Reading & Discussion 2016 Catalogue Addendum Thank you for your interest in VHC’s Reading & Discussion program. We’re pleased to announce the following additions to our catalogue for 2016. Please note that the series and books listed in our main Reading & Discussion Catalogue remain active. The main Reading & Discussion Catalogue also contains the full Program Guidelines – please read these materials in full before requesting a program.

New book lists are separated into three categories:

1. The Pulitzer Centennial The Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative is a partnership between the Pulitzer Prizes and the Federation of State Humanities Councils intended to “ignite broad engagement with the journalistic, literary, and artistic values” the Pulitzers represent. We’ve selected titles for eleven new series focused on Pulitzer-winning nonfiction, fiction, and drama, spanning 75 years of the awards. Alongside the title and author, we’ve noted the category and year each book or author won a Pulitzer. We’ve also added two Single Books that can be used for one-off discussion sessions or to supplement another series:  Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage, by Vermont journalist David Moats, revisits a 2001 series of Pulitzer-winning Rutland Herald editorials on the state’s difficult path to legalizing civil unions and same-sex marriage.  Moments: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs, edited by Hal Buell, contains hundreds of Pulitzer-winning images, fostering discussion on the events of the past century, as well as the evolving ways we document them. Please note: all series in this category have a reduced program fee of $25 per session.

2. Latino Americans: 500 Years of History With support from the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, our two new reading series on the Latino American experience relate to the landmark PBS documentary series Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, which has screened in four locations around the state in 2015-2016.

3. Single Books We’ve added single books in our lending library related to the initiatives above, and added a new translation of Don Quixote to recognize the 400th anniversary of this classic work. 1

The Pulitzer Centennial A Hard Look at America Established by a newspaper publisher and coinciding with the founding of a journalism school at Columbia University, the Pulitzer Prizes have continually recognized excellence in journalism. The books in this series, comprised of Pulitzer-winning reporting and research, dig deep, revealing facts and stories that continue to be relevant years after they were brought to the surface.

Title

Author

Award

All the President's Men

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

Public Service, 1973

The Armies of the Night

Norman Mailer

General Non-Fiction, 1969

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion

Edward J. Larson

History, 1998

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

Sheri Fink

Investigative Reporting, 2010

The Path to War America's wars, though tragic, have been boons for great journalists and historians, opportunities to discuss the sweeping nature of conflict as well as the real human cost. From World War II to the Middle East conflicts following 9/11, the Pulitzer-winning titles in this series examine America's fighting stance.

Title

Author

Award

"The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II

Studs Terkel

General Non-Fiction, 1963

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II

Doris Kearns Goodwin

History, 1995

The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam During the Kennedy Era

David Halberstam

International Reporting, 1964

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Lawrence Wright

General Non-Fiction, 2007 2

Reporting Race The effects of slavery, Jim Crow, and institutional racism have all had profound effects on American history and the experience of marginalized people today. The books in this series, by Pulitzer-winning reporters and historians, chronicle pre- and post-Civil Rights era America and the individuals who shaped it.

Title Slavery By Another Name: The ReEnslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II

Author

Award

Douglas A. Blackmon

General Non-Fiction, 2009

The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation

Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

History, 2007

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

Manning Marable

History, 2012

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

Isabel Wilkerson

Feature Writing, 1994

Forces of Nature Pulitzer-winning non-fiction writers have at times looked beyond the world's current era. Instead, the titles in this series explore humanity's relationship to forces beyond its control, such as evolution, disease, and the planet’s fragile ecosystems. Title

Author

Award

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Jared Diamond

General Non-Fiction, 1998

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Annie Dillard

General Non-Fiction, 1975

On Human Nature

Edward O. Wilson

General Non-Fiction, 1979

The Emperor of All Maladies

Siddartha Mukherjee

General Non-Fiction, 2011

Required Reading Readers might not have encountered them since middle school, but these midcentury novels are ripe for revisiting. Despite often being assigned to young adults, the Pulitzer-winning titles in this series explore decidedly adult themes about relationships, war, and the human condition. Title

Author

Award

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway

Fiction, 1953

To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Fiction, 1961

A Bell for Adano

John Hersey

Fiction, 1945

The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck

Fiction, 1940 3

Family History The Pulitzer-winning novels in this series examine not only relationships, but the ways difficult chapters of a family's past are revealed by the passing of time. Title

Author

Award

Beloved

Toni Morrison

Fiction, 1988

The Shipping News

E. Annie Proulx

Fiction, 1994

A Summons to Memphis

Peter Taylor

Fiction, 1987

Gilead

Marilynne Robinson

Fiction, 2005

The Changing South The lingering effects of slavery, the Civil War, and rural strife provide a complex background in this series of Pulitzer-winning novels set in the American South.

