Jewish American Literature

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How Democracies Die (Crown, 2018) is a nonfiction book by political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The authors, who are both professors at Harvard, explore how American democracy is threatened by examining past examples of democratic breakdown. In doing so, they demonstrate how since the end of the Cold War, most democracies die not through violent overthrow of government but a gradual weakening of democratic norms and institutions. Using these insights from history, as... Read How Democracies Die Summary

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was originally published in 2004. It is a young adult dystopian novel about an American teenager experiencing a near-future world war in England, and it won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Printz Award. In 2013, How I Live Now was adapted into a film directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Saoirse Ronan. Rosoff also won a Carnegie Medal, a Whitbread Award, and other awards. How I... Read How I Live Now Summary

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American author Tobias Wolff, known for memoirs like In Pharaoh's Army (1994) and short stories like “Bullet in the Brain” (1995), published “Hunters in the Snow” in 1981 in his first collection of short stories, In the Garden of North American Martyrs. The story is believed to be inspired by the painting Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel. The story, narrated from a third-person limited perspective, focuses on the relationship between three characters: Tub... Read Hunters in the Snow Summary

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“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is one of Harlan Ellison’s most enduring and popular short stories. It explores themes of dystopia, religion, and technological progress, as well as the dangers of technology. Ellison is a multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winning author and screenwriter whose work often tackles the darker, grittier sides of speculative and science fiction. “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” a story about a cruel artificial intelligence torturing... Read I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Summary

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Susan Sontag’s 1978 book Illness as Metaphor is an 87-page work of critical theory exploring the language we use to describe disease and its victims. The work was originally published in the New York Review of Books as three long-form essays. Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor while undergoing treatment for breast cancer, though not mentioned in the text. This genre—critical theoretical examinations of social and cultural events or phenomena—was where Sontag established her reputation. Illness... Read Illness As Metaphor Summary

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Inherit the Wind is a 1955 play by American playwrights Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) and Robert E. Lee (1918-1994). It is based on the 1925 Scopes trial, where schoolteacher John T. Scopes was put on trial for teaching the theory of evolution at a time when doing so was illegal. Although Inherit the Wind draws from the events of the Scopes trial, it deviates significantly from the details of the case, as Lawrence and Lee were... Read Inherit the Wind Summary

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Into Thin Air is American is authored by professional mountain climber Jon Krakauer. It is a personal account of attempting to ascend Mount Everest, prompted by an assignment from Outside magazine to cover the commercial development of the communities at the mountain’s base. Krakauer’s climbing attempt, which was fatal for several, became the deadliest expedition ever on the mountain. In the book, he reflects on his experience, reporting it as truthfully as possible.Krakauer recalls being... Read Into Thin Air Summary

I, Robot, a science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov, is a set of stories about the first robotic machines and the problems and pitfalls of living with and working alongside them. The book is the first in a series of several novels about robots; it is famous for its Three Laws of Robotics that govern machine behavior, and for its device, the positronic brain, which contains a robot’s conscious intelligence.Asimov (1920-1992) is one of the... Read I, Robot Summary

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“I Stand Here Ironing” was originally published in 1961 in Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen’s first collection of short stories. Since then, it has greatly impacted feminist scholars and creative writers alike and is often anthologized. The short story is an intimate exploration of one woman’s experience with motherhood between the 1930 and 1950s. Her oldest daughter, Emily, is 19 years old and has been neglected and separated from the narrator due to factors... Read I Stand Here Ironing Summary