Reading for a World Without Genocide!

World Book Clubs will begin in January 2010 with Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Most of us read this book when we were children, and it is with new eyes that we will approach it as adults. We will then read Francine Prose’s Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, and The Afterlife, a new book that explores Anne’s three different versions of her diary and then describes the events in Amsterdam leading to the family’s betrayal and to Anne’s death. The final section of the book examines the controversies surrounding the making of the film and Broadway play based on her diary.

Reading for a World Without Genocide will meet once a month at locations that we will coordinate.

We will choose memoirs, histories, journalists’ accounts, and dramas dealing with genocides both past and present. Every four months the books will focus on a different conflict or genocide.

Events throughout the year will enhance our understanding and appreciation of these literary works. Our first program will be a conference on May 1st, which will bring to life the themes and issues discussed in the book clubs, particularly how important it is for each of us to become “upstanders” against genocide.

If you would like to be a part of this ground-breaking initiative, please send us an e-mail (subject: “Reading”) to world.invite@gmail.com with your city and zip code, so that we can organize an appropriate number of clubs in convenient locations.

Please pass this along to anyone you know who would like to be part of a book club with a social conscience!