Bøker av Mark J Curran

RURAL ODYSSEY V - TROUBLE IN A KANSAS RIVER TOWN is a return to fiction. It tells the latest in Curran's stories of Abilene, Kansas. Trouble comes to Abilene in an unexpected armed attack on the town and its residents in 1971 by KKK and "rugged individualists" out for revenge for the conviction and imprisonment in Abilene of their relatives and cronies in past years. Following the "troubles," the author writes of protagonists Mike and Mariah's teaching at the Dwight D. Eisenhower College in Abilene, the birth of their daughter Ariel Sarah O'Brien Palafox, and the Palafox family's travel to Spain. With the passage of time and events in Abilene, Mike and Marah make a life changing move back east and work and teaching at Harvard. Book Two - a Novella - Ballad of the "Smoky Hill River Rambler" tells the story of Abilene's Mickey Clancy's dream of performing (singing and playing guiitar, including classical guitar) in the restaurants and bars in Durango and other towns of Southwest Colorado. As his music evolves and the repertoire grows, he encounters romance and surprises, not always pleasant, as an itinerant musician.

"Letters from Brazil III" is a continuation of Professor Mike Gaherty''s adventures in Brazil. It chronicles in fiction Mike''s initiation into the Portuguese-Brazilian academic world in the milieu of a major international "congress." The academic affair is followed by Mike''s friendship and involvement with singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda, the reporting for the New York Times of his songs jousting with Brazil''s "prior censorship" board, and Mike''s participation in one of Chico''s LP''s and successive concerts in Sao Paulo and Rio. The latter experience becomes dicey and dangerous with interference, surprising cooperation and then bad times with the military regime''s enforcement agency - the "Department of Public Security." Mike, still a bachelor, is entertained and then becomes enmeshed in fun times turned complicated with beautiful "carioca" women.

Letters from Brazil II is a continuation of Letters from Brazil, 2017. Mike Gaherty, now an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, is back in Brazil to continue research and begin the battle for publication in a "publish or perish" academic world. He now has a Brazilian visa as journalist-researcher in his role of writing occasional "Letters" to the New York Times's international section and is working in liaison with the Department of Research-Western Hemisphere Analysis of the US State Department (INR-WHA). "Letters" will chronicle what he sees and experiences in Brazil - politics, economics, and especially, daily life under the evolving military regime. The Brazilian intelligence agencies, the DOPS and the SNI, are aware of his role and keep constant surveillance on his activities. Life gets complicated as Mike juggles romantic interests both back at home and in Rio de Janeiro. And research evolves to treat the relationship between the folk-popular stories in verse ("literatura de cordel") and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), especially regarding the composer, singer, and musician Chico Buarque de Hollanda and his efforts to write and perform in Brazil while battling with the general's censorship laws under AI-5. There are many surprises for Mike-some pleasurable, a few dangerous. Life for a researching professor turns out to be not as pedestrian as might be expected.

A Rural Odyssey: Living Can Be Dangerous is the story of Mick O''Brien''s growing-up years on a small wheat farm in Central Kansas in the 1940s and 1950s. It tells of his Catholic Irish American pioneering farm parents, the religious and moral beliefs of their traditions, and the consequences of living the same way. Mick and his siblings inherited their traditions. The growing of their own food, the farm chores, the raising and caring of livestock, the field work on the tractor, and the harvest that provides the family subsistence, but not without danger. School, sports, having fun with buddies, and imaginary games filled Mick''s teenage years. Music, singing, playing the guitar, and a special friendship are an important chapter of that time as well but with unplanned consequences. Unforeseen challenges and the unpredictable dangers of life filled O''Brien''s days. Work and play, joy and sadness, Mick tells it all as it happened.

A Professor Takes to the Sea: Learning the Ropes on the National Geographic Explorer, Volume II, 2014 and 2016, continues Professor Currans experiences on board this great expedition ship. No longer a rookie but almost, Curran recounts early efforts to join the ship crew, staff, and guest speakers on a return trip from Salvador da Bahia to Buenos Aires in 2014 (with an Atlantic Crossing from the Cape Verde Republic thrown in) and the 2016 Atlantic Odyssey 108 trip from Ushuaia, Patagonia, to Madeira with surprises in tow. Secondly, the book details Currans contributions of speaking of Brazilian and Portuguese culture and preparing the guests for the places to be seen in Brazil and Portugals Madeira. And as in volume I, it details the trip itself At Sea with the focus on educational talks by guest speakers and recaps by the naturalists and On Shore with cultural and historical vignettes of the places visited.

A Professor Takes to the Sea: Learning the Ropes on the National Geographic Explorer Volume I Epic South America 2013 tells of Professor Currans experiences on board this great expedition ship on the 2013 voyage. The book recounts early efforts to join with the ship crew, staff, and guest speakers in the collective task of providing an enriching experience for the guests or passengers. Secondly, it details Currans contribution of speaking of Brazilian culture and preparing the guests for the places to be seen in that country. Finally, it details the trip itself: At Sea with the focus on educational talks by guest speakers and recaps by the naturalists and On Shore with cultural and historical vignettes of the places visited.

"Diário de um Pesquisador Norte - Americano no Brasil III" é o último na série "Estórias que Contei aos Estudantes". É a continuação do namoro e a odisseia do autor no Brasil, esta vez dos anos 1988 a 2005. O volume traz ao dia os momentos no Brasil e tem muito mais o caráter de simples "diário de viagem". Há ênfase na participação de congressos no Brasil, a publicação de trabalhos acadêmicos, e mais importante, a convivência com poetas, professores e pesquisadores da literatura brasileira, da literatura nordestina e literatura popular em verso. Algo de novo nesta fase final de pesquisa, escritura e vida profissional são os momentos passados na cidade de São Paulo. Um momento especial foi a participação em um evento único:" "100 Anos de Cordel" patrocinado por SESC-POMPEIA em 2001. Outros foram com Sérgio Miceli na EDUSP e Plínio Martins na ATELI¿ com a publicação dos livros finais de pesquisa no Brasil. Afinal, o livro lembra os muitos momentos de convivência social com amigos que me sustentaram através dos anos em tempos de alegria, mas também de solidão. Dedico o livro a todos eles: poetas, escritores, pesquisadores e principalmente a estes amigos falados.