Recommended Reading from the Clinton School Class of 2015

For the eighth consecutive year, students at the Clinton School have compiled a list of books they recommend others read. The annual reading list began with the school’s second class in 2007.

“This book list is one of the school’s most interesting and anticipated traditions in which new students participate,” said Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford. “We have requests for it from people all over the country and the world.”

The Class of 2015’s list includes a number of nonfiction books on a variety of issues related to economics, the environment, international development, politics, and social justice. It also contains classic works of fiction. Authors featured include William Shakespeare, Carl Sandburg, Bill Clinton, Sonia Sotomayor, and Dr. Seuss.

The books are on display at the Clinton School’s Sturgis Hall, the renovated passenger train station adjacent to the Clinton Presidential Library. The selections of each class are permanently housed in the reading room at Sturgis Hall.

The Class of 2015 recommended reading list:

Read Admire: “Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema and the Transformative Power of Music by Tricia Tunstall

Anna Applebaum: “Oblivion” by David Foster Wallace

Romerse Biddle: “Back to Work. Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy” by Bill Clinton.

Quiana Brown: “Some Love, Some Pain, Sometime” by J. California Cooper

Brad Cameron: “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change” by Al Gore

Paola Cavallari: “Gomorra” by Roberto Saviano

Ben Croner: “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk” by Susan McDougal

Ruby DeSantiago: “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls

Matt Devlin: “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon

Christian Eddings: “The Mis-Education of the Negro” by Carter G. Woodson

Mattea Fleischner: “The Blue Sweater: Bridging The Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World” by Jacqueline Novogratz

Haylee Fletcher: “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

David Ford: “Revolution in Guinea” by Amilcar Cabral

Dani Folks: “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder

Elaine Frigon: “Buddha’s Brain” by Rick Hanson, PhD

Luke Frauenthal: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare

Katherine Grennier: “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss

Caroline Head: “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond

Brenda Hernandez: “My Beloved World” by Sonia Sotomayor

Lucas Hunt: “Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography” by Albert Schweitzer

Tiffany Jacob: “The Half Brother” by Lars Saabye Christensen

Traci Johnson: “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank

Julian Kelly: “Cure for the Common Life” by Max Lucado

Bolton Kirchner: “The Environmental Imagination” by Lawrence Buell

Andrew Lovely: “Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Thato Masire: “It’s Our Turn to Eat” by Michela Wrong

Brandon Mathews: “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD

Allison Meyer: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

Hannah Minchow-Profitt: “Half the Sky” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Hunter Mullins: “Blue Pills” by Frederik Peeter

Kristen Raney: “The Working Poor” by David ShipleR

Jeremy Ratcliff: “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco

Tatiana Riddle: “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

Antoinette Schicchi: “The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America’s First Military Victory” by Robert V. Remini

Laetitia Tokplo: “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe” by Christopher Caldwell

Angela Toomer: “Honey and Salt” by Carl Sandburg

Sylvia Tran: “The Art of Happiness” by The Dalai Lama

Rebekah Tucci: “Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering and The Search For What Saves Us” by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker

Emily Wheat: “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green

Lakaija Wood: “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander

Tshering Yudon: “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan

Rebecca Zimmermann: “Empire’s Workshop” by Greg Grandin