Alumni Books
We have learned that through the years, many Crossroads alums have written and published books. We want to honor their work, but we also recognize that while writing a book is a wonderful accomplishment, so is the less visible work in which all us have engaged. Since we began Crossroads fifty years ago, it has always been a fine line to walk — recognizing accomplishments that can be readily measured but equally valuing that which is often invisible. When we use the word alum, we refer to all graduates, other former students and teachers who have been at Crossroads.
Alum Book Index
Jim Abbott
Darryl Flaherty
Arthur Lieber
Carol Lieber
Carol Miller Lieber
Co-Founder of Crossroads, 1974
In the book department, let’s start with Carol who authored no less than six books. She spent most of her post-Crossroads years working with the Boston-based Educators for Social Responsibility, later known as Engaging Schools. She was a prolific writer and consultant, traveling from Anchorage to Tel Aviv sharing her wisdom and passion.
Those who knew Carol realized that her academic persona was coupled with remarkable energy and joie de vivre. There is no way that Crossroads could have come to be without her remarkable vision, planning, and creativity.
All of her books are still in print and are available at Amazon by clicking here.
NOTE: Engaging Schoolsis going out business for financial reasons. Some of Carol’s books are available now for FREE. Go to the on-line store at https://engagingschools.org/store/ and use the code FREE2024.
Darryl Flaherty
Crossroads Class of 1985
Darryl Flaherty, Crossroads Class of 1985, is now professor of Japanese History at the University of Delaware. His primary publication is Public Law, Private Practice: Politics, Profit and the Legal Profession in Nineteenth-Century Japan. The book is a study of civic society and legal practices in 19th century Japan. It examines how people in the “middle class” – such as government officials, lawyers, and reporters – resolved conflicts and shaped Japanese society and law during the transition from the Tokugawa to Meiji periods. The book has been translated into Japanese and was well-received, though with some differences in how it was perceived by Japanese historians compared to English-language scholars. Overall, the book contributes to the emerging historiography on the long transition from the Tokugawa to Meiji eras in Japan.
Darryl began his primary research on Japan when he was an AFS exchange student while at Crossroads. He majored in Chinese Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Many thanks to Darryl for all, including giving us the pleasure of renewing acquaintances at the Sept. 2024 Crossroads 50th reunion.
Jim Abbott
Crossroads Class of 1982 (Inaugural Graduating Class)
Jim Abbott, Crossroads Class of 1982, knew when he was a middle schooler that someday he would write a book about the Kennedy White House. His hero was John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy oversaw interior changes to the White House and further inspired Jim’s interest in museum curation. In 1998, along with Elaine Rice Bachmann, Jim published Designing Camelot. As you learn from the interview, Jim had excellent relations with the Kennedy family, but not with the White House curators at the time of publication.
Jim is currently Executive Director of Wright’s Ferry Mansion, Louise Steinman Von Hess Foundation in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Jim writes:
Arthur Lieber
Co-Founder of Crossroads, 1974
In 1974, Arthur and Carol Lieber co-founded Crossroads. Since leaving the school in 1989, Arthur has engaged more in another passion, working to advance social change through the political process. In 2010 and 2014 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Missouri’s Second District. Each time he lost by large margins, but felt that he could sleep soundly because he tried to run the campaigns with integrity and humility. It’s for others to judge if he succeeded in that.
Following the 2010 election, he wrote two books, one on that campaign, and another on school reform. The second book essentially called for schools to follow many of the tenets and practices of Crossroads.
In 2020, he wrote two more books, one about political introverts, and the other about how the Democratic Party might be able to reconstruct the FDR coaltion of the 1930s and 1940s.Â
He has remained active in schools with Civitas, the non-profit that he and Carol formed in 1991. He is once again active with Crossroads, reconnecting with alumni and working with students and teachers in active citizenship.
Carol Lieber’s Books
Getting Classroom Management RIGHT: Guided Discipline and Personalized Support in Secondary Schools (In the Partners in Learning Series)
4.4 out of 5
Paperback
$35.00
Making Learning REAL: Reaching and Engaging All Learners in Secondary Classrooms
By Carol Miller Lieber | Aug 15, 2009
4.4 out of 5 stars
Paperback
$41.67
Conflict Resolution in the High School: 36 Lessons
By Carol Miller Lieber & Linda Lantieri | May 1, 1998
4.4 out of 5 stars
Paperback
$47.00
Partners in Learning: From Conflict to Collaboration in Secondary Classrooms
By Carol Miller Lieber | Aug 15, 2009
5 out of 5 stars
Paperback
$65.00
Shifting Gears: Recalibrating Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support
By Carol Miller Lieber | Aug 1, 2002
5 out of 5 starsPaperback
$59.12
The Advisory Guide: Designing and Implementing Effective Advisory Programs in Secondary Schools
By Carol Miller Lieber & Rachel A. Poliner | March 1, 2004
4.4 out of 5 starsKindle
$19.99 Available Instantly
Darryl Flaherty’s Book and Interview
Darryl Flaherty’s Book
Condensed Interview with Darryl on Book (2:46)
Public Law, Private Practice; Politics, Profit, and the Legal Profession in Nineteenth-Century Japan
By Darryl Flaherty | Aug 19, 2013
Hardcover
Harvard East Asian Monographs
$39.95
Interview with Darryl on Book (6:49)
Jim Abbott’s Book and Interview
Jim Abbott’s Book
Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration and its Legacy
By James Archer Abbott and Elaine Rice Bachmann | July 28, 2021
Hardcover
White House Historical Association
$65.00
Arthur Lieber’s Books and Interview
Arthur Lieber’s Books
In 2010, Arthur ran for Congress in Missouri’s Second Congressional District when no other Democrat would. Operating on a budget considered by standards then and now, and refusing donations, he ran as an unabashed progressive Democdrat in a predominantly Republican district. In Unlikely Candidate, Arthur shares the lessons he learned about contemporary electoral politics, and suggests ways to fix our broken political system.
Arthur has had the unique opportunity to be a student, a teacher, director of a school and also run for political office. He believes that a major contributing factor to the rightward movement of the country is how conservative our schools have become. Standardized testing is the tip of the iceberg that has in largely invisible manner made schools and those who populated them much more conservative than they were several decades ago.
Arthur Lieber is a self-described introvert who loves politics, but not the circus part of it. He wants his politics to be thoughtful and focused on ‘moving the rock up the hill,’ i.e. us becoming a better society one year at a time, one decade at a time, one generation at a time. It is oxymoronic to ask introverts to ‘rise up,’ but they need to find forceful ways of communicating their needs and preferences to politicians so that they are better heard.
The Democratic Party is like a quilt with numerous identity groups — African Americans, Hispanics, recent immigrants, yung peple, educated people, women those in the LGTQ community. But what seems to be missing is the core constituency of Frankloin Roosevelt ninety years ago –white working class people. More white male professionals are feeling alienated from the party for reasons they can’t explain. In this short book, we examine and try to explain.