Introduction
Directory
Fiction
Agee, James. A Death in the Family. 1957. The enchanted childhood summer of 1915 suddenly becomes a baffling experience for Rufus Follet when his father dies.Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina. 1992. Bone confronts poverty, the troubled marriage of her mother and stepfather, and the stigma of being considered "white trash" as she comes of age in South Carolina. [Interview with Dorothy Allison from San Francisco Magazine]
Alvarez, Julia. In the Time of Butterflies. 1994. Dede, the only survivor of the four Mirabel sisters, code named Mariposas or butterflies, reveals their role in the liberation of the Dominican Republic from the dictator Trujillo.
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. 1972. Ultima, a wise old mystic, helps a young Hispanic boy resolve personal dilemmas caused by the differing backgrounds and aspirations of his parents and society.
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 1986. In Gilead, a Christian fundamentalist dystopia, fertile lower-class women serve as birth-mothers for the upper class. [Margaret Atwood Home Page]
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993. Lauren Olamina, who suffers from a hereditary trait called "hyperempathy" that causes her to feel others' pain physically, journeys north along the dangerous highways of twentieth-first century California. [Voices From the Gaps: Women Writers of Color: Octavia Butler -- bibliography and brief biography]
Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. 1985. In a world decimated by alien attacks, the government trains young geniuses like Ender Wiggin in military strategy with increasingly complex computer games. [Hatrack River - The Official Web Site of Orson Scott Card]
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother, discovers new qualities in herself when she visits Grand Isle, a resort for the Creole elite of New Orleans. [Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening -- from Louisiana Public Broadcasting]
Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. 1991. In short, poetic stories, Esperanza describes life in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. [Voices From the Gaps: Women Writers of Color: Sandra Cisneros -- bibliography and brief biography]
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. 1866. A sensitive intellectual is driven by poverty to believe himself exempt from moral law.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952. A young African American seeking identity during his high school and college days, and later in New York's Harlem, relates his terrifying experiences. [Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man -- chapter summary, reviews and essays, from Prof. Alan Fireis, University of Pennsylvania]
Emecheta, Buchi. Bride Price. 1976. Aku-nna, a very young Ibo girl, and Chike, her teacher, fall in love despite tribal custom forbidding their romance.
Faulkner, William. The Bear. 1931. Ike McCaslin's hunting trips for the legendary bear, Old Ben, are played out against opposing ideas of corruption and innocence.
Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. 1997. Inman, a wounded Civil War soldier, endures the elements, The Guard, and his own weakness and infirmity to return to his sweetheart, Ada, who is fighting her own battle to survive while farming the mountainous North Carolina terrain.
Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993. When Jefferson's attorney states, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this," disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help this slow learner gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution. [Vintage Books: A Lesson Before Dying -- teacher's guide, reading group guide, biography]
Gardner, John. Grendel. 1971. In a unique interpretation of the Beowulf legend, the monster Grendel relates his struggle to understand the ugliness in himself and mankind in the brutal world of fourteenth-century Denmark.
Gibbons, Kaye. Ellen Foster. 1987. Casting an unflinching yet humorous eye on her situation, eleven-year-old Ellen survives her mother's death, an abusive father, and uncaring relatives to find for herself a loving home and a new mama.
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. 1961. In this satirical novel, Captain Yossarian confronts the hypocrisy of war and bureaucracy as he frantically attempts to survive.
Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. 1929. World War I is the setting for this love story of an English nurse and a wounded American ambulance officer.
Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. 1951. Emerging from a kaleidoscope of experiences and tasted pleasures, Siddhartha transcends to a state of peace and mystic holiness in this strangely simple story.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. 1932. In a chilling vision of the future, babies are produced in bottles and exist in a mechanized world without soul.
Keneally, Thomas. Schindler's List. 1982. Oskar Schindler, a rich factory owner, risks his life and spends his personal fortune to save Jews listed as his workers during World War II.
