A story about life s challenges on the home front during WWII. The setting is Pleasant Pines, Tennessee, a small ridge community. The leading character is a philosophic gravedigger and deputy, Zack Hayes. For two years, mysterious deaths have plagued the ridge....

A deanship is now seen as more of a phase in an overall academic career than as a permanent shift from teaching to administration. In fact, the nature of the job itself has changed, as has the range of likely options at the end of a dean\'s tenure....