Department Bookshelf
Welcome to a collection of books we’re proud to call our own. These are books brought to life through the expertise and dedication of our faculty, some alongside talented community members whose stories they helped shape. Browse these works that showcase the depth of talent within our department, where scholarship meets creativity.
The Art of Character: Boyd Boggs and His Love for Gilmer County
by The Gilmer County Historical Society
with Hunter C. Schoolcraft
Sabre Lake Publishing, 2026
This book brings together pen-and-ink drawings by Boyd Boggs (1922-2008), Gilmer County’s beloved visual historian. Each drawing captures a piece of the county’s architectural heritage, from historic buildings and one-room schoolhouses to bridges and riverboats. Each drawing is enhanced with historical text written by GSU student Hunter C. Schoolcraft. The book was edited and produced by Melissa Gish.
A Day in the Life of a Rosie the Riveter
Written by Kendra Fox
Illustrated by Lilly Stubbs
Lulu, 2025
Ever heard about ‘Rosie the Riveters’ but wonder who they were? Meet Ruby and some of her friends who were Rosies during World War II, and learn about their day as a Rosie. Written by Kendra Fox, a Gilmer High School student and Girl Scout, this book is her Girl Scout Gold Award project. Dr. Amanda Chapman worked with Kendra, guiding her toward successful publication of this book
Friday the 13th
by Jonathan Minton
Cul de sac of Blood, 2025
“Jonathan Minton hasn’t just written a love letter to fans of the iconic film franchise. This collection is also an intelligent and provocative exploration of the aesthetics of shared
experiences, the strangely hybrid and recombinant nature of American pop culture, and the power of myth. The poems hold true to the films, but they also re-imagine key moments from the perspective of both central and marginalized characters, while also finding unlikely affinities between the films and classic mythology, philosophy, and contemporary literature. In doing so, these poems find our commonplaces, but also our more mysterious subaltern spaces that are 'in the constellation / between audiences, flickering on a darker screen.’” – Jason Ponder, author of A Map of the Invisible World.
Odysseys in the Wild: Brown Bears
by Melissa Gish
Creative Education, 2025
Brown bears are known as top predators of the forest, but there is much more to discover about this beloved animal. This high-school nonfiction title gives readers an in-depth look at the life cycle, diet, anatomy, and habitat of these powerful mammals. Also featured are species conservation efforts and the animal’s relationship with humans throughout history. Brown Bears is one of nine books in the series by this author.
We are Bad and Good
by Heather Loudermilk
Little Kanawha Reading Series, 2025
Winner of the Little Kanawha Reading Series 2025 Chapbook Contest, edited by Jonathan Minton and produced by Melissa Gish. “These poems are an honest, ironic telling of coming of age in Appalachia, speaking things that by agreement cannot be spoken, juxtaposing tragedy with transcendent truth and beauty in the unique way that characterizes the best Southern writers. With gifts for fresh image and quiet vernacular, I get the sense that Loudermilk is just getting started. I can’t wait to read more!” — Erin O’Neill Armendarez, Editor, Aji Press
Living Wild: Hummingbirds
by Melissa Gish
Creative Education, 2024
Brimming with photos and scientific facts, Hummingbirds treats middle-grade researchers and wild animal lovers to a comprehensive zoological profile of this brilliant bird. Includes sidebars, a range map, a glossary, and a hummingbird tale from the Maya people. Hummingbirds is one of seventy-four books in the series by this author.
Wounded Masculinity and the Search for (Father) Self in American Film
by Brian Johnston and Susan Mackey-Kallis
Lexington Books, 2024
With his co-author, Dr. Brian Johnston examines popular American films through the lens of Greek mythology and psychology. The book argues that certain movies explore themes of suffering, sacrifice, and healing to address deeper cultural issues around gender and masculinity, ultimately suggesting these films offer a path toward healthier relationships between men and women.
Letters
by Jonathan Minton
Moria Books, 2022
“Letters, this new collaboration between poet Jonathan Minton and the two visual artists Diana Magallón and Jeff Crouch, maps the dark landscape of loss and grief. The visuals complement the lines and rhythms of Minton’s Orphic music, a poetry that in its courageous exploration continually confronts the question of how language itself can even attempt to find meaning in the face of death and profound sorrow: ‘You will think/of what to say, but will never need to say it. You will shrink/into another sentence. This will mean something,/like sunlight, or moths flickering.’” — Joel Chace, author of Threnodies, and FataMorgana
Myth, Fan Culture, and the Popular Appeal of Liminality in the Music of U2: A Love Story
by Brian Johnston and Susan Mackey-Kallis
Lexington Books, 2020
With his co-author, Dr. Brian Johnston explores why the band U2 has stayed popular for decades. The book argues the band connects with fans by balancing opposites: commercialism and community, spirituality and doubt, politics and personal meaning. Using ideas about mythology and culture, Johnston and Mackey-Kallis explain U2’s appeal through three types of love: spiritual, romantic, and erotic.
A Rational Species: Essays on the Environment
by GSU Students (see Amazon’s Contents page)
Edited by Melissa Gish
Introduction by Dr. Rico Gazal
Candy Bat Books, 2020
The collection of essays written by Glenville State University students explores a variety of environmental challenges that our planet and its inhabitants are currently facing, including pollution, deforestation, poaching, and the effects of climate change. Full color photographs enhance this valuable collection. All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society to help fund its work in more than 60 nations around the world.
Technical Notes for Bird Government
by Jonathan Minton
Telemetry Press, 2018
“Testing the language of myth, the naturalist, and the historian, Jonathan Minton’s Technical Notes for Bird Government taps into a vast, skeletal architecture underpinning the hugeness of the world, and its wounded places where we vanish. Mapping its rifts and junctures, these poetic sequences emerge in surprising ways, at times coiling into themselves and at times unfurling fast to the edge of another sentence full of horizons and strange creatures. It’s a remarkable book. Reading it, one is in the presence of an electric, relentless intelligence.” — James Capozzi, author of Country Album and Devious Sentiments
Lost Languages
by Jonathan Minton
Long Leaf Press, 1999
“In Lost Languages, Minton’s words comprise the careful gardener, going through the stem and bloom of our lives. His investigation into what is joy and sorrow is laced with a reverence steeped in a southern parlance of hope. These are poems that hold language lightly, out of a melancholic wisdom, a sure knowledge of our frailty. Lost Languages shows Minton lighting the way to home.” — Afaa Michael Weaver, author of City of Eternal Spring