TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  FALL  2022

 

Classes start September 1st and end December 30th.

Holiday periods are adapted to by individual class voting.

1.         (ACD)     AVOID  CLIMATE  DISASTER

Climate change views may be divided into three categories:  it’s not happening; it’s happening but there are ways to stop it; or it’s happening and must be stopped by 2030 or Earth is doomed. Much of what is reported is of the 1st or 3rd categories. The selected book is in the second category. It supports climate change theory but contends that both the denier and the doomsday views are based on questionable science, poor media reporting, and political manipulation. Failure to reject the denier view can result in serious harm to the environment, with seriously decreased living conditions. Failure to reject the doomsday view will result in countries spending trillions of dollars on useless and/or harmful programs while neglecting other very real social needs.

Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of net-zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.

Possible presentation topics might include:  what we as citizens of the South Bay can to do reduce our impact on climate change; how to approach dealing with the fossil-fuel industry; a plan for conversion of our vehicles to all electric; the impact of rising sea levels on the planet; how to best convince the general population that climate change is real; how to persuade politicians to adopt the best policies and actions.

Common Reading:   How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, by Bill Gates (February 2021)

 

2.         (BDW)    JAMES  BALDWIN

According to Wikipedia,

“James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and activist. As a writer, he garnered acclaim across various mediums, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, Go Tell It On The Mountain, was published in 1953; decades later, Time Magazine included the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels released from 1923 to 2005. His first essay collection, Notes of a Native Son, was published in 1955.

“Baldwin's work fictionalizes fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures…

“His reputation has endured since his death and his work has been adapted for the screen to great acclaim. An unfinished manuscript, Remember This House, was expanded and adapted for cinema as the documentary film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards. One of his novels, If Beale Street Could Talk, was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film of the same name in 2018, directed and produced by Barry Jenkins.”

Other works include The Fire Next Time, No Name in the Street, Giovanni’s Room, and The Devil Finds Work.

The format for studying Baldwin will be the same as it was for recent S/DGs that focused on the works of Amy Tan, Isabel Allende, Toni Morrison, and Ernest Hemingway.  The class will select the works at the premeeting, which usually include a mixture of perhaps two novels plus short stories/essays.  Presentations will be  based on the readings (primarily discussion points) or on topics related to the works.

Common Reading:   TBD

 

3.         (BEN)   BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN’S  LAST  BET

“Pay it forward” is an expression that describes the beneficiary of a good deed repaying the kindness to others instead of to the original benefactor.  (You may remember the 1999 movie of that name starring Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey.)  Although he never used the phrase, Benjamin Franklin described the concept in a 1784 letter to Benjamin Webb:

I do not pretend to give such a deed; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.

More importantly, he put his beliefs into action.  At the end of his illustrious life, Franklin allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.

In our common reading, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested, but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

Subjects for presentation can include examples of “paying it forward,” from ancient times to the present.  Heifer International is one example of such an organization.  Wikipedia identifies many more.

Common Reading:   Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet:  The Favorite Founder’s Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity, by Michael Meyer (April 12, 2022)

 

4.         (BYL)      BOYLE  HEIGHTS:   HOW  A  LOS  ANGELES  NEIGHBORHOOD BECAME THE  FUTURE  OF  AMERICAN  DEMOCRACY

“When I think of the future of the United States, and the history that will matter most in this country, I think of Boyle Heights.”--George J. Sanchez

Boyle Heights is an in-depth history of a Los Angeles neighborhood--showcasing the potent experiences of its residents, which include: early contact between Spanish colonizers and Native Californians; internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; hunting down hidden Communists among the Jewish population; and the negotiation of citizenship for Latino migrants. 

Sanchez, a phenomenal historian, traces the history of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious neighborhood of Boyle Heights.  Sanchez traces the trends that accounted for such harmony and understanding among all its residents.  Then things started to change after World War II.  His final chapters on the challenges of gentrification are particularly compelling.

