Book Studies
About Book Studies
Book studies (Zoom and in-person) are open to all who would like to read,
discuss and study topics such as faith, justice, and peacemaking. The
facilitated discussions include speakers (recorded or live) and
supplemental information, as well as insights and experiences shared by a diverse group of readers.
Please contact facilitators Dean Martineau and Judi Behrendt for
Zoom connection and more details at topdot@gmail.com
viral justice: how we grow the world we want
by Ruha Benjamin
Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we as
individuals can transform society through the choices we make every day.
Benjamin vividly recounts her personal experiences and those of her
family, connecting them to social and racial injustices, such as the stress
of chronic racism, the criminal justice system, and healthcare system
inequities. In a spirit of hopefulness, Viral Justice offers an inspiring and
practical vision of how small changes can add up to large ones,
transforming our relationships and communities to help us build a more just
and joyful world.
Some Past Book Studies
HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A RECKONING WITH THE HISTORY OF
SLAVERY ACROSS AMERICA
By Clint Smith
by Clint Smith
Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that our not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history and memory. It includes the stories of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation in Virginia, Whitney plantation and Angola prison, (both in Louisiana), a neighborhood in Manhattan, and more. Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the stories of people living today, this work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be.
The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander
Seldom does a book have the impact of The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published
in 2010, it has won numerous awards and was on the New York Times bestseller list for
nearly 250 weeks. It’s been cited in judicial decisions, read in countless faith-based
and secular book clubs, and adopted in campus and community reads. It has
inspired artists, philanthropists, policymakers, community leaders, and a generation
of racial justice activists motivated by Michelle Alexander’s searing indictment of our
criminal justice system and her unforgettable argument that “we have not ended
racial caste in America: we have merely redesigned it.”
The Sum of Us
by Heather McGhee
Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found…