The Elon Common Reading Program (ECRP) challenges students, faculty, and staff to examine themselves and the local and global worlds they inhabit through reading. The readings and subsequent discussions encourage the Elon community to reflect on these important issues and how individual actions can aid in a cultural transformation. In particular, this reading will prompt new students to consider diverse perspectives and become culturally aware of key issues that affect the world around them.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
This narrative nonfiction book details the experiences of the Zeitouns, a Muslim family, in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. The book won a 2010 American Book Award, for literary works that cover "the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community." In addition, it was winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Current Interest, a New York Times Notable Book, an O, The Oprah Magazine Terrific Read of the Year, a Huffington Post Best Book of the Year, a New Yorker Favorite Book of the Year, an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Decade, Northern California Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Distinguished Honor, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council's Media Award.
Click here to view the book from the Campus Shop
The common reading is the referred to throughout students' first year at Elon. In addition to discussing the book during Elon 101, students can look forward to meeting the author, Dave Eggers, when he speaks on campus in Fall 2012.
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