2008 Presidential Debate | The University of Mississippi

July 25, 2008

Online Book Club Members Seek to Know McCain, Obama Through Their Memoirs

Society of Professional Journalists invites others to join in reading, blogging

OXFORD, Miss. – Some faculty, staff and students at the University of Mississippi have formed an online book club focused on getting to know presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

Members of the club, It Takes a Book to Know a Candidate, are reading and discussing the candidates' books, "Faith of My Fathers" (Random House,1999) by McCain and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" (Crown, 1995) by Obama. The club is sponsored by UM's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Kathleen Wickham, associate professor of journalism, and Ellen Meacham, journalism instructor, began the club as a way for UM members as well as the general public to get involved with the election, including the first 2008 presidential debate scheduled on campus Sept. 26.

"I was looking for an activity for the Society of Professional Journalists members to get involved in the debate," Wickham said. "And with the debate occurring right after school starts when student activity programs are just getting started, it seemed that waiting until August was going to be too late. I'm a great reader of books, and it seems that summer is a great time to read books."

The book club's Web site includes a blog, where members contribute to the discussions, and a reception is planned for Sept. 17 so members can meet in person and exchange thoughts and ideas.

The two particular books were chosen because they were written before the candidates were actively campaigning for the presidency, therefore they are unaffected by the spin factor that has come into play, Wickham said.

The topics being discussed focus on the events that shaped the candidates' lives and their personalities, Wickham continued. "I don't want people to be using this as a venue for promoting their particular candidate but rather as a window into their character. What I'm hoping is that people will have a wider view of the candidates than they might be getting just from coverage of speeches and coverage of the debate – that they'll be able to put it in a larger context."

Members first read McCain's memoir and entered into a discussion in June. They are reading and discussing Obama's memoir during July. In August, they plan to compare and contrast the two books.

McCain's book tells about his service in the Navy, as well as gives an account of his years of imprisonment in North Vietnamese POW camps. Obama's memoir describes his childhood and the struggles that came from being a black American raised in a white household.

The fall reception for club member provides a closing venue in contrast to their online communication. "We will get to meet people who have participated, and we will talk in real time about the books," Wickham said.

Sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates in Washington, D.C., the presidential debate is to be broadcast live from the Ford Center for the Performing Arts on the Oxford campus and covered by an estimated 3,000 journalists from throughout the world.

For information about joining the book club, visit http://olemissspj.wordpress.com. For more information, contact Wickham at kwickham@olemiss.edu.

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