i am peter wyatt wood, president of the national association of scholars. in 2009, a young man heading on vacation in mexico picked up and unusually heavy book for his beach reading, and 800 page tome of the life of an 18th-century immigrant. 50 pages or so into the book the story took possession of the 29-year-old. would emerge from his reading of alexander hamilton is now the hottest ticket on broadway, the hip-hop musical hamilton. broadway's play is widely noted for many things including its exact fidelity to historical facts. each bowl must not be light reading and the right beach book can kick off a lot of things. as it happens one of the top five most common readings for college freshman last year was also a book about the obstacles overcome by an immigrant, the considerably shorter and rican's journey which offers a harrowing account of the 16-year-old under an boyd, drug users and thief who makes his way through mexico across the texas border. the book contrasts on several points, one is that henry k.'s journey is written at a level appropriate for