HomepageLibraryOne Book, One Ursinus: Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

One Book, One Ursinus: Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

This Spring, the One Book, One Ursinus program is back with Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. The program is open to all! Stay tuned for more information on a virtual panel discussion and program including Ursinus faculty members later this semester.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

For those on campus, free copies of the book are available in the following locations; please leave your name and e-mail address on the sign-up sheets:

  • The Bookstore
  • The Learning Curve on the main floor of Myrin Library
  • Helfferich in the hallway on the way to the weekly CoVID tests

For those teaching, learning and working remotely: complete this form so that we can do our best to get you a copy of the book.

**Note that supplies of the book are limited!**

 

A Synopsis of the Book:

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

Don’t forget to sign up for the e-mail list or leave your name on the list when you take a book.

This project is generously made possible by the Inclusive Community Grant funds, so we’re open to suggestions of all kinds.

Quick Links

Contact

Diane Skorina
Director of Research, Teaching & Learning Services, LIT
Myrin Library
dskorina@ursinus.edu
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