August Nonfiction Book Discussion

For the August Nonfiction Book Discussion, we will be reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell is the author of the bestselling Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Through his clear, elegant prose and cohesive use of a broad range of examples from the fashion world, children's educational programming, New York City crime rates, bestseller lists, teen smoking rates and more, Gladwell illuminates how small things make a big difference in social epidemics. According to Fortune, The Tipping Point is "[a] fascinating book that makes you see the world in a different way." We will meet at 7:00 p.m. in Meeting Room B at Main Library at 68 Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston. To check availability of this title at Charleston County Public Library, please click on the link to the title. We hope you will join our discussion, either in person or online!

Notes from July's Nonfiction Book Discussion

Our engaging discussion of David McCullough's 1776 ranged from a favorable assessment of McCullough's narrative and descriptive abilities and use of primary sources, through a critique of the scope and context of this book, to a consideration of the book's bestseller status and its relevance to our country today.

McCullough narrates the events of the year 1776 in a manner that creates suspense and excitement. One of McCullough's interests is landscape painting, and we could feel its influence in his descriptions of the people, events, and especially places of that year. His liberal use of quotations from primary sources such as the letters and diaries of officers and enlisted men helps readers tap into the emotion and ideas of the time.

McCullough has said that he sees 1776 as a companion book to his biography John Adams. While John Adams relates the events and ideas of the Continental Congress and the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 focuses on Washington, his officers, and his battles with the British from Boston through Princeton. We understood McCullough's intention behind limiting the scope of 1776, but we felt that the book could provide more context for a general reader unfamiliar with the Revolutionary War. We wondered why McCullough's editors did not encourage him to provide this useful context through an introduction or through more informative endnotes.

McCullough does a wonderful job of conveying the role of chance and coincidence in the survival of the Continental Army in the year 1776. That drama alone could account for the bestseller status of the book! However, we decided that this story of Washington and his army may be popular now because it provides a national narrative of a war fought for a justifiable cause. And of course it is uplifting to read that is was carried out with courage by very human but admirable men and women in the face of incredible odds. McCullough said in an interview with Simon & Schuster, "Some have said, in the aftermath of 9/11, that this is the darkest, most perilous hour in our history. But we've been through worse and we've come through it. Further, we need to be reminded always of the ideas and ideals that this country was founded on, and never take our blessings for granted."

We hope you will add your ideas to our discussion!