Plan for "great reads" without needing to read a single book!

Book Selections for the

 

2016 Urban Engagement Book Club

The Third Thursday of Each Month

CitySquare Opportunity Center

                             1610 S Malcolm X Blvd.
                                  Dallas, TX 75226

January -- Broke, USA From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc. - How the Working Poor Became Big Business by Gary Rivlin

February -- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - by Bryan Stevenson

March -- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

April -- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

May -- Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) by Dr. Marion Nestle

June -- Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado

July -- Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr

August -- Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America (City Lights Open Media) by Tim Wise  

September -- Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica 

October -- All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? by Joel Berg 

November -- Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation by Matt Barreto and Gary M. Segura 

December -- Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich

 

Growing inequality

Rising Inequality; Rising Levels of Poverty (still!) – Let’s At Least Have Some Meaningful Conversations About This

News item: the number of children below the poverty line is now greater than it was in the great recession of 2008  (More US children living in poverty than before recession: report).

Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers. It is of interest to everyone, and that is a good thing. Refusing to deal with numbers rarely serves the interests of the least well-off. 


Read on to learn more and to be engaged in CitySquare's important, Urban Engagement Book Club during the remainder of 2015!

 

 

Coming in 2014!

2014 Urban Engagement Book Club (Hosted by CitySquare)

Every FIRST Thursday at Noon

Highland Park United Methodist Church (at SMU), Room 120

3300 Mockingbird Lane Dallas, Texas 75205

www.UrbanEngagement.org          

www.CitySquare.org

                                                                                              

January 9

Outliers: The Story of Success , Malcolm Gladwell

February 6

Black Like Me (50th Anniversary Edition), John Howard Griffin

March 6

The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy ,Bruce Katz & Jennifer Bradley

April 3

The Other America: Poverty in the United States ,Michael Harrington

May 1

The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools,

Christopher A. Lubienski & Sarah Theule Lubienski

June 5

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir

July 3

No Book Club: Summer Break

August 7

The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives, Sasha Abramsky

September 4

Why Walls Won't Work: Repairing the US-Mexico Divide, Michael Dear

October 2

Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, Diane Ravitch

November 6

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

December 4

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women,  Susan Faludi

Every THIRD Thursday at Noon

First United Methodist Church, Crossroads Room

1928 Ross Ave Dallas, Texas 75201

www.UrbanEngagement.org

www.CitySquare.org

January 23

Outliers: The Story of Success,Malcolm Gladwell

February 20

American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass,
Douglas Massey & Nancy Denton

March 20

The Other America: Poverty in the United States,Michael Harrington

April 16

The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T. R. Reid

May 15

The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools,

Christopher A. Lubienski & Sarah Theule Lubienski

June 19

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

July 10

The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, Second Edition, Leo Chavez

August 21

NAFTA and the Politics of Labor Transnationalism , Tamara Kay

September 18

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley

October 17

The DREAMers: How the Undocumented Youth Movement Transformed the Immigrant Rights Debate

Walter Nicholls

November 21

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,Sheryl Sandberg

December 18

Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir

30 of the very best business books

My friend, Randy Mayeux leads our Urban Engagement Book Club twice each month.  The club sponsored by CitySquare focuses on books dealing with poverty, social justice and community development, and is a part of our overall public policy work.

In Randy's other world he leads the First Friday Book Synopsis that deals with the latest and greatest business books.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of this gold mine of business writing treasure.

To make the occasion, Randy selected the 30 best business books from the many he has presented.  It is more than worth a look!

You can see Randy's list and learn more about the First Friday Book Synopsis here.

Heroic Leadership

Each month CitySquare hosts two sessions of our "Urban Engagement Book Club."  Meeting each month on the first Thursday (Highland Park United Methodist Church) and the third Thursday (First United Methodist Church Dallas) from noon until 1:15 p.m., the groups enjoy a book synopsis and follow on discussion of books relating to urban issues, inner city ministry, public policy, leadership and history.  Randy Mayeux provides an innovative, comprehensive overview of each volume.  Participants receive a couple of pages of key quotes and an outline of the book being considered.  The goal of each session is to make people leave feeling as if they have read the book, whether they have or not!  So, no advanced reading is required. 

Here's a quote from Chris Lowney's great book on leadership drawn from the history of the Jesuits:

…the abilities to innovate, to remain flexible and adapt constantly, to set ambitious goals, to think globally, to move quickly, to take risks. ...I became convinced that their approach to molding innovative, risk-taking, ambitious, flexible global thinkers worked.

Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World
Chicago: Loyola Press (2003)
by Chris Lowney

Urban Engagement Book Club 2010

Take a look at what follows for a list of the book selections for Central Dallas Ministries' Urban Engagement Book Club for 2010.

The club convenes on the first Thursday of each month from Noon until 1:15 p.m. We never go over our time limit! We meet at the Highland Park United Methodist Church (at SMU), Room 120 (3300 Mockingbird Lane Dallas, Texas 75205).

For more details and ready reference visit http://www.urbanengagement.org/.

January 7
The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T.R. Reid

February 4
Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, Barbara Ehrenreich

March 4
The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler

April 1
Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, Helen Thorpe

May 6
The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? The Answer that Changed my Life and Might Just Change the World, Richard Stearns

June 3
Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration, David F. Weiman

July 1
Push: A Novel, Saphhire

August 5
Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists, Jason Del Gandio

September 2
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip Heath and Dan Heath

October 7
There Goes the Neighborhood: Racial, Ethnic, and Class Tensions in Four Chicago Neighborhoods and Their Meaning for America, William Julius Wilson and Richard P. Taub

November 4
To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise, Bethany Moreton

December 2
Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World, Mae Elise Cannon and John Perkins

To be added to our email invitation listing, please send an email to kgoldberg@CentralDallasMinistries.org.

Grassroots Democracy

We live at a time when the dominant culture, including the media, elected officials, and corporate advertisers, herald individualism. The stories we hear in school focus on the heroes and heroines of history, rarely on the collective power of organized groups. Although it is true that good stories rely on strong characters, promoting individuals helps those in power to play down the stories of how mass movements, collective struggle, and community-based campaigns have moved resources, shifted power, and improved the lives of many people. (p. xiv).

When you set out to build the power of a community – particularly a politically marginalized community – you are explicit. You propose that the community can build power in addition to winning on issues, and you are strategic about establishing a team of community leaders who can drive the process of doing so on their own behalf. You include training and political education and get agreements on fundamental goals and principles for how the community will use collective action as a way of achieving solutions to its problems. … You take action. You do not wait for people to come to you. You find partners, go out, listen, learn, and build a network of public relationships. (p. 1).

From Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community by Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos (foreword by Peter Edelman). San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Josey-Bass: A Wiley Imprint--2007).

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The Grapes of Wrath

CDM's Urban Engagement Book Club for April took a informative look at John Steinbeck's classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

Steinbeck won a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for his efforts. Not a bad book to be reading in 2009.

Helpful background for Steinbeck's award winning work can be viewed here.

Randy Mayeux is our book synopsis guru and, as usual, he did a masterful job with the book.

The movie trailer for the 1940 film version of the novel is worth watching.



Speaking of our monthly book club, here is a glimpse into that experience. Our meetings create a dedicated space for conversation about important ideas, values and questions related to justice, urban concerns and the struggle of the poor in this nation and around the world. Every month, participants enjoy a simple meal, receive two pages of the key quotes from the book of the month, along with an outline of the contents. We hear a synopsis before engaging in a lively discussion.

If you are in Dallas on the first Thursday of each month, you need to check it out!



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Urban Engagement Book Club 2008

At noon on the first Thursday of each month, Central Dallas Ministries hosts a 75-minute encounter with some of the most important books on the issues that we care most about in our work among our inner city neighbors. We call the experience "Urban Engagement Book Club."

Here's what we deliver each month:

An outline of the book's contents that forms the basis of an in-depth synopsis

A couple of pages of the key quotes from the book

A feeling, when you leave, that you've read the book

A simple lunch

Great camaraderie and new connections

An extremely diverse crowd that is growing

New ideas, perspectives and hope

We meet at the Highland Park United Methodist Church (Room 386) on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

This year we will be investigating the following books together:

The Foundation: A Great American Secret: How Private Wealth is Changing the World, Joel Fleishman.

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.

Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America, Dowell Myers.

Same Kind of Different as Me, Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, Bill Clinton.

Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City, Paul Jargowsky.

Letters to a Young Teacher, Jonathan Kozol.

Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, Jay MacLeod.

Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, Robert Frank.

Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint.

Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great, Jim Collins.

White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001, Michael Phillips.

Our Day to End Poverty, Shannon Daley-Harris, Jeffrey Keenan, and Karen Speerstra.

On the Move, Bono.

Plan now to join us for the first meeting of 2008 on Thursday, January 3 (that's tomorrow!). For more information visit our website at http://www.centraldallasministries.org/uebc/index.htm.

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