We are delighted to present our new First-Year reading catalogs for 2020! From award-winning fiction and memoir to new books about science, technology, history and current events, the titles presented in our college reading catalogs will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages, but also excited for the chance to discuss their reading

The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, has been called the most anticipated novel of the year. Gilead and the world of the handmaids have inspired a successful TV adaptation, as well as protests against U.S. healthcare restrictions and the controversial confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Awarded the 2019 Booker Prize, The Testaments has

Seaweed is a sustainable, easy-to-produce ocean vegetable that has a positive impact on climate change and our environment. Why then is it not a staple ingredient used in American kitchens? In his recently published memoir, fisherman-turned-ocean farmer Bren Smith aims to change that through his tales of ocean-bound adventure and culinary re-imagination. In the following

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am profiles the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of international acclaim, featuring interviews with Morrison herself, Robert Gottlieb, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Davis, Walter Mosley, and more. The documentary portrays Morrison in an intimate, human light: examining her life, works, and the philosophies woven throughout the stories she tells. In the video

Immigration Heritage Month serves as a reminder to  celebrate individual stories of immigration, and the shared diversity that makes up the United States. This year at the 38th annual conference on The First-Year Experience, author Abdi Nor Iftin shared his journey from war-torn Somalia to the United States—first by way of American movies, and years later

Season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale kicks off on Wednesday, June 05, with Hulu releasing new episodes each week. Hulu has described the new season as being “driven by June’s resistance to the dystopian regime of Gilead and her struggle to strike back against overwhelming odds.” Just in time for the season premiere, Nan A. Talese

There There is a multivoiced novel that features twelve Native American characters of different backgrounds and generations all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American, grappling with a complex and painful history. In an interview with The New Yorker, Tommy Orange explained

Washington Black follows “Wash” Black, an eleven-year-old field slave on a sugar plantation in Barbados. When Wash’s old master dies, the plantation’s already dire living conditions immediately worsen. Wash is then selected to become a manservant to his new master’s brother, a man who, as it turns out, is not only an abolitionist, but an inventor,

According to an analysis by the Williams Institute in 2016, 1.4 million adults in the United States identify as transgender, with young adults (ages 18 to 24) most likely to say they are transgender. Sociologist Arlene Stein spent a year following the lives of four transgender young adults, capturing their experiences as they transitioned from

The Random House Group has announced it will publish long-time CEO, Chairman, and current Chairman Emeritus of Starbucks Howard Schultz’s most revelatory and visionary book yet, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America, on February 12th, 2019.  The book will be edited by Chris Jackson, editor of such authors as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bryan Stevenson

On Friday, October 5, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it had decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Iraqi human rights activist Nadia Murad “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” Murad recounts her extraordinary

In 2014, investigative journalist Shane Bauer took an entry-level, $9/hour job as a guard at Winn Correctional Facility, a private prison in rural Louisiana. For the next four months, he reported for work outfitted with a hidden recording device, ready to capture the reality of life in private prisons for guards and inmates alike. For