MCC's Common Book History
In 1988, the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee proposed the adoption of a Common Book Program at MCC. The proposal had several goals, but its primary purpose was to provide a single, shared, academic experience for the whole college. In the intervening years, as the college has grown and taken on multiple missions, the chance to come together around a common set of readings and related activities has become even more vital to the sense of community that is essential to any college. The following is a list of MCC's Common Books:
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
- The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Yonnondio by Tillie Olsen
- In 1996, instead of a single book, the Middlesex faculty adopted a common theme, "Work in a World of Change," to serve as the focus for a variety of different readings and several college-wide activities relating to that theme.
- Not Born in the U.S.A., an anthology of readings edited by the MCC Writing Across the Curriculum Committee (The selections contained in the anthology were chosen to represent many cultures, periods of history, voices, and experiences as well as the different disciplines taught at the college. Immigration Links)
- Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women's Prison by MCC Professor Jean Trounstine
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan
- When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
- Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama