Politics & Government

As far as topics go, politics may be as divisive as they come. Still, there's no escaping the role that it plays in our lives. The texts in this collection explore the gamut of how politics shapes and reshapes societies throughout history.

Discourse on Colonialism

by Aimé Césaire

Publication year 1955

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Colonialism

Tags Philosophy, Afro-Caribbean Literature, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Race & Racism, Philosophy, Sociology, World History, Politics & Government

Discourse on Colonialism is an essay written originally in French by Aimé Césaire and published in 1950. This seminal work by Césaire opens with a thesis that Europe currently suffers from two problems. The first problem is the state of the proletariat and colonialism and the second is its moral hypocrisy. Throughout the essay, Césaire elaborates on this thesis by identifying the proletariat as the colonized laborer and the bourgeois as the European academic, scholar... Read Discourse on Colonialism Summary

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Publication year 1755

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Politics & Government, Social Class, Science & Technology

Tags Philosophy, Politics & Government, Sociology, Age of Enlightenment, Education, Education, World History, French Literature, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

“Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men,” often known as the “Discourse on Inequality” or the “Second Discourse,” is an essay by the Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau published in 1765. This summary is based on The First and Second Discourses, edited and translated by Roger D. Masters and Judith R. Masters, and published by St. Martin’s Press in 1964.SummaryRousseau wrote the essay in response to a prize announced by the Academy of... Read Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Summary

Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes

Publication year 1605

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Aging, Friendship

Tags Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Social Class, Philosophy, Politics & Government, Renaissance, Religion & Spirituality, Satirical Literature

Don Quixote is a novel in two parts by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes published between 1605 and 1615. The novel portrays the life of a middle-aged Spanish man who decides to become a knight, just like the characters in the works of fiction he loves. Considered to be a foundational work of Western literature and one of the first modern novels, Don Quixote is one of the most translated books of all time. It... Read Don Quixote Summary

Dopesick

by Beth Macy

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Power & Greed, Economics, Politics & Government, Race

Tags US History, Politics & Government, Science & Nature, Health, Crime & Law, Sociology, World History

... Read Dopesick Summary

Doppelganger

by Naomi Klein

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Gender & Feminism, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics & Government, Biography

... Read Doppelganger Summary

Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic

by Sam Quinones

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Science & Nature, Sociology, World History, Health

Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic (Bloomsburg Press, 2015) is a nonfiction book by American journalist and writer Sam Quinones. It won the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction and was on Amazon’s list of best books of the year in 2015 as well as Slate’s list of the 50 best books of the past 25 years. In the book Quinones charts the parallel rise of prescription opiates and black tar heroin, and describes... Read Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic Summary

Dreams From My Father

by Barack Obama

Publication year 1995

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Daughters & Sons

Tags Race & Racism, World History, Biography, Politics & Government

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. Published in 1995, two years before Obama's run for the Illinois State Senate, the book narrates Obama's attempt to grapple with the legacy of his mostly absent father (hereafter referred to as "Obama Sr.") and to come to terms with his racial identity. The memoir covers Obama's life from his childhood in... Read Dreams From My Father Summary

Ecotopia

by Ernest Callenbach

Publication year 1975

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science Fiction, Education, Education, Science & Nature, Fantasy, Politics & Government

Ecotopia is a novel set in an alternative historical timeline, one in which Washington, Oregon, and Northern California have seceded from the United States to form a new country: Ecotopia. After independence, the two countries have severed all diplomatic relations and have existed side-by-side with virtually no communication, though there is plenty of mutual distrust, even after twenty years. Enter the novel’s protagonist, William Weston, “top international affairs reporter” for the Times-Post newspaper, who has... Read Ecotopia Summary

Eichmann in Jerusalem

by Hannah Arendt

Publication year 1963

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Memory

Tags World History, World War II, Military & War, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil is a nonfiction book by political theorist Hannah Arendt, originally published in 1963. In 1961, Arendt went to Jerusalem to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker, an assignment she gave herself because “she felt she simply had to attend the trial; she owed it to herself as a social critic, displaced person, witness, and survivor” (xi). Eichmann, a Nazi facilitator of... Read Eichmann in Jerusalem Summary

Elantris

by Brandon Sanderson

Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Place, Appearance & Reality, Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Government, Equality

Tags Fantasy, Leadership, Politics & Government, Religion & Spirituality, Science Fiction, Romance

... Read Elantris Summary

El Filibusterismo

by José Rizal

Publication year 1891

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Revenge, Colonialism, Social Class

Tags Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Social Class, Education, Education, Asian Literature, World History

... Read El Filibusterismo Summary

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement

by Barbara Ransby

Publication year 2003

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Race & Racism, US History, Gender & Feminism, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement was written by Barbara Ransby and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2003. The book is a biography of Ella Baker, the mother of the civil rights movement, whose work ushered in a new pro-democracy era that saw the importance of fighting for one’s civil rights as important to the survival of the democratic project. Ransby follows the winding tale of Baker’s life, chronicling her... Read Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement Summary

Embracing Defeat

by John W. Dower

Publication year 1999

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Power & Greed, Memory, Grief, War, Colonialism

Tags Asian History, World War II, Politics & Government, Military & War, Asian Literature, World History, Japanese Literature

... Read Embracing Defeat Summary