The Washington History Seminar invites you to a reception on the occasion of the publication of "Indispensable Reading: 1,001 Books from Arabian Nights to Zola" by Wm. Roger Louis

Roger Louis is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and the founding co-chair of the Washington History Seminar Series.  The author or editor of some 30 books, he is the Kerr Professor of English History and Literature at the University of Texas and an Honorary Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He is a Past President of the American Historical Association. In 2016 he delivered the Weizmann Memorial Lecture in Rehobeth, Israel. He is the recipient of the Benson Medal of the Royal Society of Literature and, most recently, the Civitatis Award, the highest award at the University of Texas for teaching, scholarship, and service. 

The book is based on 57 years’ teaching a course each semester on history, literature, and politics.

With brief comments by:

• Don Ritchie (former Historian of the U.S. Senate)
• Boisfeuillet Jones (Washington Post)
• Deanna Marcum (Library of Congress, Ithaca)
• Katrin Schultheiss (History Department Chair, George Washington University)

“One looks to lists of important books as holding the key—the secret, the open sesame—to essential knowledge. None of course will provide it. But I know of no list more helpful, more intelligently set out with the essence of each book more neatly captured, than Wm. Roger Louis’s Indispensable Reading.” — Joseph Epstein, editor, American Scholar, 1974–98; author of The Ideal of Culture: Essays

“Roger Louis’s lifetime of omnivorous and intelligent reading has produced a wonderfully eclectic mix. His choices include many of the great classics, but there are lots of surprises too. An indispensable list from a wise and experienced guide.” — Margaret MacMillan, former Warden, St. Antony’s College, Oxford