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1998 Alpha Sigma Nu National Jesuit Book Award Winners

Alpha Sigma Nu, the Honor Society of Jesuit colleges and universities, announces the winners of the Nineteenth Annual National Jesuit Book Awards in the category of Professional Studies. The winners were chosen from among 44 entries representing 17 Jesuit institutions.

First place goes to The Challenger Launch Decision (University of Chicago Press, 1997) by Diane Vaughan, an associate professor of sociology at Boston College. Challenger was cited for its serious and exact scholarship presented with mastery, clarity, and objectivity. In examining the aftermath of the Challenger disaster, Professor Vaughan goes beyond the level of bureaucratic decision-making into a deep investigation of a crucial contemporary concern: the culture of power, and the power of culture.

Law and the Company We Keep (Harvard University Press, 1995) by Aviam Soifer (Boston College School of Law), received the second award. In Law, Dean Soifer examines what should be the proper attitude of the law to the various ethnic, racial, political and religious groups which constitute our pluralistic society. In reviewing Law and the Company We Keep, one of the judges stated: "I am impressed by the detailed and numerous references that buttress the analysis of nearly every page, the fact that these references reflect all sides of the questions, and the book itself is written with clarity and is splendidly organized."

Two books tied for third place.

The Fragile Community (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahway, New Jersey, 1997) by Mara B. Adelman (Seattle University) and Lawrence R. Frey (Loyola University Chicago) is a sensitive sociological analysis of community formation in a terminal facility for persons dying of AIDS. Adelman and Frey explore the rituals and coping mechanisms developed by individuals suffering from a serious and painful disease which allow them to preserve community and keep at bay the additional suffering of alienation.

Landmarking (Loyola Press. 1997) by Thomas M. Lucas, SJ (University of San Francisco) is a different topic altogether. Using the venue of architecture, Fr. Lucas explores the strong complimentary impact that urban culture and the Society of Jesus have had on each other. In the opinion of one of the judges, Lucas's book is "elegantly composed and graced with very helpful photographs, maps, drawings and other like devices."