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Ackmann, Martha
The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and
Space Flight
(Lin Twining ~ Spring 2004)
Sally Ride may have been the first American woman in space (1983),
but she wasn’t the first woman to attempt to be part of the U.S.
space program. Ackmann’s book tells the story of thirteen women
pilots who worked to be part of the “manned” space program at its
inception in the 1960’s. These women underwent the same grueling
psychological and physical tests at the Lovelace Foundation as the
original astronauts. Often the women’s scores surpassed those of
their male counterparts. Yet, they received little recognition from
the public and were never admitted to the space program. Learn the
stories of these remarkable women, of NASA, and of the space race
against the Soviets.
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the
Opening of the American West
(Jeff Gall ~ Spring 2003)
This
engaging biography of Lewis in particular, is drawn from the
extensive journals of both Lewis and Clark. Readers gain a sense of
the challenges faced by the team of exploration, their relations
with Native Americans, and the long-term impact of their efforts.
The journey was truly a turning point in American history, firmly
established our commitment to expansion, and forever impacted North
American political, social, and environment history. With the
bicentennial of the voyage approaching, it is important to look back
at the experience and see what it can teach us about today's
America.
Beal, Timothy
Religion and Its Monsters
(Michael Ashcraft ~Fall 2004)
The
Bible isn't all love and sweetness. Monsters live there, in both
Jewish and Christian scriptural traditions. What do they mean? And
what about today's monsters - Frankenstein and Dracula? Can we fit
them into a religious way of looking at the world? This book
explores these and many similar ideas in short, easy-to-read
chapters.
Brown, Dan
The DaVinci Code
(Barbara Price ~ Spring 2004) ~ Spring 2004)
Two
current best sellers, Tracy Chevalier’s The Girl with a Pearl
Earring and Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, feature famous paintings.
The Girl with a Pearl Earring creates an imaginative life for the
young women featured in Vermeer’s painting of the same title, a life
that is so convincing the reader begins to believe the verbal
portrait preceded the visual one. The reader is caught up in
Vermeer’s world and learns a great deal about the man and the
culture in which he lived. Brown’s The DaVinci Code is a fast-paced,
carefully crafted thriller in which works of Leonardo DaVinci play a
key role. This book has won popular and critical praise, as well as
igniting considerable controversy for its consideration of ideas
that challenge fundamental Catholic precepts and practices.
Carefully researched and compelling, this novel is guaranteed to
prompt lively discussion.
Chatwin, Bruce
The Songlines
(Alanna Preussner ~ Spring 2003)
The
Songlines combines autobiography, travel writing, philosophical
investigation, art analysis, and ethnic examination. Bruce Chatwin
was a self-made man, an antiques expert, who later focused on travel
writing and impressions of different cultures. In Australia's
Outback, he wandered with aboriginal nomads and learned their
extraordinary creation stories. This book goes beyond travelogue,
however: it's a deeply moving account of how people make sense of
their lives and how they fit into their world. The Songlines is a
personal voyage, not just a tourist's snapshots of an exotic,
foreign culture.
Chevalier, Tracy
The Girl with a Pearl Earring
(Barbara Price ~ Spring 2004)
Two
current best sellers, Tracy Chevalier’s The Girl with a Pearl
Earring and Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, feature famous paintings.
The Girl with a Pearl Earring creates an imaginative life for the
young women featured in Vermeer’s painting of the same title, a life
that is so convincing the reader begins to believe the verbal
portrait preceded the visual one. The reader is caught up in
Vermeer’s world and learns a great deal about the man and the
culture in which he lived. Brown’s The DaVinci Code is a fast-paced,
carefully crafted thriller in which works of Leonardo DaVinci play a
key role. This book has won popular and critical praise, as well as
igniting considerable controversy for its consideration of ideas
that challenge fundamental Catholic precepts and practices.
Carefully researched and compelling, this novel is guaranteed to
prompt lively discussion.
Cisneros, Sandra
Carmelo
(Carol Marshall ~ Fall 2004)
Have
you ever thought that you might have the most eccentric family in
the world? Not so fast; you need to meet the Reyes clan in Sandra
Cisneros' latest novel, Caramelo. Follow this extended
Mexican-American family on a riotous pilgrimage from Chicago, where
Celaya, her parents and her 6 brothers share a flat full of
mismatched furniture, to the house of the Awful Grandmother in the
heart of Mexico City. Try to solve the mystery of the huge family
secret and watch everyone from Fidel Castro to Nohuichana, the fish
goddess, dance by in a cumbia line at the end of the novel. Laugh,
cry, and learn some Spanish phrases that you won't find in the
glossary of your textbook.
