Staffers Are Among Berkeley's Throng of New Graduates Chancellor Addresses National Press Club Do Campus Parking Woes Damage Scholarship? 100 "Best Books" of the West Graduate Teaching Assistants Vote for AGSE Representation Commencement '99 Photo Album They're Coming to Berkeley Berliner Ensemble To Perform Brecht Bruce Cain to Head IGS Campus Media Relations Director Accepts Harvard Post Amateur Architects Build Structures and Science Awareness at LHS Photo: Taking Steps for the Cure University Relations Teams Win Six CASE Awards John Quigley Holds First Terner Professorship Tips for Summer Bookworms   Awards   Campus Calendar   Campus Memos   News Briefs   Obituaries   Staff Enrichment

100 "Best Books" of the West Posted June 9, 1999 Maxine Hong Kingston's "Woman Warrior" took slot 42. In an effort to counteract the Eastern bias of "best book" lists generated by New York publishers, the San Francisco Chronicle recently polled its readers to name the best nonfiction books of the 20th century written in English about, or by an author from, the Western United States. Not surprisingly, Berkeley alumi and faculty figured prominently among the 100 authors topping the list. At least seven alums, several of whom also teach on campus, made it onto the "Chronicle Western 100." Author Joan Didion's "White Album" was voted number nine. The list of best-loved books also included "The Woman Warrior" (number 42) by Maxine Hong Kingston, who teaches in the English department; "I Lost It at the Movies" by critic Pauline Kael (44); "Books in My Baggage" by Lawrence Clark Powell (51); "Men to Match My Mountains" by Irving Stone (53); "Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans" (61) by Ronald Takaki, professor of ethnic studies; and "The Town That Fought to Save Itself" (98) by Orville Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism. "Ishi in Two Worlds" by Berkeley anthropologist Theodora Kroeber, also polled high on the list, taking the number 12 spot.   [HOME]   [SEARCH]   [ARCHIVE] June 9 - July 13, 1999 (Volume 27, Number 35) Copyright 1999, The Regents of the University of California. Produced and maintained by the Office of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley. Comments? E-mail berkeleyan@pa.urel.berkeley.edu.