MCC Reads

Montcalm Community College Library presents MCC Reads. The program aims to reach our community of readers, in Montcalm County and at MCC, to inspire, uplift, and enlighten by reading books that touch the hearts and minds our readers, celebrate literature and encourage library use.

2026 Book Selection

Bath Massacre: America's Frist School Bombing by Arnie Bernstein

On May 18, 1927, the small town of Bath, Michigan, was forever changed when Andrew Kehoe set off a cache of explosives concealed in the basement of the local school. Thirty-eight children and six adults were dead, among them Kehoe, who had literally blown himself to bits by setting off a dynamite charge in his car. The next day, on Kehoe's farm, what was left of his wife---burned beyond recognition after Kehoe set his property and buildings ablaze---was found tied to a handcart, her skull crushed. With seemingly endless stories of school violence and suicide bombers filling today's headlines, Bath Massacre serves as a reminder that terrorism and large-scale murder are nothing new.

"With the meticulous attention to detail of a historian and a storyteller's eye for human drama, Bernstein shines a beam of truth on a forgotten American tragedy. Heartbreaking and riveting."

---Gregg Olsen, New York Times best-selling author of Starvation Heights

MCC Reads is sponsored by Montcalm Community College and the MCC Foundation.