Dawkins, Richard, editor
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003
(Wendy Miner ~ Spring 2004)
The
connection between science, nature, and daily living fascinates me.
I thoroughly enjoy reading The Best American Series as a means of
staying informed through good literature. In this series of essays,
Dawkins, the Cambridge University evolutionary biologist, has chosen
29 pieces of science and nature writing with strong political
overtones, which lend themselves to rich conversation about our
perspectives on human nature and life in the United States.
Selections include essays examining the reaction to September 11th,
diet and nutrition, origins of Judeo-Christian culture, killing
coyotes, and antiballistic missile defense.
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
(Alanna Preussner ~Fall 2004)
When
politicians talk about poverty and the minimum wage, they debate
about statistics. Author Barbara Ehrenreich lived the experience:
she moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, working as a waitress,
hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart
salesperson. She lived in cheap dumps and scrambled to make ends
meet. In the process, she came to appreciate the incredibly
demanding physical and mental effort minimum-wage workers put in
every day, and she learned about coping strategies, humor, and
resilience. Ehrenreich’s book is engaging and funny, and she makes
us think seriously about a life that’s invisible to many Americans.
Greene, Brian R.
The Elegant Universe: Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the
Ultimate Theory
(Dennis Leavens ~ Spring 2003)
A
blend of writing for the layperson and scientific insight, this text
discusses string theory, the eleven dimensions of our universe, the
fabric of space, and the generation of matter from vibrations of
tiny loops of energy. Greene uses commonplace examples like
amusement park rides and ants on a hose to illustrate the beautiful
world of theoretical physics
Halberstam, David
The Fifties
(Jeff Gall. ~ Fall 2003)
At
first glance, the 1950s seem like a slower-paced, simpler time. But
beneath the surface, social ferment was beginning. The early civil
rights movement, the Beat generation, birth control, television,
suburbanization, McDonalds -- all of these forces and many more make
the fifties a pivotal decade that helped create the culture we live
in today. Read about a time that gave birth to modern America (and
quite likely your parents).
Horwitz, Tony
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
(Alanna Preussner ~ Spring 2004)
The
uproar about Confederate flags on pickup trucks, a state capitol,
and historic graveyards ought to convince us: though the South
hasn’t risen again, many Americans believe that the Civil War
continues. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz’s interest
in “hard-core” Civil War re-enactors’ devotion to the Lost Cause led
him to a tremendous journey through ten states, from Vicksburg to
Gettysburg. His interviews on battlefields, in bars, and in living
rooms reveal a funny, touching, and provocative view of a deep rift
in today’s America. Whether you call the conflict the Civil War or
the War of Northern Aggression, Horwitz’s book will make you think
about this pivotal event in America’s history and present.
Irwin, William editor
The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer
(Martin Eisenberg. ~ Fall 2003)
Homer
Simpson declared “Cartoons don’t have any deep meaning. They’re just
stupid drawings that give you a cheap laugh.” The Simpsons and
Philosophy puts Homer’s declaration to the test. What can we learn,
if anything, from the show scheduled to begin its fifteenth season
on prime-time television?
Kingsolver, Barbara
Small Wonder: Essays
(Nancy Sanders ~ Fall 2003)
Small
Wonder is a collection of essays written initially as a response to
the events of 9/11/01. Barbara Kingsolver writes "Within a month I
had published five different responses to five different facets of a
huge event in our nation's psychology - little pieces that helped me
see the thing whole and try to bear it. I kept going. Soon I
understood that I was examining aspects of life that seemed a world
away from the World Trade Center towers or the Pentagon, but a world
away is exactly where this grief begins and ends. This is a
collection of essays about who we seem to be, what remains for us to
live for, and what I believe we could make of ourselves. It began in
a moment but ended with all time."
