Arts & Culture

A roundup of recent books by Harvard faculty members.

An undergraduate on summer break is inspired to write a poem celebrating Harvard’s 375th anniversary.

The tradition of visiting faculty at Harvard’s Department of Visual and Environmental Studies brings art and insight to the classroom.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History celebrates the world of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter in a gallery scavenger hunt that has proven to be a popular and educational experience.

A Radcliffe Fellow is working on an opera about the world’s love affair with coffee and how it grew from the bean that made goats jittery to the potion we all get jittery for.

In late May and early June the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra traveled to Cuba for a series of concerts in Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Havana.

The renovated and expanded facility of the Harvard Art Museums eventually will link the University’s collections under one roof.

Through an innovative program, immigrants explore the Harvard Art Museums’ galleries, polishing their English skills and learning lessons in American democracy.

The arrival of the first components of the new Fisk Opus 139 organ for the Memorial Church was welcomed with song on June 20.

Historian Joyce Chaplin is completing her latest book, on the history and influence of circumnavigation. For her, globalization is an old story.

The new Transit Gallery in Gordon Hall at Harvard Medical School lets students and staffers appreciate the fine arts while getting from place to place.

The 2011 Elliot Norton Awards, awarded on May 23 at the Paramount Theatre in Boston, honored the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) with six awards in the Large Theater category.

A handful of authors featured in Harvard Bound over the past year answer the question: What is an essential book for today’s graduates — and why? Here are their suggestions as the newest Harvard degree-holders head out into the world.

Actress and playwright Amy Brenneman and longtime collaborator Sabrina Peck, both Harvard graduates, reunite at the American Repertory Theater to present their play about spirituality, fame, and a debilitating illness.

Harvard Linguistics Professor Maria Polinsky and her lab team work to understand and preserve ancient Mayan tongues, with the help of native speakers.

In his latest book, prolific Professor Howard Gardner insists that the enduring values of truth, beauty, and goodness remain humanity’s bedrock.

Ernest Bernbaum Research Professor on Literature Leo Damrosch retraces the nine-month journey through America by historian Alexis de Tocqueville, author of “Democracy in America,” who cannily predicted the growing social unrest toward slavery in America.

In this important book, Douglas H. Powell, a clinical instructor in psychology, discusses lifestyle habits and attitudes linked to cognitive aging, and provides evidence-based strategies to minimize mental decline.

Professor of Law Annette Gordon-Reed tackles one of the worst presidents in American history, claiming that his own racism was to blame for his shoddy performance during the Reconstruction era.

Most literature professors focus on the interpretation of texts, but Professor Leah Price wants to explore other uses to which books can be put, in the evolving interplay between reading and handling.

Humankind, after millennia of reluctance and ambivalence, surrendered finally to growing fixed crops — a precondition of modern states.

Harvard President Drew Faust delivered the 2011 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, citing similarities between the Civil War and current conflicts.

If scholars were celebrities, life might look a little bit like it does on the day of the annual Jefferson Lecture (May 2), with interviews and toasts in anticipation not of a concert or play but a speech on the humanities.

On view through May 26, “Oh, Pioneers!” offers a moment in the sun to Harvard’s graduating painters, installation artists, and filmmakers.

Documentary photographer Susan Meiselas, Ed.M. ’71, receives the 2011 Harvard Arts Medal as part of the annual Arts First Festival.

Harvard sophomore Andrew Kennard discusses his love of jazz and his experience mentoring students at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, preparing with them for the arrival of Wynton Marsalis at Harvard.

As part of a two-year lecture and performance series, jazz great Wynton Marsalis performed with a seven-piece band at Sanders Theatre.

Poet and fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Anna Maria Hong takes the traditional sonnet form and breaks it wide open in her new volume of poetry.

At a photo exhibit on Chernobyl, 25 years after the disaster, viewers get glimpses of both hope and horror.

A new exhibition of works at the Rudenstine Gallery explores the work of artist Elizabeth Catlett.