This week's issue of The New Yorker features one of our own: Grace Elizabeth Hale, Commonwealth Professor of American Studies and History. In a review essay about the band R.E.M., Mark Krotov draws on Hale's 2020 book Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture. Krotov notes that Cool Town is essential reading for those hoping to understanding the culture that R.E.M. emerged from. Congratulations Professor Hale!