BOONE, N.C. — The Common Reading Program at Appalachian State University announces its 2020–21 book selection: “Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore” (Milkweed Editions, 2018) by Elizabeth Rush — a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist in general nonfiction.

“Rush’s creative nonfiction approach makes real and palpable the numerous implications of sea level rise due to climate change,” said Dr. Don Presnell, director of the Common Reading Program. “In place of statistical charts and tables, the author crafts a series of short narratives that illustrate how rising waters are not discerning in how they indelibly and inevitably affect people and places, history and time.”

Each academic year, the Common Reading Program committee selects a book that will promote and guide intellectual, interdisciplinary interactions and discussions among all incoming first-year and transfer students, who receive a copy of the book during their Summer Orientation session. The yearlong Common Reading experience will include a variety of activities, speakers and events.

“While the Common Reading selection is a required component of First Year Seminar courses, we also want colleges, departments and faculty across the university to integrate the book into their curricula and disciplines so that all Appalachian students can participate in and share a common reading and intellectual experience,” Presnell said.

He added, “‘Rising’ will resonate with readers on a number of levels — especially since 2020 represents the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.”

From the publisher’s review: “With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant — and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In ‘Rising,’ Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area.”

Rush, who will visit Appalachian’s campus in September, will deliver a main address and also appear at other events, including a reading and book signing.

In addition to “Rising,” Rush is the author of “Still Lifes from a Vanishing City: Essays and Photographs from Yangon.”

Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard and the New Republic, among others.

She holds an MFA in nonfiction from Southern New Hampshire University and currently teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University.

Visit the Common Reading website to learn more about the program and the 2020–21 selection.

Rising

By Elizabeth Rush
2019

Hailed as “deeply felt” (New York Times), “a revelation” (Pacific Standard), and “the book on climate change and sea levels that was missing” (Chicago Tribune), “Rising” is both a highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love.

With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In “Rising,” Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place.

Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice—a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago—with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities, “Rising” privileges the voices of those too often kept at the margins.

Available from Milkweed Editions

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Common Reading Program

Since 1997, incoming first-year students at Appalachian have been asked to read a book as part of their orientation to the University. By participating in the Common Reading Program, students establish a common experience with other new students that helps develop a sense of community and introduce them to a part of the academic life they are beginning at Appalachian. This program is an exciting facet of the first year experience at Appalachian.

Learn more

See previous Common Reading Program selections

Common Reading Program announces ‘Just Mercy’ as its 2019–20 selection

March 5, 2019

Appalachian’s incoming first-year students in fall 2019 will take part in the university’s Common Reading Program by collectively reading Bryan Stevenson’s nonfiction book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.”

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About the Common Reading Program at Appalachian

Since 1997, incoming first-year students at Appalachian State University have been asked to read a book as part of their orientation to the university. By participating in the Common Reading Program, students establish a common experience with other new students that will help develop a sense of community with their new environment and introduce them to a part of the academic life they are beginning at Appalachian. This program is an exciting facet in Appalachian's orientation of new students to life on campus. Learn more at https://commonreading.appstate.edu/about.

About University College

Formed in 2007, University College consists of the university’s general education program, faculty and student support, and co-curricular programming and support – all designed to support the work of students both inside and outside the classroom. All students at Appalachian begin their education in University College and benefit from its programs until they graduate. Learn more at https://universitycollege.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.