OneBook 2021: Tales of Two Americas

Reading as a whole College experience – that’s what OneBook is. Faculty, staff, and students come together across disciplines to read the same book and participate in a wide array of campus events related to that book. Conversations are started. People make connections. Classes across disciplines delve into those connections a story can make to us all and help link the College community through this common project.

"AMERICA IS BROKEN. You don’t need a fistful of statistics to know this. You just need eyes and ears and stories. Walk around any American city and evidence of the shattered compact with citizens will present itself." -Foreword, Tales of Two Americas

In Tales of Two Americas, some of the literary world’s most exciting writers look beyond numbers and wages to convey what it feels like to live in this divided nation. Their extraordinarily powerful stories, essays, and poems demonstrate how boundaries break down when experiences are shared, and that in sharing our stories we can help to alleviate a suffering that touches so many people. Thirty-six major contemporary writers examine life in a deeply divided America—including Anthony Doerr, Ann Patchett, Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, Hector Tobar, Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, Richard Russo, Eula Bliss, Karen Russell, and many more.