New York Tri-State Network: UCLA/Cal December Book Club

Bruins who read together, stay together. This month, we'll discuss "Bad City" by Paul Pringle and look back at all the books we've read together this year.

About "Bad City":

For fans of Spotlight and Catch and Kill comes a nonfiction thriller about corruption and betrayal radiating across Los Angeles from one of the region's most powerful institutions, a riveting tale from a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who investigated the shocking events and helped bring justice in the face of formidable odds.

On a cool, overcast afternoon in April 2016, a salacious tip arrived at the L.A. Times that reporter Paul Pringle thought should have taken, at most, a few weeks to check out: a drug overdose at a fancy hotel involving one of the University of Southern California’s shiniest stars—Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the head of the prestigious medical school. Pringle, who’d long done battle with USC and its almost impenetrable culture of silence, knew reporting the story wouldn’t be a walk in the park. USC is one of the biggest employers in L.A., and it casts a long shadow.

But what he couldn’t have foreseen was that this tip would lead to the unveiling of not one major scandal at USC but two, wrapped in a web of crimes and cover-ups. The rot rooted out by Pringle and his colleagues at The Times would creep closer to home than they could have imagined—spilling into their own newsroom.

Discussion Facilitator: Alex Pederson

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January book: "Spies of the Balkans" by Alan Furst (Wed, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET)
February book: Please vote for it here https://forms.gle/a39sk7yLR4xGDQtT7

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Book Club Year in Review:

January - "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
February - "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by VE Schwab
March - "Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court" by John Wooden
April - "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
May - "Crying in H-Mart" by Michelle Zauner
June - "Ladies & Gentleman, the Bronx is Burning" by Jonathan Mahler
July - "Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr
August - "The Art of Travel" by Alain de Botton
September - "Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions" by Jeffrey Selingo
October - "You Can't Be Serious" by Kal Penn
November - "Mouth to Mouth" by Antoine Wilson
December - "Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels" by Paul Pringle