“Publication” Class Notes

Steve McCullough (Col ’94 CM) recently published through LexisNexis a treatise on the Virginia Constitution entitled Virginia Constitutional Law.  McCullough has served as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia since 2016.

Frank Garmon Jr. (Grad ’10, ’17) has published A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era and Gilded Age, a book uncovering the shadow world of one of America’s most enigmatic and cunning criminals.

Charles Cowlam was in prison in Richmond, Virginia when the Civil War began. He was serving a ten-year sentence for mail robbery after he stole $4,000 from the mails while working as a post office clerk in Portsmouth. His trial took place on the second floor of the Norfolk City Hall, in what is now the MacArthur Memorial. Friends and family petitioned Abraham Lincoln on his behalf, noting that Cowlam was only nineteen years old when the thefts occurred. Lincoln agreed to pardon him on May 27, 1861.

Unfortunately for Cowlam the pardon from Lincoln arrived just over a month after Virginia had seceded from the Union. The governor of Virginia refused to recognize Lincoln’s authority, and Cowlam remained in prison for two more years until he convinced the President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis, to grant him a pardon.

Cowlam is the only person known to have received pardons from both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. He possessed an extraordinary ability to blend into new surroundings. He spent much of his life on the move, and he changed his name almost as frequently as he changed his story. One contemporary newspaper noted that Cowlam “has as many aliases as there are letters in the alphabet.”

When the war ended Cowlam conned his way into working as a detective investigating Lincoln’s assassination. He later parlayed this investigative experience into jobs with the Internal Revenue Service and for the British government in Ireland. In each case his employment as a detective was short lived, and his shady past always seemed to catch up with him.

Upon returning to the United States Cowlam set his sights on a political career. He convinced President Ulysses S. Grant to appoint him U.S. marshal for the northern district of Florida shortly after arriving in the state in 1872. Grant rescinded the appointment after nearly every local Republican wrote to Washington complaining that Cowlam was a fraud.

Cowlam then launched a congressional campaign on his own. He printed deceptive broadsides designed to trick voters into thinking that he had the support of a major party. Behind the scenes he worked to manipulate the selection of county election commissioners in a last-ditch effort to steal the election. The plan failed when Cowlam received only ninety-two votes across the state.

With his frauds in Florida exposed, Cowlam moved to New York where he started a fake secret society designed to appeal to urban workingmen. He spent his evenings flirting with wealthy eligible bachelorettes, neglecting to mention that he was already married. In short time he became a serial bigamist. The newspapers reported that Cowlam had married half a dozen women in a span of six month, each time disappearing with their money.

Cowlam left New York in the spring of 1874 and spent the next twelve years on the run. He reappeared in the summer of 1886 in Dayton, Ohio. This time he claimed to be a Union colonel who suffered from dementia. He could not remember his own name, where he had fought, or who he had served with, but he was certain that he was a Union colonel. The local papers described him as appearing “about forty years of age” with the initials “C.C.” tattooed on his forearm. After a three-month investigation the War Department discovered his true identity and revealed that he had never fought in the Union army.

Published by Louisian State University Press, A Wonderful Career in Crime sheds light on Cowlam’s remarkable exploits, a true story reminiscent of Catch Me If You Can. It is a must-read for anyone interested in deception, fraud, and ambition in American history.

Garmon Jr. is an assistant professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University.

Email: frank.garmon@cnu.edu

Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) wrote LIFE. Hollywood, a two-volume coffee table book set, which will be published by Taschen internationally this summer. LIFE. Hollywood is a collection of classic Hollywood photos from the archives of LIFE magazine with captions and linking essays by Humphreys.

Hayden Saunier (Col ’79 CM) has published her sixth collection of poetry, Wheel, out June 12 from Terrapin Books. Saunier’s work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, Pablo Neruda Prize, and has been published in journals such as Beloit Poetry Journal, diode, Pedestal, Plume, RHR, Thrush, and VQR, and featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writers Almanac. 

About Wheel, John Timpane writes,

“It’s a tight collection governed by theme and voice, but also by powerful formal means, especially repeated music and imagery, marked out in something like sonata form by those four “Wheels,” as sameness, otherness, repetition, singularity, and how and why whirl and interequilibrate. Gorgeous. This is the work of a poet at full throttle, full voice, persuading us to join her, farmer, actress, wife, child, adult, past, present, desirer/desired, wonderer, as she stands in winter suit of hand-me-downs amid a storm of beauty, loss, and bright abundance, feet in rubber boots, wheeled round, firmly grounded in chastening, gladdening splendor.”

Sara Shukla (Col ’02, Educ ’06) has published her debut novel, Pink Whales, a story about marriage, secrets, escape, and deceptively tidy little lives. Sharp-witted and funny, it explores the complexities of a marriage amidst change, modern parenting, and the desire to fit in, no matter how old you are, and sometimes, no matter the cost.

