So my main course in the Fall (I’m taking three) is referred to by MPA alumni as the “book of the week” course, and after reading the syllabus, I can see why! Our professor emailed us early (even though classes start August 20th) so we could get started on the first book—all 485 pages of it.
There are 8 books total in the course, but they all sound fascinating:
- American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare
- Democracy in America and Two Essays on America (written in 1831 by a French aristocrat who spent nine months traveling in America)
- Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
- The US Constitution: And Fascinating Facts About It
- Fields Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change
- The Essential Drucker (This seems the most boring of them all)
- That Used To Be Us: How American Fell Behind in the World It Invented, and How We Can Come Back
- Mastering Public Administration: From Max Weber to Dwight Waldo (Second most boring, I’d guess)
At the end of the class, I get to prepare a paper (for a fake Meet the Press interview), identifying the challenges facing public administration in the US today and steps that should be taken.
First class I’ve honestly looked forward to throughout my entire graduate career…
