Chair's Book Club

FOR MEMBERS Chair's Book Club

What We’re Reading:
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times
by Mónica Guzmán


 

How to participate:

The Chair’s Book Club is open to all Philanthropy Southeast members! You choose how to engage – read the book, join a discussion group, or attend events. Take part in one activity or join us for all!

 

1) Read the book.


2) Join a discussion and share your thoughts.

We’ve started a private group on Goodreads so members can discuss the book with each other, ask questions, and share their thoughts on topics and themes from the work. New to Goodreads? Visit Goodreads online to get started and create an account. To join the discussion, go to our Chair’s Book Club page on Goodreads.

Zoom – offers a free Basic Plan with a 40-minute time limit on video conferences with three or more participants. The free plan includes most features and can accommodate up to 100 participants in a meeting.
Skype – the Meet Now option lets you start a chat or meeting without having to sign up for an account or download the app to your desktop. Users will need to download the Skype app to use the service on their phone. Allows for up to 50 people with no time limit.
FaceTime – if everyone in your group is on Apple devices, you can start a Group FaceTime from the FaceTime app or from a group conversation in the Messages app and add up to 32 people. See this link for more information and instructions.
Google Meet – formerly Hangouts Meet, this tool is available to all Google users. Hosts and participants must have a Google account.
Slack – provides a free option for small groups to create an online discussion forum with messaging. Video conferencing is available for 1:1 calls, but not groups. Best for ongoing or asynchronous discussions between group calls.
 

3) Attend upcoming programs.
 

As a Chair’s Book Club participant, you’ll have the opportunity to read I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times while sharing the experience with other Philanthropy Southeast members through events addressing the topics in the book, as well as online discussions.

Stay tuned for upcoming dates!

 

 

About the Book:

Partisanship is up, trust is down, and our social media feeds make us sure we're right and everyone else is ignorant (or worse). But avoiding and attacking one another is breaking... everything.

Journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out to find what was blinding us, and discovered the most eye-opening tool we're not using: our own curiosity.

In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people. She shows you how to overcome the fear and assumptions that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is not just different from yours, but opposed.

Drawing from conversations she's had, organized, or witnessed everywhere from the echo chambers on social media to the wheat fields in Oregon to raw, unfiltered fights with her family on election night, Mónica shows how you can put your natural sense of wonder to work for you immediately, finding the answers you need by talking with people—rather than about them—and asking the questions you want across the divides you want, curiously.

In these pages, you'll learn:

  • How to ask what you really want to know (even if you're afraid to)
  • How to grow smarter from even the most tense interactions, online or off
  • How to cross boundaries and find common ground—with anyone.

 

More about the book:

  • Mónica Guzmán: The author’s web site offers information and resources related to her work, including details on her book, I Never Thought of It That Way, a related discussion guide, media coverage, and the option to subscribe to her Reclaim Curiosity newsletter.
     
  • I Never Thought of It That Way | Penguin Random HouseThe publisher’s site offers information on the book, links to purchase copies, and background information on the author.
     

About the Author:

Mónica Guzmán is Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, a nonprofit working to depolarize America; host of A Braver Way, a podcast that equips people with the tools they need to bridge the political divide in their everyday lives; founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity, an organization working to build a more curious world; and author of I Never Thought Of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.

Moni is the inaugural McGurn Fellow at the University of Florida, working with researchers at the UF College of Journalism and Communications and beyond to better understand ways to employ techniques described in her book to boost understanding. She was a 2019 fellow at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, where she studied social and political division, and a 2016 fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, where she studied how journalists can better meet the needs of a participatory public.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, the Glenn Beck Podcast, Reader's Digest, BookTV, and EconTalk, and she is an advisor for Starts With Us and the Generations Over Dinner project.

Before committing to the project of helping people understand each other across the political divide, Mónica cofounded the award-winning Seattle newsletter The Evergrey and led a national network of groundbreaking local newsletters as VP of Local for WhereBy.Us.

She was named one of the 50 most influential women in Seattle, served twice as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, and plays a barbarian named Shadrack in her besties' Dungeons & Dragons campaign.







Current Selection

 · I Never Thought of It That Way - Discussion Guide & Additional Resources coming soon!

Past Selections

 · Poverty, by America Discussion Guide & Additional Resources

 · How the Word is Passed: Discussion Guide & Additional Resources

 · Unicorns Unite: Discussion Guide & Additional Resources

 · Lost Children Archive: Discussion Questions
 · Lost Children Archive: Discussion Guide

 · The Sum of Us: Discussion Questions
 · The Sum of Us: Discussion Guide

 · The Hate U Give: Discussion Questions
 · The Hate U Give: Discussion Guide

 · The Color of Law: Discussion Questions
 · The Color of Law: Discussion Guide & Additional Resources

 · The Sun Does Shine: Discussion Questions
 · The Sun Does Shine: Discussion Guide & Additional Resources


View our webinars from Past Selections in our Archived Programs.

If you have questions about the Chair's Book Club, please contact Stephen Sherman, Director of Research & Data, at stephen@philanthropysoutheast.org or (404) 524-0911.

 


Connecting with Philanthropy Southeast:
The Philanthropy Southeast staff works remotely – the best way to reach us is by email or by calling (404) 524-0911.

Hours:
Monday-Thursday from 9:00am–6:00pm (ET)

On Fridays, staff work on a flexible schedule. Members can reach our team via email or by calling (404) 524-0911 between 9:00am and 6:00pm (ET). We will respond to all urgent and time-sensitive matters promptly.

Mailing address:
100 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 2080
Atlanta, GA 30303

Mission: Philanthropy Southeast strengthens Southern philanthropy, welcoming our members to listen, learn and collaborate on ideas and actions to help build an equitable, prosperous South.