Consulate Donates Books to Local Cafe
On June 8, The US Consulate General in Dhahran donated a Library of America book set to Otacuschez Café in Khobar. The set included over one hundred books on American literature, history, poetry, great American fictional novels by renowned American authors such as Mark Twain, Zora Neal Hurston, Harriet Beecher Stowe, James Baldwin, and WEB DuBois, and biographies of historical figures such as Frederick Douglas, Ulysses Grant, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. Otacuschez’s vision makes it an ideal venue for the volumes.
Otacuchez, a chain of cafes in Khobar, promotes fair trade, education, and culture. Each branch includes a public library for customers, who are mainly Saudi youth, to peruse while in the café. The Library of America book set will contribute to Otacuschez’s tradition of enhancing the educational and cultural experience of its customers.
The Library of America book set was intended to help preserve America’s cultural heritage and literary accomplishments by publishing America’s best and most significant writings. The volumes are authoritative, accurate, unabridged, and unencumbered by critical analysis. Each includes a chronology of the author's life and work, helpful notes prepared by a distinguished scholar, and a brief essay on the text selected for each work. The Library of America has made important contributions to textual scholarship. As a result, the series has won the National Book Critics Circle special award for "distinguished contributions to the enhancement of American literary and critical standards." It has also received the "Ambassador of Honor" title from the English-Speaking Union and the Carey-Thomas Award for Creative Publishing.