Oates, Joyce Carol and Robert Atwan
The Best American Essays of the Century
(Marty Eisenberg and others ~Fall 2004)
Discuss
some of the finest American writing of the Twentieth Century with
guest facilitators. Facilitators include President Dixon, Vice
President for Academic Affairs Garry Gordon, Director of Libraries
Richard Coughlin, Registrar Kay Anderson, Dean of Planning Michael
McManis and others.
Robbins, Alexandra
Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities
(Marty Eisenberg ~Fall 2004)
Alexandra
Robbins wanted to know if the stereotypes of sorority life were
actually true so she spent a year undercover with a group of women
in a sorority. She explores what membership requires of these women.
As she recounts the sorority experiences, she explores our need to
belong and the pressures facing women on college campuses.
Rodriquez, Richard
Brown: The Last Discovery of America
(Marty Eisenberg ~ Spring 2003)
Traditionally,
Americans think of race relations in terms of black and white. As a
Hispanic, Richard Rodriguez explores the "browning" of America. He
asks how does America's growing Hispanic population challenge our
conception of race and how we define America. As the book jacket
says, however, "to describe Brown as a book about race is
misleading: It is really a book about America in the broadest sense,
a look at what our country is, full of surprising observations by a
writer who is a marvelous stylist as well as a trenchant observer
and thinker."
Rosenblum, Naomi
A World History of Photography
(Dennis Leavens. ~ Fall 2003)
A
World History of Photography encompasses the entire range of the
medium, from the camera lucida to the latest computer technology,
and from Europe and the Americas to the Far East. It investigates
all aspects of photography - aesthetic, documentary, commercial, and
technical - while placing it in historical context. Rosenblum
devotes special attention to topics such as portraiture,
documentation, advertising, and photojournalism, and to the camera
as a medium of personal artistic expression.
Saramago, Jose
Blindness (translated by Giovanni Pontiero)
(Marty Eisenberg ~ Spring 2004)
In
its press release announcing the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy
described Blindness: “Its omniscient narrator takes us on a horrific
journey through the interface created by individual human
perceptions and the spiritual accretions of civilization. Saramago's
exuberant imagination, capriciousness and clear-sightedness find
full expression in this irrationally engaging work." The novel
recounts the experience of a doctor and his wife as an epidemic of
blindness hits an unnamed European city. This beautifully written
yet disturbing novel asks us to ponder the strengths and weaknesses
of the human spirit.
Sobel, Dava
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest
Scientific Problem of His Time
(Phil Ryan ~ Spring 2004)
Many
thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to
the inability to determine longitude, your east-west position. In
1714 England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose
method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. This is
the story of the clock maker, John Harrison, who solved the problem
that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer.
Tygiel, Jules
Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
(Jeff Gall. ~ Spring 2004)
Jackie Robinson first wore a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform 56 years
ago, yet his legacy lives on. He is truly one of the heroic figures
in American history. Tygiel argues that America "has yet to produce
a more compelling prophecy of a just, interracial society than that
which we envision when we invoke the memory of Jackie Robinson." The
focus of this book is a baseball player, but it is about so much
more. Robinson's story provides a window through which to view
American culture in the middle of the last century, and his stunning
entry into "America's Game" had a dramatic impact on all of American
life -- a decade before the Civil Rights Movement hit full swing.
Verghese, Abraham
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story of a Town and its People in the Age
of AIDS
(Lin Twining ~ Spring 2003)
My Own Country is the story of an immigrant physician from
India, his choice to practice medicine in the rural areas of
Virginia and Tennessee, and his encounter with the AIDS epidemic in
this unlikely setting. The author includes relevant scientific
detail about the epidemic, but more importantly tells the stories of
the individuals, and the families, afflicted by this fatal disease.
At the same time Verghese shares his own explorations for a place in
the world as physician and community member. Discussion of the book
will include a visit from a physician who spent more than a decade
working in an urban setting at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.
Walker, Margaret
Jubilee
(Jeff Gall ~ Fall 2004)
Jubilee
is a historical novel telling the life of a Georgia slave named Vyry.
Readers will experience an in-depth look at her life on a plantation
before, during, and after the Civil War. Loosely based on the life
of Walker's great-grandmother, this unforgettable story offers one a
description of America's "peculiar institution" from the inside, and
how it impacted blacks, whites, rich, and poor. The novel also
dramatically describes attitudes that led to America's costliest
conflict and how its aftermath left wounds that America has yet to
fully heal.
