President Stoltzfus’ recommended book picks

Full coverage of the presidential inauguration (videos, photos and stories): goshen.edu/inauguration


As we celebrate President Stoltzfus’ inauguration, we’re taking a look at some of her favorite books. When she finds time to read — from fiction to foreign policy, religion to race — these are her top recommendations.


 

In honor of Black History Month, I am pleased to include these three works, each of which has influenced my teaching and leadership:

The fire next time, by James Baldwin

 

 

 

 

Where do we go from here? Chaos or community, Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

 

Teaching to Transgress: education as the practice of freedom, by bell hooks

 

 

 

These three books have influenced my recent scholarship, focusing on sanitation, nutrition, and human rights in the context of global development:

The big necessity: the unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters, Rose George

 

 

 

Hunger and shame: child malnutrition and poverty on Mount Kilimanjaro, by Mary Howard & Ann V. Millard

 

 

 

Creating Capabilities: the human development approach, by Martha Nussbaum

 

 

 

A wonderful and provocative read on the wisdom tradition of Christianity, which has influenced my faith and daily walk:



Wisdom Jesus: transforming heart and mind – a new perspective on Christ and his message, by Cynthia Bourgeault

 

 

And here are three novels that were so good that I lost myself in them, and I can still almost smell and feel the places:  

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez

 

 

 

 

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

 

 

 

 

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, a children’s story from India. The beautiful artwork illustrates a story of fear and of finding your way home.

Alone in the Forest, by Bhajju Shyam, Gita Wolf, Andrea Anastasio