In the 1980s and 1990s, Br. Dan Peterson, SJ, the former archivist and librarian at SI, compiled a collection of 92 SI authors who, as of 2000, had published 435 books. (The complete list is available on the SI web site.) Below are some of the more prominent scholars, novelists, non-fiction authors and poets on that list, followed by just one of their best-known works. The list is a testament to the legacy of scholarship and creativity that has always been a part of SI.
Scholars
Fr. Austin Fagothy, SJ ’17, author of Right and Reason, a landmark textbook on ethics used in many universities that has gone through 9 editions since 1953.
Robert T. Orr ’25, senior scientist with the California Academy of Sciences; former professor of biology at USF and the author of The Animal Kingdom.
Robert A. Graham ’29, a writer and researcher in Church history and the co-editor of the Actes et Documents du Saint Siège Relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, the primary sources concerning the Church and the Axis powers.
Harold Harper ’29, editor of Harper’s Review of Biochemistry, a popular medical school textbook that has sold more than a million copies since its introduction in 1939. (Harper started editing it in 1951, marking the date the text changed its name.)
Fr. JohnMcGloin, SJ ’29, history professor at USF until his death and the author ofJesuits by the Golden Gate (a primary source for this book).
Fr. Robert Ignatius Burns, SJ ’39, a preeminent scholar on medieval Spain at UCLA and the author of The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia.
Robert J. Brophy ’46, Professor of English, California State University, Long Beach and the author of numerous texts on the poet Robinson Jeffers.
Eugene C. Bianchi ’48, Professor of Religion, Emory University, Atlanta, the author of Aging as a Spiritual Journey.
David Herlihy ’48, a prominent Renaissance historian, who taught during his career at the University of Wisconsin, Harvard University, and Brown University. He is the author of The Black Death and the Transformation of the West.
Peter Raven ’53, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the author ofBiology, a popular textbook used at SI and at numerous schools around the country.
Fr. John A. Coleman, SJ ’54, professor at Loyola-Marymount University and editor of One Hundred Years of Catholic Social Thought.
James J. Sheehan ’54, professor of history at Stanford University and the co-editor of The Boundaries of Humanity.
Dudley L. Poston ’58, professor at the University of Texas and the author of The Population of Modern China.
Non-Fiction Writers
Ted Wurm ’37, The Crookedest Railroad in the World
Gerald Posner ’72 Case Closed
John Van der Zee ’53, The Gate
Novelists
Laurence Yep ’66 Dragonwings
Phillip O’Connor ’50, Stealing Home
Poets
John Savant ’48, Brendan’s Voyage and Other Poems
Fr. James Torrens, SJ ’48, The Run of the City
Fr. Robert Fabing, SJ ’60, Be Like the Sun
Robert M. Carson ’63 The Waterfront Writers
Paul Vangelisti ’63, The Extravagant Room
Robert Thomas ’68, Door to Door
Vince Gotera ’71, Dragonfly
Eugene Gloria ’77, Drivers at the Short-Time Motel