About:

Come join the conversation at Book Club! North Shore Civic Club members are invited to join the Book Club and share their thoughts and ideas about the topics explored in each title.  The North Shore Civic Club carefully selects titles for it's members - and is always open to title suggestions. We currently meet four times a year, typically within the months of September, November, January and April.  Book Club registration is required, all members are welcome. Hope to see you there!

Democracy in One Book or Less, by Davit Litt 

About the book (Davit Litt):

The democracy you live in today is different—completely different—from the democracy you were born into. You probably don't realize just how radically your republic has been altered during your lifetime. Yet more than any policy issue, political trend, or even Donald Trump himself, our redesigned system of government is responsible for the peril America faces today.

What explains the gap between what We, the People want and what our elected leaders do? How can we fix our politics before it's too late? And how can we truly understand the state of our democracy without wanting to crawl under a rock? That's what former Obama speechwriter David Litt set out to answer.

Poking into forgotten corners of history, translating political science into plain English, and traveling the country to meet experts and activists, Litt explains how the world’s greatest experiment in democracy went awry.

(He also tries to crash a party at Mitch McConnell’s former frat house. It goes poorly.)

The result of Litt's journey is something you might not have thought possible: a page-turner about the political process. You'll meet the Supreme Court justice charged with murder, learn how James Madison's college roommate broke the Senate, encounter a citrus thief who embodies what's wrong with our elections, and join Belle the bill as she tries to become a law (a quest far more harrowing than the one in Schoolhouse Rock!).

Yet despite his clear-eyed assessment of the dangers we face, Litt remains audaciously optimistic. He offers a to-do list of bold yet achievable changes—a blueprint for restoring the balance of power in America before it's too late.

Facilitated by Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega and  Stephanie Caparelli Legal Studies Chair LFC

The Great Lakes Water Wars, by Peter Annin (2018)

About the book (Island Press 2023):

The Great Lakes are the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world and America’s greatest freshwater resource. For over a century they have been the target of controversial diversion schemes designed to sell, send, or ship water to thirsty communities, sometimes far from the source. In part to protect the Great Lakes from overzealous entrepreneurship, the Great Lakes Compact was signed in 2008. Although the Compact fulfills that promise and ensures that Great Lakes water stays within the Basin, some would say it has only shifted the controversy closer to home. Now water diversion controversies of a different kind are some of the most fought-over environmental issues in the region. Will the water wars ever be settled?