War

“The Night the Ghost Got In” is a short story from the comedic semi-autobiographical memoir My Life and Hard Times published in 1933 by James Thurber. Thurber is best known for his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which has been twice adapted for film. This guide references the 1999 Harper Perennial Classics Reprint edition of My Life and Hard Times.“The Night the Ghost Got In” tells the first-person account of a young... Read The Night the Ghost Got In Summary

... Read The Night War Summary

... Read The Nonexistent Knight Summary

... Read The Odyssey Summary

... Read The Origins of the Modern World Summary

... Read The Paris Agent Summary

The Passage is a 2010 novel by Justin Cronin. It is the first novel in a post-apocalyptic horror series that includes The Twelve and City of Mirrors. The Passage is Cronin’s take on the vampire genre. He uses world-building to examine themes of Passages and Transitions, Vampirism as a Metaphor, and The Value of Life. The Passage was well-received and was adapted into a television series for the Fox Network, which aired its final episode... Read The Passage Summary

... Read The Perils of Indifference Summary

Written and first performed in 472 BC, the ancient Greek tragedy The Persians by Aeschylus is the oldest extant example of the genre. Known as the father of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus was also a veteran of the Greco-Persian wars, on which The Persians is based. Because it depicts recent events, The Persians stands out from other plays of the genre, which for the most part focus on the distant past or mythological heroes. The approach was a... Read The Persians Summary

... Read The Poppy War Summary

In The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, historian Steve Sheinkin traces the story of the Port Chicago 50, a group of African-American sailors charged with mutiny for disobeying orders during World War II. Sheinkin’s history opens, however, with the story of Dorie Miller, a black mess attendant stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack in 1942. Though not trained for battle, Miller courageously begins fighting with an anti-aircraft... Read The Port Chicago 50 Summary

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, & Power is an influential work by Daniel Yergin that was originally published in 1991. Yergin, a highly regarded American historian and economic researcher, examines the history and influence of the global oil industry. With a background in energy economics and policy, Yergin brings a wealth of expertise to this comprehensive examination, providing a detailed narrative of the oil industry’s evolution and its substantial impact on global... Read The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power Summary

... Read The Queen of Nothing Summary

The Quiet American is a 1955 novel by Graham Greene. Set during the era of French colonialism in Vietnam, it tells the story of an English journalist who is caught in a love triangle with an American intelligence agent and a Vietnamese woman. Greene had published over a dozen novels before The Quiet American and was considered one of the most influential American authors during his career. He drew on his own experiences as a... Read The Quiet American Summary

“The Rape of Lucrece,” written by William Shakespeare, was originally published in 1594 by Richard Field. This poem comes early in Shakespeare’s canon, with its original publication near the end of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, shortly after Taming of the Shrew and around the time of A Midsummer Nights’ Dream. As a companion piece to “Venus and Adonis,” Shakespeare dedicates “The Rape of Lucrece” to the Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, his patron. It went... Read The Rape of Lucrece Summary

... Read The Rebel Summary

... Read The Reckoning Summary

The Red Badge of Courage was written in 1895 by Stephen Crane, a novelist, poet, and journalist well known for his naturalist style and for incorporating the inner lives of common and marginalized people. The novel won wide acclaim for Crane, though his life after the book’s publication was distinguished by scandal and money troubles. Its themes reframe the concept of military duty as a rite of passage, detailing a highly individual and self-searching act... Read The Red Badge of Courage Summary

Content Warning: This guide contains references to war-related trauma, suicide, and systemic racism and violence against Indigenous Americans.“The Red Convertible” is a short story that explores themes of Coming of Age and The Trauma of War through the lives of two young Chippewa men. Protagonist Lyman Lamartine reflects on his relationship with his brother, Henry Junior, before, during, and after Henry’s time serving in the Vietnam War. Lyman focuses on the period when he and... Read The Red Convertible Summary

... Read The Red Pencil Summary