For the 13th consecutive year, first-year students enrolled in the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service’s Master of Public Service degree program have compiled a list of books they recommend others to read.
The books will be on display at a drop-in reception on Thursday, September 20 at WordsWorth Books (5920 R Street) in The Heights from 5:15-6:30 p.m. All are welcome to visit to meet the students and hear about their wide range of reading selections.
“This always interesting and diverse book list has become a much-anticipated tradition here at the Clinton School,” said Dean James L. “Skip” Rutherford III. “We have requests for it from individuals, teachers, book clubs, libraries, and bookstores from all over the country.”
The Class of 2020 is charting its own course with its book selections. Ninety percent are new titles; only 10 percent have been recommended by previous classes. More than three quarters of the books are nonfiction, and nearly half of those are memoirs or biographies of women and men who are change-makers – from well-known politicians, such as Hillary Clinton’s “What Happened,” to Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie’s “Start Something That Matters,” to a soldier’s memoir, “It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace.”
Several books question common cultural practices, including “Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise of the Unruly Woman,” “Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority,” and “Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder.”
“Overall, the theme of the books selected by the Class of 2020, both fiction and nonfiction, is one of questioning shared beliefs and making change at all levels – individual, community, national, and international,” said Lia Lent, WordsWorth Books co-owner.
The books will be on display at Sturgis Hall throughout the 2018-19 school year and will be added to the school’s permanent collection. Printed lists will also be available at WordsWorth Books in Little Rock and at the Central Arkansas Library System’s main library.
Recommended Reading from the Class of 2020
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Denisse Alanis
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solder
by Ishmael Beah
Zach Baumgarten
Seven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness
by Eric Metaxas
Maggie Benton
What Happened
by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Christian Canizales
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
by Brené Brown
Katie Clark
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor … and Yourself
by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
Andrew Counce
Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach
by Martha C. Nussbaum
Caleb Denton
Start Something That Matters
by Blake Mycoskie
Molly Emerson
Finding George Orwell in Burma
by Emma Larkin
Lara Farrar
Chasing Chaos: My Decade in and Out of Humanitarian Aid
by Jessica Alexander
Bailey Fohr
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
Allison Gent
If You Feel Too Much: Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For
by Jamie Tworkowski
Savanna George
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson
Johnisha Graham
A Colony in a Nation
by Chris Hayes
Megan Grubb
The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace
by John Paul Lederach
Logan Hunt
The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
Nathan Keltch
Life
by Keith Richards
Adam Kleinerman
Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything
by Geneen Roth
Corinne Kwapis
Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning
by Leslie Odom, Jr.
Robert Morris
The Overstory
by Richard Powers
Shelby Morrow
Do What You Love! 6 Steps to Transforming Your Gifts into Wealth
by Ken Honda
Reiko Muranaka
The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood
Justin Murdock
Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
by Tom Burrell
Shandrea Murphy
Unbounded
by Boniface Mwangi
Christopher Ogom
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Eric Osei
What to Expect the First Year
by Heidi Murkoff
Richmond Osei-Danquah
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
Alexis Pinkston
It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine’s Path to Peace
by Rye Barcott
Damien Powell
So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo
Brady Ruffin
Jesus Is
by Judah Smith
Jordan Sanders
Seriously … I’m Kidding
by Ellen DeGeneres
Christian Scott
Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman
by Anne Helen Petersen
Samantha Sheffield
The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time
by Bob Harris
Sean Street
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Cody Styers
Changes: A Love Story
by Ama Ata Aidoo
Maya Tims
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
Alex Tingquist
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
by Cheryl Strayed
Rachel Villafane
Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
by Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin
Ben Washington
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
Jerome Wilson, Jr.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
by Jane Jacobs
Andrea Zekis
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