Published in March 1942 and inspired by Steinbeck’s work during the World Wars, The Moon is Down explores the psychological, moral, and ethical implications of a town occupied during wartime. The novel focuses on the struggle of an authoritarian occupier, Colonel Lanser, to subdue the democratic revolt of the people in an unnamed northern European town.John Steinbeck is a prominent figure of American contemporary fiction and is the author of 33 completed works, including the... Read The Moon Is Down Summary

Rodman Philbrick’s The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (2009) is a historical fiction novel for middle-grade readers. It won the Newbery Honor award for its story about a young boy’s travels across Civil War America in search of his lost brother. The 2011 e-book edition is the basis for this study guide. Plot SummaryHomer Figg, 12 years old in 1863, lives on a farm in Maine with his older brother, Harold. They’re in... Read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg Summary

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The Name of War, by Harvard historian Jill Lepore, tells the story of King Philip’s War, the first major battle between American colonists and Native Americans, and its aftermath in historical commentary. It is a conflict the settlers barely win on the ground, but one in which they prevail decisively on the battlefield of the written word. Published in 1998, The Name of War gathers multiple awards, including the Bancroft Prize.After decades of peace between... Read The Name of War Summary

Richard Flanagan’s 2014 novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North won the Man Booker Prize for fiction. It is an examination of the consequences of war, regret, loneliness, adultery, and love. The book unfolds through brief chapters that span five parts and multiple decades. The experiences of the men in the WWII Japanese POW camp mirror those of Richard Flanagan’s father, who was himself a prisoner of war. Although the novel has many characters—even... Read The Narrow Road to the Deep North Summary

The Nazi Hunters, by Neal Bascomb, published in 2013, is the story of the manhunt and capture of Adolf Eichmann, the "World's Most Notorious Nazi" in Argentina, 1961. The story centers on the agents of the Mossad and Shin Bet—Israeli intelligence and investigatory agencies—painstakingly detailing their plans, and execution, along with the capture’s aftermath. In addition to these, the recollections of Auschwitz survivor and witness Zeev Sapir feature prominently. Looming over the entire narrative is... Read The Nazi Hunters Summary

The Nightingale is a best-selling historical fiction novel written by Kristin Hannah and published in 2015. Hannah is known for her other popular historical fiction works, including Winter Garden (2010) and The Four Winds (2021). The Nightingale, which takes places in France during World War II, was inspired by the life and memoirs of Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian woman who survived the war and organized the Comet Line, an underground effort that allowed countless... Read The Nightingale Summary

“The Night the Ghost Got In” is a short story from the comedic semi-autobiographical memoir My Life and Hard Times published in 1933 by James Thurber. Thurber is best known for his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which has been twice adapted for film. This guide references the 1999 Harper Perennial Classics Reprint edition of My Life and Hard Times.“The Night the Ghost Got In” tells the first-person account of a young... Read The Night the Ghost Got In Summary

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism and Treachery, written by Steven Sheinkin and published in 2010, is a biography for young readers about one of America's notable war heroes who was also her most famous traitor—Benedict Arnold. How this startling reversal came about is traced in the book, which is rigorously researched yet presented in the manner of an adventure novel. Sheinkin confronts the moral ambiguities that lie at the heart... Read The Notorious Benedict Arnold Summary

Though The Painted Bird is set during the Holocaust, it is not strictly a Holocaust novel. The book is largely metaphorical and deals with the brutality of human nature and how the horrors we perpetrate on each other become part of us. The novel’s protagonist, a boy who is an outsider, or a “painted bird,” witnesses acts of subjugation and cruelty and seeks to understand why some people are more powerful than others. Thematically, the... Read The Painted Bird Summary

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Queen Elizabeth I enacted laws that persecuted Catholics in England; in response, some daring inventors created secret hiding places within Catholic homes to hide the priests from raids. In the 2013 novel, The Paris Architect, Charles Belfour transposes this real historical event into a new context: hiding Jewish people from German forces in Occupied France. The story centers on an architect in Paris who undertakes the dangerous work of designing invisible hiding places, makes new... Read The Paris Architect Summary

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Written and first performed in 472 BC, the ancient Greek tragedy The Persians by Aeschylus is the oldest extant example of the genre. Known as the father of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus was also a veteran of the Greco-Persian wars, on which The Persians is based. Because it depicts recent events, The Persians stands out from other plays of the genre, which for the most part focus on the distant past or mythological heroes. The approach was a... Read The Persians Summary

Władysław Szpilman writes his 1946 memoir, The Pianist, about his experiences in Poland during World War II. Before the war, he is a well-known pianist and composer who works with Radio Poland. When the Germans invade Poland in September 1930, Władysław and his family are relegated to the Warsaw ghetto. Though not as wealthy as some of the other inhabitants of the ghetto, Władysław is part of the intelligentsia, a class of artists and intellectuals... Read The Pianist Summary

The Song of the Cid, also known as El Cantar de mio Cid, is a Spanish epic written in verse by an unknown author. The only surviving medieval Spanish epic, it is widely considered Spain’s national folktale, telling of fictionalized events at the formation of medieval Spain in the 11th century. It is based on the true story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, a Castilian knight who in reality fought for both Christian and Muslim... Read The Poem of the Cid Summary

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