King, Laurie R. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or, on the Segregation of the Queen. 1994. Retired Sherlock Holmes meets his intellectual match in 15-year-old Mary Russell, who challenges him to investigate yet another case.
Kosinski, Jerzy. Painted Bird. 1965. An abandoned dark-haired child wanders alone through isolated villages of Eastern Europe in World War II.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1960. A young girl tells of life in a small Alabama town in the 1930s and her father's defense in court of an African American accused of raping a white woman. [Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird, from the Chebucto Community Net in Nova Scotia]
LeGuin, Ursula. The Left Hand of Darkness. 1969. First envoy to the technologically primitive world of Winter, Al must deal with a hostile climate; a suspicious, bickering government; and his own conventional sexual mores.
McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. 1946. A young Southern girl is determined to be the third party on a honeymoon, despite all advice.
McKinley, Robin. Beauty. 1978. Love is the only key to unlocking a curse and transforming the Beast into a man.
Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer. 1966. Victim of a vicious anti-Semitic conspiracy, Yakov Bok is in a Russian prison with only his indomitable will to sustain him.
Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar In A Sieve. 1954. Natural disasters, an arranged marriage, and industrialization of her village are the challenges Rukmani must face as the bride of a peasant farmer in southern India.
Mason, Bobbi Ann. In Country. 1985. After her father is killed in the Vietnam War, Sam Hughes lives with an uncle whom she suspects suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, and struggles to come to terms with the war's impact on her family. [Information about Bobbie Ann Mason and In Country from EducETH, a Swiss educational site]
Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko's Daughter. 1993. In the years following her mother's suicide, Yuki develops the inner strength to cope with her distant father, her resentful stepmother, and her haunting, painful memories. [Teacher's Guide to Shizuko's Daughter from Ballantine Books]
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987. Preferring death over slavery for her children, Sethe murders her infant daughter who later mysteriously returns and almost destroys the lives of her mother and sister. [The Beloved Project at Hampshire College -- includes material about both the novel and the film made from it]
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. 1990. These stories follow Tim O'Brien's platoon of American soldiers through a variety of personal and military encounters during the Vietnam War.
O'Connor, Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge. 1965. Stories about misfits in small Southern towns force the reader to confront hypocrisy and complacency.
Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. 1967. A baseball injury brings together two Jewish boys, one Hasidic, the other Orthodox, first in hostility but finally in friendship.
Power, Susan. The Grass Dancer. 1994. Ending in the 1980s with the love story of Charlene Thunder and grass dancer Harley Wind Soldier, this multigenerational tale of a Sioux family is told in the voices of the living and the dead.
Shaara, Michael. Killer Angels. 1974. Officers and foot soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy steel themselves for the bloody Battle of Gettysburg.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. An Oklahoma farmer and his family leave the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression to go to the promised land of California.
Uchida, Yoshiko. Picture Bride. 1987. Taro journeys to America in the early 1900s to marry a man she has never met.
Watson, Larry. Montana 1948. 1993. The summer he is 12, David watches as his family and small town are shattered by scandal and tragedy.
Wright, Richard. Native Son. 1940. For Bigger Thomas, an African American man accused of a crime in the white man's world, there could be no extenuating circumstances, no explanations and only death. [Brief biography of Richard Wright from the Harlem Youth Newspaper]
Yolen, Jane. Briar Rose. 1992. Disturbed by her grandmother Gemma's unique version of Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca seeks the truth behind the fairy tale.
Nonfiction
Asinof, Eliot. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. 1963. It's all here: the players, the scandal, the shame, and the damage the 1919 World Series caused America's national pastime.Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Streets: Young Former Gang Members Tell Their Stories. 1996. Gang members from all races and backgrounds describe why they joined, and why--and how--they left.
Alvarez, Walter. T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. 1997. Geologist Alvarez presents the development of the impact theory of dinosaur extinction as the adventure/mystery it was.
Aronson, Marc. Art Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde. 1998. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about bohemians, hipsters, and the development of the world's most radical art. [Art Attack -- from the "Overbooked" website]
Bernstein, Leonard. The Joy of Music. 1959. Bernstein describes all aspects of classical music.
