12th grade
Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins
In this riveting personal story, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of empire
to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. Covertly recruited by the United States
National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world-to
Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other strategically important countries.
His job was to implement policies that promoted the interests of the U.S. corporatocracy (a coalition of
government, banks, and corporations) while professing to alleviate poverty-policies that alienated many
nations and ultimately led to September 11 and growing anti-Americanism.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway's
masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the
disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's
most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant
Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting
rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution,
unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish
Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.
Common Reading Book for all grades (7-12) - No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and
the U.S. Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald
In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to
have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through
heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the 29-year-old NSA contractor and
whistleblower Edward Snowden, and his revelations about the agency’s widespread, systemic overreach
proved to be some of the most explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce
debate over national security and information privacy. As the arguments rage on and the government
considers various proposals for reform, it is clear that we have yet to see the full impact of Snowden’s
disclosures.