion for his subject and skill as a writer and historian. Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director, says “What is unique about ‘A Passion for Nature,’ is the skill with which Worster places Muir in a political context. Worster helps us understand [Muir’s] love of nature is related to other social movements for equality....”
RESEARCH MATTERS:
HIV/AIDS obviously takes a great toll on people, but many may not realize the effects it has on the workforce of the sub-Saharan African nations hit hardest by the epidemic. Elizabeth Asiedu, associate professor of economics, has found that with life expectancies shortened, the economy also suffers from the large numbers of funerals and continuous grieving. “Of course, if you are sick, you are not as productive. But two, the other is when in Africa funerals are very elaborate. You effectively have about three working days,” she said. For more, or to hear the original broadcast, visit
www.researchmatters.ku.edu.
