Eight years ago, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service’s students recommended a list of books they thought others should read.
Subsequent classes have come up with their own recommendations.
The Class of 2015 has now released its new list.
Each student selected one book.The list includes nonfiction books on weighty issues that cover economics, the environment, international development, politics and social justice - topics a typical graduate student interested in public policy reads. But there are also works of fiction - even one by Dr. Seuss.
Skip Rutherford, the school’s dean, says the reading list has become popular.
“This book list is one of the school’s most interesting and anticipated traditions in which new students participate,” he said. “We have requests for it from people all over the country and the world.”
The Class of 2015 recommended reading list is:
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah.
The Environmental Imagination by Lawrence Buell.
Revolution in Guinea by Amilcar Cabral.
Reflections on the Revolution in Europe by Christopher Caldwell.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon.
In◊uence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini.
The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen.
Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by Bill Clinton.
Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime by J. California Cooper.
The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama.
Guns, Germs, and Steel:The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change by Al Gore.
Empire’s Workshop by Greg Grandin
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.
Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson.
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco.
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado.
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk by Susan McDougal.
The Blue Sweater: Bridging The Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World by Jacqueline Novogratz.
Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering and The Search For What Saves Us by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker.
Blue Pills by Frederik Peeters.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.
The Battle of New Orleans:Andrew Jackson and America’s First Military Victory by Robert V. Remini.
Honey and Salt by Carl Sandburg.
Gomorra by Roberto Saviano.
Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography by Albert Schweitzer.
Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss.
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.
The Working Poor by David Shipler.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema and the Transformative Power of Music by Tricia Tunstall.
Oblivion by David Foster Wallace.
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson.
It’s Our Turn to Eat by Michela Wrong.
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 09/27/2013