Reading club announces list

Darlington President David Hicks recently extended an invitation for membership and announced the reading list for the 2001-02 Alhambra Reading Club. Open to any Darlington Upper School student in good standing (passing all courses) on a first-come–first-served basis (with a maximum membership of 15), membership to the group will be closed after Labor Day weekend.

The club meets on designated Sunday evenings in the library of the Home-on-the-Hill (originally named Alhambra).During the gatherings, two members of the group (on a rotating basis) review the essays before a general discussion.

This year’s reading list is built around American essays touching on five somewhat related themes.



Sunday, Sept. 23, 2001

7 p.m. at Home-on-the-Hill (dessert)

Nature and Civilization

• Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature" from Emerson’s Essays
• Theodore Roosevelt, "Old Ephraim, The Grizzly Bear" from American Bears
• E. B. White, "Twins" from The Dolphin Reader
• Lewis Thomas, "Ponds" from The Dolphin Reader
• Harry Crews, "Pages from the Life of a Georgia Innocent" from The Dolphin Reader
• Loren Eisley, "The Brown Wasps" from The Dolphin Reader
• David Quammen, "Planet of Weeds" from The Best American Essays 1999
• Wendell Berry, "Christianity and the Survival of Creation" from Sacred Trusts

Sunday, Nov. 4, 2001

7 p.m. at Home-on-the-Hill (dessert)

Progress

• Henry David Thoreau, "The Fitness of a Man’s Building His Own House" from The Dolphin Reader
• E. B. White, "Progress and Change" from The Dolphin Reader
• Daniel Boorstin, "Technology and Democracy" from The Dolphin Reader
• Alice Bloom, "On a Greek Holiday" from The Dolphin Reader

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2002

7 p.m. at Home-on-the-Hill (dessert)

Status

• Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi" from The Dolphin Reader
• Russell Lynes, "The New Snobbism" from The Dolphin Reader
• Paul Fussell, "The Middle Class" from The Dolphin Reader
• James Fallows, "Why Paul Fussell Thinks He’s Better Than You" from The Dolphin Reader
• William Manchester, "In Defense of Snobs" from The Dolphin Reader

Sunday, March 17, 2001

5 p.m. at Home-on-the-Hill (tea)

Community

• Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" from The Dolphin Reader
• Martin Luther King Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" from The Dolphin Reader
• H. L. Mencken, "The Nature of Liberty" from The Dolphin Reader
• Jane Jacobs, "The Uses of Sidewalks" from The Dolphin Reader
• Gretel Ehrlich, "Wyoming: The Solace of Open Spaces" from The Dolphin Reader
• Phyllis McGinley, "Suburbia: Of Thee I Sing" from The Dolphin Reader
• Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons" from The Dolphin Reader

Sunday, April 28, 2002

7 p.m. at Home-on-the-Hill (dessert)

Portraits

• Brian Doyle, "Van" from The American Scholar 2001
• John Lahr, "The Lion and Me" from The American Scholar 2001
• Robert A. Caro, "The Story of Coke Stevenson" from The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-up" from The Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald
• Robert L. Heilbroner, "Adam Smith" from The Worldly Philosophers
• Franklin Burroughs, "Compression Wood" from The Best American Essay 1999