The Common Book Program at Windward Community College Fall, 2004 |
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser View Home - View Events - WCC Library Resources - View Web Resources |
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What is a Common Book? The goal of the Common Book Program is that everyone at the College - students, faculty and staff - and people in the community will read and discuss the same book over an entire semester. There will be events organized such as movies, lectures, and discussions which will connect to themes in the book. With Fast Food Nation, topics will include industrial food production, consumerism, health, and social justice. People interested discussing these topics further can join the Common Book listserv, where they can engage in an email discussion with others in the community. Contact the Common Book Program at commonbk@hawaii.edu to join. Students can also take a one-credit independent studies course, Humanities 199. For more information, contact Brian Richardson at the WCC Library at richards@hawaii.edu. Read an interview with Eric Schlosser. Listen to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air Read some of Eric Schlosser's articles in The Atlantic |
What's the next event? click here. Find out more about the Student Project Contest.
Read the June 28, 2004 Star-Bulletin article. Want to start a book club? Here are some tips. |
Local author Lois-Ann Yamanaka was the speaker at the concluding Common Book event, which was held on December 8 at Paliku Theatre!! Subtitled "The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," the book describes how the food industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. We are no longer the land of the free, we are the land of the happy meal. Schlosser's searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle , written in 1906. The descriptions of horrible working conditions, attacks on workers' rights, and unsanitary practices that introduce pathogens such as E. coli into restaurants, public schools, and homes horrified readers a century ago. Schlosser shows how these things have come back. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Eater beware!!! (Perennial, $14.95) The book is also available at Bookends in Kailua at a discounted price of $10.50. |
Sponsors |
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If you're interested helping sponsor the Common Book Program, contact Brian Richardson at commonbk@hawaii.edu |