Wittman, Juliet
Breast Cancer Journal: A Century of Petals
(Alanna Preussner. ~ Fall 2003)
Juliet Wittman’s Breast Cancer Journal is a survivor’s story, one
woman’s account of a mental and spiritual journey through a
much-feared disease. It tells the truth about diagnosis, surgery,
chemotherapy, and aftercare. However, it is also spirited and
funny—a real page-turner that involves the reader fully in an
absorbing personal story. Juliet Wittman has a compelling voice,
since she’s both a journalist and an artist. She puts us right in
the middle of the doctor’s office or her family’s home. She also
shows the power of making choices when we’re afraid and finding
resources to help ourselves. Breast Cancer Journal was a finalist
for the National Book Award, and it is appropriate for both men and
women.
INDV 150-01 01 or 02
His Brother’s Keeper by Jonathan Weiner
Jeff Gall
Mondays February 14 – April 18, 11:30 am – 1:20 pm or 5:00- 7:00 pm
in Centennial Hall Private Dining Room
Schedule Number: 2702 or 2703
At
the heart of this book is the question, “What would you do to save
your brother’s life?” This is the true story of two brothers, one a
carpenter and one an engineer. In the late 1990s twenty-nine year
old Stephen, the carpenter, contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Jamie, the engineer, dropped
everything in his life in an attempt to bring the world’s greatest
doctors and scientists together to find a cure and save his
brother’s life. The book is about new frontiers in science and
medicine, but even more, it is a book about hope, ambition, and
love. It challenges us to wonder how much control we can really have
over our own lives and the lives of those closest to us.
INDV 150-03 The Razor’s Edge
by W. Somerset Maugham
Jennifer Marcus
Mondays February 14 – April 18, 5:30-7:30 pm in the Student
Union Room 308
Schedule Number: 2805
Come
meet Larry Darryl, who returns to Chicago from World War I and says
a quiet “No” to marriage, a promising job offer, and everything else
that’s expected of him. The story lies in what Larry says “Yes”
to—you’ll be amazed. With an epigraph from the Upanishads and a
first sentence that reads, “I have never begun a novel with more
misgiving,” you may wish you could meet the author himself. We will
explore this unforgettable novel and learn something about the
novelist.
INDV 150-04 A Heartbreaking Work
of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Alanna Preussner
Wednesdays February 16– April 13, 5:00-7:00 pm in Missouri Hall
Lounges
Schedule Number: 2806
Dave
Egger’s book is part autobiographical memoir, part experimental
fiction, and all engrossing. It’s the story of a college senior who
loses both his parents to cancer, inherits the care of his little
brother, and tries to figure out his own identity. Despite the real
pain of its beginnings, this book isn’t depressing. It’s often goofy
and hilarious, and Eggers’ humor leads to deep insights about family
and self. He deliberately blurs the lines between fact and fiction,
and we as readers are privileged to be along for the wild ride.
INDV 150-05 What’s the Matter with
Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas
Frank
Marty Eisenberg
Wednesdays February 16– April 13, 5:00– 7:00 pm in the Centennial
Private Dining Room
Schedule Number: 2808
After
the Presidential Election of 2004, we have heard a lot about blue
states and red states as well as the role of values in politics. In
this thought provoking book, Thomas Frank asks why do values in the
Midwest seem to trump economic issues. He explores how Kansas, a
place once known for its radicalism, has become a bastion of
conservatives. He asks us to think about what’s important to us when
we enter the voting booth.
INDV 150-06 The Peppered Moth
by Margaret Drabble
Debbie Nothdurft
Thursdays February 17 – April 14, 5:00-7:00 in Blanton Main
Lounge
Schedule Number: 2807
Drabble’s
novel recounts the life of a family. She starts with the story of
Bessie Bawtry, a child growing up in a small South Yorkshire mining
community in the early twentieth century. Nearly a century later,
Bessie’s granddaughter, Faro Gaulden, returns to the community. As
Drabble describes relationships between the generations, she asks us
to think about the role of nature and nurture in shaping our
identities. She explores the role of genetic inheritance and
adaptation and the individual’s place in history.
INDV 150-01
Edward J. Larson
Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing
Debate Over Science and Religion
(Jeff Gall)
Mondays September 26 – November 14, 11:30 am – 1:20 pm, Centennial
Hall Private Dining Room. Schedule Number: 7884.
