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.

The Flowers

by Alice Walker

Publication year 1973

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Coming of Age, Appearance & Reality, Plants, Environment

Tags Coming of Age, African American Literature, Race & Racism, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Reconstruction Era, Love & Sexuality, Gender & Feminism, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics & Government

“The Flowers,” a short story by Alice Walker, considers the impact of the Jim Crow South on a young Black girl’s emotional development and social awareness. Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983—along with a National Book Award—for her critically acclaimed work The Color Purple (1982). Her experience growing up poor in the segregated sharecropping community of Eatonton, Georgia, as well as her advocacy as a Womanist activist, inform the personal and social... Read The Flowers Summary

The Fountainhead

by Ayn Rand

Publication year 1943

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Self Discovery, Art, Beauty, Good & Evil

Tags Classic Fiction, American Literature, Philosophy, Politics & Government, Philosophy, Arts & Culture

Published in 1945, The Fountainhead was written by Russian American author Ayn Rand (1905-1982) and focuses on the genius architect Howard Roark as he struggles to pursue a career of innovation and integrity in an increasingly hostile society of altruists and con men led by the Machiavellian humanitarian Ellsworth Toohey.In The Fountainhead, Rand promotes values such as radical individualism and the primacy of objective reason, both of which would later form the foundation of her... Read The Fountainhead Summary

The German Ideology

by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels

Publication year 1932

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government

The German Ideology is a set of pamphlets written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1846. This was the first book cowritten by Marx and Engels. However, the authors could not find a publisher and the text wasn’t published until 1932. The book is divided into three main sections. The Introduction is the most widely referenced part of The German Ideology. The other sections, Volume 1 and Volume 2, are polemical responses to popular... Read The German Ideology Summary

The Girl with Seven Names

by Hyeonseo Lee

Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government, Korean Literature, Asian Literature, World History, Biography

The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story, is Hyeonseo Lee’s 2015 autobiography. Lee leaves North Korea shortly before her eighteenth birthday. She does not intend to defect. She has received a lifetime of propaganda and truly believes her country is the best in the world. She is simply a curious child who wanted to see China, and intends to return to North Korea within days. Once in China, however, she is exposed... Read The Girl with Seven Names Summary

The Grapes of Wrath

by John Steinbeck

Publication year 1939

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Justice, Social Class

Tags American Literature, Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, US History, Social Justice, Poverty, Politics & Government, Great Depression, Naturalism, Education, Education, World History

The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is a classic novel by American author John Steinbeck. It centers on the Joads, an Oklahoma family evicted from their farm following the 1930s dust storms which ruined local crops. Losing their land, the Joads travel to California to seek work. On their journey they encounter hardship, prejudice, and police intimidation. However, when they get there, things become worse. They must stay in squalid camps and discover that work for... Read The Grapes of Wrath Summary

The Great Transformation

by Karl Polanyi

Publication year 1944

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Trust & Doubt

Tags World History, Education, Education, Anthropology, Anthropology, Business & Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics & Government

The Great Transformation, by Karl Polanyi, was first published in 1944 and is a nonfiction work of economic history. The most recent 2001 edition features a Foreword by renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz as well as an Introduction by sociology professor Fred Block, both of which tout the continued relevance of Polanyi’s work. Throughout the work itself, Polanyi discusses the social and economic changes—what he terms “the great transformation”—that occurred as a result of the Industrial... Read The Great Transformation Summary

The Guardians

by John Grisham

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Justice, Forgiveness, Perseverance, Conflict, Equality, Truth & Lies, Power & Greed, Politics & Government

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Crime & Law, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Incarceration, Politics & Government

... Read The Guardians Summary

The Guns of August

by Barbara W. Tuchman

Publication year 1962

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags European History, Military & War, World History, World War I, Politics & Government

The Guns of August is a 1962 Pulitzer Prize-winning book of nonfiction by Barbara W. Tuchman. Tuchman achieved prominence as a historian with her third book, The Zimmerman Telegram, and international fame with The Guns of August. Encompassing the European political arena from King Edward VII’s death through the first month of World War I, The Guns of August offers clarity on the causes of the war, its inevitability, and how it shaped the modern... Read The Guns of August Summary

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

by Edward E. Baptist

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Music

Tags US History, Race & Racism, Business & Economics, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Winner of the 2015 Avery O. Craven Prize and the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize, Edward E. Baptist’s 2014 book, The Half Has Never Been Told, challenges revisionist historical studies and presents slavery as a modern and modernizing institution that was central to the creation of American wealth and power. Drawing on slave narratives and other sources, it examines the development and growth of American slavery and the far-reaching effects it had on the nation from... Read The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism Summary