Summer Reading in 2008
These are some of the recommendations proposed by Steinhardt faculty for summer reading.
Mary Brabeck, Dean
Read poetry
Any poetry
Read Maya Angelou
Seamus Heaney
Walt Whitman
And
Adrienne Rich
Octavio Paz
Robert Frost
Then write your own poem
Elizabeth Norman, Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions
Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass: This book should be required reading for every American journalist and non-fiction writer. Whitman was a reporter and it shows. His details and descriptions are not only accurate, they are lyrical, which means the reader can both see and feel them. He was key in shaping an American sense of identity.
Gabrielle Coleman
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz is about the life, trials, and tribulations of an unlikely character, a Dominican SUPER NERD by the name of Oscar Wao who has more than a lot of trouble scoring with the ladies (a "lovesick ghetto nerd").
In the process, you learn about the experiences of Dominican immigrants in the tri-state area, the brutal history of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic as well as a good dose of odd cultural folklore (both geek and Dominican, if you can believe it!) and all of this is told in a style that manages to combine the rhythm and passion of a poetry slam with classic issues of tragedy common in Greek literature.
Floyd M. Hammack
Associate Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions
I recommend Patrick Chamoiseau's School Days (University of Nebraska Press, 1997). It is a narrative of his childhood in Fort-de-France, Martinique, during the colonial period. It gives a view of the world through the eyes of a little boy experiencing family, neighborhood and (French) school; a window in the colonial Caribbean experience. Wonderfully written, and a great read.
Steve Sagner
Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations
I recommend The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn. It's a complex, fascinating, and extremely moving account of an American professor's attempt to find out exactly what happened to six of his relatives in the Holocaust. He'd grown up with the vague information that this uncle, aunt, and cousins were killed by the Nazis, and thus sought to learn their exact and specific fates. Incredible book.
Patricia Carey
Associate Dean for Student Services
Allen Lightman's Einstein's Dreams, a small book that is timeless. It engages the reader in an element of reality that we cannot manipulate or hold in our hands. We can't make it standstill or go back. But, suppose we could? Suppose time were circular? Young Einstein shares his dreams about time fantasized in different ways and consequences of suppose that were our world.
Robby Cohen
Professor, Social Studies Education
Chair, Department of Teaching and Learning
The Torture Debate edited by Karen Greenberg (of NYU's law school). What kind of democracy have we become if we give a green light for the use of torture in Iraq?
No End in Sight: Iraq's Descent Into Chaos by Charles H. Ferguson is an excellent introduction to the origins and current state of America's latest Vietnam-style war. Every student should be concerned about this conflict and ponder why it is that the US so often wages war. Is the US an imperialist power?
The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace, edited by Monika Krause, Mary Nolan, Michael Palm, and Andrew Ross. This book indicts NYU for breaking the TA union here. What does this conflict tell us about the nature of American higher education and our own university?
Beth McDonald
Master Teacher
Department of Teaching and Learning
My very strong recommendation for summer reading is What is the What by Dave Eggers. This gripping story is actually a "novelized" memoir written in collaboration with Valentino Achak Deng, one of Sudan's Lost Boys. He fled his village after it was destroyed in civil war and spent more than 10 years in African refugee camps before being resettled in Atlanta. Students will learn about the ravages of ethnic warfare in a part of the world that most of us only know from news accounts. All proceeds from the book go to Deng's foundation to support refugees and the education of girls in his homeland. Eggers, a best-selling author, took no money for the project. Students wanting to know more can also look for the documentary film, God Grew Tired of Us. It follows three young men from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where Deng spent many years, as they move into their new lives in Pittsburgh and Syracuse.
Marion Nestle
Professor of Nutrition and Food Studies
Paulette Goddard Professor
I recommend Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. It's a terrific introduction to today's movement to create a food system that is good for health and the environment – even on college campuses.
Catherine Fitterman, Director
Undergraduate Music Business Program
Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions
I suggest students read Songbook by Nick Hornby. It's a gentle, humorous collection of music-as-metaphor essays about the rock and pop songs that have influenced the acclaimed author's life, including "Your Love Is the Place Where I Come From" by Teenage Fanclub, "A Minor Incident" by Badly Drawn Boy, "You Had Time" by Ani DiFranco, and 28 others.
Mary B. McRae
Associate Professor
Department of Applied Psychology
I suggest What is the What by Dave Eggers. It is about the Lost Boys in Sudan walking to Ethiopia and then life in USA. It is heartwarming and provides a slice of life for some in another part of the world.
Shondel Nero
Associate Professor
Department of Teaching and Learning
I highly recommend Barack Obama's book, Dreams From My Father. Given that Obama has a serious shot at the presidency, and he's still relatively unknown, I think that students should read this refreshingly honest, compelling, and well-written memoir of his life. I just finished reading it, and now have a much more in-depth and nuanced understanding of Obama.
Lindsay Wright
Assistant Dean for Planning and Communications
The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, by Pema Chodron. Chodron is an American Buddhist nun and author of many books about Buddhism. This book seems particularly relevant today as we as individuals and nations confront economic recession, ethnic and religious divisions, and conflict, particularly in Tibet. She writes in an easy and accessible way about how we can move beyond our fears and problems to awaken our natural openness to and acceptance of others.