Read with Us!
We choose a selection of titles that relate to our work -- some connected to a specific event or initiative, and some that address broader issues related to affordable homeownership. We invite you to join us in reading any titles that interest you!
Please stay tuned for information about monthly discussion dates and times.
Viewpoints expressed in these works, and in the related discussions, are those of the individual authors and participants and do not necessarily reflect views of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity's board, leadership, staff, homeowners, and/or volunteers; or of Habitat for Humanity International's board, leadership, staff, homeowners, and/or volunteers.
These works serve as a starting point for discussions. If you disagree with or even are offended by something you read or hear, we encourage you to listen and try to understand why the author's or speaker's perspective is different than yours. What in their experience has led them to these conclusions? What might you learn from them? What could they learn from you? How can you respectfully express your perspective?
Previous Books
June 2024
In honor of Juneteenth, we read On Juneteenth by Harvard professor and Texas native Annette Gordon-Reed. While her research and publications cover an impressive range of topics, she has won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
Gordon-Reed discusses the importance of Juneteenth, the place of Texas in American history, Texas’ often larger-than-life origin stories, and the ways that studying history can complicate and challenge the myths people tell about the past.
May 2024
This month, we read Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It by M. Nolan Gray.
Gray holds B.A. degrees in philosophy and political science from the University of Kentucky and a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Rutgers University. After working in the city planning department in New York City, he is now a Ph.D. student in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, and served as a Research Fellow in the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
April 2024
In honor of Earth Day, our April read is Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe. An evangelical Christian, Hayhoe serves as chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and the Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law and Paul W. Horn Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech University. She has been named a United Nations Champion of the Earth, the World Evangelical Alliance’s climate ambassador, and one of TIME‘s 100 Most Influential People.
March 2024
To celebrate the launch of our Apostles Build, we read The Cotton Patch Evidence: The Story of Clarence Jordan and the Koinonia Farm Experiment (1942-1970) by Dallas Lee.
Koinonia Farm, a community near Americus, Georgia, was founded by biblical scholar and farmer Jordan, who envisioned a place where people could live and work together regardless of racial differences. In the 1970s, Jordan and Millard and Linda Fuller developed the concept of “partnership housing” that eventually grew into Habitat for Humanity.
February 2024
In honor of U.N. World Interfaith Harmony Week and our interfaith dialogue, we read Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise by Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith America, which is one of our partner organizations in the Team Up initiative and an ongoing supporter of Pikes Peak Habitat’s work. Patel writes as an American Muslim, seeking to define a national identity that embraces and benefits from religious diversity. He presents his ideas, then the book concludes with three essays in response by other thinkers.
January 2024
To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and as part of our Building the Beloved Community initiative, we’re reading the Pulitzer Prize finalist and National Book Award Longlist title Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.
Building the Beloved Community 2023
Richard Rothstein's book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America looks at how U.S. government policies and programs enforced and even imposed racial segregation. As part of our 2023 Building the Beloved Community initiative, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity encouraged thoughtful reading and discussion of this work.