James Baldwin said, "It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." In this collection, we've compiled texts that explore the idea of what justice is — and how it can thrive.
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Identity: Gender, Identity: Mental Health, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Romance, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary Literature
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Siblings, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger
Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1997
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Animals, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Society: Community
Tags Realistic Fiction, Action / Adventure, Relationships
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Relationships: Family, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Fairy Tale / Folklore, Fantasy, Romance, New Adult, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publication year 1982
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Identity: Race, Society: War
Tags Historical Fiction, Holocaust, WWII / World War II, Auto/Biographical Fiction, Race / Racism, History: World, Immigration / Refugee, Incarceration, Military / War, Politics / Government, Social Justice, Sociology, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, 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
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: The Past, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Romance, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1974
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Family, Identity: Indigenous
Tags Gender / Feminism, Race / Racism, African Literature, Historical Fiction, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), African American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2001
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Equality, Emotions/Behavior: Memory
Tags September 11 Attacks, Grief / Death, History: U.S.
Publication year 467
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Society: War, Values/Ideas: Fate, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Siblings, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger
Tags Classic Fiction, Ancient Greece, Play: Tragedy, Classical Period, Drama / Tragedy, Fantasy
Seven Against Thebes is a tragedy composed by Aeschylus and performed for the first time at the City Dionysia festival in 467 BCE. It was the final play of a connected trilogy based on the myths of Oedipus and his family, but the first two plays—Laius and Oedipus—are now lost, as is the satyr play Sphinx that would have been performed following the trilogy. This set of plays won first prize the year it was... Read Seven Against Thebes Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Society: Nation, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Identity: Race, Identity: Indigenous
Tags Politics / Government, Crime / Legal, Race / Racism, Social Justice, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World
Publication year 2004
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Objects, Natural World: Place, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags History: World, WWII / World War II, Action / Adventure, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Military / War, Science / Nature, Biography
Shadow Divers: The True Story of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II (2004) by Robert Kurson is a celebrated nonfiction adventure book. Kurson, an adventure journalist whose stories have been featured in Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine, is known for his immersive and entertaining style. His first book-length work, Shadow Divers was a New York Times Best Seller and won the... Read Shadow Divers Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Teams, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Action / Adventure, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Children's Literature, Fantasy, Fairy Tale / Folklore
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Indigenous, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Family, Society: Colonialism, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction
Publication year 2013
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Life/Time: The Future, Life/Time: The Past, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Community, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil
Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Fantasy, Survival Fiction, Health / Medicine, Education, Food, Technology, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction
Publication year 1991
Genre Novella, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Animals, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Life/Time: Coming of Age
Tags Children's Literature, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Realism, Education, Education, Animals, Realistic Fiction, Classic Fiction
Eleven-year-old Marty Preston fights to save an abused beagle from its cruel owner in Shiloh (1991). Marty bonds with the dog, Shiloh, and learns more about himself and others as he struggles to reconcile the letter of the law with what he knows in his heart is right. Acclaimed children’s author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor based Shiloh on a poignant, personal encounter with a mistreated dog. Marty’s character struggles with the same issues that troubled Naylor... Read Shiloh Summary
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Animals, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Society: Education
Tags Realistic Fiction, Action / Adventure, Relationships, Children's Literature, Animals, Classic Fiction
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Race / Racism, Relationships, African Literature, Grief / Death, Education, Education, African American Literature, Colonialism / Postcolonialism, Classic Fiction
Nadine Gordimer’s “Six Feet of the Country” is one of the seven short stories in her collection of the same name (1956). Gordimer, who was born and lived in South Africa, often explored the country’s racial issues in the context of apartheid. She received numerous literary awards, including the 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature. This short story concerns the death of a native of Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe). When the young man’s family wants to give... Read Six Feet of the Country Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Gender, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Mental Health, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: The Future, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Publication year 1933
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Race / Racism, Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Social Justice, African American Literature
“Slave on the Block” is a short story by Langston Hughes that originally appeared in the September 1933 issue of Scribner's Magazine. The story was later published in The Ways of White Folks, a 1934 collection of Hughes’s short stories.This study guide, based on the 1990 Vintage Classics print edition, quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.Anne and Michael Carraway are affluent white bohemians who live in Greenwich Village—and often visit Harlem—during the... Read Slave on the Block Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Femininity, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Friendship, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger
Tags Realistic Fiction, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Race / Racism, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction