The Fighting Ground, a novel by children’s writer Avi, tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who runs away from home to join the American Revolution. The book gives a minute-by-minute account of one day in the boy’s life and the hard lessons he learns about war. First published in 1984, the novel won several honors, including the Scott O’Dell Award, but it was also challenged or banned in some school districts for its use... Read The Fighting Ground Summary

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Published in 1956, The Floating Opera is a literary novel by John Barth. Barth’s first novel, The Floating Opera focuses on Todd Andrews as he makes plans to commit suicide in the late 1930s, utilizing first-person nonlinear storytelling and humor to meditate on life and death. Following its publication, the novel was nominated for the National Book Award. Barth has published numerous novels since, becoming a seminal figure in postmodern American literature. Plot SummaryTodd Andrews narrates... Read The Floating Opera Summary

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Joe Haldeman’s science fiction novel The Forever War was published in 1974 and is considered a classic of the genre: Along with Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, The Forever War invented the science fiction war novel. It won the 1975 Nebula Award as well as the 1976 Hugo and Locus awards. Haldeman, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a Purple Heart recipient, infuses his firsthand knowledge of war and military protocols into his futuristic setting... Read The Forever War Summary

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The Fountains of Silence: A Novel was published in 2019 by Ruta Sepetys, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee. Though she primarily writes for young adults, her historical fiction is popular with readers of all ages. Other well-known works include Between Shades of Gray (2011), Out of the Easy (2013), Salt to the Sea (2016), and I Must Betray You (2022).This study guide refers to the Philomel Books edition published by Penguin Random House in... Read The Fountains of Silence Summary

The Garden of Evening Mists (2012) is a historical novel by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng. A former intellectual property lawyer, Eng received international acclaim for his first novel, The Gift of Rain (2007), which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The Garden of Evening Mists, his second novel, was shortlisted for the same prize. The narrative follows Teoh Yun Ling, a Malaysian woman who, while confronting a degenerative neurological condition that is erasing... Read The Garden of Evening Mists Summary

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The German Girl is a historical novel written by Cuban journalist and editor Armando Lucas Correa. It interweaves the stories of Anna Rosen, a 12-year-old girl living in New York in 2014, and Hannah Rosenthal, her great aunt, whose journey begins as a 12-year-old Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Berlin in 1939. Anna’s story revolves around a trip to Cuba to visit her great aunt Hannah, while Hannah’s story primarily centers around her journey onboard... Read The German Girl Summary

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The Gift of Rain (2007) is a historical novel by Tan Twan Eng. Set in Penang, Malaysia, during World War II, the novel follows Philip Hutton, a Chinese British young man. As he navigates his dual heritage, Philip forms a complex relationship with a Japanese diplomat who becomes both his mentor and betrayer, forcing him to confront questions of loyalty, identity, and survival during the Japanese occupation. The Gift of Rain was Tan Twan Eng’s... Read The Gift of Rain Summary

Published in 2013, Denise Kiernan’s The Girls of Atomic City tells the stories of Oak Ridge, a secret town that grew around plutonium processing plants in Tennessee, and of the women who worked there during the Second World War. A New York Times bestseller within its first week of publication, the book went on to receive the 2014 APSA Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award. Via the experiences of several new arrivals, the reader learns about Oak Ridge... Read The Girls of Atomic City Summary

The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After is a 2018 memoir by Clemantine Wamariya, who at age six escaped the Rwandan genocide of 1994 with her older sister Claire. The memoir, which is co-authored by Elizabeth Weil, follows a dual narrative that alternates between scenes from Wamariya’s journey through seven African countries and from her life in America, where she moved in 2000. Wamariya describes the dehumanization of refugees... Read The Girl Who Smiled Beads Summary

Originally published in 2000, The Glass Palace is Amitav Ghosh’s fourth novel and tells the story of a family across three generations. It is set in Burma, Malaya, and India during a turbulent period in the region’s history. The book opens in 1885. In Mandalay, Burma, the British army begins to descend on the city and dethrone the royal family. An 11-year-old boy named Rajkumar is the only one who recognizes the thundering sound of... Read The Glass Palace Summary

The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel written by James McBride. It is set during three years of the slave era South and is a work of progressive Americana in the vein of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Good Lord Bird received the National Book Award and great critical acclaim, and is now being adapted into a television series for Showtime. It examines themes of slavery, loyalty, racism, and violent protest.Plot... Read The Good Lord Bird Summary

“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II was published in 1984 and received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction the following year. Written by Studs Terkel, the book is still considered a classic of oral history. Unlike traditional history, which tends to rely on written records and other material artifacts like works of art and literature or archaeological remains, oral histories collect information about past events through interviews with individuals who were... Read The Good War Summary