In the hands of the right therapist, an affair can be what saves a marriage.
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A young couple walks in to the therapist’s office. They sit on the colorful IKEA couch across from her chair, and the particular way they sit gives her a first clue about what kind of couple they are, and what emotional state they are in. In this case, a polite distance away from each other, far enough so that no parts of their bodies are touching but not jammed into opposite ends of the couch.
Hanna Rosin is the founder of DoubleX and a writer for the Atlantic. She is also the author of The End of Men. Follow her on Twitter.
Within a half hour the therapist learns some things about them. They’ve only been married a few years. He’s in the military, and, while he was on a recent tour in Afghanistan, she had an affair. “Why?” the therapist asks her, and she answers,
“I don’t really know why.” The couple has a brief exchange in which she apologizes to him and he says he still can’t believe she did that while he was away. They don’t scream or fight or even express that much emotion in front of the therapist. By the end of the first session the therapist still hasn’t gotten the wife to articulate a more satisfying explanation.
A painful affair, a diffident wife, a husband who can’t find his rage: To an untrained eye, this looks like some pretty meager material for any therapist to work with. But the therapist, Emily Brown, who directs the Key Bridge Therapy and Mediation Center in Arlington, Va., and is an expert on affairs, reads this situation as hopeful. In her taxonomy of affairs, this type—the “conflict avoidance affair,” generally found among couples whose arguments never escalate into screaming matches—has a prognosis for resolution of “very good” and a “low” probability of causing divorce. The affair, in Brown’s eyes, is a “wake-up call,” not the “disaster” the couple sees now “but a real opportunity for them to go on a different route and deal with the issues between them.” In the hands of the right therapist, Brown says, the affair is what could save their marriage.
Family therapists are perennial optimists, but when it comes to affairs the optimism had to stay muted, at least in public. An individual therapist might sense that a couple could come out stronger after an affair but she wouldn’t necessarily turn that hunch into a theory and write it up in a paper. Why? The profession as a whole wouldn’t embrace that view. Therapists might be a libertine bunch but as a group they generally defer to the Puritan country—the United States—they live in, where affairs are still taboo no matter how many people actually have them.
A handful of therapists have started to push the idea that affairs can rescue a marriage and to define exactly in what instances that might be true.
But recently, a handful of therapists have started to push the idea that affairs can rescue a marriage and to define exactly in what instances that might be true. “People shriek and cry when they are confronted with an affair,” Brown writes in her essay, “The Affair as a Catalyst for Change,” which appears in the book Infidelity “Almost never do they realize that it might be the best thing that ever happened to them.”
Last year’s annual conference of the American Family Therapy academy allowed a panel about affairs called “From Trauma to Transformation,” which was the first time that idea officially entered the lexicon, says Esther Perel, author of Mating in Captivity and a couples therapist who is writing her next book on affairs. It was public and professional acceptance for the idea that an “affair doesn’t necessarily end a marriage and can possibly make it stronger.” For her research, Perel herself followed up with couples she had treated who had stayed together after an affair, and categorized them. In her paper, “After the Storm,” she describes the types: Some constantly relive the trauma and bitterness of the affair, some just revert back to the stasis they had before it, and for some couples, she writes, “the affair becomes a transformational experience and catalyst for renewal and change.”
Brown became a couples counselor in the early 1970s after her own protracted and difficult divorce process—she had to cross state lines several times with her two children to escape her ex-husband. Early on in Brown’s counseling career, affairs were not much mentioned in the family therapy literature and the attitude about them, even among therapists, was fairly conventional and judgmental. Treatment focused around an almost Catholic confessional model. The betrayer—and back then it was almost always the husband—would be coaxed to apologize to the betrayed and then encouraged not to repeat his sins, she recalls. But then in the 1980s and 1990s a new generation of therapists raised in an era of exploding divorce developed more complex ideas about affairs that were more clinical than judgmental. In his best-selling 1989 book Private Lies, Frank Pittman was one of the first people to categorize types of affairs and pin many on men’s fear of true intimacy with their wives. Shirley Glass (mother of Ira) collected data about the different motivations that men and women have for cheating. Other therapists started to suggest that the person “at fault” might not just be the one that had the affair, but that both parties created a space for infidelity.
