Title: 250 Books for the Country's 250th

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. It's National Library Week, an annual celebration of everything that libraries and librarians bring to our communities. Earlier this week, if you were listening, you heard us ask callers for unexpected ways that they use their libraries, things other than books. You included checking out musical instruments, practicing yoga, getting help with your student loans, and more. Today we'll talk about the raison d'etre of libraries books.

To commemorate the United States turning 250 years old this July 4th, the Brooklyn Public Library has curated a list of 250 books that have impacted American culture and history. Here to tell us more is Linda E. Johnson, the library systems president and CEO. Hey, Linda, thanks for joining us. Welcome back to WNYC.

Linda E. Johnson: Thanks, Brian. My pleasure to be here.

Brian Lehrer: Why did you include books as an important part of the nation's anniversary celebration?

Linda E. Johnson: That's our business, and we wanted to be part of the celebration, and we could think of no better way than to ask our librarians to curate a list of books that they felt shaped our culture over the last 250 years. They jumped on the project with glee, I will say, which isn't always the case. Everybody is into this right now, including me, so it's a pleasure to be here talking about it.

Brian Lehrer: There are 250 books on the list. I'm going to read out the top 10 so our listeners have a bit of a sense. Common Sense by Tom Paine, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by him, Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walden by Thoreau, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis, Sears, Roebuck and Co. Consumer's Guide for 1894, really? The Theory of the Leisure Class by Veblen. You want to pick up on any one from that top 10 and say, not just why it's a top 10 book for the 250 years of the United States, but what impact you think it did have on the country?

Linda E. Johnson: Sure. I was afraid that I'd be asked about my favorite or picking one out of this terrific list because there's so many that are so great, all 250, actually. They were the ones that I chose not to pick, which is interesting. Also, I thought everybody would say I would pick A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which was a favorite when I was, I guess, a young adult reader. The Sears catalog, which you mentioned, is interesting because it's unexpected. It's a primary source. I think it was at its peak in the '50s and '60s, which was the start of consumerism in the country. That's an interesting selection.

I personally was happy to see The Elements of Style just because it had such a lasting impact on me. Then March by John Lewis, I like the fact that it's a graphic novel, and John Lewis was a great library fan, an amazing human being. His wife, who pre-deceased him and whom he loved dearly, was a librarian. He was good to us. He came often. Each March is a triptych, and it's the story of his march across the bridge in Selma. I love that that book is on there as well.

In terms of just sheer beauty and capturing a moment and an issue, because part of this celebration, I think, of the 250th is about bringing to light the issues that haven't been touched on in previous milestone years. Like in 1976, we were all rah-rah, or at least that's my memory of it, and in this particular year, the 250th, I think we're more about telling the stories that haven't been told in previous celebrations. If you look at Ken Burns' The American Revolution, he's trying to have the conversations that have not taken place to date and that perhaps should have. I like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, do you have a book that you think has played a key role in American history, that's the metric, a key role in American history that you would want to shout out? 212-433-WNYC, or a question about any of the selections on the Brooklyn Public Library's list of 250 books for the 250th anniversary, 212-433-WNYC, call or text 212-433-9692. I heard that some big names who are not librarians helped decide which books made the cut, including Ilana Glazer, Constance Wu, Ethan Hawke. How did they get involved?

Linda E. Johnson: We asked them. They're Brooklynites. We said, "What are the books that you think should be on this list?" That's how that came about. I think part of this whole project is getting people to think about what books shape their own lives and to share that with each other. We're hoping other libraries join this initiative as well. Coming under our umbrella, much like the Books on Band initiative has called, is a call for action from other library systems across the country.

Brian Lehrer: Did any of those celebrity readers I mentioned pick a book you want to shout out?

Linda E. Johnson: Sure. Ethan Hawke, he picked The Outsiders. Ilana Glazer picked The 1619 Project, which is near and dear to our hearts because Nikole Hannah-Jones is a board member at the library. Constance Wu picked Gilead, and that is a great selection. Britt Lower picked Just Kids by Patti Smith, and Julian Shapiro picked American Born Chinese.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. I guess we could say the list is mostly classics, a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. I don't see too many children's books on there, though there are a few. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is on there, number 48. Why The Snowy Day out of all the children's books in the world?

