First Readings is Brown’s summer reading project for all new students. Now in its seventh year, the program provides first-year and transfer students with a common reading experience that introduces them to the University and to the pleasures and rigors of undergraduate academic life. The program is sponsored by the Dean of the College and Brown Alumni Association. Students receive their first reading over the summer and write letters to their advisors on an aspect of it that they find particularly compelling, difficult, or curious. In this way, they begin a dialogue with their first-year advisors about their academic interests and their expectations for life at Brown. During Orientation, students meet in small groups for a First Readings Seminar, led by a member of the faculty or an upper-level administrator. These seminars afford students the chance to meet their peers and to begin conversations based upon their shared readings.
The Book 
History has produced many specimens of the banality of evil, but what about its flip side, what impels ordinary people to defy the sway of authority and convention? Through these dramatic stories of unlikely resisters, Eyal Press’ Beautiful Souls shows that the boldest acts of dissent are often carried out not only by radicals seeking to overthrow the system but also by true believers who cling with unusual fierceness to their convictions. Drawing on groundbreaking research by moral psychologists and neuroscientists, this deeply reported work of narrative journalism examines the choices and dilemmas we all face when our principles collide with our duties and loyalties. The book focuses on four different individuals and what led them to make the decisions they made. The four individuals are pictured below:
From left to right: Paul Grüninger*, Avner Wishnitzer†, and Leyla Wydler‡, and Aleksander Jevtić§
The Author
An award-winning journalist and book author, Eyal Press ’92 has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and perceptive young writers on issues of morality and politics. His critically acclaimed book, Beautiful Souls, examines the flip side of what Hannah Arendt termed “the banality of evil,” mapping out what impels ordinary people, when thrust into ethically compromising situations, to defy the sway of authority and convention. A moving and revelatory study of moral courage, Beautiful Souls illuminates the surprising factors that drive ethical conduct in contexts ranging from the boardroom to the battlefield. Born in Jerusalem and raised in the Rustbelt city of Buffalo, NY, Press’ fascination with the intersection of morality and politics has informed his writings on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to urban poverty to America’s abortion wars. As a speaker, he aims to challenge and inspire audiences by probing vexing dilemmas that play out in all of our lives. How far should a person go to keep his or her conscience clean? Where should the line between personal conviction and professional duty be drawn? Eloquent and engaging, Press navigates such questions with the grace and subtlety that has distinguished his essays, articles and books.
Photo sources:
* Paul Grüninger
† Avner Wishnitzer
‡ Leyla Wydler
§ Aleksander Jevtić. Personal photograph by Eyal Press.