A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki is a revisionist account of American history that provides an in-depth view of America as a country populated and built by diverse peoples of the world. Originally published in 1993 by Little, Brown and Company, this study guide uses the updated 2008 edition. In 1994 A Different Mirror received an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for its contributions to advancing understandings of racism and human diversity.Takaki’s... Read A Different Mirror Summary

A Disability History of the United States is a 2012 nonfiction book by author Kim E. Nielsen, a professor of disability studies and women’s studies at the University of Toledo. Nielsen’s work is the first to cover the entirety of disability history in the United States, from the pre-Columbian era of Indigenous North America to the present day. Nielsen provides a comprehensive overview of how disability has been defined, understood, treated, and—using personal narratives—experienced in... Read A Disability History of the United States Summary

Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them (2023) is a historical account of the Klan’s brief but meteoric resurrection in Indiana in the 1920s. Using meticulous research combined with the descriptive elements of narrative thrillers, Egan recreates in detail a particularly dark chapter in American history. Egan focuses on David C. Stephenson, a grifter and conman who exploited the fears... Read A Fever in the Heartland Summary

A Few Good Men is a play written by Aaron Sorkin and first performed in 1989. The story involves a military lawyer who defends two Marines accused of murder. The play was well-received, and Sorkin adapted it into a screenplay for the film of the same name (released in 1992), which was a popular and critical success.Plot SummaryA Few Good Men opens as two Marines, Downey and Dawson, recall the details of a nighttime incident... Read A Few Good Men Summary

Affluenza seeks to diagnose and treat the disease of overconsumption that its three authors, John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor, believe to be a serious threat to both the human species and the rest of the planet. Accordingly, the book is divided into three main parts: a discussion of the symptoms of affluenza, an analysis of its causes, and suggestions for some possible cures.In Part 1, the authors offer a broad overview... Read Affluenza Summary

Michael McGerr’s 2003 nonfiction book, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920, is titled after a phenomenon President Theodore Roosevelt observed in the early 20th century. The book’s epigraph quotes President Roosevelt in 1906:  So far as this movement of agitation throughout the country takes the form of a fierce discontent with evil, of a firm determination to punish the authors of evil, whether in industry or politics... Read A Fierce Discontent Summary

In After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America, Jessica Goudeau argues that the United States’ immigration policy has historically been shaped by the American public’s view of itself as either welcoming to those in need, or exclusionary and fearful. Tracing the experiences of two refugees, Goudeau exposes their traumatic journeys and how the latter approach of exclusion makes an already difficult transition to the US all the more so... Read After the Last Border Summary

An influential work of moral philosophy, After Virtue (1981) by the Scottish-born philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre takes a bleak view of the state of modern moral dialogue, viewing it as suffering from a lack of rational thought and an inability to resolve disagreements. By looking at older forms of moral discourse, such as Aristotle’s moral framework, and comparing them to the modern version, he generally finds the modern moral framework to be lacking and suggests fixes... Read After Virtue Summary

A Game of Thrones is a 1996 epic fantasy novel by George R. R. Martin and is the first in his long-running A Song of Ice and Fire series. The novel introduces the audience to the fictional world of Westeros, where characters become embroiled in a complicated web of plots, conspiracies, and betrayals as they pursue power. A Game of Thrones won numerous awards on publication and was adapted for television in 2011. This guide... Read A Game of Thrones Summary

Agent Running in the Field is a 2019 espionage novel by British author John le Carré, the final novel to be published before his 2020 death at the age of 89. Le Carré is widely considered the world’s preeminent English-language writer of spy novels. The novel explores themes such as The Erosion of Institutional Trust, Political Idealism Versus Pragmatic Reality, and The Manipulation of Truth through the story of Nat, a lifetime espionage agent who... Read Agent Running in the Field Summary

Age of Revolutions (2024) is a nonfiction work by political commentator and journalist Fareed Zakaria. The author is best known for hosting the CNN program Fareed Zakaria GPS. In addition to his work as a television personality and essayist, Zakaria has written several other influential books on the subject of global politics. His best-known titles include The Future of Freedom (2003), The Post-American World (2011), In Defense of a Liberal Education (2015), and Ten Lessons... Read Age of Revolutions Summary

“A Hanging” is an essay written by the English novelist, journalist, essayist, and critic George Orwell (1903-50). It was first published in The Adelphi, a British literary magazine, in 1931. Orwell gained widespread acclaim for his most famous novels, Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). His essays and journalism, like his fiction, explore political themes, societal issues, and the dangers of totalitarianism. “A Hanging” was one of his earliest published works. Indeed, it was... Read A Hanging Summary

Ahimsa is Supriya Kelkar’s debut novel. It was published in 2017 and follows 10-year-old Anjali as her mother joins the freedom movement in 1942 India. Throughout the novel, she learns about the caste system, religious differences, and advocacy for nonviolence. This historical fiction novel won the New Visions Award, which is given to a middle grade or young adult novel by an author of color. In addition, the novel received a starred review from the... Read Ahimsa Summary

A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet (2017) is a nonfiction book written by Raj Patel, a political economist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, also known for Stuffed and Starved (2007), and Jason W. Moore, an environmental historian and associate professor at Binghamton University. The authors’ expertise in political economy and environmental history provides a unique perspective on... Read A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things Summary

Published in 1945, Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy is still one of the most widely-read texts on philosophical history. Russell himself was one of the 20th century’s most noted philosophers and was at the height of his fame and notoriety when the History was published. The book evolved from lectures Russell had given at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. The History is organized into three Books corresponding to what Russell sees as the... Read A History of Western Philosophy Summary

“Ain’t I a Woman?” is a speech delivered by abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth, whose original name was Isabella Baumfree, was born a slave in 1797. She escaped bondage and, after an experience of religious conversion, went on to become one of the most significant civil rights leaders of the 19th century. Several attendees of the convention later reproduced Truth’s address. Women’s rights activist... Read Ain't I A Woman Summary

Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by social critic and educator bell hooks is a study of the intersectionality of racism and sexism and how both contribute to the marginalization of Black women. hooks examines the social, cultural, and psychological impact of slavery and how the institution shaped contemporary perceptions of Black women. She exposes how white feminism has discriminated against Black female experiences and how Black men absorbed white patriarchal culture, imposing... Read Ain't I A Woman Summary

Kai-Fu Lee’s AI Superpowers (2018) is a nonfiction examination of the tech industry’s socioeconomic impact on China and the United States. As an artificial intelligence (AI) scientist and venture capitalist (VC), Lee focuses specifically on the history of tech entrepreneurship and AI-powered products. Lee believes that the US and China are in a struggle for dominance over the global AI-driven economy and argues that China is poised for victory. He supports this argument with cultural... Read AI Superpowers Summary

Alexander Hamilton is a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton, written by Ron Chernow. Beginning with Hamilton’s birth in the Caribbean, the book traces Hamilton’s story from his childhood, to his early years in America, to his rise as one of the most admired—and reviled—politicians and statesmen that the country would ever see. The popular music Hamilton is based on the story told in Chernow’s book, and shows the development of both America, and one of its... Read Alexander Hamilton Summary

Plato’s Republic takes the form of a series of dialogues between the first-person narrator (Socrates, Plato's teacher) and various real-life figures. “The Allegory of the Cave,” perhaps the most well-known section of The Republic, takes place as a conversation between Socrates and Plato’s brother, Glaucon. In this section, Socrates attempts to illustrate a point about how one can gain knowledge and wisdom and “perceive [...] the Essential Form of Goodness” (paragraph 31, line 10), via... Read Allegory Of The Cave Summary