Possible Topics

o    Will demographics transform Los Angeles’ cities both big and small in the future, given the fact that according to California’s Demographic Research, the Hispanic/Latino population will be 54% of the Los Angeles County's population in 2060?

o    If this is an important story about a neighborhood that was strong because of its diversity and its absorption of newcomers into the life of the city, what strategies could Los Angeles County use as our current trends indicate greater diversity?

o  Tongva-Gabrielino peoples, whose presence in the area dates back several thousand years, felt the colonization of the Spaniards who turned it into part of Mexico.  Who are the Tongva-Gabrielino people and what is their history?

o   In Boyle Heights blacks, immigrant and non-immigrant Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Jewish people—sprang up in large part from the absence of strict racial covenants of the kind that were enforced in much of the rest of Los Angeles.  What covenants were practiced in most other parts of Los Angeles?  Did any South Bay cities have racial covenants?

o     After WWII, areas inhabited by people of color were destroyed due to urban renewal (slum clearance on the government’s dime) and highway construction programs (first Interstate 10 and then the 605 divide parts of Baldwin Park).  Report on the urban renewal and gentrification of Boyle Heights.

o  Report on Boyle Height’s favorite son, Edward Roybal, who learned how to exercise political power and garner support to fight back against exploitation.

Common Reading:   Boyle Heights:  How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy, by George J. Sanchez (May 2021)

 

5.         (CAA)     CALIFORNIA  ART

This S/DG will focus on art in California from the early 20th century to the present day. Our home state has played a distinctive role in the history of American art, shaped by a compelling network of geopolitical influences. Potential presentation topics include: local artists, influx of African Americans after WWII, Chicanx mural painting, fiber art movement, early photography, migration and exchange from the Pacific Rim and Mexico, contemporary art, world renowned art museums, etc.

Common Reading:   Art in California, by Jenni Sorkin (October 2021)

 

6.         (CIA)       SPYMASTERS:  BEHIND  THE  SCENES  AT  THE  CIA

With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, author Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities—spying, espionage, and covert action—take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-seventies with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality and through the Trump presidency when a CIA whistleblower ignited impeachment proceedings and armed insurrectionists assaulted the US Capitol.

Since its inception in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been a powerful player on the world stage, operating largely in the shadows to protect American interests. For The Spymasters, Whipple conducted extensive, exclusive interviews with nearly every living CIA director, pulling back the curtain on the world’s elite spy agencies and showing how the CIA partners—or clashes—with counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Topics covered in the book include attempts by presidents to use the agency for their own ends; simmering problems in the Middle East and Asia; rogue nuclear threats; and cyberwarfare.

A revelatory, well-researched history, The Spymasters recounts seven decades of CIA activity and elicits predictions about the issues—and threats—that will engage the attention of future operatives and analysts. Including eye-opening interviews with George Tenet, John Brennan, Leon Panetta, and David Petraeus, as well as those who’ve recently departed the agency, this is a timely, essential, and important contribution to current events.

Presentation topics:  Individual spies; spy agencies in other countries; a brief history of the FBI, or a comparison of the FBI and CIA; cold-war tactics of the CIA (see The Moscow Rules, Jonna and Antonia Mendez)

Common Reading:   The Spymasters: How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future, by Chris Whipple (January 2020)

 

7.         (CLT)      CULTS

The author of our common reading, Amanda Montell, is a linguist with a breezy style, who provides an empathetic guide to the various subcultures of America. Her father was raised in a cult (Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program that turned into a dangerously abusive and criminal community). Growing up, she begged him for stories about the cult, and became enthralled with the strange “special language” cults use. Cultish language, she states, does three things:

o    It makes people feel unique but also connected to others

o    It encourages people to feel dependent on a particular leader to the extent that life without them feels impossible

o    It “convinces people to act in ways that are completely in conflict with their former reality, ethics, and sense of self.”

The last two effects are what tend to separate more malign groups and leaders from the people who mainly inspire cult followings.  Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the cultish language that pervades many of our innocent, modern start-ups, like Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds.  

