President of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.
Besides having earned a PhD in Counselor Education, Purce’s resume includes having served as the first black elected official in Idaho, where he was the mayor of Pocatello, and having been a partner and chief operating officer of a fast-growing electrical engineering firm. His book picks include:
“The Dory Book,” by John Gardner
“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” by Isabel Wilkerson
“Empire of the Summer Moon,” by S.C. Gwynne
“Gettysburg: The Last Invasion,” by Allen Guelzo
“Middlesex,” by Jeffrey Eugenides
“The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America,” by George Packer
“City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America,” by John Miller
“Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II,” John W. Dower
“Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” by Jimmy Carter
“Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend,” by James S. Hirsch
