Adult Summer Reading Program 2017 -- "Build a Better World": Staff Picks -- Fiction/Non Fiction

A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice--from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition. "No Logo" employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing - and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter the course of the 21st century.

The decline of the white working-class, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

In the summer of 2012, Sister Simone Campbell and a group of fellow Roman Catholic nuns toured parts of the country to rally support against Congressman Paul Ryan's budget, a plan that cut vital social programs for the hurting poor and the struggling middle class. Prayer groups turned into rallies, and small town meetings became national media events. Sister Simone became a galvanizing force for progressives of all stripes and remains a driving force for programs and policies that support faith, family, and fairness.

As we emerge from the recession, a generation is searching for practical answers about how to succeed and make positive change in the world. With real-life success stories and practical advice and exercises, "Making Good" outlines how to find opportunities to effect change and make money.

They came from a single street in a railroad town called Silvis, Illinois, a tiny stretch of dirt barely a block-and-a-half long, with an unparalleled history. The twenty-two Mexican-American families who lived on that one street sent fifty-seven of their children to fight in World War II and Korea--more than any other place that size anywhere in the country. Eight of those children died. It's a distinction recognized by the Department of Defense, and it earned that rutted, unpaved strip a distinguished name. Today it's known as Hero Street. This is the story of those brave men and their families, how they fought both in battle and to be accepted in an American society that remained biased against them even after they returned home as heroes.

"A Place of Their Own" brings the perspective of history to bear on the reality of deafness and provides fresh and important insight into the lives of Deaf Americans.

In "Better Together" Putnam and coauthor Lewis Feldstein tell the inspiring stories of people who are reweaving the social fabric by bringing their own communities together or building bridges to others.

Drawing on vast new data from the Roper Social and Political Trends and the DDB Needham Life Style -- surveys that report in detail on Americans' changing behavior over the past twenty-five years -- Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether the PTA, church, recreation clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. Putnam's groundbreaking work shows how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction.

After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers, and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, their video launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon.

This book details the skills, qualities, and strategies required to make a difference, with profiles of problem-solvers and activists from doctors to waitresses, who have all acted like giraffes and "stuck their necks out" to address issues like poverty, gang violence, and pollution. Graham's concepts and coaching tips, from communicating with sensitivity to more urgent actions like filing complaints and protesting, apply equally well to macro and micro issues, all the way down to inter-family squabbles and work conflicts.

A guide to community service and activism by three psychologists cites the benefits of communities with greater social engagement and demonstrates how to build an interpersonal network, implement change, and build shared interest groups.

From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

The fiery U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and bestselling author offers a passionate, inspiring book about why our middle class is under siege and how we can win the fight to save it.

Intended for individuals who want to start, strengthen, or revitalize a group to address a community issue, this indispensable guide includes a series of practical steps that help build a successful community organization and offers sample cases that more clearly illustrate each step.

In a bold and innovative argument, a rising legal star shows readers how the mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control. This is a terrifying reality that exists in the UK as much as in the US. Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men and deprives an entire segment of the population of their basic rights.

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon and key figure of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president. Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell.

"Reclaiming Our Food" tells the stories of people across the United States who are finding new ways to grow, process, and distribute food for their own communities. Their successes offer both inspiration and practical advice.

A riveting work of historical detection revealing that the origin of one of the world's most iconic superheroes hides within it a fascinating family story--and a crucial history of twentieth-century feminism.

Two hundred thirty recipes from kitchens across the country. Simple, familiar ingredients that satisfy the heart as well as the palate.

"Usonia, New York" is the story of a group of idealistic men and women who, following WWII, enlisted Frank Lloyd Wright to design and help them build a cooperative Utopian community near Pleasantville, NY. Through both historic memorabilia and contemporary color photos, this book reveals the still-thriving community based on concepts Wright advocated in his Broadacre City proposals.

Energizing the visual landscape since 1968, New York City's community murals beautify, educate, protest, celebrate, and often motivate residents to action. Collaborations between artists and neighborhood groups, these painted walls reflect the social, cultural, and political climate of their times.

The maestro's story becomes the entry point to an equally captivating subject: El Sistema, the music education program that nurtured his musical talent, first as a young violinist and then as a budding conductor under the mentorship of its founder, José Antonio Abreu. What began in Venezuela has now reached children in Los Angeles, New York City, Baltimore, and cities around the world. No matter the location, the overarching goal of El Sistema is unwavering: to rescue children from the depredations of poverty through music. Part history, part reportage, this book reveals that arts education can indeed effect positive social change.

