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Media ResourcesLSU has chosen “Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City” as the book incoming freshmen will be required to read for the 2007 Summer Reading Program. Author Jed Horne, who is also the metro editor for The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans, will address the incoming freshmen during LSU’s Academic Convocation Aug. 24. Immediately following the convocation, students will participate in small discussion sessions about the book with faculty members. In the book, Horne addresses Hurricane Katrina and some of the chronic problems the storm exposed. He uses individual stories as well as the larger public discourse to describe the destruction, loss, survival and, finally, renewal that takes place in New Orleans during and after Katrina. The book was chosen by the Summer Reading Program Book Selection Committee, which is composed of students, faculty and staff. The committee chose “Breach of Faith” for its focus on the impact of the natural disaster and for the challenges it addresses – poverty, racism, accountability, preparedness and corruption. The committee believes it is essential for students – as the future of Louisiana – to understand these issues in order to successfully take part in the recovery and rebuilding of the state. “Many LSU students have taken their civic responsibilities very seriously and helped with hurricane relief efforts in a variety of ways. Yet much remains to be done along the Gulf Coast,” said LSU Vice Provost Frank Cartledge. “It is particularly appropriate that our student body be stimulated to continue to think about how they can be involved, and the riveting accounts in Mr. Horne’s book will certainly provoke discussion and subsequent actions.” LSU’s Summer Reading Program is a means of introducing entering freshmen to the academic and intellectual culture of the university through a common reading experience. In addition, many professors will include discussions about the book in their freshman-level classes. Again this year, the Baton Rouge community is encouraged to read the book and participate in the “One Book, One Community” summer program. “One Book, One Community” partners, including LSU, will again coordinate an event during which the author will speak to community readers. LSU is one of more than 30 universities in the nation that begins the academic year with a program surrounding a summer reading assignment. LSU began its program three years ago, when the freshman class read “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.” The following year, students read “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.” Last year, students read “Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered he was Black.” For more information, visit the LSU Summer Reading Program’s Web site at www.lsu.edu/srp. The site will include a discussion guide for the book that can be used by students, as well as information about the book and the Summer Reading Program. Media Note – Copies of the book are available to media who wish to review it or who would like to write about the Summer Reading Program or cover the author’s speech at academic convocation. Please contact Kristine Calongne at 225-578-5985 for more information.
Contact Kristine Calongne LSU Media Relations 225-578-5985
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