Possible presentations:

o    Select a cult and talk about its three-tiers of malignancy.

o    Select a cult and discuss the secret language used by the group within the group.

o   Select a cult leader and write a short biography about this life.

Common Reading:   Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, by Amanda Montell (June 15, 2021)

 

8.         (COR)     WE  THE  CORPORATIONS

We the Corporations chronicles the astonishing story of one of the most successful, yet least well-known “civil rights movements,” in American history. Hardly oppressed like women and minorities, business corporations, since the nation’s earliest days, have fought to gain equal rights under the Constitution—and today have nearly all the same rights as ordinary people. Corporations have been integral to America from the very beginning. Each Colony was chartered as a corporation and our government has a corporate form. The economic benefits to the public of corporate financing and governance have been enormous. Yet, the legal standing of corporations has been in question from the early days of the Republic. There are opportunities for abuse, e.g., Louis Brandeis’ warning against corporate executives spending “other people’s money” for their own ends, and shell-corporations are commonly used for nefarious ends. The legal pendulum has swung each way with the most recent famous case being “Citizens United” (2010).

Daniel Webster, Roger Taney, Roscoe Conkling, Alexander Hamilton, Teddy Roosevelt, Huey Long, Ralph Nader, Louis Brandeis, and even Thurgood Marshall all played starring roles in the story of the corporate rights movement and Winkler enlivens his narrative with a flair for storytelling.

In this heated political age, nothing can be timelier than Winkler’s tour de force, which shows how America’s most powerful corporations won our most fundamental rights and turned the Constitution into a weapon to impede the regulation of big business.

Research/presentations topics might include the role and impact of non-profit corporations, international issues in corporate operations, off-shore shells, corporate profits taxation, alternative forms of organizations, e.g., partnerships, etc. The first Supreme Court case on the rights of corporations was decided in 1809; what was it, and what was the outcome? What is the impact on people and on the environment of Big Businesses impeding regulations?

Common Reading:   We the Corporations - How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, by Adam Winkler (Liveright, February 2018)

 

9.         (CUB)     CUBA  AND  AMERICA – A  HISTORY  OF  THEIR  RELATIONSHIP

In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continued—through the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Raúl Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country’s future.

In our common reading, historian Ada Ferrer delivers an important and moving chronicle that demands a new reckoning with both the island’s past and its relationship with the United States.  The S/DG will study the history of Cuba spanning more than five centuries covering the evolution of the modern nation, with its dramatic record of conquest and colonization, of slavery and freedom, of independence and revolutions made and unmade.

The common reading will reveal the sometimes surprising, often troubled intimacy between Cuba and the U.S., documenting not only the influence of the United States on Cuba but also the many ways the island has been a recurring presence in US affairs.

Possible presentation topics include: Cuba and slavery, Spanish-American war, Fidel Castro, Bay of Pigs, Guantanamo naval base, Havana.

Common Reading:   Cuba: An American History, by Ada Ferrer (September 2021)

 

10.      (DID)       THE  NONFICTION  OF  JOAN  DIDION 

Joan Didion was an American journalist and author who passed away last year at the age of 87. She was considered one of the distinctive voices of New Journalism, a genre adding to journalism a subjective perspective and writing techniques typically associated with fiction. In her first published book of essays in 1968, Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Didion chronicled everything from the 60’s counterculture to the Hollywood lifestyle. Subsequent nonfiction works include The White Album, Salvador, After Henry, Political Fiction and Where I Was From. In 1991 she wrote the earliest mainstream article to suggest that The Central Park Five may have been wrongfully convicted, noting various flaws in the prosecution’s case. In 2005, she won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for The Year of Magical Thinking, a book about the year after the death of her husband, which she later adapted into a Broadway play. In 2011, after the loss of her daughter, she wrote Blue Nights, a book about aging.  In 2013, Didion was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities by President Barack Obama.