Blackstone, Harry, Jr. The Blackstone Book of Magic & Illusion. 1985. A well-known magician introduces readers to the history, principles, and effects of one of the oldest entertainment arts.
Blais, Madeleine. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle. 1995. Learn about the year of heart, sweat, and muscle that transformed the Amherst Lady Hurricanes basketball team into state champions.
Bodanis, David. The Secret Family: Twenty-four Hours Inside the Mysterious World of Our Minds and Bodies. 1997. The unseen world around us and within our bodies is shown in vivid detail as we follow a typical family through their day.
Boorstin, Jon. Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker. 1996. Both novice and expert can enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at the art of filmmaking.
Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. 1970. There's another side of America's western expansion: the one seen through Native American eyes.
Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. 1997. The historical evolution of body perception has turned the value system of American girls inside out.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962. This landmark book gave birth to the environmental movement.
Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 1997. Barely a postscript in official Japanese history, the horrific rape, mutilation, torture, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens took place over the course of just seven weeks.
Clark, Kenneth. Civilisation: A Personal View. 1970. Clark explores history through the works, impulses, and beliefs of the great creative individuals of Western civilization.
Cooke, Mervyn. The Chronicle of Jazz. 1998. Cooke provides a comprehensive guide to this uniquely American musical form.
Copland, Aaron. What to Listen For in Music. 1939. The composer provides a basic introduction to the mysteries of musical composition and music appreciation.
Cumming, Robert. Annotated Art. 1995. Art masterpieces are made understandable through the exploration of some of the world's greatest paintings.
DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. 1903. Educator DuBois describes the lives and history of African American farmers, including the career of Booker T. Washington.
Day, David. The Search for King Arthur. 1995. Discover through magnificent illustrations and romantic retellings what is fact and what is legend about this fifth-century hero.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. 1997. Diamond contends that these three factors determined the course of world power throughout history.
Dorris, Michael. The Broken Cord. 1989. The persistent physical and emotional problems of his adopted son baffled the author until he learned the condition had a name: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Due, Linnea. Joining the Tribe: Growing Up Gay and Lesbian in the '90's. 1995. Being young and gay in America means surviving cruelty, abuse, and isolation, as these individual stories of courage from teens around the country attest.
Edelman, Marion Wright. The Measure of Our success: A Letter to My Children and Yours. 1992. A child advocate shares her thoughts on values, raising families, and the future of our country.
Epictetus and Sharon Lebell. The Art of Living: The Classic Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness. 1995. A modern interpretation of the Stoic philosopher answers the timeless questions of how to be a good person and live a good life
Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. 1991. This unflinching analysis examines the current status of American women.
Finn, David. How to Look at Sculpture: Text and Photographs. 1989. To understand sculpture, you have to know what to look for.
Ford, Michael Thomas. The Voices of AIDS: Twelve Unforgettable People Talk About How AIDS Has Changed Their Lives. 1995. Individuals whose AIDS experiences have been catalysts for making a difference share their poignant and personal stories.
Fouts, Roger. Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me About Who We Are. 1997. Describing his career of communicating with chimpanzees, Fouts explains evolutionary, genetic, and emotional bonds with our next of kin. [Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute]
Freedman, Samuel G. Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and Their High School. 1990. How does this overcrowded, underfunded inner city school send 92% of its graduates to college?
Fremon, Celeste. Father Greg & the Homeboys: The Extraordinary Journey of Father Greg Boyle and His Work With the Latino Gangs of East L.A. 1995. Conscience, parent, motivator, drill sergeant: Father Greg was all this and more to the gangbangers who called his barrio parish community home.
Garfunkel, Trudy. On Wings of Joy: The Story of Ballet from the 16th Century to Today. 1994. Fascinating history, dancers, choreographers, and stories: here is everything that has helped create this wonderful art form.
Goldberg, Vicki. The Power of Photographs: How Photography Changed Our Lives. 1991. Photographers and photographs evolve, rather than spring forth fully formed.
Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. 1981. Gould's history of the attempt to quantify intelligence could be called the "misuse of science."
Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. 1995. Everything from cave paintings to the experimental art of today is covered, in words and pictures, in this sixteenth edition of one of the most famous and popular art books ever published.
Green, Bill. Water, Ice, and Stone: Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes. 1995. A chemist investigates Antarctica's ice-covered lakes and discovers beauty and poetry.
Hafner, Katie and Matthew Lyon. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. 1996. The origins of the world's first computer network are explained, with tales of the motivations, breakthroughs, and personalities that created it.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. Gods and heroes, their clashes and adventures, come alive in this splendid retelling of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths.
Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. 1988. Cosmology becomes understandable as the author discusses the origin, evolution, and fate of our universe. [Professor Stephen Hawking's Homepage] [Stephen Hawking's Universe from PBS Online]
Hersch, Patricia. A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. 1998. An intimate three-year journey through contemporary adolescence with eight "typical" teens reveals a separate culture spawned not from personal choice, but rather from adult alienation and abandonment.
Hersey, John. Hiroshima. 1946. Six Hiroshima survivors reflect on the aftermath of the first atomic bomb.
Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1973. Biblical scholars revise text and modernize terms to bring one version of the Bible up-to-date.
Humes, Edward. No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court. 1996. Humes paints a tragic and heartbreaking portrait of the chaos characterizing America's juvenile justice system where, as one inmate writes, "my screams have no voice, no matter how loud I shout."
Hubbell, Sue. A Country Year: Living the Questions. 1986. A former wife and librarian observes her natural surroundings during a year spent as a beekeeper on a beautiful Ozark farm.
Jonas, Gerald. Dancing: The Pleasure, Power, and Art of Movement. 1992. This international survey explores dance as social, cultural, and religious expression.
Jones, K. Maurice. Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music. 1994. From a village in West Africa to a street in Brooklyn, to MTV, rappers make the Scene.
Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. 1997. Haunting premonitions didn't save seven fisherman from the ferocious and deadly power of the sea.
Karnos, David D. and Robert G. Shoemaker, editors. Falling in Love With Wisdom: American Philosophers Talk About Their Calling. 1993. Contemporary philosophers share their contemplations and epiphanies.
Kendall, Elizabeth. Where She Danced. 1979. The contributions of major innovators and the conditions of their times are the basis for this history of modern American dance.
Kerner, Mary. Barefoot to Balanchine: How to Watch Dance. 1990. Understand dance by reading about its history, choreography, and backstage action.
Kolb, Rocky. Blind Watchers of the Sky: The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe. 1996. Kolb delivers a witty and lively history of astronomy and cosmology. [Homepage for Rocky Kolb]
Kotlowitz, Alex. The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America's Dilemma. 1998. Geographically, only a river separates two closely neighboring towns, but the murder mystery surrounding the death of a young black man exposes a deeply rooted racial divide.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. 1991. Kozol's stinging indictment of America's public school system advocates an equal distribution of per pupil funding to right the gross inequities in our current system.
Krakauer, John. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. 1997. His dream expedition to Everest became a nightmare when human error and a sudden storm combined to claim the lives of some of the world's best mountain climbers.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 1993. A comic book asks and answers the question of whether or not comics are a literary form.
McPhee, John. In Suspect Terrain. 1983. Traveling along I-80 with geologist Anita Harris, McPhee describes the geologic features that reveal the history of the Appalachians.
Murray, Albert. Stomping the Blues. 1976. An aficionado gives the lowdown on what it is and its origins. Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. 1994. This lively, easy to understand guidebook is for everyone from the faithful believer to the curious doubter.
O'Gorman, James F. ABC of Architecture. 1998. Function, structure, and beauty are the interdependent basics -- the ABC -- of architecture.
Paulos, John Allen. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences. 1988. Paulos illustrates the importance of understanding and the consequences of misunderstanding mathematical concepts in everyday life.
