<p>Interesting read- story about a Brown University student who does his study abroad semester at Liberty University. I am about 1/3 into the book and so far it is even handed.</p>
<p>Since this is a college web site many here may find it interesting. The author is Kevin Roose.</p>
<p>I read a news story about the book. Somehow I think that kid has a strong future ahead of him.</p>
<p>Has Liberty released any press statements about it yet?</p>
<p>I read about the guy’s adventure on Yahoo News. I though about posting the link, but decided that I’d check the book first. I have not had a chance to read it yet, but I definitely will. Here is an interesting interview with the author:</p>
<p>[Q&A:</a> Undercover at Falwell’s Liberty University](<a href=“http://www.newsweek.com/id/194658]Q&A:”>Undercover at Falwell's Liberty University)</p>
<p>I purchased and read this book after it was recommended on cc. I thought it was really good.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the book, but found the Newsweek link (post #3) interesting. Does anyone know the logistics of his ‘experiment’/study “abroad” experience? What did he tell Brown about his absence? They had to know he was coming back. Did they accept his Liberty credits? I’m going to add this to my list of books to read!</p>
<p>There was a thread about this a short while ago in College Search and Selection entitled:</p>
<p>Brown student transfers to Liberty-writes book</p>
<p>(Sorry, I don’t know how to make it a link to the thread)</p>
<p>Kevin Roose, the writer of the book, finds a lot to like in the Liberty students, and so will the reader. They come across as sympathetic, and in many ways typical teenagers, though they are less reflective and more cheerful than students at non-religious schools. Roose doesn’t break his cover until well after he leaves Liberty, but when he does, his Liberty friends remain his friends. </p>
<p>The Liberty education, on the other hand, looks as stupid and ridiculous as expected. In order to get the full Liberty experience, Roose takes only religiously-oriented classes. He finds several of them difficult, but none of them are difficult in a useful academic way other than sociologically. In one of his classes, he studies how all the animals might have been packed on Noah’s Ark in the flood-- not exactly helpful information for his Biology class when he returns to Brown.</p>
<p>Liberty has a lot of rules and parietals: males and females in separate dorms, no kissing, no R-rated movies, no alcohol. One strange section of the book recounts a college counselor’s earnest attempt to counsel students to stop their masturbating habits. It turns out, though, that the rules are often ignored. Some students repent after flouting them. Others happily ignore them: one group of Roose’s friends gather at night in a dorm room to watch forbidden films.</p>
<p>The Unlikely Disciple is a quick read that sheds light on what to a lot of us is a strange and unknown corner of college life. Well worth reading.</p>