Didion was profiled in the Netflix documentary The Center Will Not Hold, directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne.

If the S/DG follows the format of similar literary classes, the class will select nonfiction works of hers to discuss.  Presentations could include any of the numerous topics that are the subject of her nonfiction books, essays and articles, which encompass the social and political issues of our time and our world as well as her personal and very relatable life experiences. Presentations could also include comparisons with other followers of New Journalism, such as Tom Wolf, Truman Capote, and Norman Mailer.

Common Reading:   TBD:  Selected nonfiction works, decided by the class.

 

11.      (EVN)      THE  EVANGELICALS:  THE  STRUGGLE  TO  SHAPE  AMERICA

Evangelicals have in many ways defined the United States - shaping both our culture and our politics. The evangelical movement began in the revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, known in America as the Great Awakenings. Initially a populist rebellion against established churches, it became the dominant religious force in the country.  Evangelicals now constitute twenty-five percent (25%) of the American population and range from Tea Party supporters to social reformers.

In our common reading, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Frances FitzGerald pieces together the centuries-long story for the first time, telling the powerful, dramatic story of the Evangelical movement in America from the Puritan era to the 2016 presidential election.

Possible topics:

o    By the 1980s Jerry Falwell and other southern televangelists, such as Pat Robertson, had formed the Christian right--protesting abortion and gay rights. These two led the South into the Republican Party, and for thirty-five years they were the sole voice of evangelicals to be heard nationally.  Report on the beginnings of the anti-abortion protest movement.

o    The (Lyndon) Johnson amendment, is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Churches fall under this amendment.  Is this amendment still guiding churches today?  If not, why not?

o    R.J. Rushdoony, known as a Christian intellectual, developed a complicated theological system he called Christian Reconstructionism; he taught that “with God on their side, Christians had no need for majoritarian politics…”  Where can one find Christian Reconstructionism today?

o    The evangelical movement began in the revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, known in America as the Great Awakenings. This populist rebellion against the established churches became the dominant religious force in the country. Report on the Great Awakening.

Common Reading:   The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, by Frances FitzGerald, Jacques Roy, et al. (April 2017)

 

12.      (EWS)     ESSENTIAL  WORKERS—STORIES  

James Baldwin said, “The powerless must do their own dirty work.  The powerful have it done for them.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn unprecedented attention to essential workers, and to the health and safety risks to which workers in prisons and slaughterhouses are exposed. But our common reading examines a less familiar set of occupational hazards: psychological and emotional hardships such as stigma, shame, PTSD, and moral injury. These burdens fall disproportionately on low-income workers, undocumented immigrants, women, and people of color.

From drone pilots who carry out targeted assassinations to undocumented immigrants who man the “kill floors” of industrial slaughterhouses to guards who patrol the wards of the United States’ most violent and abusive prisons, Eyal Press offers a paradigm-shifting view of the moral landscape of contemporary America through the stories of people who perform society’s most ethically troubling jobs. As Press shows, most of us are increasingly shielded and distanced from an array of morally questionable activities that other, less privileged people perform in our name.  Illuminating the moving, sometimes harrowing stories of the people doing society’s dirty work, and incisively examining the structures of power and complicity that shape their lives, Press reveals fundamental truths about the moral dimensions of work and the hidden costs of inequality in America.

The book is presented in story form, in four sections.

Presentations could be drawn from any job that has been deemed “essential,” from the jobs of health workers, to those who were ordered to come to work in slaughter houses.  Or one could present on the lack of workers now available in service jobs, or on the number of health workers leaving the profession.

Common Reading:   Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America, by Eyal Press  (August 2021)

 

13.      (GAS)     THE  TOPSY  TURVY  WORLD  OF  GILBERT  AND  SULLIVAN 

No musical partnership has enjoyed greater success during its time span, or bequeathed a more powerful and enduring legacy, than that of Gilbert and Sullivan in the nineteenth century. Even before their first successful collaboration in 1875, both William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan had already forged considerable reputations for themselves. Thereafter, between 1877 and 1896, Gilbert wrote the librettos, and Sullivan the music, for no fewer than a dozen comic operas, among them the still regularly performed H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers. Not only are the plots ingenious, the lyrics witty and the music compelling, the operas also present modern audiences with splendidly rich and satirical evocations of Victorian England and its society: the prime subject matter of our book!

