DRCs Reading List 2008
Explore DRC's 2008 Reading List featuring top book recommendations from that year. Discover must-read titles and expand your literary horizons with this curated collection.
Book
The Island at the Center of the World
by Russell Shorto
In a riveting, groundbreaking narrative, Russell Shorto tells the story of New Netherland, the Dutch colony which pre-dated the Pilgrims and established ideals of tolerance and individual rights that shaped American history. "Astonishing . . . A book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past." --The New York Times When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are now being translated. Russell Shorto draws on this remarkable archive in The Island at the Center of the World, which has been hailed by The New York Times as “a book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past.” The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.
Item Not Found
ID: 0374249393
(Type: books)
Book
The Bible
by Karen Armstrong
Examines the Bible's complex history, the social and political environment in which oral history became written scripture, how the various books were collected into a single volume, and its acceptance as Christianity's sacred text.
Item Not Found
ID: 0307237702
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 1567921884
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0465023932
(Type: books)
Book
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Robert M. Pirsig
One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.
Item Not Found
ID: 0385417748
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0674003950
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0553383108
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0786883154
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0312295170
(Type: books)