Politics & Government

As far as topics go, politics may be as divisive as they come. Still, there's no escaping the role that it plays in our lives. The texts in this collection explore the gamut of how politics shapes and reshapes societies throughout history.

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Society: Class, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice

Tags Race / Racism, Education, Education, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Sociology, Social Justice, Politics / Government


Publication year 1896

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Politics & Government, Society: Economics

Tags Politics / Government, Business / Economics, History: U.S., Gilded Age


Publication year 1869

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Politics & Government, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos

Tags Philosophy, Politics / Government, Arts / Culture, Class, Victorian Period, History: World, Philosophy, Victorian Literature / Period, Classic Fiction


Publication year 1993

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Colonialism, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Literature

Tags Colonialism / Postcolonialism, History: World, Philosophy, Politics / Government, History: European, History: Middle Eastern, History: Asian, Literary Criticism, Sociology, Philosophy, Arts / Culture

Culture and Imperialism is a nonfiction book published in 1993 by the Palestinian American author and academic Edward Said. Originating from a series of lectures that Said delivered in 1985 and 1986, Culture and Imperialism is an expansion of the ideas set out in his groundbreaking earlier work, Orientalism. Considered one of the founders of the field of post-colonial studies, Said looks at how the formerly colonized margins influence the metropolitan centers, and vice versa... Read Culture and Imperialism Summary


Publication year 1969

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Indigenous, Society: Colonialism, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government

Tags Anthropology, Anthropology, History: World, History: U.S., Politics / Government, Race / Racism, Social Justice

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto was written in 1969 by Vine Deloria Jr., a historian, theologian, activist, and member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. The work explores the oppression and exploitation of Native people in the United States, outlines the history of Indian resistance, and recommends a course of action for modern Indigenous people. Extremely influential in the 1960s and 1970s Native American Movement, Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto remains... Read Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto Summary


Publication year 1940

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Russian Literature, History: World, Historical Fiction, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Politics / Government

Darkness at Noon is Arthur Koestler’s fictional exploration of the socialist states that emerged midway through the twentieth century. In particular, it asks how a movement whose original purpose was to improve the conditions of “the masses” could instead end up terrorizing its own people, including its founders. The novel follows one of these founders, Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov, through the last month of his life, which he spends in prison and then on trial until he... Read Darkness at Noon Summary


Publication year 1867

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Economics, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Win & Lose, Society: Colonialism

Tags Philosophy, Business / Economics, Politics / Government, Poverty, German Literature

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (also popularly known in the English-speaking world by its original German title, Das Kapital) by Karl Marx is an influential critique of capitalism that sought to define the economic system’s functions. The first volume—which is the only volume fully written by Karl Marx himself—was published in 1867. Two further volumes were written by Marx’s long-time collaborator, Friedrich Engels, based on Marx’s notes, and were published in 1885 and 1894... Read Das Kapital Summary


Publication year 1995

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Society: Education

Tags Race / Racism, Education, Education, History: U.S., History: World, Classic Fiction, Politics / Government, African American Literature, African American History


Publication year 1941

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Society: Nation, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil

Tags Politics / Government


Publication year 1993

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Politics & Government

Tags Social Justice, Crime / Legal, Incarceration, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World, Religion / Spirituality, Politics / Government, Biography

Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States is a memoir originally published in 1993 by Sister Helen Prejean. In the book, Prejean, a Catholic nun with the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille (now the Congregation of Saint Joseph), describes her ministry to death-row inmates Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie in Louisiana in the early 1980s. Her experience with Sonnier, who was ultimately put to death... Read Dead Man Walking Summary


Publication year 1842

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Society: Class, Society: Economics, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Classic Fiction, Satire, Class, History: European, Politics / Government, Religion / Spirituality, Russian Literature, Victorian Period, History: World, Historical Fiction, Humor

Nikolai Gogol called his 1842 work Dead Souls an “epic poem in prose,” though most critics and scholars now refer to it as a novel. Structured in part as an analog to Dante’s Inferno, Dead Souls is an absurdist social satire of imperial Russia before the emancipation of the serfs, especially the foibles and customs of the Russian nobility. Though Gogol is not interested in strict realism, his portraits of nobles who speak French more... Read Dead Souls Summary


Publication year 2015

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Tags Politics / Government, History: World, WWI / World War I, History: European, History: U.S., Military / War, Biography

In Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, writer Erik Larson traces the Lusitania’s final journey across the Atlantic Ocean. The Lusitania is a British passenger liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Company. First sailing in 1907, the Lusitania quickly sets records for the fastest journey across the Atlantic Ocean, stealing the coveted Blue Riband away from Germany.Dead Wake follows the Lusitania’s final journey, which took place during the first week of May 1915... Read Dead Wake Summary


Publication year 2018

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Immigration / Refugee, Race / Racism, LGBTQ, Social Justice, Politics / Government, Biography

Dear America—Notes of an Undocumented Citizen is a collection of essays written by Jose Antonio Vargas, published in 2018. The book relates the author’s struggle of coming to the United States from the Philippines in an illegal manner and growing up in America without the full documentation that would have made him a legal immigrant.As a 12-year-old boy in the Philippines, the author is surprised by his mother one morning. She rushes him to the... Read Dear America Summary


Publication year 1992

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Relationships: Mothers

Tags Education, Education, Anthropology, Anthropology, Grief / Death, Social Science, Sociology, History: World, Politics / Government

Published in 1989, Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil, is an in-depth and long-ranging look at the crisis of infant and early-child mortality in the rural communities of the Brazilian Northeast. The author of the book is Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a former aidworker who returned to Brazil as an anthropologist. While the object of this book is infant and child mortality, its main focus is not a medical or scientific approach to... Read Death Without Weeping Summary


Publication year 2011

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Economics, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Society: Community

Tags History: World, Business / Economics, Finance / Money / Wealth, Anthropology, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics / Government


Publication year 1848

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Gender, Values/Ideas: Equality, Society: Politics & Government

Tags Politics / Government, Gender / Feminism, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Education, Education, American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction


Publication year 1986

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Language

Tags History: African , Race / Racism, African American Literature, History: World, Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics / Government

Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature is a nonfiction book published in 1986 by the Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. In the Introduction, titled “Towards the Universal Language of Struggle,” Ngũgĩ writes: “This book, is a summary of some of the issues in which I have been passionately involved for the last twenty years of my practice in fiction, theatre, criticism and in teaching literature” (1). Decolonising the Mind is a... Read Decolonising the Mind Summary


Publication year 1916

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Education, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Community

Tags Education, Philosophy, Politics / Government, Education, Social Science, Sociology, Philosophy, Classic Fiction


Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Society: Nation

Tags History: U.S., Politics / Government, American Literature, History: World, Social Justice


Publication year 1835

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags History: U.S., Politics / Government, French Literature, American Literature, Sociology, History: World, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is a work of history and political philosophy published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840. Tocqueville embarked on his own political career in France but is best known for his contributions to history and political philosophy.The first volume is based on Tocqueville’s nearly yearlong sojourn in the United States, ostensibly to study its prisons and prison reform. In his introduction Tocqueville emphasizes that... Read Democracy in America Summary