Come along to delight your ears and tickle your funny bone.

Presentation topics:

o    Compare the works to modern musicals

o    Explore the historical context of the operas

o    A deeper dive into one of the chosen works

o    Music critics of the era

o    A look at England’s theaters where their works were performed

Common Reading:   The Topsy Turvy World of Gilbert and Sullivan, by Keith Dockray and Alan Sutton (Paperback; April 16, 2020)

Supplemental Readings:
A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert and Sullivan, by Gayden Wren (Kindle Edition, December 20, 2001)

                                       The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan, edited by David Eden and Meinhard Seremba (August 2009)

 

14.      (IMM)        AN  ELEGANT  DEFENSE:  THE  NEW  SCIENCE  OF  THE  IMMUNE

  SYSTEM

The immune system is our body’s essential defense network, a guardian vigilantly fighting illness, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance, and keeping us alive. It has been honed by evolution over millennia to face an almost infinite array of threats. For all its astonishing complexity, however, the immune system can be easily compromised by fatigue, stress, toxins, advanced age, and poor nutrition—hallmarks of modern life—and even by excessive hygiene. Paradoxically, it is a fragile wonder weapon that can turn on our own bodies with startling results, leading today to epidemic levels of autoimmune disorders.

In our common reading, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times science journalist Matt Richtel guides readers on a scientific detective tale winding from the Black Plague to twentieth-century breakthroughs in vaccination and antibiotics, to today’s laboratories that are revolutionizing immunology - perhaps the most extraordinary and consequential medical story of our time. Drawing on extensive new interviews with dozens of world-renowned scientists, Richtel has produced a landmark book, equally an investigation into the deepest riddles of survival and a profoundly human tale that is movingly brought to life through the eyes of his four main characters, each of whom illuminates an essential facet of our “elegant defense.”

There are many topics for presentations, ranging from a discussion of autoimmune disorders, to why vaccines are more effective against some diseases than others, to what regimens help bolster our immune systems and which have been shown to be old wives’ tales.

Common Reading:   An Elegant Defense:  The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System, by Matt Richtel  (March 2019)

 

15.      (MGW)    THE  MOVIES  GO  TO  WAR

From The Patriot to The Hurt Locker, the movies have always gone to war. One reason for the enduring appeal of war movies is that the genre encompasses a broad gamut of life experiences--love, patriotism, separation, hardship, trauma, combat, loss. Whether focused on the struggles of armies, individual soldiers or civilians, here or in other countries, the list of movies about war and wartime is long and varied, including such acclaimed films as The Last of the Mohicans, Gettysburg, Cold Mountain, 1917, Dunkirk, Dr, Strangelove, Das Boot, The Pianist, The Imitation Game, Saving Private Ryan, MASH, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and Klondike. Participants will choose a film in this genre for their presentation, which can focus on any aspects of the film from its source material (a historic account or a book), its storytelling, its themes, and its techniques to biographical information about the filmmakers and actors. While there is no common reading, there are numerous Internet lists of the critics’ choices of best wartime movies.

No Common Reading.

 

16.      (MTS)      THE SHORT STORIES OF MARK TWAIN

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, has long been hailed as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced,” and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature”.

As a novelist, Twain wrote several classics, including The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is often called the “Great American Novel”. In addition to his work as a novelist, Twain’s vast literary output also included travelogues, newspaper articles, essays, letters, a lengthy autobiography, and dozens of short stories of broad scope and high quality.

The suggested book for this S/DG contains approximately 40 of such stories.

The class will decide how to organize its reading of all or some selected portion of these stories. Presentation topics could include literary critiques of Twain’s stories, stylistic and topical patterns and themes in his work, and his literary predecessors and influences, contemporaries, and followers.

In addition, Twain led an extraordinary life which led him from a very modest upbringing in mid-19th Century Missouri through great adventures and changes from a teenaged printer’s apprentice, to a Mississippi River pilot, to a Confederate volunteer (briefly), to a silver miner in Nevada’s Comstock Lode, to a newspaperman in Nevada and 1860’s San Francisco, to an author chronicling life in the California Gold Rush, to a travel writer reporting on his trips to Hawaii, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, to a novelist living for a long stretch in Connecticut, to a part-time inventor, to a literary critic, and to a famous lecturer invited to speak all around the world.  It is anticipated that class members may wish to augment the common book with presentations regarding some or all of Twain’s personal history, perhaps as it connects to various writings contained in our common book.

Common Reading:   The Signet Classic Book of Mark Twain's Short Stories, edited by Justin Kaplan (Signet Classics, November 1985)

 

17.      (NHH)     A  NEW  HISTORY  OF  HUMANITY

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike―either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today.

Possible presentation topics could be origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Common Reading:   The Dawn of Everything, by David Graeber and David Wengrow (November 2021)

 

18.      (NUM)    NUMBERS  DON’T  LIE

Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In our common reading, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment - your car or your phone? How much do the world’s cows weigh (and why does it matter)? And what makes people happy?

From data about our societies and populations, through measures of the fuels and foods that energize them, to the impact of transportation and inventions of our modern world -and how all of this affects the planet itself - Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge conventional thinking. Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, Numbers Don't Lie reveals how the U.S. is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren’t as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit, Numbers Don't Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.

Presentations can expand on any of the 71 stories contained in the common reading or address other examples where examining the data might yield some surprising results.

Common Reading:   Numbers Don’t Lie:  71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World, by Vaclav Smil (May 2021)

 

19.      (PET)   THE  HEALING  POWER  OF  PETS

One of the consequences of people finding themselves stuck in their homes for months on end because of the pandemic was the run on animal shelters for a four-legged furry companion.  This also occurs often when a retired person finds themselves living alone and wishing for another heart beating in the house.  This S/DG will interest those members who have or may be thinking about sharing their life with a pet.  Using a book, written by esteemed veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, members will explore The Healing Power of Pets.  In the last twenty years medical research has increasingly proven the healing effect pets can have for the ill, the elderly, the stressed-out, and the emotionally disengaged. Research shows that people with pet companions have fewer doctor visits and recover more quickly from severe illnesses. In his book, he shows readers how pets can prevent, detect, treat, and in some cases cure a variety of maladies, from arthritis to asthma, and from Alzheimer's to depression. Pets decrease cardiovascular risk factors, motivate their sedentary owners to exercise, and help people deal with chronic pain.  Together members can research and present on a multitude of pet and owner topics from exercise, to science, to training, to support animals, to canine police, fire and military animals.

Common Reading:   The Healing Power of Pets: Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy, by Dr. Marty Becker (February 2003; paperback)

 

20.      (PJT)       EXAMINING  THE  1619  PROJECT

The 1619 Project asserts that American history started when the first slaves arrived in 1619 and reframes our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative.  Originally published as a 100-page supplement in the New York Times, it was greatly expanded and published as a book in November 2021. The book weaves together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays purport to show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself. The author, Nikole Hannah-Jones, received a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020 for an essay she wrote for the original.

It is not surprising that the premise of The 1619 Project has been controversial.  Our second common reading is not a detailed attack on The 1619 Project but is a compilation of 28 essays by African-American intellectuals, journalists, entrepreneurs and grassroots activists explaining why they disagree with the project’s conclusions and discussing why they believe it is harmful.

