Ensights Magazine

faculty bookshelf 2021

Faculty Bookshelf

Editorial Staff
What have Ensworth's curious faculty and staff been reading?

Mary Catherine Bradshaw

High School Service Learning Coordinator and English Teacher

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson

The publisher describes "Caste" as "a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America" about "how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings." "Responsive, relevant, insightful and well written," says Ms. Bradshaw, "That is why I liked it."

John Clintsman

Head Groundskeeper

11/22/63: a Novel by Stephen King

11/22/63 touches on a few subjects. Time travel, conspiracy theories and history. Have you ever wondered what happens if you go back in time and change one thing? What else changes? How do you affect history? Well, take a journey down the rabbit hole of this novel and see if it changes how you look at the subject.

Whitney Johnson

Director of Finance and Operations

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates

This book is an eye-opening look at how women all around the world are marginalized and how that oppression directly impacts society as a whole. The devastating effects are particularly pronounced in developing countries where women do not have access to birth control, quality healthcare, jobs, and education. Melinda describes ways that empowering women can lift up the entire society in which they live.

The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay

Ross Gay is a poet who committed to documenting things that delighted him each day over the course of a year. Sometimes these delights come from surprising and raw experiences, but he finds the light in them and creates beauty around them with his poetic words. In a year full of devastation and disappointments, this was a good reminder of the power of practicing daily gratitude.

Julie Russell

Administrative Assistant to Head of School

Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Estés is a modern day cantadora—keeper of stories. Through fairy tales, stories, and myths from long ago, Estés reintroduces ancient wisdom of our ancestors and applies present insight to enlighten, empower, and venerate what still is the female soul. My daughter was given this book by one of her Sister nursing professors at Saint Mary's College at Notre Dame.

Jennifer Ishee

High School Latin Teacher

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

The chess world has always been dominated by males. Even today, I am often the sole adult female competitor in local open chess tournaments. This book thrusts a young fictional female character into a realistic version of the competitive chess world. Not only does she become a professional player and reach the elite level, but her dedication to chess also helps her overcome her various addictions and discover her true personality. There is currently a movement to increase female participation in chess in the United States, and books like this help pave the way by showing what is possible.

Jim Miller

High School English Teacher

The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature by Adam Kirsch

I had always been a fan of Fiddler on the Roof, but I was surprised to discover that there was source material, Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem. Some of the sources are ancient, such as the Book of Esther and the history of the Jewish revolt against Rome by Flavius Josephus. The collection also includes a philosophical text by Spinoza, and some great folktales.

Liz Atwood

Lower School Reading Teacher

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Amanda and Clay and their two teenage children, a white family from New York City, are enjoying a vacation at a secluded, well-appointed AirBnB at the beach. In the middle of the night, the owners of the home, an older black couple, knock on the door, bringing news of a blackout that has overtaken New York City. They don’t know what caused it, and wifi, televisions and radios are no longer working. The last communication anyone has received was a push notification from the New York Times entitled “Breaking” followed by an unintelligible message. At first the book seems like another dystopian thriller; but Alam layers the story with themes of class, race, technology dependence, and judgement. A finalist for the National Book Award, Leave the World Behind is prescient, speaking to all of us living through an anxious and unnerving 2020.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

There There by Tommy Orange

Trey House

Middle School Latin Teacher

Because Internet: Understanding The New Rules Of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

In this fascinating book, McCulloch uses her training as a linguist to examine the ways the internet is changing the way we write and talk. As a student of Latin and, therefore, a lover of the nuances of grammar, my natural inclination is to look at these changes with skepticism. Yet, McCulloch argues for the connection between language and culture and makes a convincing case that there is much joy in this evolution, even if it leaves me in the dust!
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Ensworth is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade, independent day school.