Summer Reading

2024 Summer Reading Selection

Poverty, By America
Matthew Desmond

Desmond, the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, is a former MacArthur Genius Grant recipient.

Despite what spending and programs elected officials have aimed at it, poverty continues to undercut the life chances of millions. This book, we hope, will foster a thoughtful conversation about the multi-layered impacts of poverty on those who experience it, why our current anti-poverty measures have failed to move the needle, and what might be done to reconceive our approach to the problem. 

The Summer Reading Selection Committee, composed of faculty, staff, and student representatives,  stewarded the selection of the text.
 

Accessing Your Copy

More information will be forthcoming on accessing a copy of the summer reading book.

Summer Assignment

Due: August 7
Details for the summer reading assignment will be released by June.
 

About the Summer Reading Program

This is the first opportunity for new students to engage with the practice of the liberal arts — students engaging in dialogue with faculty and staff members on questions that transcend disciplinary interests and that require independent analysis. Through these conversations, which incorporate multiple perspectives, students synthesize a coherent understanding of human experience. The shared summer reading also provides a foundation for a variety of related events throughout your first year at Colgate.

In addition, your responses to the summer reading will provide a way to introduce yourself to your faculty adviser (your First-Year Seminar instructor) and administrative dean so that they can get to know you better.