Aren't Bars and Pubs friendly places where everyone knows your name - then why are people getting killed there? We'll read the following three books to find the answers. - Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh - The Dirty Duck by Martha Grimes - The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (Please don't read ahead - we liked to solve the mysteries together.)

 Today, the typical novel sells fewer than 1000 copies over its lifetime; Uncle Tom's Cabin sold more than 3000 copies on the first day of its publication in 1852. An international sensation, it was translated into more than 20 languages by the end of the decade, and was the first American novel to be translated into Chinese, in 1901. When Lincoln met the 5 foot tall Stowe he remarked, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." Perhaps the most important novel ever written, it's fast paced, psychologically astute, and culturally informed. We will be using the Norton Critical Edition of the book, which I ask students to purchase

Join international operatic tenor, Pavarotti competition winner, and ND professor (retired) Mark Beudert for a free-wheeling exploration of the life and works of the great and complex German composer!

This semester we will read about six police department detectives as they hunt for murderers and bring them to justice. • Maigret and the Bum (1937) by George Simenon) • Ghosts (1959) Ed McBain (87th Precinct series) • The Black Echo (1990) by Micheal Connelly (Bosch series) Edgar Award • Rules of Prey (1989) by John Sanford (Prey Series) • Shock Wave (2011) by John Sandford (Virgil Flowers series)

Anthony Trollope declared, "A novel should give a picture of common life, enlivened by humour and sweetened by pathos." There is all that and more in the sixth of his Barsetshire Series, "The Last Chronicle of Barset." Here we'll find an infallible guide to the nuances of mid-Victorian society. The novel populates a whole shire in satisfying diversity and detail. Our first meeting, read chapter one.

A seminar devoted to Dante’s poem, a masterwork of late-medieval Christianity. We will follow the Pilgrim’s journey through the the three realms of the afterlife, with an emphasis on Purgatory and Paradise, and explore the contexts – autobiographical, psychological, philosophical, theological, moral – that have made the poem so life-changing for so many. We will use the three volume paperback Mandelbaum translation published in Bantam Classics, with Italian on the facing page; inexpensive and handy.

Join international operatic tenor and retired ND professor Dr. Mark Beudert (live) and the legendary Leonard Bernstein (on video) as we continue to make the workings of classical music understandable. You will be AMAZED at how much you learn! Note: no technical music knowledge required.

The Psalms have an interesting history: regarded as sacred scripture by Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- sung in ancient times and still sung today. In this class we will study the psalms themselves and their history, including their importance in the development of music and musical notation. We will learn how the singing of psalms changed from ancient times through the middle ages and into modern times. We will also learn how to sing psalms in English -- both the simplified chant of plainsong and the psalms transformed into hymns in modern hymnals. (You won't have to sing if you don't want to.)