Politics & Government

Jason Reynolds’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (2020) is a nonfiction book by the American authors Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. It is a self-described “remix” of Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award winner Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. An award-winning writer of young adult fiction and poetry, Reynolds frames America’s history of racist ideas for an audience of middle school and high school readers. Reynolds’s remix... Read Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You Summary

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Stasiland, by Anna Funder, originally published in 2002, is the true account of life in East Germany during the Communist regime, from 1949 to 1990. It tells the stories of those who resisted and engaged in what has been called the most perfected surveillance state of all time.First, Funder visits Leipzig, Germany, to meet with Miriam Weber, a woman who was arrested by the Stasi, brutally interrogated, and who later tried to escape over the... Read Stasiland Summary

American author Michael Crichton’s thriller novel State of Fear (HarperCollins Publishers, 2004) dramatizes the debate surrounding global warming. Set in the contemporary world, the novel tells the story of a group of characters attempting to thwart eco-terrorist threats. The plot exudes intrigue and action—including shootouts, deadly crocodiles, deceptive agents, and the faked death of George Morton, the man who links the characters together. State of Fear is also a polemic casting doubt on the theory... Read State of Fear Summary

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Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) is an in-depth exploration of the rise of the Tea Party movement in Louisiana by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. In an effort to understand the Tea Party and bolster her empathy for political opinions oppositional to her own, Hochschild spent five years getting to know residents and conducting interviews in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hochschild argues that by understanding one another’s... Read Strangers in Their Own Land Summary

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and academic Edward J. Larson is a work of historical non-fiction first published in 1997 that discusses the history of the Scopes trial, the events surrounding it, and the aftermath. The 2006 edition includes a new afterword by the author.Larson begins by describing the geopolitical environment in the United States at the time of the 1925... Read Summer for the Gods Summary

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Sweet Tooth is a 2012 novel by Ian McEwan. Set in the 1970s, it tells the story of one woman’s involvement with MI5 and the world of literature. Themes include the balance of power, navigating lies and deceit, and conditional versus unconditional acceptance.Plot SummarySerena Frome grows up in a small, uninteresting English city. In the 1960s, her mother encourages her to study mathematics at Cambridge University even though Serena (a keen reader) would rather study... Read Sweet Tooth Summary

Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation is a 2017 non-fiction collection of 36 essays, poems, and short stories edited by former Granta editor John Freeman and including contributions by Rebecca Solnit, Sandra Cisneros, Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez, Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Patchett, Annie Dillard, Roxane Gay, and more. The text crosses disciplinary boundaries, covering sociology, history, racial and ethnic studies, and gender studies.The personal essays, stories, and poetry in Tales... Read Tales of Two Americas Summary

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Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom is a collection of 14 essays and interviews examining how to transform the multicultural classroom into an inclusive space dedicated to the practice of freedom for all students. “bell hooks” is Gloria Jean Watkins’s pen name, which she chooses not to capitalize so that her work is emphasized more so than her name. She is an acclaimed feminist scholar, cultural critic, writer, and educator. She’s the... Read Teaching to Transgress Summary

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, published in 2005, is an historical study of the events surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s nomination as the Republican candidate for US president in 1860 and his tenure in office from 1861 to his assassination in 1865. The sixth book by Pulitzer Prize winner Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals won the 2006 Lincoln Prize and the inaugural Book Prize for American History from the New... Read Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Summary

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Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology is a 1992 nonfiction book by Neil Postman, a professor of education and communication. The book examines the influence of technology in society, particularly its rapid spread, far-reaching effects, and unquestioned acceptance. The last point is significant: Postman is not unequivocally opposed to technology but worries that it is not sufficiently scrutinized.The author begins with an overview of technology and how it works culturally. He reviews the history... Read Technopoly Summary

Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions is Valeria Luiselli’s 2017 book-length essay exploring the influx of undocumented child migrants from Latin America that began in 2014. Through her work as a volunteer translator, Luiselli became intimately aware of what these children experienced, and the essay argues that their inhumane treatment at the hands of American bureaucracy is an unjust denial of due process and the core principles of the American Dream... Read Tell Me How It Ends Summary

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Originally published in 1994, Thank You for Smoking is a political satire novel centered around Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the fictional Academy of Tobacco Studies, an organization founded by the tobacco industry with the true purpose of countering negative scientific data and public condemnation of tobacco. Nick’s job has made him a pariah, as he has humiliated everyone from grieving relatives of cancer victims to federal employees. He also must watch his back, as... Read Thank You for Smoking Summary

Thank You For Your Service is a nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel. Published in 2013, it follows the story of an infantry battalion upon their return home from the war in Iraq.Finkel’s previous book, The Good Soldiers, took him to Baghdad, Iraq in 2007-2008 as he was embedded with the 2-16 Infantry Battalion. In Thank You For Your Service, Finkel follows some of these same soldiers home, as they try to move... Read Thank You For Your Service Summary