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2006-2007 Reading List

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From the 2006 Senior Class:

Below are the lists for each semester, in a suggested order.

Fall 2006

(1) Forever: A Novel, by Peter Hamill (not the one by Judy Blume)

(2) The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology, by Robert Wright

(3) AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service -- and How It Hurts Our Country, by Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer

(4) Each Colloquium should decide to read one of the following as the final book for the semester:

(a) Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature, by Felipe Fernandez-Arnesto

(b) Overthrow : America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, by Stephen Kinzer

Spring 2007

(1) Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy, by Robert F. Kennedy. Jr.
Note: the paperback edition has an afterword from 2005 that is worth having.

(2) Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man, by Sam Keen

(3) Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, by Azar Nafisi

(4) Each individual should choose between the following, so that each Colloquium can compare these two books, written by Supreme Court Justices of somewhat opposing ideologies:

(a) Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution, by Stephen Breyer

(b) A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law, by Antonin Scalia

"Recommended Books"

We would also like to suggest the following as "recommended books" that we wanted to include on the above list:

(1) The 9-11 Commission Report, by the 9-11 Commission

(2) University. Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education, by Jennifer Washburn

(3) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore

(4) Nexus: Small Worlds and Groundbreaking Science of Networks, by Mark Buchanan

(5) The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, by Fareed Zakaria

(6) The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman

(7) The Brother's Lionheart; Ronia, The Robber's Daughter -- both by Astrid Lindgren