HISTORIAN NELSON LICHTENSTEIN'S STUDY OF LABOR LEADER WALTER REUTHER
WINS U.VA.'S PHI BETA KAPPA BOOK AWARD

       CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 21 -- The winner of this year's Phi
Beta Kappa Book Award at the University of Virginia for the best
scholarly book of interest to a wide audience is history professor
Nelson Lichtenstein for his recent, highly acclaimed biography, "The
Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American
Labor" (Basic Books).
       Other books written by U.Va. faculty and designated for
honorable mention in the book award competition are "Contemporary
Russian Satire: A Genre Study," by associate professor of Slavic
literature Karen Ryan-Hayes (Cambridge University Press) and "Poetry
of Mourning: The Modern Elegy from Hardy to Heaney," by English
professor Jahan Ramazani (University of Chicago Press).
       The awards, sponsored by Beta of Virginia Chapter of Phi Beta
Kappa, are designed to affirm the principle that excellent scholarship
not only generates new knowledge and insights but also makes such
knowledge and insights available to those beyond the confines of the
scholar's own discipline. By recognizing authors who achieve scholarly
excellence and at the same time make their work accessible and
relevant to a wide range of readers, Phi Beta Kappa hopes to promote
the development of community among scholars of the liberal arts and
sciences both within and outside of the University community.
       Lichtenstsein's "The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter
Reuther and the Fate of American Labor" draws on extensive research in
government and union archives to tell the story of the powerful United
Auto Workers' president who was the most creative and visionary labor
leader in the post-World War II period.
       All three winning books offer a "detailed assessment of an
extraordinary amount of documentary or interpretive evidence," the
judges' citation said. "Each clearly and successfully invites the
reader to step beyond the generally perceived boundaries of genre."
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                                                                                                      May
20, 1997
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