Web Exclusive

Matt Blessing knows books — he goes to work amid stacks of them in Raynor Memorial Libraries every day. Marquette Magazine asked Blessing, an archivist in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, to share five of his favorites.

1. The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. “A few years ago the Raynor Memorial Libraries hosted the original manuscript of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. In preparation I revisited the novel and, to be perfectly honest, found it rather dark and depressing. Dharma Bums captures the free-spirited Kerouac that many readers anticipate finding in the more famous novel. An excellent novel for summer traveling, especially if you’re traveling west.”

2. Stickeen: An Adventure with a Dog and a Glacier by John Muir. “I’ll often find an author or a subject that intrigues me, then pursue it until something else redirects my curiosity. There are a lot of great dog stories, but Stickeen is my favorite. As with so many aspects of the environmental philosopher’s writings, Muir suggested ideas about the intelligence of animals that challenged readers to reconsider traditional beliefs.”   

3. Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig. “Ivan Doig’s family has deep roots along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, the setting for many of the author’s novels. A master stylist in the tradition of Wallace Stegner, Dancing at the Rascal Fair also contains some of Doig’s most unforgettable characters. The author’s historical research (Doig takes pains to avoid mentioning that he has a Ph.D. in history) helps complete a sweeping canvas that’s as vast as the Big Sky Country.”

4. American Guide Series (1935-1943) by the WPA Federal Writers’ Project. “In the movie Field of Dreams, writer Terence Mann (played James Earl Jones) tells Ray that America ‘has been erased like a blackboard.’ These Depression-era guidebooks capture our parents’ and grandparents’ America. Nowadays, how many can recall when Las Vegas had 5,100 residents, or Orange County was best known for its orange groves? The original guides have become highly collectible, but inexpensive reprints are now available for many states.”

5. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon. “A favorite college professor recommended this book to me soon after its publication. The book influenced me to switch academic majors: dropping forestry for history. The interdisciplinary Changes in the Land has since become a classic.”

Check out these other Marquette Reads:

• Kris Ratcliffe
• Phil Naylor
• Terri Mitchell