Mark West publishes two books in one week!

Dr. Mark West’s two recent books both emphasize the power of language and reading, the joy readers might find in a book, and how reading helps to cultivate empathy.

In Theodore Roosevelt and His Library at Sagamore Hill, Dr. West traces the history of Roosevelt’s “deep-seated passion for reading books” and the personal library he assembled over his lifetime, which reflected “his love of classic works of literature, his interest in history, and his fascination with the natural sciences.” Roosevelt’s love of books helped inspire a “sense of empathy for America’s recent immigrants,” as West notes in a recent interview, which “resulted in him taking pro-immigrant stands.”

A very different sort of book, The Peeve and the Grudge and Other Preposterous Poems is a book of poetry that embraces joy, fun, even silliness: “Chock-full of puns and oozing with idioms, this whimsical and witty poetry collection appeals to everyone who happily soaks in weird words and peculiar phrases. The Peeve and the Grudge and Other Preposterous Poems gives new and funny meaning to language so many of us take for granted.”