BitTorrent Sync has hit the 1-million-user milestone as it tries to steer people away from centralized cloud storage options like Dropbox.
The service, which debuted in January , lets users sync photos and files across devices without relying on remote servers. Instead of storing files up in the cloud, BitTorrent Sync uses peer-to-peer file transfers, securing files through private encryption keys. BitTorrent says no one else is able to see your files while they are being transferred.
For most users, the main advantage of BitTorrent Sync is that it’s free. If you just want to back up your smartphone’s photos to your computer, BitTorrent Sync can do it automatically, and you won’t run into the storage limits you get with cloud services. You’re only limited by how much space is on your computer’s hard drive. BitTorrent also notes that the company cannot hand over your personal data to the government, alluding to the recent NSA spying scandals.
New features
To coincide with the milestone, BitTorrent announced some new features. Sync now runs faster, with speeds as high as 90 MB/s on a local network. BitTorrent has also updated its iOS app with iPad support, iOS 7 compatibility, and the ability to sync photos from your computer to the iPhone or iPad camera roll. Other apps can send and sync files with BitTorrent Sync as well.
Meanwhile, BitTorrent looks to expand its reach with the BitTorrent Sync Beta API . BitTorrent says it will allow developers to create “distributed social media, communications, and enterprise apps on top of the platform.” In one example, a social network operates without centralized servers and lets friends connect by exchanging private keys. Another example shows how to deploy a website using BitTorrent Sync.
It’s an interesting change in strategy for a company that’s commonly associated with illicit file sharing, and 1-million users in less than a year suggests that the service is resonating. It’s worth a try if you’re looking to keep files in sync without worrying about storage limits.
Study links intestinal bacteria to rheumatoid arthritis
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
5-Nov-2013
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Contact: Craig Andrews craig.andrews@nyumc.org 212-404-3511 NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine
Findings suggest bacterial disturbances in the gut may play a role in autoimmune attacks on the joints, point the way to novel treatments and diagnostics
Researchers have linked a species of intestinal bacteria known as Prevotella copri to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, the first demonstration in humans that the chronic inflammatory joint disease may be mediated in part by specific intestinal bacteria. The new findings by laboratory scientists and clinical researchers in rheumatology at NYU School of Medicine add to the growing evidence that the trillions of microbes in our body play an important role in regulating our health.
Using sophisticated DNA analysis to compare gut bacteria from fecal samples of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy individuals, the researchers found that P. copri was more abundant in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis than in healthy individuals or patients with chronic, treated rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the overgrowth of P. copri was associated with fewer beneficial gut bacteria belonging to the genera Bacteroides.
"Studies in rodent models have clearly shown that the intestinal microbiota contribute significantly to the causation of systemic autoimmune diseases," says Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD, the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Professor of Pathology and Microbiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
"Our own results in mouse studies encouraged us to take a closer look at patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and we found this remarkable and surprising association," says Dr. Littman, whose basic science laboratory at NYU School of Medicine's Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine collaborated with clinical investigators led by Steven Abramson, MD, senior vice president and vice dean for education, faculty, and academic affairs; the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine; chair of the Department of Medicine; and professor of medicine and pathology at NYU School of Medicine.
"At this stage, however, we cannot conclude that there is a causal link between the abundance of P. copri and the onset of rheumatoid arthritis," Dr. Littman says. "We are developing new tools that will hopefully allow us to ask if this is indeed the case."
The new findings, reported today in the open-access journal eLife, were inspired by previous research in Dr. Littman's laboratory, collaborating with Harvard Medical School investigators, using mice genetically predisposed to rheumatoid arthritis, which resist the disease if kept in sterile environments, but show signs of joint inflammation when exposed to otherwise benign gut bacteria known as segmented filamentous bacteria.
Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that attacks joint tissue and causes painful, often debilitating stiffness and swelling, affects 1.3 million Americans. It strikes twice as many women as men and its cause remains unknown although genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role.
The human gut is home to hundreds of species of beneficial bacteria, including P. copri, which ferment undigested carbohydrates to fuel the body and keep harmful bacteria in check. The immune system, primed to attack foreign microbes, possesses the extraordinary ability to distinguish benign or beneficial bacteria from pathogenic bacteria. This ability may be compromised, however, when the gut's microbial ecosystem is thrown off balance.
