Good Things To Read

Part of my OBB initiative here at Oberlin College is to get OBB incorporated into the College curriculum so students can do OBB work and get academic credit for it.  As a recent grad, I understand that when you can get academic credit for something, it's a lot easier to fit it into your schedule.  To this end, I plan on leading a private reading (2nd class meets tonight!), a WT project (2 students confirmed!), and an ExCo next semester (interview with the ExCo office today!).  For all these academic initiatives, I've had to try my hand at writing syllabi chock-full of informative readings.  

Here are some of the good books/articles I have come across or had recommended to me exploring the issue of poverty (and I have OhioLinked to read in the next few weeks).  Some are more academic than others, but if read with a critical eye all should give you something to think about:

• The Working Poor by David Shipler
• Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. How the Working Poor Became Big Business by Gary Rivlin
• The State of Poverty in OH 2010
• All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? by Joel Berg
• Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby Payne  (to be read in conjunction with Paul Gorski)
• Articles by Paul Gorski critiquing Payne's work (to be read in conjunction with Ruby Payne)