Sophie’s Choice (1979) is one of William Styron’s better-remembered novels. It is described as an American classic or historical fiction, though it falls squarely into the category of adult literary fiction. The book would be unsuitable for younger readers because of its explicit treatment of sex. It won the 1980 National Book Award and became a bestseller. The 1982 film adaptation, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, garnered an Oscar for Streep’s performance.Sophie’s Choice stirred... Read Sophie's Choice Summary

Harvard history professor Walter Johnson’s Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (1999) explicates the central role of the 19th century New Orleans slave market in supporting the Southern slave trade. Johnson’s main contention is that slavery was a tragic “byproduct” of the sugar, tobacco, and cotton industries. Johnson pairs primary sources, such as slave accounts, with bills of sale and slaveholder correspondence in his reconstruction of the antebellum slave trade. Johnson shows... Read Soul by Soul Summary

After his brother Lenny joins the Marine Corps, Williams dreams of following in his footsteps. When Lenny dies a few years later, Williams joins the Marine Reserves. For a year he serves as a “weekend warrior,” while attending college, until, in August of 1990, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army invades Kuwait. Williams’s unit is activated in November and he is forced to leave college and go to war.Through training, deployment, and eventually combat, Williams journeys toward... Read Spare Parts Summary

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One of the most controversial works of speculative fiction, Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers tells of a war between Earth and two alien species, as seen through the eyes of a young soldier. First published in 1959, the book became an early sci-fi bestseller and won a Hugo award. The e-book version of the 2018 Ace Premium edition is the basis for this guide.Plot SummaryHundreds of years in the future, Juan “Johnnie” Rico goes against... Read Starship Troopers Summary

Shy, 12-year-old Margaret and her high-spirited friend Elizabeth question their beliefs about WWII when they discover that the brother of their school nemesis is a deserter in Mary Downing Hahn’s middle grade historical fiction novel, Stepping on the Cracks (1991). The novel explores themes of moral ambiguity, war, friendship, and domestic abuse, drawing on Hahn’s childhood memories of growing up in College Park, Maryland. In a short biography at the end of the novel Hahn... Read Stepping on the Cracks Summary

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Storm of Steel, written by Ernst Jünger, is a memoir of World War I first published in German as In Stahlgewittern in 1920. The final revised edition came in 1961 and was translated into English in 1978. The book documents Jünger’s account as a German officer on the Western Front and begins the moment Jünger detrains in France, on December 27, 1914, at the age of 19. As the Introduction says: “It has no pacifist... Read Storm of Steel Summary

Suite Française, by French-based Ukrainian writer Irène Némirovsky (born 1903), was published in the original French upon its discovery in 2004. However, Némirovsky started writing Suite in 1941, during the Nazi occupation of France, when those with a Jewish ethnic background like her faced persecution under the contemporary antisemitic regime. She and her husband, Michel Epstein, and their two young daughters, Denise and Élisabeth, had fled Paris for Issy-l’Évêque, a rural village in Burgundy. There... Read Suite Francaise Summary

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Summer of My German Soldier (1973) is a young adult novel by American author Bette Greene. The book is heavily based on Greene’s own childhood in Arkansas and Tennessee during World War II and her experiences growing up Jewish in the conservative Christian South. A made-for-TV film adaptation starring Kristy McNichol was released in 1978. The sequel to the novel, Morning Is a Long Time Coming, was published in 1978. Summer of My German Soldier... Read Summer of My German Soldier Summary

Sunrise Over Fallujah is a Young Adult novel by award-winning author Walter Dean Myers. The novel details the experiences of an eighteen-year-old man from Harlem, Robin “Birdy” Perry, who enlists in the U.S. Army and is stationed in Iraq during the early stages of the Iraq War in 2003. The narrative delves into Birdy’s reasoning behind joining, his experiences while serving, and his post-deployment views on his initial reasons for joining and his previous speculations... Read Sunrise Over Fallujah Summary

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In her memoir, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (2007), Palestinian-American author and poet Ibtisam Barakat describes her early childhood in Palestine during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the life-changing effects that follow this pivotal event. Combining richly descriptive prose and free-verse poetry, Ibtisam shares often painful memories of childhood losses, from her home and sense of security to her childhood innocence. Writing from a child’s perspective, Ibtisam transcends politics to poignantly highlight how... Read Tasting the Sky 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

In 1933, Vera Brittain’s honest and compelling account of her young adult experiences during World War I appeared in the form of an autobiography titled Testament of Youth. This important work of British literature became an immediate sensation upon publication in both England and the United States. Full of poetry and excerpts from personal letters, this deeply personal account of Brittain’s life from 1914 to 1925 documents the impact of World War I on Brittain... Read Testament of Youth Summary