“In a scholarly world increasingly separated into narrow specialties, Michael Wainwright draws disparate fields of study together, enlarges our understanding of both the power of story and the setting of our moral compass, and, as a result, he helps us think more clearly and feel more deeply about race, culture, and tradition. By putting down the weapons and picking up the tools, he turns spears into plowshares.”

–Charles A. Peek, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska (Kearney Campus) and Fulbright Senior Lecturer, USA