Charlie is already feeling adrift when she relocates to an exclusive town in coastal New England with her mysteriously distant husband, Dev, and their young twins in tow. She hopes the move will recharge her stalled marriage, and she wants her kids to feel like they belong, even if she’s clearly a fish out of water herself. In a strange new world where summer is a verb and both the harbor and the partygoers are awash in a dizzying constellation of pinks and pastels, she’s never felt so confounded or alone. She’ll need more than a preppy handbook to find her way.

Then a trio of power moms―imposing, beautiful, and monogrammed―comes to the rescue, and Charlie clings to their attention like a life raft. As Dev pulls further away, Charlie dives into her newfound friends’ circle of yacht clubs, rivalries, and bizarre theme parties, hoping to find her sea legs. She even dares to cozy up to a hot, barefoot, and aggressively flirty local. But if she’s running from her problems at home, where exactly is she escaping to? Charlie is beginning to wonder. This ridiculous new normal―and her desire to be part of it―might just eat her alive.

Shukla is an editor for WBUR’s Cognoscenti, in Boston. You can find her writing at WBUR as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeneys, and elsewhere. An alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, she lives in Massachusetts with her family.

Published by Little A, Pink Whales is on sale June 4.

“A satisfying romp through a New England enclave that’s not nearly as idyllic as it seems.”

―Kirkus Reviews

 “My house is a mess and my laundry piled to the ceiling, and it’s all Sara Shukla’s fault! I couldn’t put it down. PINK WHALES lets you go places you’re not invited, drink more than you should, and escape to the beach on nearly every page—what’s not to like?”

―Christine Simon, author of Patron Saint of Second Chances

“Pink Whales is a deep and delightful modern rom-com full of meaningful twists on love, redemption, family, and the meaning of home. A perfect read for the beach…or the yacht club.”

―Byron Lane, author of A Star Is Bored and Big Gay Wedding

“Pink Whales is a can’t-miss coastal romp where Charlie navigates the choppy waters of her new preppy town on a quest to save her marriage and bring her family together. I loved every page. Shukla has a gift for writing humor that hits deep while also exposing truth and the raw emotion that makes the story both relatable and unforgettable.”

―Rachel Barenbaum, author of Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars

“Sara Shukla’s Pink Whales is an equal parts hilarious and heartfelt portrait of class anxiety and late coming of age. With her irresistible dialogue and perfectly skewered characters, Shukla swept me into the seaside town of Rumford and all its preppy, pesky privilege. I loved reading this utterly delightful debut!” ―Liv Stratman, author of Cheat Day

Ginny Bowen Olson (Col ’98), president and founder of Brand Elements Coaching, has published her first book, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofits. Based on her role as adjunct professor of marketing for nonprofits in the Master of Public Affairs department at UNC-Greensboro for over a decade and from working with organizations in the civil society sector, this actionable guide is filled with tips and tricks to implement marketing strategy and grow brand awareness. It is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and eBook.

Dr. Howard Berryman “Berry” Edwards (’71, Med ’78 CM) published BehaveNet.com, an encyclopedia of psychiatry, including sleep medicine and addiction medicine, since 1995.

Ashley Bartley (Col ’06 CM) has released two additional titles in her social emotional learning children’s book series published by Boys Town Press. Jasper Lizard Wants to Stay Home (2023) helps young children experiencing separation anxiety and Molly and the Runaway Trolley (2023) offers children strategies for managing anxiety at home and at school. Both books include tips for caregivers, and companion resources are available from Boys Town Press. Bartley is a school counselor, author, and curriculum writer who lives with her husband and three young boys in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She is the owner and creator of the online business Counselor Station, providing curriculum and resources for school counselors.

Rick Kast (Col ’70) has published Romance With Variations, a novel concerning the relationship between Robert, a lawyer who is a classical music lover, and Anna, a pianist. There are many mysteries in Anna’s background that she is reticent about. After she disappears, Robert has to confront and resolve them to try to find her. Kast is a lawyer and classical music lover himself. He retired from the UVA General Counsel’s Office in December 2015 and lives in Charlottesville.

Steve Silbiger (Darden ’90) has written the 5th edition of his book, The Ten-Day MBA, which will be available for purchase July 2024. The book distills lessons from the country’s top business schools, including Harvard, Stanford and UVA’s own Darden School of Business. Previous editions of the book have sold over 165,000 copies and been translated into 12 languages.

Robyn McCutcheon (Col ’76 CM) has published Queer Diplomacy:  A Transgender Journey in the Foreign Service, covering her career with the Department of State largely in the Soviet Union, Russia, and other post-Soviet countries.  The book also covers her transgender journey — including at the University in the 1970s — through gender transition while serving as a diplomat in Romania.  It is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637236395.

Robert Colby (Col ’09 CM) has published his first book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South, with Oxford University Press. The book explores the survival of the slave trade during the Civil War, its effects on the inhabitants of the wartime South, and its influence on the course of the conflict. Colby is an assistant professor of history at the University of Mississippi.

Nancy Colier (Col ’87) has published her fifth book, The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted and How to Get What You Need, a radically different self-care guide to help women find the courage to express their deepest needs, nurture self-awareness, and be themselves in a world that expects them to be everything to everyone.

Colier is a psychotherapist, interfaith minister and public speaker.