EVANSTON, Ill., Oct. 16, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Choices, a new book by Theodore L. Gross, is a vivid portrait of one man's rise to the leadership of a university and the personal consequences of his overvaulting ambition.
The novel follows the life and times of a man who overcomes many obstacles on his way to becoming a university's president. His name is Scott Bernstein and this book traces his journey as an administrative leader in the trauma of open admissions at Gotham College in New York to his presidency of Jefferson University in Chicago, a mid-size institution that resembles the large majority of colleges and universities struggling with open access and academic standards, and the fundraising essential for their survival. His first wife Sandy is loathe to leave New York and sacrifices her successful career, even though an essential part of her shares Scott's ambition and his eagerness to be a university president. She stays by his side despite his compulsion to achieve success professionally: he decides, against her wishes, to postpone and then not have children; he publishes an indictment of open admissions in Saturday Review, which results in the loss of his job, and he leaves Gotham College for a position at Penn State, which separates them for four years.
After the tragic death of his wife, Scott marries an affluent woman who introduces him to a style of life he has never known. Together they rebuild Jefferson into a university of far greater quality, but in the process, Bernstein becomes so consumed with work that he neglects his wife. What choices does he have left and where will he end up? Read the book to find out.
Choices will appeal to anyone who cares about education, the leadership of our universities (and by extension all institutions), and more broadly about the private conflict most people experience between "perfection of the life or of the work." Beyond these worthy concerns is a gripping story of one man's fatal attraction to work as the definition of life.
To order a copy of Theodore L. Gross' Choices, please visit your local bookstore or call Xlibris at 1-888-795-4274 today.
About the Author
Theodore L. Gross is the author or editor of sixteen books and numerous articles on literature and education. His major publications include Academic Turmoil: The Reality and Promise of Open Education, Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America, and The Heroic Ideal in American Literature. In 2005 he published his memoirs, The Rise of Roosevelt University: Presidential Reflections. Choices is his first novel. He has served as a faculty member or administrator at the City College of New York, the Pennsylvania State University, the State University at Purchase, and the University of Nancy in France. From 1988 to 2002, he was the president of Roosevelt University, where he is president emeritus. Currently, he is teaching courses in American literature, leadership, and the literature of Chicago and completing a second novel.
Choices * by Theodore L. Gross
Publication Date: 09/23/2008
Trade Paperback; $19.99; 345 pages; 978-1-4363-3759-5
Cloth Hardback; $29.99; 345 pages; 978-1-4363-3760-1
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7479. Tear sheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marketing Services. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x.7876.