As soon as this week, a new book telling the story of Iowa State’s 11th president, W. Robert Parks, and the history surrounding his term will hit bookstores around the country.

On Friday, Robert Underhill, author and former chairman of the speech department, presented ISU President Martin Jischke with a copy of the book, which is titled “Alone Among Friends.”

It not only tells Parks’ biographical history, but it also has a close-up angle about ISU’s history during his term, which lasted from 1965 to 1986.

As president for 21 years, Parks led the university to international recognition, said Beverly Fisher, promotion coordinator for ISU Press, the publisher of the book.

“You can’t look at his history without looking at ISU’s history,” she said. “Robert Parks is the driving force behind it.”

Underhill researched historical documents and contemporary publications, along with conducting interviews with Parks, his family and friends, and prominent ISU colleagues, according to a press release.

Some of the book’s highlights from Parks’ life include how Parks dealt with running a university during the Vietnam War and how he broadened the university’s curriculum during that turbulent time.

“A lot of major administrators arise by pushing others down — Parks never did that,” Underhill said. “He was a leader among equals and was always approachable.”

One of Parks’ more notable accomplishments during his tenure at ISU was his action in broadening the curriculum, especially in the field of humanities, Underhill said.

“Parks was a visionary at a time when ISU needed it,” he said.

He played an important role in liberating the humanities department at a time when ISU was a very technologically oriented school, Underhill said.

“[The university] never had a more critical period than during the 1960s — impossible situation, and yet he weathered that storm and brought ISU through it,” Underhill said.

Parks did not close classes during the Vietnam crisis and was viewed as a model for the state, he said.

In conjunction with the Order of the Knoll event on Oct. 22, both Underhill and Parks will be signing books at the Scheman Building.

The official publication date for the book is Oct. 20, but Underhill said to look for it to be in bookstores as early as this week.

Underhill will have two other book signings in November. The first is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 7 at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Des Moines, and the second signing is set for Nov. 14 at Walden Books in North Grand Mall from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.