Martha Nussbaum Recommends ‘Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life’
What Every Student Needs to Read Right Now
Over the past month, American campuses have witnessed levels of political unrest not seen since the anti-Vietnam War protests of the late 1960s. Students, faculty, and staff at more than 90 colleges and universities have organized demonstrations and set up encampments to oppose the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza and demand their institutions divest from Israel. Many administrations have responded with force, calling in the local police to clear encampments and disperse protests. Students and faculty members have been arrested and, in some cases, beaten. Buildings have been occupied. Graduation ceremonies have been disrupted, and suspensions and punishments have been issued.
Those events have been much discussed in up-to-the-minute reports, op-eds, and quick takes on social media. We wanted a longer view. So we asked 22 Chronicle Review contributors: In light of the campus protests and police crackdowns that have swept campuses across the country, what is the one book you’d recommend colleges adopt as required reading for all incoming freshmen?
Their responses are below.
— The Editors
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Martha Nussbaum
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, by Sari Nusseibeh, to bring subtlety and complexity to the students’ search for peace. Nusseibeh, the former president of Al-Quds University, in East Jerusalem (he still teaches philosophy there), has carried on the search for cooperation, mutual understanding, and a principled peace with unparalleled integrity, even when both sides threatened him, and he still exemplifies reasoned hope.
Martha Nussbaum is a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education