Plot Summary Library

Explore thousands of classic and contemporary titles in a quick-read format. SuperSummary Plot Summaries feature a full synopsis to guide you through key plot points. Browse titles alphabetically or by genre.

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All TitlesModern FictionClassic FictionNonfictionPlaysEssaysPoetryMiddle Grade/YA
The Bookseller of Kabul
Åsne Seierstad

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

Last Chance to See
Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1990

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
David Sedaris

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2004

Herodotus
John Gould

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1850

The Koran
Anonymous

Nonfiction | Scripture | Adult | Published in 1956

M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
Peter Robb

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1998

Joan of Arc: A History
Helen Castor

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2015

Cry of the Kalahari
Mark Owens, Delia Owens

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1984

The Battle for Christmas
Stephen Nissenbaum

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1996

At the Hands of Persons Unknown
Philip Dray

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

SPQR
Mary Beard

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015

Encounters at the Heart of the World
Elizabeth A. Fenn

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

Our Guys
Bernard Lefkowitz

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1997

Nietzsche
Peter Berkowitz

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2021

Factory Girls
Leslie T. Chang

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008

Hands of My Father
Myron Uhlberg

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

Conspiracy of Fools
Kurt Eichenwald

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

Ordinary Light
Tracy K. Smith

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2015

Let Me Hear Your Voice
Catherine Maurice

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1993

I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
Rigoberta Menchu

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1983

Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
Eric Foner

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1988

Mark Twain: A Life
Ron Powers

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2005

Charles Dickens: A Life
Claire Tomalin

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2011

Philosophical Investigations
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1953

Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time
Joseph Frank

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1976

Thomas and Beulah
Rita Dove

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1986

Salvation: Black People And Love
bell hooks

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001

My Left Foot
Christy Brown

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1954

The Shield of Achilles
Philip Bobbitt

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

Arthur Miller
Christopher Bigsby

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2008

The End of Your Life Book Club
Will Schwalbe

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2012

The Everything Store
Brad Stone

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2013

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Richard Rorty

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1979

Southern Horrors
Crystal N. Feimster

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009

The Film Club
David Gilmour

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007

Waking Up White
Debby Irving

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2014

Shadows at Dawn
Karl Jacoby

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008

Jack and Rochelle
Jack Sutin, Rochelle Sutin

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1995

Karl Marx
Francis Wheen

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2000

Crazy for the Storm
Norman Ollestad

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

While the Locust Slept
Peter Razor

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1997

No Man's Land
Cindy Hahamovitch

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001

Video
Yvonne Spielmann

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2021

The Monk and the Riddle
Randy Komisar

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000

Annie's Ghosts
Steve Luxenberg

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

Eleanor's Story
Eleanor Ramrath Garner

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1961

Garbage Land
Elizabeth Royte

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Glorious Cause
Robert Middlekauff

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Beauty and the Sorrow
Peter Englund

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2011

The Rise and Fall of American Growth
Robert J. Gordon

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

Native Guard
Natasha Trethewey

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

The Last Unicorn
William Debuys

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2021

Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings
Phillis Wheatley

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1773

Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
Dan Fagin

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2013

Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography
Stephen Thomas Knight

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1973

Hegel: A Biography
Terry Pinkard

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2000

John Adams
David McCullough

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2001

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
David Hume

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1779

Alexander the Great
Philip Freeman

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2011

Ethics for the New Millennium
Dalai Lama

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1999

Battle Cry of Freedom
James M. Mcpherson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1988

Myths to Live By
Joseph Campbell

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1972

The Life You Save May Be Your Own
Paul Elie

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2003

All But My Life: A Memoir
Gerda Weissmann Klein

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1957

The Night the Bed Fell
James Thurber

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1933

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America
Garry Wills

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1992

Our Posthuman Future
Francis Fukuyama

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

Delight in Disorder: Selected Poems
Robert Herrick

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2007

Empty Mansions
Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2013

Nurtureshock: New Thinking About Children
Ashley Merryman, Po Bronson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009

The Case for Faith
Lee Strobel

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000

Final Gifts
Maggie Callanan, Patricia Kelley

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1992

The Dark Child: The Autobiography of an African Boy
Camara Laye

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1954

A Mother's Reckoning
Sue Klebold

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016

Muslims and the Making of America
Amir Hussain

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
Joseph J. Ellis

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1997

Voices of Protest
Alan Brinkley

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1982

The Affluent Society
John Kenneth Galbraith

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1958

Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary
Joe Jackson

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2016

Eminent Victorians
Lytton Strachey

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1918

Becoming Ms. Burton
Susan Burton, Cari Lynn

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2017

Trespassing Across America
Ken Ilgunas

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016

The Possessed
Elif Batuman

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

Daring to Drive
Manal Al-Sharif

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

The Food Explorer
Daniel Stone

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2018

Emotional First Aid
Guy Winch

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2013

Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir
John McCain, Mark Salter

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1999

I Dared to Call Him Father
Bilquis Sheikh, Richard H. Schneider

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1978

Life in a Medieval City
Frances Gies, Joseph Gies

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1981

No Good Men Among the Living
Anand Gopal

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

Nothing Ever Dies
Viet Thanh Nguyen

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World
Donald R. Howard

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1987

One Day I Will Write About This Place
Binyavanga Wainaina

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2011

Rising Tide
John M. Barry

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1997

The Conquest of Gaul
Julius Caesar

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 58

The Lost Daughters of China
Karin Evans

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2000

The Man Without a Face
Masha Gessen

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2012

The Promise of American Life
Herbert Croly

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1909

Hemingway
Kenneth S. Lynn

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1959

John Keats
Aileen Ward

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1963