MEDIA, Pa. — Penn State Brandywine has chosen “Between the World and Me!” as its campus common read for the 2016-17 academic year.
“Between the World and Me!” is written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and is a work of nonfiction composed as a letter to his son that confronts what it is like to be black in America.
The New York Times best-seller has earned many honors and awards, including the National Book Award, the NAACP Image Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. It was named one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Vulture, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.
Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of “The Beautiful Struggle,” a memoir. He has received the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize for opinion and analysis journalism and the George Polk Award.
During the upcoming fall and spring semesters, students, faculty and staff are encouraged to read the book and come together for several events based on the book’s philosophies and themes. Several professors from various academic disciplines will also assign the book in their classes, using it as part of their course curriculum.
The campus common read was created to provide an opportunity for the entire Brandywine community to participate in knowledgeable conversation about a shared text, allowing the campus to develop a dialogue focused on one central idea or question. This supports Brandywine’s goals of developing a common experience among its students, promoting a strong overall campus culture and supporting communication, collaboration and creativity across campus.
This book will be available for purchase in the Penn State Brandywine bookstore.