Eighty
years ago this year, Americans focused on the “Trial of the Century”
taking place in Dayton, Tennessee. Over the years, the story of the
“Scopes Monkey Trial” has become the stuff of American myth. Summer
of the Gods brings the summer of 1925 to life. Larson tells the
dramatic story of this trial and its larger than life participants,
including Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. In doing so,
he separates fact from fiction. He also attempts to explain why
America has yet to fully answer the questions and issues raised by
the trial. Winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for history, Summer for
the Gods is a dramatic pager turner that should lead to great
discussions about America both then and now.
INDV 150-02
Wendy Kaminer
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and
Perils of Piety
(Phil Ryan)
Mondays September 26 – November 14, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, Ryle Hall
Private Dining Room. Schedule Number: 7885.
In
a world in which "How do you feel?" seems to be a more frequently
asked question than "What do you know?", Wendy Kaminer looks at the
various ways in which our society has come to value emotion and
faith over reason and fact. In this collection of essays we examine
the rise of spiritualism and junk science. Instead of criticizing
the personal beliefs of individuals, we concentrate on the possible
public consequences of such beliefs, especially when held by
dominant or influential groups.
INDV 150-03
Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible
(Erika Sterup)
Tuesdays September 27 – November 15, 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Blanton Main
Lounge. Schedule Number: 7886.
Kingsolver’s
novel tells the story of Baptist missionary Nathan Price, who moves
his family to the Belgian Congo in 1959. As the story’s perspective
alternates between Price’s wife and each of his four young
daughters, the reader is privy to a many-sided representation of the
family’s religious, cultural, and personal conflicts. The book is
both hilarious and sad, and gives us the opportunity to discuss
themes from nature to politics with both humor and reverence
NDV 150-04
Mitch Albom
Deep Thoughts with Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a
Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson and The Five People You Meet
in Heaven
(Wynona Murphy)
Tuesdays September 27 – November 15, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Dobson Hall
Classroom. Schedule Number: 7887.
Tuesdays
with Morrie examines the relationship between a terminally ill older
man (Morrie) who is the professor and mentor of a younger man
(Mitch). They reconnect after several years and develop a strong
relationship through weekly visits. As Morrie becomes physically
weaker, he grows stronger spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
What Mitch sees in Morrie causes him to reconnect with his own
estranged family member. This book asks us think about what is most
important in our lives. In The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Albom
tells the story of Eddie, an 83 year old man whose life is routine
and meaningless. Suddenly, Eddie is killed while trying to save a
little girl. In the afterlife he meets five people who explain how
their earthly lives were connected with his. During his
conversations with the five people he desperately tries to find out
if the little girl lived. If he had saved her life, perhaps there
would be a reason for his life. The story explores the meaning of
life and how we think about the afterlife.
INDV 150-05
Paul Monette
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir
(Marty Eisenberg)
Wednesdays September 28 – November 16. 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Missouri Hall
109. Schedule Number: 7888.
At
the end of 2004, the World Health Organization estimated that
approximately 40 million individuals worldwide are living with HIV.
By the end of 2003, the Center for Disease Control estimates that
over half a million Americans have died of AIDS. Borrowed Time
returns us to the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s prior to the
introduction of antiretroviral drugs. Just as importantly, Monette
takes us beyond the statistics and makes AIDS personal as he
recounts his lover’s death from AIDS. From its first harrowing
sentence, “I don’t know if I will live to finish this,” he asks us
to ponder our own mortality. At the same time, he shares a love
story. He asks us to think about our relationships with other people
and what it means to be human in the face of our own mortality.
INDV 150-06
Jon Stewart, et. al.
America (the Book): a Citizen’s Guide to Democracy in Action
(Steven Chappell)
Thursdays September 22 – November 17. 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Centennial
Private Dining Room. Schedule Number: 7889.
For
the past five years, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has become a
cult phenomenon among young adults seeking an irreverent look at the
news and the media that present it. This book takes a look at
American history from the viewpoint of the show's writers, in an
irreverent and revisionist way that has sparked both controversy
(the book was banned in the state of Mississippi) and praise (it was
No. 1 on the New York Times best seller list for several weeks).
Come join a critical discussion of the book's presentation as we
compare it to the history texts with which we are more familiar and
discuss its place among them.