"Expansion of P. copri in the intestinal microbiota exacerbates colonic inflammation in mouse models and may offer insight into the systemic autoimmune response seen in rheumatoid arthritis," says Randy S. Longman, MD, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Littman's laboratory and a gastroenterologist at Weill-Cornell, and an author on the new study. Exactly how this expansion relates to disease remains unclear even in animal models, he says.
Why P. copri growth seems to take off in newly diagnosed patients with rheumatoid arthritis is also unclear, the researchers say. Both environmental influences, such as diet and genetic factors can shift bacterial populations within the gut, which may set off a systemic autoimmune attack. Adding to the mystery, P. copri extracted from stool samples of newly diagnosed patients appears genetically distinct from P. copri found in healthy individuals, the researchers found.
To determine if particular bacterial species correlate with rheumatoid arthritis, the researchers sequenced the so-called 16S gene on 44 fecal DNA samples from newly diagnosed patients with rheumatoid arthritis prior to immune-suppressive treatment; 26 samples from patients with chronic, treated rheumatoid arthritis; 16 samples from patients with psoriatic arthritis (characterized by red, flaky skin in conjunction with joint inflammation); and 28 samples from healthy individuals.
Seventy-five percent of stool samples from patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis carried P. copri compared to 21.4% of samples from healthy individuals; 11.5% from chronic, treated patients; and 37.5% from patients with psoriatic arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is treated with an assortment of medications, including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs like steroids, and immunosuppressive therapies that tame immune reactions. Little is understood about how these medications affect gut bacteria. This latest research offers an important clue, showing that treated patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis carry smaller populations of P. copri. "It could be that certain treatments help stabilize the balance of bacteria in the gut," says Jose U. Scher, MD, director of the Microbiome Center for Rheumatology and Autoimmunity at NYU Langone Medical Center's Hospital for Joint Diseases, and an author on the new study. "Or it could be that certain gut bacteria favor inflammation."
The researchers plan to validate their results in regions beyond New York, since gut flora can vary across geographical regions, and investigate whether the gut flora can be used as a biological marker to guide treatment. "We want to know if people with certain populations of gut bacteria respond better to certain treatment than others," says Dr. Scher. Finally, they hope to study people before they develop rheumatoid arthritis to see whether overgrowth of P. copri is a cause or result of autoimmune attacks.
###
In addition to researchers from the NYU School of Medicine, investigators from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and from the Harvard School of Public Health contributed to the study. Funding for this research comes from the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the American Gastroenterological Association.
About NYU Langone Medical Center:
NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class, patient-centered, integrated academic medical center, is one of the nation's premier centers for excellence in clinical care, biomedical research, and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is composed of four hospitalsTisch Hospital, its flagship acute care facility; Rusk Rehabilitation; the Hospital for Joint Diseases, the Medical Center's dedicated inpatient orthopaedic hospital; and Hassenfeld Pediatric Center, a comprehensive pediatric hospital supporting a full array of children's health services across the Medical Centerplus the NYU School of Medicine, which since 1841 has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history. The Medical Center's tri-fold mission to serve, teach, and discover is achieved 365 days a year through the seamless integration of a culture devoted to excellence in patient care, education, and research. For more information, go to http://www.NYULMC.org, and interact with us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
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Study links intestinal bacteria to rheumatoid arthritis
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
5-Nov-2013
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Contact: Craig Andrews craig.andrews@nyumc.org 212-404-3511 NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine
Findings suggest bacterial disturbances in the gut may play a role in autoimmune attacks on the joints, point the way to novel treatments and diagnostics
Researchers have linked a species of intestinal bacteria known as Prevotella copri to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, the first demonstration in humans that the chronic inflammatory joint disease may be mediated in part by specific intestinal bacteria. The new findings by laboratory scientists and clinical researchers in rheumatology at NYU School of Medicine add to the growing evidence that the trillions of microbes in our body play an important role in regulating our health.
