RIPON, Wis. – Vice President and Dean of Faculty Gerald Seaman recently completed and released his first book, Seeking Real Truths: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Machiavelli (Brill Academic Publishers, 2007).

Together with his wife and co-editor Patricia Vilches, Seaman spent two years compiling contributions by 15 additional authors to create the 447-page text. Seeking Real Truths combines perspectives on Machiavelli’s writings about government, his creative works and his legacy. The result is intended to appeal to both generalists seeking baseline knowledge of Machiavelli and specialists interested in critical views of Machiavelli to approach their subject from different angles.

According to Seaman, the culmination of this book was as satisfying as it was cathartic.

“This experience has given me great appreciation for the sorts of things that challenge and inspire scholars as they undertake large-scale projects,” he said.

With the ink barely dry on his first book, Seaman is already thinking about what comes next, most likely a new research question related to Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien and the connections that may exist between genealogy, history and destiny in his creative work.

About Ripon College
Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. Ripon has consistently been recognized as a “best value” and “Best 366 College” by The Princeton Review, a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s, a “Best Liberal-Arts College” by Washington Monthly, and is listed among the 160 best schools in the nation by Colleges of Distinction. For more information about Ripon College, visit www.ripon.edu.

 Gerald Seaman

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