OBOC 2016-17


During the eighth year of One Book, One Community (OBOC), we invited the school students, faculty, alumni, and friends to the shared experience of reading and discussing Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert Putnam.

About the Book

In last year’s OBOC selection—Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis—author Robert Putnam offers a rare combination of individual testimony and rigorous evidence in a personal but also authoritative look at the emergence of a disturbing “opportunity gap” in America over the last twenty-five years.

Americans have always believed in equality of opportunity, the idea that all kids, regardless of their family background, should have a decent chance to improve their lot in life. Putnam begins with his high school class of 1959 in Port Clinton, Ohio, whose graduates consistently went on to lives better than those of their parents.

He then examines our present-day country where this central tenet of the American Dream seems no longer to hold true: Today's kids face harder lives amid diminishing prospects, especially those who start with a socio-economic disadvantage. Putnam tells this tale of lessening opportunity through poignant life stories of rich and poor kids from cities and suburbs across the country while also drawing on a formidable body of research.
(Excerpted and condensed from Amazon.com)

Maximize Events

Maximize Inter-Group Dialogue (IGD) -
Social identities, SES, Academia and Our Kids

Maximize Selecting Last Year’s Book: Pitt’s Year of Diversity

Maximize Resources

Alumni Read-Along Program

Alumni, join OBOC by participating in the alumni and friends read-along program. Read this year's selection and participate in live and virtual events and discussions. Find out more...

WHERE TO GET THE BOOK

Get 10% off at the University on Fifth (with Pitt ID). Pitt's Hillman Library,  Health Science's Library, and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh also have the book in hard copy and as a free e-book download

Questions?

With questions about OBOC, or to suggest an event, contact Robin Leaf, educational programs and practicum coordinator.
facebook icon obocLike OBOC on Facebook for news, tools, discussions and more.