Amid a controversial election season and several ongoing global conflicts, it has been a contentious year for college campuses in the United States. In an attempt to navigate these challenges, author Mónica Guzmán and President Danielle R. Holley delved into some of the issues that divide college students and American culture at large during the 2024 Common Read Talk on Nov. 19, focusing on political partisanship.

The contentious 2024 election is finally upon us. Many are feeling a lot of emotions: anxiety, fear and anger, to name a few. In the spirit of using books to educate and inspire us, here are three books to read going into election season. 

The fate of the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of books, movies and software, may be in jeopardy after a court moved to restrict the availability of their materials following a lawsuit from a group of major book publishers.

The inaugural meeting of the Red Scare Reading Club kicked off with an icebreaker: What is something that makes you mad?

In late May, Sarah Stusek, an author by the handle @sarahshoooots, posted a TikTok that would motivate discussions about the increasing power of online reading communities.

On one of the warmest days in March, Mount Holyoke students and professors from many of the Five Colleges gathered in Hooker Auditorium for a conversation with Tahmima Anam, an award-winning author, New York Times columnist and Mount Holyoke alum from the class of 1997.

As the James Bond books prepare to be rereleased after racially offensive language was removed, questions about sensitivity and censorship rage on in the publishing world.