Jamie MacGuire ‘70 has recently published Out of Time: Surviving the Sixties, a poignant memoir of a decade that remains iconic in the American imagination, whether in the turbulent election year of 2020, or any season, for Baby Boomers and all the generations after. Set in a still bucolic Long Island, at a boarding school on Narragansett Bay, in San Francisco, Wyoming, Woodstock, Washington and Minnesota Outward Bound, the book chronicles a coming of age filled with uncertainty, intensity, increasing violence, and the search for drugs, sex, rock 'n roll, and, most of all, God.

"I was inspired to write this book by the fact that my 50th Reunion at Portsmouth was nigh and could not have anticipated when I began to write the striking parallels between the late 1960s and 2020. Doing so enabled me to reflect upon and appreciate more than ever the priceless treasure of a Benedictine education, the many wonderful, if sometimes eccentric, monks who provided it (the book is dedicated to the memory of Father Hilary, and Father Andrew figures prominently as well as many others), the timeless glory of the Belluschi campus and the sublime beauty of its setting on Narragansett Bay, and, finally, the dozens of lifelong friendships that were forged there and have enriched my life immeasurably ever since."

You can purchase the book via Amazon. 50% of any sales will go to a special new endowed scholarship fund to be announced in the spring of 2021.

MacGuire is one of many authors hailing from Portsmouth Abbey. Some notable recent works from alumni include:

Fletcher Bonin ’13 was recently published in a journal called "Literary Imagination." The article is entitled "The Harpooners' Dichotomous Nature in Melville's Moby-Dick, or, The Whale."

Sarah Munda ’10 is currently writing a trilogy called The Aurelian Cycle. The first book of the series, Fireborne, debuted in October 2019.

Sydney Welch ’16 has just completed the manuscript for a book to be published in December of 2020! Pre-selling the book began in July. The working title is The Art of Collaboration, and it discusses how utilizing collaborative practices can elevate creative endeavors. Sydney advocates prioritizing collaboration to lead us into a renaissance of our own time, where ideas reach their full potential because of collaborative practices. The book is a collection of interviews and commentary from successful collaborators and includes anecdotes from Abbey alumni, including Josh Okoro ’15, Bobby Cloughen ’15, Peter Vergara ’14, Jon Kuyper ’85, and Matt D’Arrigo ’90. “The inspiration stemmed from my love of art history that began at the Abbey with Allie Micheletti ’05 and led me to focus on Italian Renaissance art at Arcadia University, eventually writing my thesis on Leonardo Da Vinci.”

Sam White ‘64  has recently written Stanford White in Detail. This book about Sam’s great-grandfather, the illustrious American architect Stanford White, will be published by Monacelli Press in September. “With lots of delicious pictures and very little text, it will make the perfect hostess present for those of us lucky enough to be invited somewhere ever again.”

You can see a full list of alumni/ae authors here.