The following titles are available in sets of approximately fifteen copies; sometimes more. Those with an asterisk * have a study guide to accompany the title. Please call (801) 359-9670 to check availability. We invite you to select books from the following themes. (Some titles may be found in more than one category.)

Contemporary Issues

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business – (Neil Postman, 1985) Television has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this book, Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions on how to withstand the media onslaught.

* Changing the Face of Hunger - (Tony Hall, 2006) The story of how liberals, conservatives, republicans, democrats, and people of faith are joining forces in a new movement to help the hungry, the poor, and the oppressed.

Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent The World - (Alan Weisman, 1998) More than twenty-five years ago, an intrepid visionary named Paolo Lugari set out to create a village in Columbia that could sustain itself agriculturally, economically, and artistically. He reasoned that if a community could survive in the Colombian llanos, it would be possible to live anywhere.  

* Growing Up Empty: How Federal Policies Are Starving America's Children - (Loretta Schwartz-Nobel, 2002) Twenty years after Ronald Reagan declared that hunger was no longer an American problem, Schwartz-Nobel shows that hunger has reached epic proportions, running rampant through urban, rural, and suburban communities, affecting blacks, whites, Asians, Christians and Jews, and nonbelievers alike.

Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability - (Paul Hawken, 1993) The bestselling author of Growing a Business presents a visionary new program which businesses can follow to help restore the planet.

* Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating - (Jane Goodall, 2005) Dr. Goodall introduces us to inspiring everyday heroes like a third-generation farmer who battled Monsanto and won; French activists who protest against genetically modified crops; and John Mackey, the founder of whole foods, who has vowed to sell only ethically raised animal products.

Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet - (Frances and Anna Lappe, 2002) Follow the author and her daughter as they travel to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, where they discovered answers to one of the most urgent issues of our time: whether we can transcend the rampant consumerism and capitalism to find the paths that each of us can follow to heal our lives as well as the planet.

The Whale Rider - (Witi Ihimaera, 1987) Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild--and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, it is Kahu who saves the tribe when she reveals that she has the whale rider's ancient gift of communicating with whales.

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