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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