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.

Rez Life

by David Treuer

Publication year 2012

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Nation, Politics & Government, Indigenous Identity

Tags US History, Race & Racism, Politics & Government, Poverty, American Literature, Colonial America, World History, Biography

Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life (2012) is the fifth work by American writer, critic, and anthropologist David Treuer, and his first work of non-fiction. Treuer would follow this work, seven years later, with the publication of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019), an in-depth study of Indigenous history and reservation life. Many of the historical events and themes that Treuer covers in this book are... Read Rez Life Summary

Rising

by Elizabeth Rush

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Climate, Social Class, Science & Technology, Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, Journalism, World History, Politics & Government

... Read Rising Summary

Rising Out of Hatred

by Eli Saslow

Publication year 2018

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Nation, Race

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Sociology, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist (2018) is a biography of disavowed white nationalist Derek Black, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow.Derek is a former white nationalist wunderkind. Derek is the son of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and Stormfront online hate group creator, Don Black, and the godson of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, white supremacist politician, and notorious public figure, David Duke. Derek’s parents remove... Read Rising Out of Hatred Summary

Rites of Spring

by Modris Eksteins

Publication year 1989

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags European History, Military & War, World History, Philosophy, Philosophy, World War I, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government

Modris Eksteins’s 1989 nonfiction book, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, takes its title from a scandalous 1913 Russian ballet. Critics believed that the ballet’s complex, atonal score, stomping choreography, and the feature of a virginal sacrifice mocked classical ballet conventions. Eksteins—a Canadian historian and author—argues that the juxtaposition of violence and creativity in the ballet echoed in both World War I—“The Great War”—and its aftermath.Eksteins focuses on... Read Rites of Spring Summary

Romney

by McKay Coppins

Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Self Discovery, Fathers, Politics & Government, Truth & Lies

Tags Politics & Government, US History, World History, Biography, Religion & Spirituality

... Read Romney Summary

Rubicon

by Tom Holland

Publication year 2003

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Nation, Politics & Government, Power & Greed

Tags World History, Politics & Government, Classical Period, Classic Fiction

... Read Rubicon Summary

Salt Sugar Fat

by Michael Moss

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Health, Business & Economics, Science & Nature, World History, Self-Improvement, Food, Politics & Government

Salt Sugar Fat is a 2013 nonfiction book by Michael Moss. It describes the modern American food industry. The author visits the corporate headquarters, scientific research facilities, and marketing departments of major food manufacturers. He also talks with consumer advocates and other involved parties to understand the ongoing obesity epidemic.Through industrial processes, food companies remove nutritious components and substitute cheaper, harmful ingredients. The key ingredients in most processed foods are salt, sugar, and fat. Manufacturers... Read Salt Sugar Fat Summary

Savage Inequalities

by Jonathan Kozol

Publication year 1991

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Education

Tags Education, Race & Racism, Education, Sociology, World History, Social Justice, Poverty, Politics & Government

Jonathan Kozol's 1991 book, Savage Inequalities, is a critical look at the American educational system and its failures. The main argument of the book is that a tremendous divide exists between rich and poor in education, a divide intensified by ethnic and racial prejudice. Kozol claims that in many communities and localities, American schools remain effectively segregated, more than 50 years after the criminalization of such practices. Kozol argues that while the letter of the... Read Savage Inequalities Summary

Say Nothing

by Patrick Radden Keefe

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Crime & Law, European History, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Military & War, World History, Irish Literature, Politics & Government

Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland interprets the Irish “Troubles” in which clashing state and paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland fought an unofficial ethno-nationalist war. Though the monograph is a work of non-fiction investigative journalism, it unfolds like a murder mystery, focusing on the case of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) abducted and secretly killed in 1972. The... Read Say Nothing Summary

Scarcity

by Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Conflict, Social Class, Economics, Equality, Wins & Losses

Tags Psychology, Business & Economics, Science & Nature, Sociology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Psychology, Philosophy

... Read Scarcity Summary

Schindler's List

by Thomas Keneally

Publication year 1982

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, Guilt, Justice, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Hate & Anger, Race, War

Tags Historical Fiction, Holocaust, World War II, Life-Inspired Fiction, Race & Racism, World History, Immigration & Refugeeism, Incarceration, Military & War, Politics & Government, Social Justice, Sociology, Trauma & Abuse, Classic Fiction, Biography

Schindler’s List (originally titled Schindler’s Ark) is a 1982 historical novel by Australian author Thomas Keneally. It tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party who used his position as a German industrialist to save more than 1,200 people’s lives during the war. In protecting as many people as he could from the genocidal Nazi regime, Schindler risked being sent to a concentration camp himself. Keneally wrote the novel with the... Read Schindler's List Summary

Second Treatise of Government

by John Locke, C. B. Macpherson, ed.

Publication year 1689

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Politics & Government, Community, Power & Greed

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

The Second Treatise of Government is a philosophical text written by Enlightenment thinker and “Father of Liberalism” John Locke in 1689. When the treatise was published in the late 17th century, England was in a state of political unrest. King William III and Queen Mary II were in power, as monarch King James II had been deposed two years earlier. This period of history is known as the Glorious Revolution, and it followed years of... Read Second Treatise of Government Summary