2022 CLSC Selections

ReadiCLSC medallionng together since 1878, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle has remained a leader in adult education through quality programming.

Each summer, the CLSC chooses at least nine books of literary quality and invites the authors to Chautauqua present their work to an audience of approximately 1,000 readers. The CLSC is organized under a vertical theme each year, which is meant to help readers connect the books with a uniting element.  The theme for 2022 is "Home."

The paradoxes of the term “home” are various, invoking both a sense of community and individuality. Home concerns not only our understanding of our pasts and national pasts, but also contains the experiences that continue to shape present thinking and future possibilities. Together, we will consider questions such as: what does it mean to “be from” a place? What does it mean to build a home? What stories of home do we carry? What histories shape the place of our dwelling and how do they change our experiences of that place? How do we reckon with and make homelessness, displacement, dispossession, etc. integral parts of our understanding of home? This year, the CLSC will explore what we call home—from planet to country, and neighborhood to place of shelter.

Stay tuned for more announcements!

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(A note to current CLSC members registered through our site: use the discount code CLSCBOOK for 20% off CLSC Selections.  You must be logged in to your registered account for the discount to activate.)

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Great Circle: A Novel (Man Booker Prize Finalist) By Maggie Shipstead Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781984897701
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage - April 5th, 2022

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Ledger: Poems By Jane Hirshfield Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781524711719
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Knopf - September 7th, 2021

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Outlawed By Anna North Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781635578249
Availability: Not on our shelves, but we can order this for you!
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - February 15th, 2022

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Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know(r) By Erica Chenoweth Cover Image
$18.95
ISBN: 9780190244408
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Oxford University Press, USA - March 26th, 2021

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Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America By Ryan Busse Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9781541768734
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: PublicAffairs - October 19th, 2021

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Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City By Matthew Desmond Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780553447453
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crown - February 28th, 2017

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Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents By Isabel Wilkerson Cover Image
$32.00
ISBN: 9780593230251
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House - August 4th, 2020

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants By Robin Wall Kimmerer Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781571313560
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Milkweed Editions - August 11th, 2015

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The Arsonists' City By Hala Alyan Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780358126553
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper - March 9th, 2021

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The Final Revival of Opal & Nev: A Novel By Dawnie Walton Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781982140175
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: 37 Ink - March 22nd, 2022

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Outlawed By Anna North Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9781635575422
Availability: Not on our shelves, but we can order this for you!
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - January 5th, 2021

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants By Robin Wall Kimmerer Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9781571311771
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Milkweed Editions - October 13th, 2020

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Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City By Matthew Desmond Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780553447439
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crown - March 1st, 2016

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The Final Revival of Opal & Nev By Dawnie Walton Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781982140168
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: 37 Ink - March 30th, 2021

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Great Circle: A novel By Maggie Shipstead Cover Image
$28.95
Likely unavailable -- email or call for more information
ISBN: 9780525656975
Published: Knopf - May 4th, 2021

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2024 CLSC Selections  Chautauqua's Heart book cover 2023 CLSC Selections Hall of Philosophy Ornament