CMC’s 2024 Common Reader will be ‘The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens’

Upcoming series of public conversations will feature author Dr. Richard Haass, Walter Isaacson, virtual discussions, broadcasts and live talks

In a nod to America’s upcoming election year, Colorado Mountain College is announcing an important, nonpartisan series of live and virtual community discussions centered around The New York Times bestseller, “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens” by Dr. Richard Haass. The series, which is the latest in CMC’s public Common Reader book selection program, will begin this January and continue through November 2024.

During election week 2023, Colorado Mountain College is releasing a video featuring Haass, bestselling author and historian Walter Isaacson and CMC President and CEO Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser announcing this new Common Reader series. Visit the CMC Common Reader webpage to learn more about what is in store during the coming year.

At CMC, a Common Reader committee composed of faculty and staff carefully selects a book to read and share with the dozens of communities the college serves. In 2024, CMC will augment the program’s offerings to include a virtual discussion featuring Haass and Issacson followed by a non-credit class and a series of seminars and conversations with local community leaders discussing civics and civil discourse. All will be free and open to the public. The college is collaborating with media partners and financial supporters so that as many people as possible across Colorado’s Western Slope can participate. Plans are in progress with PBS12, Aspen Public Radio, and the Daniels Fund to support next year’s programming, with more collaborators joining this effort.

Haass, the book’s author, is a seasoned diplomat, president emeritus of the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations and senior counselor for Centerview Partners, an independent investment banking advisory firm. He has served in the Pentagon, State Department and White House under four presidents, Democrat and Republican alike. He is a Rhodes Scholar and has written or edited 14 well-regarded books primarily about world affairs, foreign policy and American democracy.

Readers can expect “The Bill of Obligations” to provide a plan of action for healing divisions, and countering the country’s anger, disinformation and violence by embracing the obligations that we citizens have – to the United States and to each other.

Complimentary copies of “The Bill of Obligations” – recently released in paperback – will be available to community members at CMC campuses throughout the region beginning Dec. 1. A kick-off presentation is being planned early in the new year featuring Haass and Isaacson, whose recent book, “Elon Musk,” is currently ranked 2 on The New York Times bestseller list.

Isaacson, the former editor of TIME magazine, CEO of CNN and former president and CEO of The Aspen Institute, is currently a history professor at Tulane University. CMC’s Isaacson School for Communication, Arts & Media bears his name.

“We are so honored by the contributions Walter has made to Colorado Mountain College for over a decade,” said Hauser. “He regularly taps his extensive network and introduces national and international leaders to CMC and our students. His friendship with Richard Haass is no exception and the year ahead will be a timely and relevant shared experience reading and discussing the concepts outlined in ‘The Bill of Obligations’ together.”