Using sophisticated DNA analysis to compare gut bacteria from fecal samples of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy individuals, the researchers found that P. copri was more abundant in patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis than in healthy individuals or patients with chronic, treated rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, the overgrowth of P. copri was associated with fewer beneficial gut bacteria belonging to the genera Bacteroides.
"Studies in rodent models have clearly shown that the intestinal microbiota contribute significantly to the causation of systemic autoimmune diseases," says Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD, the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Professor of Pathology and Microbiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
"Our own results in mouse studies encouraged us to take a closer look at patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and we found this remarkable and surprising association," says Dr. Littman, whose basic science laboratory at NYU School of Medicine's Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine collaborated with clinical investigators led by Steven Abramson, MD, senior vice president and vice dean for education, faculty, and academic affairs; the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine; chair of the Department of Medicine; and professor of medicine and pathology at NYU School of Medicine.
"At this stage, however, we cannot conclude that there is a causal link between the abundance of P. copri and the onset of rheumatoid arthritis," Dr. Littman says. "We are developing new tools that will hopefully allow us to ask if this is indeed the case."
The new findings, reported today in the open-access journal eLife, were inspired by previous research in Dr. Littman's laboratory, collaborating with Harvard Medical School investigators, using mice genetically predisposed to rheumatoid arthritis, which resist the disease if kept in sterile environments, but show signs of joint inflammation when exposed to otherwise benign gut bacteria known as segmented filamentous bacteria.
Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that attacks joint tissue and causes painful, often debilitating stiffness and swelling, affects 1.3 million Americans. It strikes twice as many women as men and its cause remains unknown although genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role.
The human gut is home to hundreds of species of beneficial bacteria, including P. copri, which ferment undigested carbohydrates to fuel the body and keep harmful bacteria in check. The immune system, primed to attack foreign microbes, possesses the extraordinary ability to distinguish benign or beneficial bacteria from pathogenic bacteria. This ability may be compromised, however, when the gut's microbial ecosystem is thrown off balance.
"Expansion of P. copri in the intestinal microbiota exacerbates colonic inflammation in mouse models and may offer insight into the systemic autoimmune response seen in rheumatoid arthritis," says Randy S. Longman, MD, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Littman's laboratory and a gastroenterologist at Weill-Cornell, and an author on the new study. Exactly how this expansion relates to disease remains unclear even in animal models, he says.
Why P. copri growth seems to take off in newly diagnosed patients with rheumatoid arthritis is also unclear, the researchers say. Both environmental influences, such as diet and genetic factors can shift bacterial populations within the gut, which may set off a systemic autoimmune attack. Adding to the mystery, P. copri extracted from stool samples of newly diagnosed patients appears genetically distinct from P. copri found in healthy individuals, the researchers found.
To determine if particular bacterial species correlate with rheumatoid arthritis, the researchers sequenced the so-called 16S gene on 44 fecal DNA samples from newly diagnosed patients with rheumatoid arthritis prior to immune-suppressive treatment; 26 samples from patients with chronic, treated rheumatoid arthritis; 16 samples from patients with psoriatic arthritis (characterized by red, flaky skin in conjunction with joint inflammation); and 28 samples from healthy individuals.
Seventy-five percent of stool samples from patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis carried P. copri compared to 21.4% of samples from healthy individuals; 11.5% from chronic, treated patients; and 37.5% from patients with psoriatic arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is treated with an assortment of medications, including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs like steroids, and immunosuppressive therapies that tame immune reactions. Little is understood about how these medications affect gut bacteria. This latest research offers an important clue, showing that treated patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis carry smaller populations of P. copri. "It could be that certain treatments help stabilize the balance of bacteria in the gut," says Jose U. Scher, MD, director of the Microbiome Center for Rheumatology and Autoimmunity at NYU Langone Medical Center's Hospital for Joint Diseases, and an author on the new study. "Or it could be that certain gut bacteria favor inflammation."
The researchers plan to validate their results in regions beyond New York, since gut flora can vary across geographical regions, and investigate whether the gut flora can be used as a biological marker to guide treatment. "We want to know if people with certain populations of gut bacteria respond better to certain treatment than others," says Dr. Scher. Finally, they hope to study people before they develop rheumatoid arthritis to see whether overgrowth of P. copri is a cause or result of autoimmune attacks.
