Chancellor's Reading Club

2011 Selection

The Chancellor's Reading Club selection for 2011 is Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, by Eugene Robinson.

About the Author

Eugene Robinson is an award-winning author and journalist.  His column for the Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2009. More...

About the Selection

“There was a time when there were agreed-upon 'black leaders,' when there was a clear 'black agenda,' when we could talk confidently about 'the state of black America'—but not anymore.” —from Disintegration

"The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a “Black America” with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book, Disintegration, Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson argues that over decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered. Instead of one black America, now there are four...." More...

Where to Find the Selection

Incoming freshmen must purchase the selection and read it before Orientation begins in August. Disintegration can be found on sale at the FSU Bookstore. Purchase a copy at First Steps!

It is also available new, used, or as an e-book from Amazon.com, Apple iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, among other online sources.

Reading Club Assignment

Entering freshmen, your initial Reading Club assignment is to

1. purchase a copy of Disintegration;
2. read it before you arrive on campus in August;
3. take the reading quiz in the Freshman Seminar Commons Blackboard website, also before you arrive;
4. participate in a discussion during Orientation Week.

To complete this assignment, students will need to access their FSU e-mail and Blackboard, FSU's online course management software.

To help prepare you for the discussion and the quiz, you will find a set of discussion questions on this site and in the Freshman Seminar Commons website. Discussion questions will be posted later this summer.

Every registered student has an FSU e-mail address. Students can look up their FSU user name and password if they know their Banner ID. Once they know their user name and password, they can access their FSU e-mail.

Students access Blackboard using the same user name and password they use for e-mail.