Penn, W. S., editor. The Telling of the World: Native American Stories and Art. 1996. Traditional and contemporary legends, stories, and art from many tribes explain our world and its lifeforms.
Petroski, Henry. Invention by Design: How Engineers Get From Thought to Thing. 1996. Using examples from paper clips to monumental bridges, Petroski shows how engineers work.
Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. 1994. Pipher looks at societal "girl poisoning" and the emotional and psychological havoc it wreaks on the lives of young women.
Regis, Ed. Virus Ground Zero: Stalking the Killer Viruses with the Centers for Disease Control. 1996. The history of the CDC is told through the handling of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire.
Rybczynski, Witold . The Most Beautiful House in the World. 1989. The author's dream of building a boat evolves into the building of a home, a process he uses to explain complex architectural ideas.
Sheehan, Neil. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. 1988. A soldier exposes the corruption undermining the American war effort in Vietnam.
Sherman, Robert and Philip Seldon. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Music. 1997. This practical guide will help you understand and enjoy classical music.
Simon, David and Edward Burns. The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. 1997. Crack owns this corner and infects the lives of all those within reach.
Singh, Simon. Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem. 1997. A Princeton professor pursues a lifelong dream of solving a 350-year-old mathematical puzzle. [Solving Fermat: Interview with Prof. Andrew Wiles from NOVA Online] [Fermat's Last Theorem: Report from a conference on the proof by Andrew J. Wiles held at Boston University, August 9 -18, 1995]
Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. 1995. A self-taught eighteenth-century English clockmaker succeeded where the scientific community failed.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. 1986. Using comic book format, the author chronicles his father's experience of the Holocaust and its impact on his family.
Strickland, Carol and John Boswell. The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History From Prehistoric to Post-Modern. 1992. From cave paintings to conceptual art, art history is demystified.
Stringer, Christopher and Robin McKie. African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity. 1997. The authors support the theory of a single origin of modern humanity with paleoanthropological, archaeological, and DNA evidence.
Thomas, Lewis. The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher. 1974. These essays offer an optimistic scientist's view of a wide variety of subjects.
Watson, James D. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery and Structure of DNA. 1968. The author recreates the excitement of participating in a momentous discovery and demonstrates to the non-scientist how the scientific method works.
Williams, Juan. Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965. 1987. From Brown v. the Board of Education to the Voting Rights Act, Williams outlines the social and political gains of African Americans.
Yolen, Jane, editor. Favorite Folktales from Around the World. 1986. This collection of international folktales provides an understanding of the roots of diverse cultures.
Biography
ISABEL ALLENDE Paula. Isabel Allende. 1995. At the bedside of her dying daughter, Allende spins tales of childhood, of ancestors, and of becoming a novelist. [Isabel Allende Home Page]AMERICAN SERVICE PERSONNEL Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. Bernard Edelman, editor. 1985. Letters from those who made it back and from those who did not return provide a glimpse into the lives of the men and women who served during the Vietnam War.
MAYA ANGELOU I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya Angelou. 1970. An African American writer, poet, and actress traces her coming of age. [Biography and Selected Bibliography from Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color]
RUSSELL BAKER Growing Up. Russell Baker. 1982. A columnist with a sense of humor takes a gentle look at his childhood in Baltimore during the Depression.
