“book chat” note-taking guides

If you are reading this, you probably have first-hand experience with the increasing obsolescence of reading, especially of books, among today’s college and university students. One way I address this, with some noticeable success, is by assigning students in my survey courses a “Book Chat.” I provide them with a list of titles spanning many different topics and require that they choose one to read and discuss with me for ten minutes in an individual meeting in office hours during the second half of the semester. (Unfortunately, this assignment is ill-fitted for asynchronous online courses.) For each text, I make available a “Note-Taking Guide” with questions that help students identify key insights and examples offered by the author, as well as important questions raised by their research. I do not make submission of the guides mandatory. However, as you can imagine, students who complete the guides tend to do much better on the assignment. The assignment is not AI-proof, but it is much more resistant to AI than take-home essays. I have found it effective to transition all my writing assignments to in class, and use the Book Chat as the major take-home assignment. Students overwhelmingly report preferring the Book Chat assignment to a traditional essay, in part because it provides for more substantive one-on-one interaction with the instructor. You can learn more about how I structure the assignment by looking at my Modern U.S. History survey syllabus, and by reviewing the general assignment guidelines I give students at the beginning of the semester. Below you can download the .docx files of the note-taking guide for each title, alphabetized by author.

Gateway to Freedom (Eric Foner)

Eric Foner’s history of the Underground Railroad, focused on the network’s activities in New York City, is an instructive tale of the ingenuity, sacrifice, and commitment of the women and men, African-Americans and whites, who helped shepherd runaway slaves to and through Northern states (often on the way to Canada). This book is extremely relevant to the U.S. today, as it demonstrates the possibility of interracial cooperation in the name of basic justice and human progress. (Note-taking guide coming soon!)

Dillinger’s wild ride (Elliott gorn)

What more could students want than a book about sex, crime, and violence? Elliott Gorn’s account of John Dillinger’s bank-robbing bonanza in 1933 and 1934 has all of it, and manages to teach students a thing or two about the Great Depression. The beauty of this book is that it focuses as much on the public’s reaction to Dillinger as on Dillinger himself, and in doing so draws important parallels between the economic crises of the 1930s and 2000s. I have assigned this book many times, and student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

for freedom’s sake: the life of fannie lou hamer (c. Kai lee)

This biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, one of America’s most important civil rights leaders, is a perennial favorite among students. Chana Kai Lee traces Hamer’s emergence as an champion for voting rights and economic justice in Mississippi and beyond, using the activist’s life to highlight the often forgotten links between struggles for racial and economic equality. She does an superb job describing the role of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in cultivating grassroots activists who, like Hamer, came from extreme poverty, as well as Hamer’s role in challenging the racist leadership of the Democratic Party during the 1960s.

Alice paul: equality for women (christine lunardini)

Students love reading about Alice Paul, the Quaker suffragette who suffered repeated arrest and constant exhaustion in her quest to secure the vote for women, and who became notorious during WWI for comparing Woodrow Wilson to the German Kaiser because of the former’s refusal to support full democratic participation for American women. Christine Lunardini clearly describes the complicated interplay between different suffrage organizations, such as the National Women’s Party, at the turn of the century, and expertly captures the “badass” aspects of Paul and many of her fellow suffragettes.

Rebecca dickinson: independence for a new england woman (marla r. miller)

Marla Miller’s biography of Rebecca Dickinson, an unmarried dressmaker who lived in New England during the colonial era and early Republic, is admittedly less captivating than most others I assign. However, I still recommend it for women’s or labor history courses, as Miller does a phenomenal job of using Dickinson’s diary to show how women of the era shaped the workplace and often thought critically about the institution of marriage. (Note-taking guide coming soon!)

the color of law: a forgotten history of how our government segregated america (richard rothstein)

While Arnold Rothstein’s history of U.S. government policies that intentionally promoted racial segregation during the 20th century covers ground that historians have been discussing for decades, it is the first book to do so in a way fully accessible to new undergraduates. Rothstein methodically guides readers through the manifold ways, such a zoning ordinances, that municipal, state, and federal government officials shaped laws to exclude people of color from the benefits of home ownership in stable neighborhoods.

Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for change (Barbara winslow)

In this highly readable biography of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress and the first African American and first woman to seek a major party’s nomination for president, historian Barbara Winslow deftly uses Chisholm as a prism through which to understand important trends like the immigration of Afro-Caribbeans to the U.S. during the 20th century and factionalism within the Democratic Party in the 1960s and 70s. Students tend to react positively to Chisholm’s candor, self-reflectiveness, and wit.