Creative Writing in the Community is the first book to focus on the practical side of creative writing. Connecting classroom experiences to community-based projects, it prepares creative writing students for teaching in schools, homeless centers, youth clubs and care homes.

The first major history of America's oldest civil rights organisation is destined to become a classic in the field. When it was founded in 1909, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was an elite organisation of white reformers. By 1918, it had become a mass organisation with predominantly black members. Sullivan unearths the little-known early decades of NAACP's activism, telling startling stories of personal bravery, legal brilliance and political manoeuvring, before moving on to the critical post-war era.

Throwing out the crippling assumptions with which many activists proceed, award-winning author Solnit proposes a new vision of how change happens.

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death, Lauren Olamina, an empath and the daughter of a minister, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny...and the birth of a new faith, as Lauren becomes a prophet carrying the hope of a new world and a revolutionary idea christened "Earthseed".

Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves characters, themes, and language as he evokes the complex density of life in and around the Spokane Indian Reservation, an existence filled with pain, anger, and bitterness but also, more importantly, with forgiveness and resilient hope.

When 25-year-old Jenny Shimada steps out of the Rhinecliff train station in New York's Hudson Valley, the last person she expects to see is Rob Frazer, a shadowy figure from her previous life. On the lam for an act of violence against the American government, Jenny agrees to take on the job of caring for three younger fugitives whom Frazer has spirited out of California. One of them, the granddaughter of a wealthy newspaper magnate in San Francisco, has become a national celebrity. Kidnapped by a homegrown revolutionary group, Pauline shocked America when she embraced her captors ideology, denouncing family and class to enlist in their radical cell. American Woman unfolds the story of Jenny and her charges -- Pauline, Juan, and Yvonne, the remains of the busted revolutionary cadre -- as they pursue their destinies from an old farmhouse in upstate New York back to California.

"Flight Behavior" is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths.

As Cold War hysteria inflames America, FBI agents knock on the Bronx apartment door of a Communist man and his wife. After a highly controversial trial, the couple got to the electric chair for treason despite worldwide protests. Decades later their son Daniel, grown to young manhood, tries to make sense of their lives and deaths--and their legacy to him.

A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting.

Will, the narrator of this powerfully charged novel, discovers that his father, a political activist and local hero in their South African town, has become involved with a white woman. Wrenching, passionate, deeply resonant, "My Son's Story" evokes the inexorable yoking of the personal life and politics with uniquely moving force.

Set against the early days of the modern feminist movement, "Small Changes" tells the story of sensual Miriam Berg, who trades her doctorate for marriage and security, but still hungers for a life of her own and shy, frightened Beth who is running from the life Miriam seeks and into a new world of different ideas and a different kind of love.

A gripping and lyrical story--at once expansive and lush with detail--this debut novel is a deeply intimate exploration of the search for love and authenticity, power and redemption, in the lives of three women, and a penetrating portrait of a small, tenacious nation, Uruguay, shaken in the gales of the twentieth century.

Steinbeck's classic novel traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers.

A powerful tale of family and community, "This House Is Not for Sale" brings to life an African neighborhood and one remarkable house, seen through the eyes of a young member of the household.

On a rainy, cold day in November, young Victor--a nomadic, scrappy teenager who's run away from home--sets out to join the throng of WTO demonstrators determined to shut down the city of Seattle. With the proceeds, he plans to buy a plane ticket and leave Seattle forever, but it quickly becomes clear that the history-making 50,000 anti-globalization protesters--from anarchists to environmentalists to teamsters--are testing the patience of the police, and what started out as a peaceful protest is threatening to erupt into violence.

Meridian Hill is a young woman at an Atlanta college attempting to find her place in the revolution for racial and social equality. She discovers the limits beyond which she will not go for the cause, but despite her decision not to follow the path of some of her peers, she makes significant sacrifices in order to further her beliefs. Working in a campaign to register African American voters, Meridian cares broadly and deeply for the people she visits, and, while her coworkers quit and move to comfortable homes, she continues to work in the deep South despite a paralyzing illness. Meridian's nonviolent methods, though seemingly less radical than the methods of others, prove to be an effective means of furthering her beliefs.