Politics & Government

The essay “I, Pencil,” also known as “I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read,” was first published by the American businessman and libertarian advocate Leonard E. Read in 1958. The essay first appeared in The Freeman, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEE), a think-tank he co-founded in 1946. Read was a staunch critic of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” an ambitious series of government policies and... Read I, Pencil Summary

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It Can’t Happen Here (1935) is a dystopian political novel by Sinclair Lewis. The narrative details the rise, consolidation, and partial collapse of an American fascist dictatorship and is told through the perpesective of 60-year-old protagonist Doremus Jessup, owner-editor of a small Vermont newspaper and self-described middle-class liberal intellectual. Initially a cynical and detached political observer, Jessup becomes an increasingly active member of the resistance.Considering themes like American Totalitarianism and The Conditions Necessary for Liberal... Read It Can't Happen Here Summary

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Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, a 2005 nonfiction book written by Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel, grew out of a popular course of the same name that Sandel teaches, in which he “exposes students to some of the great philosophical writings about justice, and also takes up contemporary legal and political controversies that raise philosophical questions” (293). In this book, Sandel does the same, comparing and contrasting several important approaches to justice and... Read Justice Summary

Originally published in 1990, Justice and the Politics of Difference is a nonfiction work in the field of political theory. The author, Iris Marion Young, uses critical theory to expose the shortcomings of distributive theories of justice and calls for the empowerment of oppressed and disadvantaged social groups. She cites the claims of new social movements, such as those for civil rights, as evidence of the inadequacy of the distributive model of justice. According to... Read Justice and The Politics of Difference Summary

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Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, written by Helen Thorpe, is detailed account of the lives of four Mexico-born girls as they come of age in Denver, Colorado. Thorpe, an Irish-American journalist, published the nonfiction novel in 2009. Two of the girls, Clara and Elissa, are here legally, while the other two, Marisela and Yadira, are without documents. While the girls are similar in birth and... Read Just Like Us Summary

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Part memoir, part exhortation for much-needed reform to the American criminal justice system, Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy is a heartrending and inspirational call to arms written by the activist lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, an Alabama-based organization responsible for freeing or reducing the sentences of scores of wrongfully convicted individuals. Stevenson’s memoir weaves together personal stories from his years as a lawyer with strong statements against racial and legal injustice, drawing a clear... Read Just Mercy Summary

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Keep the Aspidistra Flying was first published in 1936. Written by George Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair), it is not as well-known as other works like 1984 and Animal Farm, nor was it well received when it was released. Like much of Orwell’s other fiction, though, it is a social criticism novel; it examines and critiques social, political, and economic issues contemporary to the time of its writing. In 1997, Robert Bierman... Read Keep the Aspidistra Flying Summary

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Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever is a popular nonfiction historical narrative recounting the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The book was written in September 2011 by New York Times bestselling author and controversial conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly, former anchor of The O’Reilly Factor. The book is also authored by New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard, whose book Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone has been... Read Killing Lincoln Summary