Hi everyone! I’m a high school senior and i just got into Chicago ED- I’m so psyched!! I am intending to major in history and English (want to go to law school). I am wondering if there are any recommended readings or reading lists that would be good for a UChicago freshman entering the Core. Links or lists are appreciated. Thanks!!
The core is a reading list, you don’t need to have read anything beforehand. Maybe ask the Class of 2021 group on facebook to name their favorite books?
Personally, I think anyone who hasn’t read the Complete Calvin and Hobbes is seriously missing out.
You don’t need to do anything, but if you’re burning to read something that would be UChicagoy and fun maybe pick up some of Plato’s dialogues (Apology, Euthyphro, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, Phaedrus) - they’re free online, assigned in lots of the Hums and Soscs, and pretty enjoyable. Greek tragedies (Iphigenia at Aulis, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, etc) could be used for a similar purpose.
You could get psyched for some local color, reading The Devil In The White City and The Coast of Chicago. Saul Bellow’s Herzog and, especially, The Dean’s December are very much artifacts of the culture of the University of Chicago in the 50s-70s, but not exactly fun reads. David Austin’s play, Proof, also takes place at the University of Chicago and reflects some of its culture. (And there’s a pretty good movie of it, too.)
There’s a book published about ten years ago collecting selected speeches from The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate, a minor University of Chicago institution, and a great, funny window into its academic culture.
Then there’s Tucker Max, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, which reflects a very different angle on the university.
Prof. John Boyer, Dean of the College for many, many years, and really the most important architect of the current undergraduate experience at Chicago, published a loving, more-or-less official history of the University a few years ago (The University of Chicago: A History). It’s very top-down, focused on the University administration rather than the intellectual ferment within its departments, student body, and community. But it’s essential for understanding what the University is today and where it’s heading, especially given Boyer’s key role.
I second @JHS’s advice to read Devil in the White City by Eric Larson to get an appreciation of the Midway, the Museum of Science and Industry and a bit of the tawdry history of Chi Town. But you also need to watch the Blues Brothers to fully prepare. Lol
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