Diane Evans: Promise of change awaits
By Dave
November 24th, 2008 | Leave a comment
By Diane Evans
If life experience tells us that the only constant is change, then the variable is how change comes about. Right now, on the heels of the presidential election, and in the throes of a bad economy, we’re hearing a lot about change.
But what will influence the course of that change?
When you look back at history, at times you see it’s a book that sometimes effects sweeping change.
Now author Jay Parini, who wrote an award-winning biography of Robert Frost, has new volume out on books that dramatically changed America. Titled Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America, it includes an essay on each of the 13 books on Parini’s list, which is subjective and not intended to be definitive.
Parini’s picks: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford; The Federalist Papers, essays published under a pseudonym but written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay; The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; The Journals of Lewis and Clark; Walden by Henry David Thoreau; Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois; The Promised Land by Mary Antin; How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie; The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock, M.D.; On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.
These aren’t necessarily literary achievements, but powerful for the way they transformed public opinion. Parini describes them as “places where vast areas of thought and feeling gathered and dispersed.”
His 385-page books is published by Doubleday.
OK, now here’s an idea to stimulate conversation, if that becomes necessary, at one of those holiday parties you are obligated to attend.
One open-ended question over cocktails might relate to what current books might actually make a difference.
An obvious one: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. With Barack Obama now saying he will have a bipartisan cabinet, and with former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton poised to become secretary of state, the president-elect appears ready to follow Lincoln’s example of appointing adversaries to critical positions.
Another question you might throw out: What books would you add to Parini’s list (or subtract from it)?
One of my most rewarding work experiences was in the editorial department of the Akron Beacon Journal, where my colleagues included some of the smartest people I’ve ever known.
The chief editorial writer at the time was well studied in American history and could have written his own book to rival Parini’s. That was many years ago, but I still remember the richness of conversations, stimulated by him offering thoughts on how various books changed history.
Another approach: Ask which books have affected people’s lives individually, in the category of How to Win Friends and Influence People.
For the sake of finding common ground — or divergence — it’s amazing the insight you can gain about people by learning what they read.
