In addition to the bibliography of related readings below, also see the readings section for the required readings by class session.
Suggested Readings
There is no rhyme or reason as to why these books are on the suggested readings list except that former students of intercultural communication classes and your instructors liked them.
Non-Fiction and Academic
Cohen, Raymond. Negotiating Across Cultures. International Communication in an Inderdependent World. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997. ISBN: 1878379720.
Importance of Intercultural Communication in diplomacy and international relations.
Darton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1985. ISBN: 0394729277.
An historian looks at French history like an anthropologist to learn something about the human perspective in another time and place.
Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension and The Silent Language. New York, NY: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1990. ISBN: 0385084765.
Classics in inter-cultural communication. The first looks at differences in people’s use of space, and the second examines nonverbal communication.
Hampden-Turner, Charles. The Seven Cultures of Capitalism. New York, NY: Currency/Doubleday, 1993. ISBN: 038542101X.
Business cultures around the world.
Hoffman, Eva. Lost in Translation. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton, 1989. ISBN: 0525246010.
A Jewish woman’s observations of life in Warsaw after World War II, and her move to the U.S. where she must start all over in another language.
Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1980. ISBN: 080391444X.
A classic study in the field.
Holm, Bill. Coming Home Crazy. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 1990. ISBN: 0915943425.
An American spends a year in China and learns about himself through the eyes of another culture.
Kim, Uichol, et al. Individualism and Collectivism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994. ISBN: 0803957637.
Essays from a variety of experts from different disciplines and different cultures explore this issue.
Nisbett, Richard. The Geography of Thought. New York, NY: Free Press, 2003. ISBN: 0743255356.
Examines differences in thought processes and recognition of reality in East and West.
Pollock, David, and Ruth Van Reken. Third Culture Kids. Yarmouth, ME; London, UK: Intercultural Press, 2001. ISBN: 1857882954.
The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds.
Rosen, Robert. Global Literacies. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000. ISBN: 0684859025.
Study of the importance of intercultural competency for global business.
Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand. New York, NY: Ballantine, 1991. ISBN: 0345372050.
Tannen is a socio-linguist who wrote a book for the layperson on the differences in men’s and women’s communication styles.
Ting-Toomey, Stella, and Felipe Korzenny. Cross-Cultural Interpersonal Communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991. ISBN: 0803940483.
Descriptions of how interpersonal relationships are built and managed in different cultures.
Trompenaars, Frans. Riding The Waves of Culture. London, UK: Economist Books, 1993. ISBN: 0850584280.
Intercultural Comparisons and Cultural Value Systems.
Wiseman, Richard L., and Joelen Koester. Intercultural Communication Competence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993. ISBN: 0803947194.
A set of essays on drawing from theory and research on how to communicate interculturally effectively.
Fiction
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. New York, NY: HarperFlamingo, 1998. ISBN: 0060175400.
The story of an American missionary family in the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s.
Roth, Henry. Call It Sleep. New York, NY: Noonday Press, 1991. ISBN: 0374522928.
A classic work on the immigrant experience written from the perspective of a young Jewish boy who has emigrated to New York.
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1998. ISBN: 0060977493.
The story of an Indian family in the late twentieth century.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Fires in the Mirror. New York, NY: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1993. ISBN: 0385470142.
Interviews with Black and Jewish residents in the racially polarized Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Crown Heights following riots in August, 1991.
Tan, Amy. The Kitchen God’s Wife. New York, NY: Ivy Books, 1992. ISBN: 080410753X.
Second-generation Chinese women try to understand their mothers’ lives.
