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Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality is a close reading of the Declaration of Independence published in 2014. Its author, Danielle Allen, is a classicist and political philosopher. Earlier in her career she received a prestigious “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation. As of 2024, she was a professor at Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study. In this work, Allen combines personal narrative, academic training, historical context, and rigorous... Read Our Declaration Summary

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In Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (2015), author Robert D. Putnam describes how unattainable upward social mobility, or the American Dream, is for most young people. Putnam examines the factors that encourage or discourage upward mobility and how they have changed over time. The book was well-received by critics for its honest and timely commentary on important social issues. Putnam currently works as both a political scientist and a professor of public policy... Read Our Kids Summary

Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana, a 1958 satirical spy novel, evokes the political atmosphere in Cuba on the cusp of the Communist takeover and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Relevant and well-received, the novel has been adapted into a film, a play, and an opera. Greene was himself a member of M16, the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service, and his background allowed him to portray both accurately and comically the behind-the-scenes espionage antics that make... Read Our Man in Havana Summary

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Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed develops a theory of education fitted to the needs of the disenfranchised and marginalized members of capitalist societies. Combining educational and political philosophy, the book offers an analysis of oppression and a theory of liberation. Freire believes that traditional education serves to support the dominance of the powerful within society and thereby maintain the powerful’s social, political, and economic status quo. To overcome the oppression endemic to an exploitative... Read Pedagogy of the Oppressed Summary

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Permanent Record is the memoir of Edward Snowden, released in 2019. Snowden is a former intelligence contractor who worked for the CIA and NSA. In 2013, he became a world-famous whistleblower, leaking highly classified documents which detailed how American intelligence agencies were conducting secret mass surveillance of their own citizens. The book begins with a description of Snowden’s childhood. He is raised by parents who work for the government and eventually move to the Beltway... Read Permanent Record Summary

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Persian Letters (Lettres Persanes in French) is a literary work often termed one of the first epistolary novels. It was written by Charles de Secondat, a social thinker and political philosopher more commonly known by his aristocratic title Montesquieu. The narrative follows Usbek and Rica, two noblemen from Persia, who travel to France and recount their experiences there. The novel was first published anonymously in 1721 in Amsterdam for fear of public repercussions. Today it... Read Persian Letters Summary

The debut novel of British author Charles Dickens, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (commonly known as The Pickwick Papers) was first published as a series by Chapman and Hall between 1836 and 1837. The Pickwick Papers chronicles the adventures of the members of the Pickwick Club, a group of travelers who journey around England and share their experiences. Because of the original serial format of the novel, the chapters contain individual but interconnected... Read Pickwick Papers Summary

Planet of Slums is a non-fiction book published in 2006 by American author and urban theorist Mike Davis. It chronicles the spread of poverty in cities around the world at a time when more than a billion people live in what the United Nations (UN) classifies as "slums."SummaryIn 1950, only 86 cities around the world had populations of one million people or more. When Davis wrote this book in 2005, he predicted that by 2015... Read Planet of Slums Summary

Politics by Aristotle is a study of political theories and approaches written in the fourth century BCE. Politics serves as a companion to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. In Politics, Aristotle builds a case in response to Plato’s Republic. Aristotle argues that the purpose of a city is to contribute to the common good, creating a framework for individuals to pursue happiness through virtue. The philosopher and scientist gathered data on 158 different cities before writing his... Read Politics Summary

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Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536) was one of the most influential Renaissance humanists, and his 1509 satire Praise of Folly has become his best-known and most popular work. Originally written in Latin, the book is presented as a long speech or “declamation” delivered by a personified Folly. Erasmus uses the character of Folly as a mouthpiece to criticize and to poke fun at the foibles of human nature in general as well as many... Read Praise Of Folly Summary

“Prayer to the Masks” is a poem by influential Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor, published in 1945 in his collection Chants d’ombre (Songs of Shadow). Senghor often used his work to illuminate African history and contemplate the consequences of colonialism. Educated in Paris, Senghor was a founding member of the artistic and political movement Négritude, which emphasized pride in African and Black identity and history, which he practiced through his poetry. With “Prayer... Read Prayer to the Masks Summary

Praying for Sheetrock is a book of literary nonfiction by writer Melissa Fay Greene. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1991. A group of experts convened by New York University’s journalism department also included the book on its list of the best journalism of the 20th century. The book’s author, Greene, is a native of Georgia. She has published six nonfiction books and has written for many publications, including The... Read Praying for Sheetrock Summary

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