###
In addition to researchers from the NYU School of Medicine, investigators from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and from the Harvard School of Public Health contributed to the study. Funding for this research comes from the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the American Gastroenterological Association.
About NYU Langone Medical Center:
NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class, patient-centered, integrated academic medical center, is one of the nation's premier centers for excellence in clinical care, biomedical research, and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is composed of four hospitalsTisch Hospital, its flagship acute care facility; Rusk Rehabilitation; the Hospital for Joint Diseases, the Medical Center's dedicated inpatient orthopaedic hospital; and Hassenfeld Pediatric Center, a comprehensive pediatric hospital supporting a full array of children's health services across the Medical Centerplus the NYU School of Medicine, which since 1841 has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history. The Medical Center's tri-fold mission to serve, teach, and discover is achieved 365 days a year through the seamless integration of a culture devoted to excellence in patient care, education, and research. For more information, go to http://www.NYULMC.org, and interact with us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
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Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, center, his helped after he collapsed on the field during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, center, his helped after he collapsed on the field during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak watches from the sidelines during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
HOUSTON (AP) — Texans coach Gary Kubiak was released from a Houston hospital Tuesday after suffering what the team said was a mini-stroke during Sunday night's loss to Indianapolis.
The team said the 52-year-old Kubiak suffered a transient ischemic attack at halftime. He is expected to make a full recovery, but the Texans said they aren't sure when he'll resume his coaching duties.
"I've been through an ordeal and my focus now is to get back to good health," Kubiak said in a statement released by the team. "Doctors have told me I will make a full recovery."
Kubiak collapsed on the field and was rushed to a hospital. The Texans blew an 18-point lead without him and the 27-24 setback was the team's sixth straight loss.
A transient ischemic attack, or TIA, occurs when blood flow to the brain is briefly interrupted, typically by a blood clot or narrowed blood vessels. TIAs are often called mini-strokes and can cause stroke-like symptoms including sudden dizziness, numbness, vision loss or unconsciousness, though symptoms last only a few minutes or a few hours and no permanent brain damage occurs. TIAs are often a warning sign for a future stroke.
The team didn't name an interim coach as the Texans prepare for Sunday's game at Arizona. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, a former head coach for Dallas, took over after Kubiak was taken to the hospital and he ran Houston's practice on Monday. The Texans will need to figure out who's calling the plays on offense since that was done by Kubiak.
Kubiak's health problems are the latest blow to a team already in disarray in an underperforming season filled with numerous injuries and the benching of quarterback Matt Schaub. The six-game skid is tied for the longest losing streak in Texans history.
Now the Texans will try to regroup and adjust to Kubiak's likely absence on Sunday. Players said they believe Houston's assistant coaches will prepare them well for Sunday's game with Kubiak out.
"I think we're in great hands with whoever has to step up," linebacker Joe Mays said. "You're in great hands because we have a great group of coaches."
Kubiak was the second NFL coach with a severe medical issue this past weekend. Denver Broncos coach John Fox underwent heart surgery in North Carolina on Monday after being hospitalized on Saturday. Fox felt dizzy last week and doctors recommended immediate aortic valve replacement surgery.
Kubiak was hired in 2006 and is in the midst of a three-year deal that has him under contract through 2014. An eighth-round pick out of Texas A&M, he spent nine years as John Elway's backup in Denver and has made his mark as an offensive guru and quarterbacks mentor.
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner contributed to this report from Chicago.
Revealing a brand new ‘do, Jada Pinkett Smith arrived on the red carpet at the Make Equality Reality event in Beverly Hills last night (November 4).
The sexy 42-year-old showed off her partially shaved ponytail and rocked a J Mendel frock as she socialized with her fellow industry pals including Alyson Hannigan and Colbie Caillat.
Jada supported the Equality Now foundation, which aims to protect women’s right around the world.
Per the organization’s webpage, the group started with a “small dedicated group of volunteer activists in a few countries, and only on-the-street t-shirt sales to help with startup costs….we now have offices in New York, Nairobi and London as well as a presence in Amman, Jordan and Washington, DC. Our Action Network has grown to more than 35,000 members in 160 countries.”
