Publication year 2005
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Nation, War, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature
Challenging Authority
In this Collection, we've gathered together a selection of fictional and real-life narratives that share the theme of Challenging Authority. These selections feature protagonists and real-world figures who stand up to both powerful individuals and oppressive systems in an array of cultural and historical settings.
The Icebound Land
The Impossible Fortune
The Institute
The Intuitionist
The Invisible Man
The Iron Heel
The Jasmine Throne
The Johnstown Flood
The Kind Worth Killing
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
The Lady in the Lake
The Landlady
The Last Housewife
The Last Mrs. Parrish
The Last One at the Wedding
The Last Rung on the Ladder
The Last Tycoon
The Lathe Of Heaven
The Laws of Human Nature
The Libation Bearers
Publication year 2005
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Nation, War, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Grief, Loneliness, Aging, Death, Family, Friendship, Mothers, Power & Greed
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Community, Safety & Danger, Family, Future, Truth & Lies, Power & Greed, Perseverance
Tags Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction, Trauma & Abuse, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Religion & Spirituality
Critically acclaimed, The Institute (2019) is the 60th entry in Stephen King’s body of more than 100 works. While best known as a horror writer (and one of the most popular writers since the 1970s in general), King dabbles in many genres, including fantasy, mystery, and science fiction—often blurring the boundaries between them. The Institute is more sci-fi thriller than horror, sharing story beats and themes with King’s earlier novels Firestarter and It: It follows... Read The Institute Summary
Publication year 1999
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race, Power & Greed, Literature
Tags Science Fiction, African American Literature, Race & Racism, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy
The Intuitionist (1999) is a postmodern novel by American author Colson Whitehead. It is set in an unnamed city that resembles New York in the 1940s, but with one major difference: in this city, elevators (or “vertical transport”) have enormous political and economic clout. The City’s Department of Elevator Inspectors is collapsing into a corrupt power-struggle between “Empiricist” inspectors, who perform mechanical testing to establish the safety of an elevator, and the new breed of... Read The Intuitionist Summary
Publication year 1897
Genre Novella, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed, Social Class, Good & Evil
Tags Science Fiction, British Literature, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Nature, Victorian Period, Horror & Suspense, World History, Fantasy, Classic Fiction
H. G. Wells is one of the earliest science fiction authors, sometimes referred to as the father of the genre. His 1897 novel, The Invisible Man, follows an albino scientist who discovers the secret to turning himself invisible. The novel’s blend of fantastical science and realistic, mundane detail is a signature of Wells. This novel has influenced generations of writers and artists, both through its powerful prose and fascinating plot, as well as for its... Read The Invisible Man Summary
Publication year 1908
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Politics & Government, Gender Identity, Social Class, Justice, Power & Greed, Equality, Community
Tags Science Fiction
The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel by American writer Jack London and was first published in 1908. London was a prominent writer and activist of socialist causes and is best known for his adventure novels The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). The Iron Heel is considered an early example of modern dystopian fiction and was cited by George Orwell as a portentous work on fascism. Framed as a found text... Read The Iron Heel Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Siblings, Colonialism, Politics & Government, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Romance
Publication year 1968
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Power & Greed, Social Class, Grief
Tags US History, Natural Disaster, Industrial Revolution, American Literature, World History
American author and historian David McCullough’s debut book, The Johnstown Flood (1968), is a work of social history that chronicles the Johnstown Flood of 1889, a deluge of water and debris that tore through a steel community in Central Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,000 people and causing millions of dollars in damage. The flood resulted from a dam bursting in the mountains above Johnstown. The dam had been somewhat hurriedly built to create a lake... Read The Johnstown Flood Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Justice, Good & Evil, Apathy, Grief, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Loneliness, Revenge, Mental Health, Death, Power & Greed
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2023
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Politics & Government, Power & Greed
Tags Politics & Government, US History, World History, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1943
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Place, Marriage, Social Class, Justice, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense
The Lady in the Lake, by Raymond Chandler, is a detective novel originally published in 1943. Chandler was born in Chicago but later moved to California, and he drew on his experiences living there when writing his Philip Marlowe novels. Marlowe, a down-on-his-luck Los Angeles detective, first appears in Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep, which was adapted into a film noir in 1946 with Marlowe played by Humphrey Bogart. In the 1946 adaptation of The... Read The Lady in the Lake Summary
Publication year 1968
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed
Tags Free Verse, Lyric Poem, Gender & Feminism, Depression & Suicide
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Gender Identity, The Past, Power & Greed
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Power & Greed, Appearance & Reality, Justice
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Daughters & Sons, Family, Fathers, Social Class, Justice, Power & Greed
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction
Publication year 1978
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Siblings, Guilt, Death, Regret, Power & Greed
Tags Dramatic Literature, Depression & Suicide, Horror & Suspense
Publication year 1941
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Power & Greed, Love, Fate
Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, American Literature, World History
The Last Tycoon is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that charts the rise of Monroe Stahr, a film producer in 1930s Hollywood. Its fragments were collected and edited by Fitzgerald’s friend Edmund Wilson and published posthumously in 1941, the year after Fitzgerald’s death. The book’s protagonist is widely considered to be modelled after the real-life film producer Irving Thalberg, whom Fitzgerald greatly admired. The story focuses on the inner workings of the film... Read The Last Tycoon Summary
Publication year 1971
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Mental Health, Good & Evil, Justice, Power & Greed
Tags Science Fiction, Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Philosophy, Philosophy
The Lathe of Heaven is a speculative science fiction-fantasy novel written by Ursala K. Le Guin. Originally published as two parts in the pulp science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in 1971, the novel centers around an ordinary man, George Orr, who lives in overpopulated, perpetually rain-soaked Portland, Oregon, in 2002. When authorities force George to accept psychiatric care for his substance use disorder, he falls under the care of Dr. William Haber, a dream-analysis specialist... Read The Lathe Of Heaven Summary
Publication year 2018
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Conflict, Forgiveness, Hate & Anger, Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Appearance & Reality, Family, Self Discovery, Community, Power & Greed, Science & Technology
Tags Psychology, Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Business & Economics, Leadership, Sociology
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Hate & Anger, Revenge, Family, Mothers, Justice, Power & Greed
Tags Tragedy, Mythology, Ancient Greece, Classical Period, Dramatic Literature, Fantasy, Classic Fiction
Libation Bearers is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Aeschylus, first produced in 458 BCE at the City Dionysia in Athens. Libation Bearers is the second part of the Oresteia, a trilogy exploring the themes of justice, retribution, and the cyclical pattern of bloodshed within the family of the mythical king Agamemnon. Following the events of Agamemnon, the first tragedy of Aeschylus’s Oresteia, the play depicts the murder of Clytaemestra, the queen of... Read The Libation Bearers Summary