Chancellor's Book Club 2024 Invitation (April 9, 2024)

Dear Colleagues and Students,

The end of the semester and commencement are once again around the corner. It has been another remarkable year living up to our motto “Dreams in Practice”.

At this time of year, it has become tradition to announce my title for the next Chancellor's Book Club.  This event has become a means of bringing our community together and exchanging viewpoints and perspectives about a great book. Since then, we have had two several exceptional book choices, the latest of which was A Man’s Place (La Place in French) by Annie Ernaux, the 2023 Nobel Laureate in Literature, which interrogated familial tensions that arise from transcending social class.

My next selection goes down a different path. I invite you to join me in reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.  This book published in 2012 has been influential in helping us understand and make sense of the fractures in society.  The New York Times highlighted that Haidt “wants to start a conversation about integrating a better understanding of human nature — our sentiments, sociality, and morality — into the ways we debate and govern ourselves”. Something seemingly in short supply.

“However, what is so impressive about Haidt’s work,” the London School of Economics Book Review goes on “is how he goes about demonstrating why this is such a difficult thing for us to achieve, and... may challenge you to accept that the “other side” isn’t so bad after all and that perhaps your own moralistic mind could do with a shake-up.” 

I hope you have time and interest in joining me on this reading adventure.  To be sure, it will provide a starting point for a provocative and engaging discussion in the Fall.

I hope to see you there!

Go Dearborn,

Domenico Grasso
Chancellor