Returning to her favorite tattoo artist for some very special ink, Miley Cyrus headed to Kat Von D for her latest body art.
On Tuesday (November 5), the "We Can't Stop" singer posted a photo of a portrait of a woman on her forearm with the caption, "because i am her favorite & she is mine."
Clearing up just who the woman is, Kat shared a series of pics of the work in progress with the comment, "Grandmas rule."
Previously, Miley had the "L.A. Ink" star tattoo her three times, including two crossed arrows on her right elbow and a miniature rendition of a da Vinci anatomical heart on her forearm.
Contact: Jill Stockton jbstockton@unr.edu 775-784-4783 University of Nevada, Reno
'Robert Laxalt: Story of a Storyteller' sheds light into the less illuminated corners of Laxalt's personal and career sagas
The Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, University Libraries Special Collections and the University's Center for Basque Studies recently released Warren Lerude's book Robert Laxalt: Story of a Storyteller.
In this new biography, Lerude, professor emeritus of journalism, focuses on Laxalt's development as a writer, especially through his formative days as a journalist in Reno and Carson City, and on to Laxalt the family man, teacher, publisher and much more.
Lerude said, "The odyssey of this book began with an idea from my long-time friend and colleague Bruce Bledsoe. Bruce brought it to my attention that of the 17 books Laxalt wrote, none of them were biographical in nature. With a little nudging from Joyce, Bob's wife of 52 years, and their daughters Monique, an attorney and novelist, and Kristin, a physician, I decided to take on the project."
Robert Laxalt, whose journalism, creative nonfiction and fiction made him a national and international literary figure, is the most acclaimed writer from the state of Nevada in modern times. His 1957 classic, Sweet Promised Land, not only brought to life the immigrant experience of the Basques who had come to the United States as sheepherders, it also served as an exemplary story for all immigrants to the United States.
Laxalt, who died in 2001 at 77 years old, left a legacy of evidence about his writing life in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at the Knowledge Center. Special Collections is home to 26.5 cubic feet of Laxalt's papers spread throughout 33 rectangular boxes.
"So much of what Laxalt was known for is contained in our collection," Jacquelyn Sundstrand, manuscripts and archives librarian for the Special Collections Department, said. "Warren reviewed numerous drafts of Laxalt's various novels, manuscripts, correspondence and more to help bring his professional history to life."
The book is published by the Center for Basque Studies, which publishes high-quality books in English on Basque-related topics. The Laxalt biography is the inaugural book in a new series, Basque Originals, which presents lively, entertaining and informative books on a variety of subjects relating to Basques around the world and the experience of being Basque.
"Robert Laxalt is a father figure for many Basque-related initiatives," Dan Montero, publications editor for the Center for Basque Studies, said. "He was a key person who helped create the Basque Studies program and the Basque library at the University,, served as the first director of the University of Nevada Press and was an extremely important writer in the Basque community. As a result, it is no surprise he was largely responsible for the creation of the Basque identity in the United States."
"There is no one better suited to tell the story of a great storyteller than someone who fits that description himself," Joe Crowley, president emeritus of the University of Nevada, Reno, said. "Warren has given us a remarkable chronicle of the life of Nevada legend Robert Laxalt. It is a book that is thoroughly researched, crisply written and honest to a fault. This is a biography about a man, Bob Laxalt, who richly deserves one. It will surely stand the test of time."
###
About Warren Lerude:
Warren Lerude is a professor emeritus of the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism and a longtime Reno newspaper editor and publisher. In 1977, he led a team of journalists to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He is the co-author of the best-seller American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and author of the text of another best-seller Robert Cameron's Above Tahoe and Reno. He was a professor of media law, management and professional internships for 32 years at the journalism school.
About Special Collections:
The Special Collections and University Archives Department houses, preserves and provides access to unique, specialized and historically significant resources to support research, teaching and learning at the University of Nevada, Reno. Members of the public are welcome to use the collections.
About the Center for Basque Studies:
The Center for Basque Studies is an international study center dedicated to research into and publishing on Basque topics. In addition to our research mission, the center provides basic Basque language instruction, gives undergraduate and graduate classes on many Basque topics, hosts international scholars and conferences, promotes research, offers a doctorate program and an undergraduate minor, and publishes a wide variety of books.
