The University has selected four books by faculty for the fall session of its Brown 2026 Reads program. Through the program, faculty members host seminars to discuss their recently published work. Students who attend are provided with free copies of those texts.
The program is part of Brown 2026, an initiative that seeks to encourage discussion of the legacy of the American Revolution and the role of research universities in democracy, according to the initiative’s co-chairs, Karin Wulf, a professor of history and the director of the John Carter Brown library, and Kevin McLaughlin, a professor of English and comparative literature.
A variety of new course offerings, special lectures and targeted conferences started last winter as a way of introducing the Brown 2026 initiative to students, faculty and community members on campus. According to Wulf, the readings are “a piece of Brown 2026 that is purely for students.”
Wulf and McLaughlin both said that through the readings, they hope to help students strengthen their connections with faculty.
Fifty copies of each book were provided to interested students. While some students received two books, the popularity of the program limited most students to one. In all, nearly 200 students are signed up for this month’s readings and seminars, Senior Associate Dean of Advising Timothy Shiner wrote in an email to The Herald.
Brown 2026 Reads is meant to transcend disciplines, said Rebecca Graham, a postdoctoral research associate who coordinates the Brown 2026 initiative and the author of one of the four selected books. The selections included in this fall’s readings range from economics to poetry. The books were selected by a group of faculty and librarians, but the program will take student suggestions into account for future selections.
Included in the fall reading list is “Floating Coast” by Bathsheba Demuth ’06 MA’07, an associate professor of history and environment and society. The book explores the history of Beringia, the geographic region encompassing the waters and lands between Alaska and northeastern Siberia.
Demuth said that the book examines the “relationship between ideas and place,” questioning who and what is included in a democracy in Beringia.
Other works featured in the program consider the legacy of the American Revolution more directly. Graham’s “Dear Miss Perkins” illustrates the power of advocacy within government, centering on the story of former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins and her efforts to save the lives of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.
Wulf and McLaughlin both stressed that Brown 2026 and its reading program are not responses to the current political climate or the Trump administration’s targeting of higher education. Instead, “history kind of caught up with us” in Brown 2026’s goal of communicating the importance of universities to the nation, McLaughlin said.
While Shiner said that Brown 2026 Reads is not intended as a substitute for the recently retired First Readings program, he said the success of Brown 2026 Reads may inform the format of a potential First Readings replacement.
Wulf, who also led an archival reading group at the John Carter Brown Library during the last academic year, noted the importance of extracurricular reading in building community.
“Nobody is judging anybody. Nobody is grading anybody. Nobody is required to know something,” she said. “You just bring your own curiosity and thinking to the experience.”