Both books will be used as resources in this S/DG, but class members will decide exactly how at the pre-meeting.  Ideally, a variety of viewpoints will be considered to encourage stimulating, respectful discussion.  One option would be for every class member to choose one selection from each of the books, expand on the subject for their presentation and develop a set of questions for discussion.  Another option would be for presentations to address various subjects related to race such as critical race theory, disparate policing, white privilege, affirmative action, and reparations. In this case, selections from the two books would still be discussed, but in a more traditional manner.  There are many other options for class organization that will be discussed at the pre-meeting,

Common Reading:   The 1619 Project: A New American Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones (November 16, 2021)

                                       Red, White and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers, by Robert L. Woodson, Sr., Editor (May 2021)

 

21.      (ROH)     THE  REALITY  OF  HOMELESSNESS

One only has to drive our freeways or outlying streets to see the evidence of homelessness in our society. While some are homeless by choice others are victims of circumstances that are invisible to the passing eye.  This S/DG will attempt to pull back the blinds and examine the causes of homelessness, the safety net programs that exist, the effects of various interventions, the statistics of our immediate areas to gain a better understanding of the situation.

In addition to presentations on these and related topics we will read and discuss the factual account written by New York Times journalist Andrea Elliott, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City, to gain an understanding of the impact of homelessness on an 11-year-old girl living with her family in a run-down homeless shelter in Brooklyn.  The author followed Dasani Coates and her family over the course of almost a decade, recording their experiences in her book. Dasani wanted to be heard and the author gave her a voice to narrate her experience of growing up poor. The book takes on poverty, homelessness, racism, addiction, hunger, and more as they shape the lives of this one remarkable girl and her family.

Common Reading:   Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City, by Andrea Elliott (October 2021)

 

22.      (RUS)      PUTIN’S  RUSSIA

Vladimir Putin is typically portrayed as a strongman who wields absolute power over Russia and that Russia’s unique history and culture make it different from other autocracies. Our text for this S/DG is Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia by Timothy Frye, 2021 (276 pages). Frye uses three decades of experience and reams of social science research to argue that Russia actually has much in common with Turkey, Hungary, Venezuela, and other autocracies. He also tackles questions about the effectiveness of Russian propaganda and attempts to influence foreign elections with cyber warfare. Amazon reviews average 4.6 on a 5-star scale.

In his positive review in Diplomatic Courier, Joshua Huminski writes that Frye’s book debunks the myth that we simply need to wait out Putin assuming that his successor will have a different set of beliefs or worldview. Putin, like all autocrats, must walk a tightrope, balancing his interests with the interests of elites and even those of the public. His successor will have to do the same.

But wait. This book was published in April 2021. Since then, Putin has invaded Ukraine. What are experts saying today about how power works in Russia in 2022? Has the Ukraine invasion damaged Putin or demonstrated that he can do anything he wants without opposition? Could he really single-handedly start a nuclear war? There are plenty of opinions in newspapers and magazines and on radio, weblogs, and TV. There will be many more opinions, analysis, and speculation in the coming months as everyone tries to guess what will happen next, giving us plenty of material for our presentations.

Common Reading:   Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia, by Timothy Frye (April 2021; 276 pages)

 

23.      (SHK)   SHAKESPEARE:   HISTORY  VS.  FICTION?

The Omnilorean New Globe Players plan a fun September-December 2022 season — reading, studying, discussing, and analyzing two of Shakespeare’s plays (to be selected at our August premeeting).  Leading off with Henry V, this trimester will pursue a theme of researching “liberties” the Bard takes with actual history in creating his stories.  Are the revisions plausible and do they make sense?  What might have been motivations for the fictional parts?  Did they work to improve the drama, the interest, the entertainment?  Do they sometimes do an injustice to actual historical figures?  Or, the converse?  The second play will be determined at August’s premeeting.

With players standing and with a few props and costumes, we will do reading walk-throughs of the two plays to be chosen, supplemented by researched presentations on themes, characters, and the times of each play and its sources.

