Common Reading

Try to Love the Questions: From Debate to Dialogue in Classrooms and Life Lara Schwartz

An essential guide to dialogue in the college classroom and beyond

Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech Keith E. Whittington

Why colleges and universities live or die by free speech

Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation Paula Marantz Cohen

An invigorating exploration of the pleasures and social importance of conversation

How to Do the Right Thing: An Ancient Guide to Treating People Fairly Seneca

How ancient Stoicism can help teach us to treat others—and ourselves—more fairly and mercifully

How to Keep an Open Mind: An Ancient Guide to Thinking Like a Skeptic Sextus Empiricus

How ancient skepticism can help you attain tranquility by learning to suspend judgment

How to Win an Argument: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Persuasion Marcus Tullius Cicero

Timeless techniques of effective public speaking from ancient Rome's greatest orator

AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own Verity Harding

A humanist manifesto for the age of AI

Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI Urs Gasser and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

How society can shape individual actions in times of uncertainty

The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World Allison J. Pugh

A timely and urgent argument for preserving the work that connects us in the age of automation

The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness Leslie Valiant

In the age of AI, why our future depends on better understanding what makes us human

Failures of Forgiveness: What We Get Wrong and How to Do Better Myisha Cherry

Philosopher Myisha Cherry teaches us the right ways to deal with wrongdoing in our lives and the world

Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want Ruha Benjamin

From the author of Race After Technology, an inspiring vision of how we can build a more just world—one small change at a time

“A true gift to our movements for justice.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America Nicholas Buccola

"A great read."—Whoopi Goldberg, The View

How the clash between the civil rights firebrand and the father of modern conservatism continues to illuminate America's racial divide

The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom Eddie R. Cole

"A stunning and ambitious origins story."—Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award–winning and #1 New York Times–bestselling author

The remarkable history of how college presidents shaped the struggle for racial equality

Privilege and Punishment: How Race and Class Matter in Criminal Court Matthew Clair

How the attorney-client relationship favors the privileged in criminal court—and denies justice to the poor and to working-class people of color

Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and Food in the American South Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr.

James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominee • Winner of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Book Award, Association of Black Sociologists • Winner of the C. Wright Mills Award, the Society for the Study of Social Problems

A vivid portrait of African American life in today’s urban...

One Step Sideways, Three Steps Forward: One Woman’s Path to Becoming a Biologist B. Rosemary Grant

The story of the unorthodox and inspiring life and career of a pioneering biologist

Translating Myself and Others Jhumpa Lahiri

Luminous essays on translation and self-translation by an award-winning writer and literary translator