MARIE CURIE Madam Curie: a Biography. Eve Curie. 1937. In sharing personal papers and her own memories, a daughter pays tribute to her unique and generous mother, a scientific genius.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. Frederick Douglass. 1845. Former slave and famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass describes the horrors of his enslavement and eventual escape. [Frederick Douglass National Historic Site]
RICHARD FEYNMAN Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character. Richard P. Feynman as told to Ralph Leighton. 1985. This Nobel Prize-winning physicist was also a bongo drummer, a practical joker, and a loving husband. [Information and Links from Feynman Online]
ANNE FRANK Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank. 1952 Through the diary she kept while in hiding, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank puts a human face on the Holocaust experience. [Official Site of the Anne Frank Center]
JOHN HOCKENBERRY Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence. John Hockenberry. 1995. Journalist Hockenberry is fearless and funny as he relates the personal and professional experiences he encounters from his wheelchair. [National Disability Organizations]
STONEWALL JACKSON Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend. James I. Robertson. 1997 Both the genius and the failings of this confederate Civil War general are chronicled in this meticulous account. [Stonewall Jackson Resources from Virginia Military Institute Archives]
JI-LI JIANG Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. Ji-li Jiang. 1997 A young Chinese girl must make difficult choices when the government urges her to repudiate her ancestors and inform on her own parents. [Artifacts from the Cultural Revolution]
MARY KARR The Liars' Club: A Memoir. Mary Karr. 1995. Growing up in "a family of liars and drunks" is never easy, and yet, despite alcoholism, rape, and other dark secrets, the author makes childhood in an East Texas refinery town sound as funny as it was painful. [Interview with Mary Karr from Salon Magazine]
HELEN KELLER The Story of My Life. Helen Keller. 1902. Overcoming deafness and blindness to become an outstanding citizen, Helen Keller embodies courage, passion, and perseverance. [Hellen Keller Archival Collection from the American Federation for the Blind]
YELENA KHANGA Soul to Soul: A Black Russian American Family, 1865-1992. Yelena Khanga and Susan Jacoby. 1992. A young Russian journalist of African American and Jewish heritage analyzes and compares attitudes on race, religion, and sexism in Russia and America. [Brief Biographical Sketch of Yelena Khanga from New Hampshire College]
JAMAICA KINCAID My Brother. Jamaica Kincaid. 1997. The author returns to the Caribbean island of her birth to help care for her younger brother who is dying of AIDS. [Interview with Jamaica Kincaid from Salon Magazine]
MERIWETHER LEWIS Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Stephen E. Ambrose. 1996. Lewis and Clark brave the wilds of North America in this vivid account of exploration and adventure. [Companion site to the PBS Series "Lewis and Clark"]
JAMES McBRIDE AND RUTH McBRIDE-JORDAN The Color of Water: a Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. James McBride. 1996. McBride blends his story with that of his mother, who battled poverty and racism to raise twelve children. [Interracial/Biracial Resources]
FRANK McCOURT Angela's Ashes: A Memoir. Frank McCourt. 1996. Illness, hunger, alcoholism, and death plague McCourt's childhood in Ireland, but somehow he survives with his spirit intact. [Interview with Frank McCourt from Uno Mas magazine]
MARK MATHABANE Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. Mark Mathabane. 1986. Growing up under the brutalities of apartheid South Africa, Mathabane describes the growing unrest in his country and his eventual escape through his ties to the tennis community. [Truth and Reconciliation Commission -- documents and links dealing with the aftermath of apartheid]
VED MEHTA Sound-Shadows of the New World. Ved Mehta. 1985. Leaving his home, family, and culture behind, a blind Indian boy travels to Arkansas to attend a special school where he is challenged by handicap, loneliness, poor preparation, and culture shock.
ANN MOODY Coming of Age in Mississippi. Ann Moody. 1968. One of the first brave young African American students to participate in a lunch counter sit-in, Moody becomes a heroine of the civil rights movement. [Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement]
PAT MORA House of Houses. Pat Mora. 1997. With magic and imagination, author Pat Mora weaves the voices of her ancestors into her own personal account of growing up in a Mexican-American family in El Paso, Texas.
LUIS RODRIGUEZ Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Luis Rodriguez. 1993 Rodriguez tells the story of his life in a Los Angeles gang and his later experiences as a Chicano activist.
