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 1994

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Race & Racism, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

Nathan McCall’s 1994 autobiography, Makes Me Wanna Holler, is about growing up in a working-class black section of Portsmouth, Virginia in the 1960s and 1970s. McCall was a smart boy, but despite a strong family unit and a caring community, he fell into crime. From a young age, he was tormented by racism. He recounts violent racism when attending an integrated elementary school, a depressing level of inequality of opportunity when looking for work as... Read Makes Me Wanna Holler Summary

Publication year 2006

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Nation, Politics & Government, War

Tags Crime & Law, US History, Politics & Government, Military & War, Mystery & Crime Fiction, World History, Biography

Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer (2006) by James L. Swanson is a popular true-crime historical thriller about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 and the search for the assassin John Wilkes Booth. James Swanson has written several books about Abraham Lincoln and other events in American history including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The book won the Edgar Award, a literary award for fiction and non-fiction works... Read Manhunt Summary

Publication year 2013

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Nonfiction

Themes Education, Politics & Government, Religion & Spirituality, Race, Justice, Equality, Perseverance

Tags US History, Politics & Government, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Life-Inspired Fiction, Inspirational, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Black Lives Matter, World History, Biography

Publication year 2001

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Power & Greed, Apathy, Conflict, Fear, Joy, Femininity, Mental Health, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Death, The Past, Place, Social Class, Nation, Politics & Government, War, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies

Tags Biography, Historical Nonfiction, European History, Politics & Government

Publication year 2007

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Politics & Government, Justice, Community

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

Publication year 1909

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Social Class, Fate, Loneliness, Education, Self Discovery, Community

Tags Historical Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, American Literature, Coming of Age, Arts & Culture, Social Class, Depression & Suicide, Education, Finance, Philosophy, Politics & Government, Poverty, Relationships, US History, World History, Classical Period, Action & Adventure, Classic Fiction

Martin Eden is a 1909 novel by American author Jack London. Known for his stories of adventure and use of naturalism and realism, London authored more than 50 books, including Call of the Wild and White Fang, before his untimely death at age 40. London wrote Martin Eden at the height of his literary career, inspired by his own disillusionment with fame and literary critics. Although the protagonist’s individualist principles are at odds with London’s... Read Martin Eden Summary

Publication year 2020

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice, Good & Evil

Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, Education, Education, Social Justice, Sociology, Self-Improvement, Politics & Government

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad is a New York Times bestselling nonfiction book and workbook published in 2020. Structured around a 28-day antiracism journaling challenge, white readers and participants critically examine their own personal complicity in upholding white supremacy.Stemming from author Saad’s viral challenge on Instagram— #MeAndWhiteSupremacy—over the course of four weeks, Me and White Supremacy breaks open white supremacy as an... Read Me and White Supremacy Summary

Publication year 2014

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Gender Identity

Tags Gender & Feminism, Sociology, Women`s Studies, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Men Explain Things to Me is Rebecca Solnit’s 19th book. First published in 2014, it is comprised of a collection of essays primarily concerned with gender politics. The first essay explores men silencing women. It begins with Solnit recounting a conversation with “Mr. Very Important” in which he asks her about her writing, only to talk over her and lecture her about a book that, it turns out, she actually wrote. She uses this to... Read Men Explain Things To Me Summary

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Education, Nation, Truth & Lies

Tags Philosophy, Education, Politics & Government, Science & Nature, Ancient Greece, Education, Philosophy, World History, Classical Period, Classic Fiction

One of the founding documents of Western philosophy, Plato’s Meno recounts a dialog on the nature of virtue between Socrates and his pupil Meno, a rising star among the leaders of ancient Greece. They discuss how virtue can be recognized, where it comes from, and whether it can be taught.Meno takes place in 402 BCE in Athens; Plato, Socrates’s most famous student, in 385 BCE wrote down his recollection of the conversation. It offers a... Read Meno Summary

Publication year 1891

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Revenge, Masculinity, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Friendship, Self Discovery, Politics & Government, Good & Evil, Justice

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Action & Adventure, Medieval, Politics & Government, Children`s Literature, World History, Fantasy

Men of Iron is an 1891 young adult novel written and illustrated by Howard Pyle. Pyle was born in Delaware in 1853, and after years of training—beginning with a childhood passion for art—he taught illustration at Drexel University before establishing his own institute, the Howard Pyle School of Illustration Art. His style of art, which he himself was instrumental in developing, was named the Brandywine School after the mid-Atlantic region from which the artists in... Read Men of Iron Summary

Publication year 2010

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Environment

Tags Business & Economics, Science & Nature, Climate Change, World History, Politics & Government

Written by historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010) is a nonfiction account of how a loose-knit group of scientists—Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, Bill Nierenberg, and Robert Jastrow—with similar political agendas worked to prevent government regulation by creating the appearance of scientific debate on several topics. These topics included smoking (both first- and secondhand hand... Read Merchants of Doubt Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Family

Tags Sociology, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Science & Nature, Journalism, Social Science, World History, Politics & Government

Methland: The Death and Life of a Small American Town is a nonfiction book published in 2009 by American journalist Nick Reding. Focusing on the small town of Oelwein, Iowa, Reding traces the beginnings of America’s meth epidemic to its current prevalence in the rural Midwest. Methland is a blend of sociology, economics, memoir, and history that provides a perspective that is ultimately hopeful about America’s ability to solve its meth problem, even if the... Read Methland Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Russian Literature, World History, Politics & Government

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster (2019) is a non-fiction book by the English author and journalist Adam Higginbotham. The book explores the causes and consequences of the 1986 explosion at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station in Ukraine, which killed at least 31 plant workers and firefighters and resulted in the evacuation of over 100,000 people. The radioactive fallout from the disaster ostensibly caused an unknown number... Read Midnight in Chernobyl Summary

Publication year 1966

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Conflict, Nation, Politics & Government

Tags US History, Politics & Government, American Revolution, American Literature, World History

Miracle at Philadelphia is a 1969 work of history by Catherine Drinker Bowen. It is a detailed account of the Constitutional Convention that took place from May to September 1787 in Philadelphia, resulting in the original drafting of the United States Constitution. It remains one of the most highly regarded popular accounts of the Convention, especially for its rich portraits of the delegates that provides a vivid sense of political debates and social life.This study... Read Miracle At Philadelphia Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags Crime & Law, Gender & Feminism, US History, Politics & Government, Journalism, True Crime, History, Sociology, Mystery & Crime Fiction, World History

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer is a work of narrative nonfiction that explores the pervasive issue of sexual violence within the context of a college town. Published in 2015, the book offers an examination of several cases of sexual assault at the University of Montana in Missoula, shedding light on the systemic failures of the justice system and the broader societal attitudes that often exacerbate the trauma... Read Missoula Summary