You Should Read....: 2018 - Nonfiction

Recommended by: Pauline Ota, Art and Art History
Employing both historical narrative and journalistic reporting, this book chronicles the tale of scholar-librarian, Abdel Kader Haidara's efforts to save 350,000 ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts from destruction. If you would like to learn more about Timbuktu, its place in North Africa's rich manuscript culture, and how bad-ass the city's librarians can be, read this book!

Recommended by: Natu McCarthy, Class of 2018
It is an eye opening book about the black experience in America.

Recommended by: Tiffany Hebb, Libraries
While Noah's memoir is packaged as a story about growing up in South Africa under Apartheid and the immediate aftermath, it's really a series of vignettes that serve as a "love letter" to his mother, Patricia. An intelligent woman, who is determined to knock down boundaries that she can, and craftily bypass the ones that she can't, she puts everything she has into two things: her Christian faith, and raising Trevor to be successful. To do that, she takes him to three church services every Sunday, teaches him to speak multiple languages, pushes him in his education, and refuses to let him feel like the racism they live with is going to define him. Trevor Noah's voice comes through loud and clear, and sometimes you find yourself laughing in the middle of his most tragic and scary stories.

Recommended by: Michael Sinowitz, English
If you like LSD... I mean if you like reading about LSD or popular culture, Wayne Glausser's smart,, readable guide will inform, amuse, and give pleasures with only positive flashbacks.

Recommended by: Austin Candor, Class of 2018
It's basically about this dude living in America pre and post 9-11 and examines the way in which xenophobia and Islamophobia operates in American culture.

Recommended by: Katie Browning, Class of 2018
This book is what I live my life by! Every morning I basically meditate on positive energy--expressing gratitude for things I do not yet have but seek in the future. I think this book is so important to help remind us about the power of positive energy and how it can shape our lives.

Recommended by: Anonymous
If you liked Wayne’s classes (Seven Deadly Sins, The Romantics, Reading Las Vegas, Drugs and Literature, and more), you’ll love the book. And you’ll recognize ideas you talked about in class.

Recommended by Veronica Pejril, FITS and School of Music
The author shares a memoir of her contemporary and revolutionary work for civil rights during this decade. Sarah is the first openly trans person to address a major party's national convention. Her coming out story is both personal and political.

Recommended by: Alexandria Moore, Libraries 5th Year Intern
Academic achievement, athletic success, and maintaining a social life are just a few goals many collegiate athletes face, but at what cost? This book explores the life of Maddy Holleran, a young freshman at an Ivy League school who found herself feeling alone and unable to keep up. Slowly overcome by the pressures countless college students and collegiate athletes in particular face in society today, this book brings to light the importance of sharing these stories and finding ways to help those facing mental illness. I recommend this book for anyone open to hearing her story, and encourage them to share it with others.

Recommended by: Marnie McInnes, English
This little, beautifully written book takes no time at all to read, but it will change (and confirm) your sense of power in the world. Mary Beard is a professor of Classics in England, not to be confused with DePauw graduate Mary Beard, also a preeminant historian.