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ Hunger of Memory: the Education of Richard Rodriguez: an Autobiography. Richard Rodriguez. 1982. Rodriguez's journey through the educational system leads to his belief that family, culture, and language must be left behind to succeed in mainstream America. [Links to articles and an interview with Richard Rodriguez]
TSAR NICHOLAS ROMANOV AND TSARINA ALEXANDRA Nicholas and Alexandra. Robert K. Massie 1967 At the brink of revolution, the last Tsar of Russia and his family become victims of their own mismanagement and personal problems. [Nicholas and Alexandra: Exhibition from the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia]
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 1:1884-1933. Blanche Wiesen Cook. 1992. Born into a privileged world, Eleanor Roosevelt became a champion of the underprivileged and a fighter for human rights. [Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum: documents and biographies]
HARRY S. TRUMAN Truman. David G. McCullough. 1992. This notable president earned America's respect by helping to end World War II and reshape the world for postwar peace. [Harry S. Truman Library and Museum]
TOBIAS WOLFF This Boy's Life: A Memoir. Tobias Wolff. 1989 In and out of trouble in his youth, this charter member of the "Bad Boys' Club" survives a boyhood that stretches from Florida to the Pacific Northwest. [Interview with Tobias Wolff from Salon Magazine]
RICHARD WRIGHT. Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth. Richard Wright. 1945. Wright recalls his pre-World War II youth when racial and personal obstacles seemed insurmountable. [Richard Wright Webpage -- biography, chronology, bibliographies]
MALCOLM X Malcolm X with the Assistance of Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X . With the assistance of Alex Haley. 1965 A great and controversial Black Muslim figure relates his transformation from street hustler to religious and national leader. [An Islamic Perspective on Malcolm X]
Drama
Albee, Edward. Three Tall Women. 1994. A frustrated ninety-two year old woman reveals three arduous and painful stages of her life.Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. 1952. Two tramps wait eternally for the elusive Godot in this first success of the Theater of The Absurd.
Bernstein, Leonard. West Side Story. 1957. The Jets and Sharks battle it out in song and dance as Tony and Maria fall in love in this musical based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Christie, Agatha. Mousetrap. 1954. Stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm, a group of strangers discovers a murderer in their midst.
Coward, Noel. Blithe Spirit. 1941. A ghost troubles a novelist's second marriage.
Fugard, Athol. Master Harold and the Boys. 1982. Hally, a precocious white South African teenager, lashes out at two older black friends who are substitute figures for his alcoholic father.
Hansberry, Lorraine. Raisin in the Sun. 1959. The sudden appearance of money tears an African American family apart.
Hellman, Lillian. Little Foxes. 1939. Members of the greedy and treacherous Hubbard family compete with each other for control of the mill that will bring them riches in the post-Civil War South.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. 1879. Nora, one of feminism's great heroines, steps off her pedestal and encounters the real world.
Ionesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros. 1959. The subject is conformity; the treatment is comedy and terror.
Kushner, Tony. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Pt.1, Millennium Approaches (1992); Pt.2, Perestroika (1993). Kushner chronicles AIDS in America during the Reagan era.
Larson, Jonathan. Rent. 1996. This award-winning musical depicts life, death, passion, and loyalty among AIDS-stricken artists. [RENT - a new American musical (official site)]
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 1949. When an ordinary man faces his failure as husband, father, and human being, the only solution he sees is suicide.
O'Neill, Eugene. Long Day's Journey into Night. 1956. This painful autobiographical play reveals the illusions and delusions of the Tyrone family.
Sartre, Jean Paul. No Exit. 1944. In this existential drama, we learn that hell is other people.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. 1605. An arrogant old man goes insane after his daughters strip him of every dignity and possession.
Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion. 1913. Professor Higgins bets a friend he can turn common Eliza Doolittle into a duchess.
Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. 1966. Two bit players from Shakespeare's Hamlet are thrust into a terrifying new situation.
Uhry, Alfred. Driving Miss Daisy. 1988. Over the years, the Southern and headstrong Miss Daisy and her black chauffeur Hoke develop a deep and abiding friendship.
Vogel, Paula. How I Learned to Drive. 1998. Li'l Bit learns about more than driving when her relationship with Uncle Peck moves from friendship to betrayal.
