Book cover for “How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America,” by Priya Fielding-Singh, Ph.D.
How the Other Half Eats
The nonfiction book, How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America, has been selected as the common reading book to be used by first-year and other Washington State University students across classes throughout 2024-25.
Read the News Release
Cover of the 2022-23 common reading book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Author Robin Wall Kimmerer is shown next to the cover via a photo by Dale Kakkak.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Braiding Sweetgrass is the first book selection in the program’s history to be used for a second year, 2023-2024.

Welcome to the Common Reading Program

Getting Copies of How the Other Half Eats

This Common Reading book will be used by students in classes at WSU Pullman, Vancouver, Tri-Cities, and Global campuses. Students will receive a copy near the start of fall classes on their campus.

First-year WSU Pullman students will get their copies at their residence halls; those not living in residence halls will receive an email with instructions on picking up their copy in Lighty 160, the Academic Success and Career Center main office.

Instructors teaching classes for first-year students, and planning to use the book as a text, can receive a desk copy. Staff considering using the book as the basis for one or more events or programs that would be geared toward engaging first-year students may also request a university-purchased paperback copy.

Learn more about how to get a copy.

Faculty and staff can complete an online form with information about your course and campus or programming to reserve a desk copy.

Request a Book

Weekly Emails for Faculty on Book Use

Faculty can contact First-Year Programs Director Karen Weathermon to join an email distribution list for common reading events and opportunities throughout the year. A weekly message with PowerPoint slides describes upcoming events and can be easily uploaded into Canvas or digital signage. A student-success tip appropriate that that point in the semester is included.

Attendance: To assist instructors, student attendance is logged at all events, allowing students to easily provide verification of their attendance.

About This Year’s Book

How the Other Half Eats explores the many ways that food—and access to food—underscores issues of social inequality in American society. It was published in 2021 by Little, Brown Spark, and is authored by sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh. She is a senior manager of research and education at the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation and a nonresident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Resources & Guides

Programming for the Year

Year-long robust programming will center around this year’s book. Author Priya Fielding-Singh will deliver the Common Reading Invited Lecture Oct. 15 at WSU Pullman, and it will be live-streamed to other campuses. An interdisciplinary set of guest expert lectures, virtual talks, video showings, performances, demonstrations, exhibits, and scheduled activities based on the book will be available.

Programming at the WSU Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will feature a major exhibit on the “The Art of Food.”

A November-through-May exhibit in the MASC section of Terrell Library on the WSU Pullman campus explores the history of lentils in our region. It’s titled, “Against the Grain: Lentils and Countercultural Eating on the Palouse, 1916-2024” and was prepared by librarian Talea Anderson.

Browse our full events calendar on Coug Presence.

Recent News

WSU Common Reading Accepting Desk Copy Requests for 2024-25 Book

Paperback copies of How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America are available at no cost from the Common Reading Program for instructors and staff at four campuses who are considering using the book for first-year students’ courses and programming. “Thanks to support from Provost and Executive Vice President and WSU Pullman Chancellor Elizabeth Chilton, copies of the book will be provided this summer to first-time, first-year students at the WSU Pullman, Vancouver, Tri-Cities, and Global campuses,” said Karen Weathermon, program director.

WSU Selects “How the Other Half Eats” as 2024-25 Common Reading Book

The nonfiction book, “How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America,” has been selected as the common reading book to be used by first-year and other Washington State University students across classes throughout 2024-25. “One of the many honors of serving as Provost is the opportunity to select the Common Read for all incoming students,” said Provost and Executive Vice President and WSU Pullman Chancellor Elizabeth Chilton. “‘How the Other Half Eats‘ explores the many ways that food—and access to food—underscores issues of social inequality in American society.”

Browse all of our news headlines.

About the Common Reading Program

Designed to connect students to their university community, the Common Reading Program at WSU is starting its 18th year.

Thousands of first-year and additional students have used the book—or topics from it—in their classes, prompting academic discussions with their faculty, interactions with staff and students in their residence halls, and participation at special events.

The program emphasizes experiential opportunities for students to hear speakers and engage with topics related to the book. Many programs are already in place for students to attend or engage in this year, thanks to partnerships with many units across the university. Check the calendar for Common Reading-hosted listings, and Coug Presence for Common Reading plus partner-hosted listings.

What Is a “Common Reading?”

Our program is formed around the concept of a “common reading”—a single book chosen for all incoming first-year students to read. A common reading is one way to create community connections among students, and between students and their professors, residence hall staff, and others. Topics in a selected book are examined throughout the year by members of the university community, sparking academic conversations in and beyond classrooms, highlighting WSU research and the diversity of ideas across disciplines, and introducing different ways to explore complex issues from a variety of perspectives.

Previous Common Reading Books

Program Impact

Robust common reading programming throughout the year includes expert guest lectures, stimulating events, film showings, and much more.  In 2021-22, for example, the Common Reading Program…

  • Hosted and collaborated with 19 other campus units system-wide to provide 92 virtual and in-person events, more than double the number of previous years.
  • Students can typically select from three to five events per week to enhance their knowledge relating to book topics, and often earn extra course credit for attendance.
Learn more about the Common Reading program
Stylized gray tracing of a collage made up of the covers of past Common Reading books.