Well, maybe not, if the reaction to Cornell’s summer reading for its incoming students is any indication. The school chose Garry Wills’s book Lincoln at Gettysburg — a serious work of history.

A snippet from this piece in the Cornell Daily Sun:

University officials may have been more enthusiastic about the book than the students themselves. Overall, students gave Lincoln at Gettysburg mixed reviews, and some questioned why such a book was chosen. As the discussion in Barton Hall progressed, many freshmen exited the gymnasium, leaving the room almost empty at the end. “I thought it was awful and the book was torture,” said one freshman. “The book was like a history textbook and was dry and hard to understand.”

Hat tip: Anthony Paletta.