Linda E. Johnson: We love Ezra Jack Keats. We love the story. It's a part of our vibe at Brooklyn Public Library. We have a partnership with the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation that calls for children to participate in an illustration sort of class. 17% of the books are children's books, and 17% are young adult books. You're right, 66% are adult, and 50% are fiction, and 50% are nonfiction, and this was all coincidental. We did not set out with any kind of parameters in mind.

Brian Lehrer: Some that are coming in from listeners and texts, one person writes, "Well, To Kill a Mockingbird, duh."

Linda E. Johnson: [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: That's on there, right?

Linda E. Johnson: That was one of my favorites.

Brian Lehrer: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Judy's Journey by Lois Lenski, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. Another one mentions Silent Spring and adds The Power Broker, Robert Caro, about Robert Moses, certainly a New York book. Did that make the list for the nation?

Linda E. Johnson: I don't remember it on the list. I can check. I also thought The Great Gatsby or any Hemingway book should definitely be a part of it.

Brian Lehrer: Stuart Little.

Linda E. Johnson: We have Charlotte's Web. We had a hard time choosing between those.

Brian Lehrer: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Walden, I think we already mentioned that's on the list, Harriet the Spy, let's see, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Somebody after your own heart does suggest A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. All the President's Men, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote. Of course, you could have put 450 books or 650 books, right?

Linda E. Johnson: Easily. All the President's Men is one of my favorites, but we could have picked many, many more. It was hard to limit it once we got started.

Brian Lehrer: Marsha in Brooklyn has a seminal feminist book from the 1970s that she wants to know if it's on the list. Hi, Marsha. You're on WNYC.

Marsha: Hi, Brian. Thanks to The Woman's Room by Marilyn French, which highlighted in a fictional way so many of the issues that we still seem, unfortunately, to be dealing with today. Then Susan Faludi, who wrote a nonfiction book, Backlash, which came out at the beginning of the Reagan era, again addressing all of the things that we're addressing in this dystopian, anti-woman world we're living in. Then anything, of course, by Vonnegut and John Irving, World According to Garp, Cider House Rules, where he's addressing the ridiculousness of illegal abortion, as well as gender fluidity in The World According to Garp. Those are the books that had a profound impact on me. I'm hoping they're on your list.

Brian Lehrer: Nice list.

Linda E. Johnson: Nice list, yes. Our Bodies, Ourselves is on the list. We were very conscious of including novels, memoirs, poetry, biographies, autobiographies, mysteries, nonfiction, and also representing a number of different kinds of writers dealing with a number of different stories, which is, of course, what the library is all about: being able to read about yourself, or perhaps more importantly, about the issues that other people are dealing with.

Brian Lehrer: More classics coming in. Moby-Dick, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, The Other America by Michael Harrington, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. You don't have to go down every one and say if it's on the list. Oh, another one, Great Gatsby. That's definitely on the list, right?

Linda E. Johnson: That's on the list, yes.

Brian Lehrer: In our last minute, why don't you say how you think Brooklyn Library patrons can use this list? Nobody's going to set out, well, maybe somebody, but almost nobody's going to set out to read 250 books. How can people make this relatable to them?

Linda E. Johnson: We're not very prescriptive at the library. We like to give people options and let them choose the material that will perhaps get them to wherever they're looking to go, depending where you start, all different kinds of places. I would say, first, we're going to have an exhibition of all 250 books this summer, over the celebration of the 4th at the Central Library, so it'll have a visual impact as well, and read what you love to read. At the end of the day, I think that's what the most important thing is, and use the libraries as your curators.

Brian Lehrer: Curators for reading what you love to read, says Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library. Thanks for sharing the list. Thanks for coming on.

Linda E. Johnson: Thanks for having me, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: The Brian Lehrer Show is produced by Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Our interns this spring are Arlo Bivens and Jack Walker. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast, and Megan Ryan is the head of live radio. Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Stay tuned for All Of It.

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