About the One Book Program

The Sacramento State University One Book Program selects a book each year to bring together the Sac State community and the Sacramento region. The Program offers many exciting events throughout the academic year.

The One Book Program selects a book that will serve as a catalyst for considered conversations focusing on issues of social justice. The books we choose tend to push along the edges, so all people from the Sac State Community (students, faculty & staff) and friends and family from the Sacramento Region, may start conversations with feelings about the book or topic to then move into thoughtful, intellectual engagement with one another.

The 2024-2025 Current One Book

Between the World and Me

This year’s One Book selection is Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates offers a compelling framework for understanding our nation’s history and current challenges. The notion of "race" has been central to America's identity. Engaging with this book provides Sacramento State and the community an opportunity to cultivate a deeper cultural and racial awareness.

The 2023-2024 One Book

Farewell To Manzanar.

This year’s One Book for Sacramento State and the community is Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (1972). This riveting memoir shares the challenges Japanese Americans faced during imprisonment during World War II. The protagonist Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston tells her story about how Japanese Americans lost their freedoms for the sake of national security, and she and her family were forced to live in an internment camp in Manzanar, California. Integration back into American society was a struggle of identity and acceptance for Jeanne since no one wanted to be identified as the “other.” The One Book Program, in partnership with Sac State’s Green & Gold Speakers Series and the Sac State Library’s Japanes

2022-2023 One Book

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law

The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Chancellor Angela Merkel have all honored Haben. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she teaches organizations the importance of choosing inclusion.

Haben was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. Her memoir takes readers on adventures around the world, including her parents’ homes in Eritrea and Ethiopia, building a school under the scorching Saharan sun, training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and talking with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating book is a testament to Haben’s determination to resist isolation and find the keys to connection.

2021-2022 One Book

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stephenson is the 2021-22 School Year's One Books. Published by Random House Books, Just Mercy is Stephenson's account of creating the Equal Justice Initiative and his defense of those in need and the wrongfully condemned.

2020-2021 One Book

The 2020-2021 One Book Is There, There by Tommy Orange. (Vintage Books, 2018)

2019-2020 One Book

The 2019-2020 One Book selection is Joshua Davis' Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014).

One Book Selection Process

The One Book Selection Committee is comprised of faculty, staff, students, and community representatives. Every year the Committee members collectively read and explore scores of books in order to start narrowing down the selection for the year. There are several meetings throughout the year to discuss and debate which book best suits the needs of the Program and the campus community for topical relevance, intellectual stimulation, and audience appeal.

The Committee bases its decision on the following criteria:

• Accessibility and appeal to all community members
• Quality of writing
• Encourages interdisciplinary thought and sparks passionate discussion in a variety of courses and contexts
• Explores diverse cultural perspectives
• Provides challenging opportunities for new learning and exploration
• Addresses contemporary issues

Suggest A Book!

If you'd like to make a suggestion for a future One Book selection to the Committee, please email us at onebook@csus.edu and include your suggestion, possible programming ideas for events and activities, your contact information, and if you have any connection to the author.

All suggestions must be made by September 1 for consideration for the following year. Any suggestions that come in after the September 1 deadline will be considered for subsequent years.