Nation & Nationalism
These texts explore the concept of the nation, an idea of community that inspires patriotism and nostalgia. What makes a nation? And why are people willing to die—or to kill—to protect it? These are just a couple of the questions examined in the texts in this collection.
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is a 2005 young adult novel by French author and translator Valérie Zenatti, first published in French as Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza. The novel begins when seventeen-year-old Israeli Tal Levine learns about a bombing at a neighborhood café. She is moved to send a letter in a bottle, which comes into the hands of twenty-year-old Palestinian Naim al-Farjouk. Tal has included her email address and the... Read A Bottle in the Gaza Sea Summary
William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! (1936) is one of the many texts in Faulkner’s oeuvre that is set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. Faulkner is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, a designation earned due to his innovative and stylistic modernist techniques, which he uses to investigate the history and identity of the American South. Faulkner, who grew up in Mississippi and spent the majority of his life there, was deeply... Read Absalom, Absalom Summary
Written in 2017 by Ken Follett, A Column of Fire is a historical fiction novel and the third book in his Kingsbridge series, following The Pillars of the Earth (1989) and World Without End (2007). This novel is a loose sequel to the previous two books and is set against the backdrop of 16th-century Europe. Spanning both decades and continents, it follows the lives of a cast of characters who are caught in the conflict... Read A Column of Fire Summary
SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. This one-page guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel.In their political polemic A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things (2017), leftwing writers Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore argue that in its... Read A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things Summary
America is in the Heart is a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1946 by the Filipino American author Carlos Bulosan. A coming of age narrative told in four parts, the story begins in the Philippines, ends in America, and spans decades. Scholars compare it to other social activism classics like John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, but America is in the Heart is unique in that it portrays the plight of Filipino immigrants in America during... Read America is in the Heart Summary
Amongst Women by John McGahern is a contemporary Irish novel published in 1990. This novel explores themes of The Individual in a Changing World, The Individual Versus the Collective, and The Importance of Women. Amongst Women is also specific to Irish history and culture, as it portrays a rapidly modernizing Ireland that threatens the protagonist Moran’s sense of self. Considered McGahern’s greatest work, Amongst Women is the fifth of his six published novels. It was... Read Amongst Women Summary
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos, published in 2006, is a young adult novel that delves into the complex realities of immigrant life in post-9/11 New York City. The story centers on two teenage sisters from Bangladesh living illegally in the United States during a time of significant immigration policy changes that particularly affect Muslim communities. Author Marina Budhos draws from her personal experiences growing up in a diverse community in Queens, New York... Read Ask Me No Questions Summary
“A Supermarket in California” is a prose poem by the American poet Allen Ginsberg. Written in 1955, it appears alongside Ginsberg’s most well-known work, “Howl,” in his book Howl and Other Poems. Published November 1, 1956 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books as part of their Pocket Poets Series, Howl and Other Poems was subject to an obscenity trial in 1957 due to its use of sexually explicit language. The trial eventually ruled in the... Read A Supermarket in California Summary
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997) is a collection of seven non-fiction essays by American author David Foster Wallace. The subjects Wallace covers range from competitive tennis, the works of director David Lynch, and a Caribbean cruise, the experience of which serves as the basis for the book's title essay. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again "should serve as a model for anyone writing cultural comment" (Publishers Weekly).In the first... Read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again Summary
Becoming Mexican American is a nonfiction book published in 1993 by social historian George J. Sánchez. Sánchez examines the cultural adaptation of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles between 1900 and 1945 and its role in the formation of Chicano identity. The Mexican population of Los Angeles combined practices and beliefs from Mexico and the United States to form a unique ethnic form of Americanism, which was later mobilized by the second generation of American-born Chicanos... Read Becoming Mexican American Summary
Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, 4th Edition, by John Charles Chasteen was published in 2016. The first edition was printed in 2001. Chasteen works as an author, translator, and professor of Latin American history and culture. He teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some of his other notable works are Americanos: The Struggle for Latin American Independence, National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of... Read Born in Blood and Fire Summary
“Boule de Suif,” a famous short story written by Guy de Maupassant, was first published in the anthology Les Soirées de Medan (1880). The anthology follows the Franco-Prussian War, and “Boule de Suif” is often considered his greatest work. He is well known in this story for praising the passion and patriotism of the inhabitants he writes about, while most of his contemporaries were accusing provincial French citizens of being apathetic and cowardly. There is... Read Boule De Suif Summary
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, a nonfiction history by librarian and historian Dee Brown, was published in 1970 and became a widely influential bestseller. Dee Brown (full name Dorris Alexander Brown) was the author of more than 30 fiction and nonfiction books. As a librarian at the University of Illinois, he had access to the primary historical records from the late 19th century that became the main... Read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Summary
The Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was originally written in 1542, with a reprint in 1555. The chronicle follows Cabeza de Vaca’s memories of his survival after the expedition (led by Pánfilo de Narváez) failed and broke apart, and his subsequent peregrinations through the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. His chronicle stands as an important primary document of the age of the conquistadores. Of particular importance are Cabeza... Read Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition Summary
Coming Up For Air is an interwar novel written by British author George Orwell shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Originally published in 1939, the novel was written in Morocco while Orwell was recovering from injuries received while fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Set in the late 1930s, the novel follows a middle-aged insurance salesman named George Bowling as he struggles with anxieties about the coming war. Like Orwell’s more famous novels... Read Coming Up for Air Summary
The Constitution of the United States is the oldest national constitution that’s still in use. The idea of founding a government on the basis of a written constitution was revolutionary when the US Constitution was drafted in 1787. The idea had two novel components: first, the document both establishes and limits the power of the government—no figurehead, ruler, or body of legislators stands above the Constitution. Second, it was written by representatives of the governed—55... Read Constitution of United States of America Summary