Title

Author

Award

The Known World

Edward P. Jones

Fiction, 2004

A Death in the Family

James Agee

Fiction, 1958

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

Fiction, 1983

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole

Fiction, 1981

Pulitzer Plays Since 1918, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama has spotlighted outstanding playwriting. The titles in this series, including one by four-time winner Eugene O'Neill, span over fifty years of the award. Title

Author

Award

Our Town

Thornton Wilder

Drama, 1938

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Eugene O'Neill

Drama, 1957

Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller

Drama, 1949

Crimes of the Heart

Beth Henley

Drama, 1981

Angels in America

Tony Kushner

Drama, 1993

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20th Century Jewish Lives From antisemitism in early-century Russia to the fading industry of Philip Roth’s Newark, the Pulitzer winners in this series – including two exploring cartooning – chronicle the Jewish experience throughout the 1900s. Title

Author

Award

American Pastoral

Philip Roth

Fiction, 1998

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Michael Chabon

Fiction, 2001

Maus

Art Spiegelman

Special, 1992

The Fixer

Bernard Malamud

Fiction, 1967

International Migrations To or from the United States, spanning India, Cuba, Greece, and Ireland, this series of Pulitzer-winning works spotlights characters in the midst of broader migrations. Title

Author

Award

Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri

Fiction, 2000

Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Oscar Hijuelos

Fiction, 1990

Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt

Biography, 1997

Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides

Fiction, 2003

Based on a Real Life One biography each year is awarded a Pulitzer Prize, but the character studies in this series wouldn't count - each is a Pulitzer-winning work of fiction, with portions based on one person's real life story. Title

Author

Award

Angle of Repose

Wallace Stegner

Fiction, 1972

The Hours

Michael Cunningham

Fiction, 1999

All the King's Men

Robert Penn Warren

Fiction, 1947

March

Geraldine Brooks

Fiction, 2006

This program is part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative, a joint venture of the Pulitzer Prizes Board and the Federation of State Humanities Council in celebration of the 2016 centennial of the Prizes. The initiative seeks to illuminate the impact of journalism and the humanities on American life today, to imagine their future and to inspire new generations to consider the values represented by the body of Pulitzer Prize-winning work. For their generous support for the Campfires Initiative, we thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Pulitzer Prizes Board, and Columbia University.

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Latino Americans: 500 Years of History Fleeing Dictatorship: Migration Stories of Cuban and Dominican Families This series examines families displaced by the dictatorial regimes of Trujillo and Castro, exploring the complicated, ongoing relationships that those who come to the United States have with their home countries and cultures. These narratives also lend themselves to a discussion of the important role of family in Latino culture. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Julia Alvarez

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Díaz

Dreaming in Cuban

Cristina García

The Prince of los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood

Richard Blanco

Mexican Americans: Experience and Identity This series deals with the experiences of Mexicans living in the United States, from the struggles of migrant farmworkers and day laborers in California to coming of age stories of Chicanos as U.S. citizens. Bless Me, Ultima

Rudolfo Anaya

Under the Feet of Jesus

Helena Maria Viramontes

The Tortilla Curtain

T.C. Boyle

Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father

Richard Rodriguez

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.

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Single Books Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes’s classic novel, now 400 years old, is still widely regarded as one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. This modern translation by Edith Grossman provides material for one or several discussion sessions.

Related to the Pulitzer Centennial These titles may be used for single discussion sessions, or to supplement our nonfiction Pulitzer series “A Hard Look at America” (p. 2). Civil Wars, by Vermont journalist David Moats, revisits a 2001 series of Pulitzer-winning Rutland Herald editorials on the state’s difficult path to legalizing civil unions and same-sex marriage. Moments contains hundreds of Pulitzer-winning photographs, fostering discussion on the events of the past century, as well as the evolving ways we document them. Civil Wars: A Battle for Gay Marriage

David Moats

Moments: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs

Hal Buell

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