To Love Is to Act: Les Misérables and Victor Hugo’s Vision for Leading Lives of Conscience
Foreword by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, creators of the musical Les Misérables
Chicago: Swan Isle Press,  2020.
Distributed by the University of Chicago Press.       
256 pages | 34 halftones | 6 x 9 | $30
~ Begin the Introduction        ~ See the Table of Contents        ~ Order the Book
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~ Recommendation by Telos Group Co-founder

  • A Hillbilly in Paris — A Modern Story of Redemption
    A Hillbilly in Paris — A Modern Story of Redemption

    Marva’s op-ed about the redemptive power of education and travel appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch on April 5, 2021. She has always learned a great deal from her students, but Virgil brought her new understandings about resilience and courage. Here is the text of the op-ed:

    My former student, Virgil Motley, recently died of respiratory failure. A sad loss of a memorable character, I thought — but I didn’t know the half of it.

    I came to know Virgil and Wanda Gunnoe, his “friend since kindergarten,” during my 2018 “Victor Hugo in Paris” course about the French poet and advocate for social justice. VirgilRead more »