Wilde, Oscar. Importance of Being Earnest. 1895. Can a baby, abandoned at Victoria Station, grow up to find love, romance, identity, and the importance of being earnest?
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town. 1938. Love and death in a small town are seen through the eyes of the Stage Manager.
Williams, Tennessee. Glass Menagerie. 1945. A brother is haunted by the memory of his teenage sister who takes refuge from the world in her collection of glass animal figurines.
Wilson, August. Fences: A Play. 1986. A garbageman recalls his career as a Negro League baseball star.
Poetry
Blum, Joshua and others, editors. The United States of Poetry. 1996. Contemporary poems enhanced by outstanding photographs highlight poets ranging from Nobel laureates to rappers.Carlson, Lori M., editor. Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing up Latino in the United States. 1994. Party times, hard times, memories, and dreams come to life in these English, Spanish, and Spanglish poems.
Ciardi, John and Miller Williams. How Does a Poem Mean? 1975. A poet and critic discuss the value and nature of poetry, using selections from six centuries of American and English poems.
Dickinson, Emily. Poems (Everyman's Library of Pocket Poets). 1993. A compact collection of the best known works of an eminent American poet proves that good things do come in small packages.
Dunning, Stephen, Edward Lueders, Naomi Shihab, Deith Gilyard, and Demetrice Q. Worldy, compilers. Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle…and Other Modern Verse. 1995. Photographs complement or illustrate 114 poems that range from sharp and biting to easygoing and optimistic.
Giddings, Robert. The War Poets. 1988. The work of a variety of World War I poets, many of whom died in the conflict, is reinforced with illustrations, biographical notes, and a brief history of "the war to end all wars."
Gillan, Maria Mazziotti and Jennifer Gillan, editors. Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. 1994. This poetry feast challenges stereotypes about who or what is American.
Gordon, Ruth, editor. Pierced by a Ray of Sun: Poems about the Times We Feel Alone. 1995. World-famous poets reflect on solitude and loneliness.
Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, editors. The Rattle Bag. 1982. This compilation includes poems from the oral tradition.
Homer. Odyssey. Translated by Robert Fagles. 1996. Smell the salt air and experience Odysseus's temptations as the ancient world and his journey come alive again through this poetic translation.
Miller, E. Ethelbert, editor. In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African- American Poetry. 1994. From spirituals, to rap, to classic works by famous poets, this presentation delights the senses.
Neil, Philip, editor. Singing America. 1995. Experience American poetic heritage through dramatic black-and-white drawings that illustrate a wealth of poetry from Walt Whitman to spirituals, songs of the Sioux, the National Anthem, and Woody Guthrie.
Niatum, Duane, editor. Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry. 1988. The century's best Native American poets capture their cultural heritage through powerful poetry.
Nye, Naomi Shihab and Paul B. Janeczko, editors. I Feel a Little Jumpy around You: A Book of Her Poems & His Poems Collected in Pairs. 1996. In this anthology of thought-provoking poems, male and female writers view life from gender perspectives.
Nye, Naomi Shihab, selector. The Tree Is Older Than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems & Stories from Mexico with Paintings by Mexican Artists. 1995. Modern and ancient Mexican poetry, prose, and paintings come alive in this lavish anthology
Oliver, Mary. New and Selected Poems. 1992. Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet presents a smorgasbord of her poems, composed and published over the last three decades, about life, death, and humanity's relationship to the natural world.
Rosenberg, Liz, editor. Earth-Shattering Poems. 1998. Poets from around the world and through the centuries express the emotional intensity of life's experiences.
Rubin, Robert Alden, editor. Poetry Out Loud. 1993. Poems from the world's greatest poets, as well as suggestions for reading them aloud, are found in this backpack-sized gem.
Smith, Philip,editor. 100 Best-Loved Poems. 1995. Shakespeare, English and American ballads, and the classics most of us remember and love are part of the treasure found in this publication.
Stallworthy, Jon, editor. Book of Love Poetry. 1987. You can experience love, throughout the ages, as expressed in the past 2000 years of poetry.
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