John Green on How to Create a Passionate Audience

Daily Hampshire Gazette | Great Books in the News

Written by Great Books in General Information

Monday, September 09, 2019

What they did on their summer vacation: At the Great Books program at Amherst College, reading is a joy, not a chore

At first glance, it looked like a scene from a typical day at Amherst College: about 100 students in a lecture hall, on tiered seating on three sides of the room, notebooks and digital devices like iPads at hand, while a professor stood in the well of the room, looking up at some of the young people seated above him.

The subject matter seemed a serious one. Discussion revolved at first around “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Harriet Beecher Stowe’s seminal anti-slavery novel that became a bestseller in the 1850s as the United States moved ever closer to civil war. “That was a time of growing division,” the professor said. “How different is our country today?”

In this case, though, it was early July, and the professor, Ilan Stavans, was wearing shorts and no shoes; as for the students, they looked a little young to be in college. They were, in fact, high school students, from their mid-to-late teens and from across the country and overseas, who had come to Amherst to do something not usually associated with summer camps: read.

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GBSP On the Road: Chicago to San Francisco

Written by Great Books in General Information

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Check out our schedule and meet us for an informational session about the Great Books Summer Program! Enrollment is open, so schedule your info meeting with us soon!

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Last Minute, Book Nerdy Halloween Costumes

Written by Great Books in General Information

Monday, October 26, 2015

Don't have your Halloween costume yet? Halloween is only a few days away, but fear not: these last-minute costume ideas are sure to make you the bookish life of the party.

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GBSP On the Road: DC and Virginia

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Monday, March 02, 2015

Great Books is on the road this week. Our destination: Washington D.C., Fairfax, VA and McLean, VA.

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eReaders Come to Stanford: The Digital Revolution and GBSP

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Friday, August 01, 2014

This year, the Great Books campers on the Stanford campus weren't greeted with the usual spiral-bound paper anthologies with all the coursework...they were given Nooks.

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Dispatch from Stanford: Writers on Gender Equality, Writing Craft, Travel and Passing

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Each summer, the Great Books Summer Program welcomes fantastic guest speakers in the world of writing and filmmaking to our campuses at Amherst College, Oxford University and Stanford University.

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Love American History? Apply for the Joseph J. Ellis Scholarship!

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Monday, April 28, 2014

Last summer, Great Books honored Pulitzer Prize winning historian Joseph J. Ellis , author of Revolutionary Summer (out in paperback in June), with a scholarship in his name.

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A Literary and Historical Tour of Oxford by Writer/Artist Jennifer Anne Moses

Written by Great Books in General Information

Monday, April 14, 2014

Last year, Great Books launched their first program outside of the US on the campus of Oxford. After a wildly successful start, Great Books is going back to Oxford again this year.

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Let Great Books Be Your Tour Guide in England This Summer!

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Starting last summer, Great Books has jumped across the pond to bring the program to Oxford University! Senior campers (14 and up) will be able to explore Oxford's Somerville College July 20th through August 2nd.

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Great Books Offering Scholarships in Honor of Historian Joseph J. Ellis

Written by gbspcamp in General Information

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Hey History Lovers! This year, Great Books is offering two scholarships for attendance at the Amherst campus in honor of historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph J. Ellis.