‘Values’ Fits a Course in a Paperback

“This is one of the first books where ‘personal choice’ is in the index,” noted former Lecturer on the Study of Religion Brian C.W. Palmer ’86, at a Feb. 24 colloquium hosted by the Harvard Book Store for his recent publication “Global Values 101.”

It was Palmer’s way of acknowledging that the book—which is basically a compilation of interviews—is not your typical literary experience.

“Global Values 101” is a series of transcripts from the popular course Palmer headed in the fall of 2001, Religion 1529, “Personal Choice and Global Transformation.” The class, which was offered again in the spring of 2004, was innovative since students were responsible for questioning guests like Noam Chomsky and Robert Reich on issues like labor, diversity, and human development.

During a forum at the First Parish Church, Palmer explained that the original class was conceptualized in response to the living wage debates roiling Harvard in 2001.

“I wanted to look at issues confronting the world’s inequities,” Palmer said at the colloquium.

Religion 1529 captured the attention of the Harvard community and became one of the most popular classes of the semester. The course had to switch lecture halls four times before finding a room large enough to accommodate over 600 students.

Palmer conceded that part of the appeal was timing: the first day of his class was Sept. 12, 2001, a daunting day for people around the country.

“Harvard students were searching for a course that could connect to the world,” said Palmer at the forum.

“Global Values 101,” the book spawned from the course, provides both the questions from the students and the essay-length answers from the guests.

It’s a breezy read that leaves the audience informed and clued in to global issues from religion to social change. The book speaks to values like idealism, and the interviews are inspiring.

Palmer accumulated an impressive guest list for his course, including some of the greatest intellectuals of our time. The most entertaining is undoubtedly the perennially controversial Chomsky, a professor of linguistics and philosophy at MIT. Chomsky, who has spoken so vocally on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offers his views on an assortment of ideas.

Chomsky’s most fascinating diatribe concerns the 2004 presidential election, which he alleges is not even an election.

“Both [George W. Bush and John F. Kerry] went to the same elite university, both of them joined the same secret society where they were socialized into the manners and style of the ruling class, and both of them are able to run because they are supported by basically the same narrow concentration of economic power,” Chomsky says.

The “Religion and Ethics” section of the book speaks most directly to what appears to be Palmer’s main agenda.

Peter Singer, an ethicist and author of the controversial “Animal Liberation,” is asked prodding questions about issues ranging from the International Criminal Court to arguments in support for “basic universal values.”

Historian Howard Zinn, who lectured for the course and was also at the forum, praised the students in Palmer’s class for their questions, which at the time focused on an impending war.

Reading Zinn’s transcript in “Global Values 101,” his enthusiasm for participating in a Harvard discussion is apparent. One of the questions posed to Zinn is whether military force is sometimes necessary for humanitarian goals; the students allude to Rwanda and Kosovo.

Zinn’s immediate response is that it is a good question, and the very definition of a good question is “one that you cannot answer.”

Economist Juliet Schor, who at the First Parish Church conceded to being incredibly afraid to enter a Harvard classroom, articulates upon ideas of family spending and leisure time in “Global Values 101.” Her ultimate message to students: “Do not sell your soul for some purpose. Do something that you really believe is really right.”

For students who were not on campus when Palmer originally offered the course, “Global Values 101” contains excellent conversations to read–even four years later.

As Palmer said at the colloquium, “Courage can be almost as contagious as fear.”

—Reviewer Jessica C. Coggins can be reached at jcoggins@fas.harvard.edu.

Global Values 101
Edited by Brian Palmer, Kate Holbrook, Ann S. Kim, and Anna Portnoy
Beacon Press
Out Now