To purchase the book: http://basquebooks.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/robert-laxalt-the-story-of-a-storyteller
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Lerude pens biography on Robert Laxalt
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
5-Nov-2013
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Contact: Jill Stockton jbstockton@unr.edu 775-784-4783 University of Nevada, Reno
'Robert Laxalt: Story of a Storyteller' sheds light into the less illuminated corners of Laxalt's personal and career sagas
The Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, University Libraries Special Collections and the University's Center for Basque Studies recently released Warren Lerude's book Robert Laxalt: Story of a Storyteller.
In this new biography, Lerude, professor emeritus of journalism, focuses on Laxalt's development as a writer, especially through his formative days as a journalist in Reno and Carson City, and on to Laxalt the family man, teacher, publisher and much more.
Lerude said, "The odyssey of this book began with an idea from my long-time friend and colleague Bruce Bledsoe. Bruce brought it to my attention that of the 17 books Laxalt wrote, none of them were biographical in nature. With a little nudging from Joyce, Bob's wife of 52 years, and their daughters Monique, an attorney and novelist, and Kristin, a physician, I decided to take on the project."
Robert Laxalt, whose journalism, creative nonfiction and fiction made him a national and international literary figure, is the most acclaimed writer from the state of Nevada in modern times. His 1957 classic, Sweet Promised Land, not only brought to life the immigrant experience of the Basques who had come to the United States as sheepherders, it also served as an exemplary story for all immigrants to the United States.
Laxalt, who died in 2001 at 77 years old, left a legacy of evidence about his writing life in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at the Knowledge Center. Special Collections is home to 26.5 cubic feet of Laxalt's papers spread throughout 33 rectangular boxes.
"So much of what Laxalt was known for is contained in our collection," Jacquelyn Sundstrand, manuscripts and archives librarian for the Special Collections Department, said. "Warren reviewed numerous drafts of Laxalt's various novels, manuscripts, correspondence and more to help bring his professional history to life."
The book is published by the Center for Basque Studies, which publishes high-quality books in English on Basque-related topics. The Laxalt biography is the inaugural book in a new series, Basque Originals, which presents lively, entertaining and informative books on a variety of subjects relating to Basques around the world and the experience of being Basque.
"Robert Laxalt is a father figure for many Basque-related initiatives," Dan Montero, publications editor for the Center for Basque Studies, said. "He was a key person who helped create the Basque Studies program and the Basque library at the University,, served as the first director of the University of Nevada Press and was an extremely important writer in the Basque community. As a result, it is no surprise he was largely responsible for the creation of the Basque identity in the United States."
"There is no one better suited to tell the story of a great storyteller than someone who fits that description himself," Joe Crowley, president emeritus of the University of Nevada, Reno, said. "Warren has given us a remarkable chronicle of the life of Nevada legend Robert Laxalt. It is a book that is thoroughly researched, crisply written and honest to a fault. This is a biography about a man, Bob Laxalt, who richly deserves one. It will surely stand the test of time."
###
About Warren Lerude:
Warren Lerude is a professor emeritus of the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism and a longtime Reno newspaper editor and publisher. In 1977, he led a team of journalists to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He is the co-author of the best-seller American Commander in Spain: Robert Hale Merriman and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and author of the text of another best-seller Robert Cameron's Above Tahoe and Reno. He was a professor of media law, management and professional internships for 32 years at the journalism school.
About Special Collections:
The Special Collections and University Archives Department houses, preserves and provides access to unique, specialized and historically significant resources to support research, teaching and learning at the University of Nevada, Reno. Members of the public are welcome to use the collections.
About the Center for Basque Studies:
The Center for Basque Studies is an international study center dedicated to research into and publishing on Basque topics. In addition to our research mission, the center provides basic Basque language instruction, gives undergraduate and graduate classes on many Basque topics, hosts international scholars and conferences, promotes research, offers a doctorate program and an undergraduate minor, and publishes a wide variety of books.
To purchase the book: http://basquebooks.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/robert-laxalt-the-story-of-a-storyteller
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