In this S/DG you will learn how to research all perspectives of Shakespeare’s works — sources of each play upon which the Bard builds rich characters and enhances the plots, how to play each character “in character,” themes, symbols, images, motifs, commentary on issues of the day, and all manner of rhyme and reason.  For a glimpse of how we live the Bard in this S/DG, check out http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/22a-SHK-Shakespeare to view the Winter/Spring Shakespeare class’s website of links to references relevant to our plays and downloadable organizing artifacts.

There are no prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise.  You will find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will teach us, just as he’s taught others for four hundred years.  With plenty for the novice as well as the veteran, it is a foregone conclusion members will leave this class with a fuller understanding of the masterful story construction, realistic characters with depth and humanity, and the rich, evocative language which have earned William Shakespeare the title of greatest writer in the English language.

Common Reading:  Selected Plays

 

24.      (UKR)     THE  HISTORY  OF  UKRAINE

Ukraine has a rich and complicated past. Serhii Plokhy is a Harvard professor of Ukrainian history. His book (revised in 2021) covers 2,000 years of Ukrainian history as waves of invaders fought and died for the region’s strategic advantages and natural riches. The claimants include the Kyvian Rus (Vikings that both Ukrainians and Russians reference as ancestors), the Byzantine Empire, the Ottomons, the Mongols, the Poles and Lithuanians, Russian tsars, Germans, the Soviet Union and now Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Plokhy analyzes the religious conflicts, nationalism and antisemitism that are an integral part of the country’s past, as well as the toughness and courage of the Ukrainians in their long fight to obtain and maintain independence from Russia. In Ukraine, history has had a bad habit of repeating itself. Presentation topics could include a deeper dive into any of the numerous subjects covered in the book, recent events involving Ukraine and the impact of the latest Russian invasion on Ukraine, Russia and the rest of the world, the variety of citizens, various key figures, and other details of Ukraine's struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, details leading to the 2014 invasion of the Crimea, NATO, Russian oligarchs, and the struggle to embrace all the peoples within its borders.

Common Reading:   The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, by Serhii Plokhy (2015; May 2021, paperback)

 

25.      (USH)  FAULT  LINES:  A  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SINCE  1974

“When—and how—did America become so polarized?” In this masterful history, leading historians Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer uncover the origins of our current moment. It all starts in 1974 with the Watergate crisis, the OPEC oil embargo, desegregation busing riots in Boston, and the wind-down of the Vietnam War. What follows is the story of our own lifetimes. It is the story of ever-widening historical fault lines over economic inequality, race, gender, and sexual norms firing up a polarized political landscape. It is also the story of profound transformations of the media and our political system fueling the fire. Kruse and Zelizer’s Fault Lines is a master class in national divisions nearly five decades in the making.”

Possible presentation topics might include:

o    Now that we acknowledge the reality of a dysfunctional Congress, what do we do about it?

o    How would the institution of term-limits help reduce the fault lines?

o    What needed reforms should be considered to insure a more functional Congress?

Common Reading:   Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974, by Kevin Michael Kruse, Julian E. Zelizer (January 2019)

 

26.      (WEI)      THE  WEIRDEST  PEOPLE  IN  THE  WORLD

The acronym WEIRD, for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Democratic describes societal, cultural characteristics that are rare, if not unique in the history of the world. This includes abiding by the rule of law, even at the risk of personal disadvantage; an openness to experimentation in matters of scientific knowledge or social arrangements; and a willingness to trust strangers, from politicians offering new policies to potential business partners. USA and other Western countries have prospered with and in large part due to these characteristics. Further, by being fairly open to immigration, we are spreading these values and prosperity to the larger world. Our Common Reading develops this structure, how it developed, and obstacles to its adoption in other places.

Possible research/presentation topics might include: differences around the USA; differences by age group; differences between various Western countries; how we might improve our own general social structure; etc. NOTE: We recently had an S/DG on how different lifestyles around the world contributed to longevity.

Common Reading:   The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiarly Prosperous, by Joseph Henrich (September 2020; paperback, October 2021)