Politics & Government

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City is a 2009 nonfiction book by William Julius Wilson, a Harvard University professor of sociology. In his book, Wilson examines the structural and, more controversially, the cultural contributors to the poverty, high incarceration rate, and social problems faced by inner-city African American males today. Wilson’s central contention is that African Americans have suffered disproportionately from the impacts of nonracial political and global economic... Read More Than Just Race Summary

Mornings in Jenin is a historical novel that spans the years between 1941 and 2003 and is focused on the Israeli invasion and occupation of Palestine. The author, Susan Abulhawa, is the child of Palestinian refugees and was brought up in several countries, including the United States. She writes the novel from the points of view of several members of a Palestinian family who lose their land, home, and loved ones. The novel relates the... Read Mornings in Jenin Summary

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Murder in Amsterdam: Liberal Europe, Islam, and the Limits of Tolerance is a 2006 nonfiction book written by Dutch professor and social scientist Ian Buruma. The book investigates both the murder of Theo van Gogh, a prominent Dutch filmmaker, social critic, and opponent of political Islam in Europe. Additionally, it explores feelings of historical guilt, liberal mores, and the changing social fabric that has created tension between the native Dutch and the large, mostly Muslim... Read Murder in Amsterdam Summary

Sonia Sotomayor (b. June 25, 1954) is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Born and raised in the Bronx, NY to Puerto Rican parents, she graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976 and Yale University’s law school in 1979. After four and a half years working as an assistant district attorney in New York City, she joined Pavia & Harcourt, a small Manhattan law firm, eventually becoming a partner. In... Read My Beloved World Summary

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My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel is a 2013 work of historical nonfiction by Israeli author and journalist Ari Shavit. It was a New York Times Bestseller in 2013. Shavit’s book explains the history of Zionism in Palestine: its triumphs and tragedies, the creation of the Israeli state, Palestinian and Middle Eastern conflicts, and assessments of both Israeli and Jewish futures. Shavit combines Zionist history with first-hand reflections on pivotal moments. He... Read My Promised Land Summary

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science is a nonfiction book by Charles Wheelan published in 2002. The author holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and is a senior lecturer and policy fellow at Dartmouth College. Previously, he was a correspondent for the magazine The Economist. He has written a number of other books, including Naked Statistics and Naked Money. This study guide refers to the 2019 third edition of Naked Economics.SummaryNaked Economics is... Read Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science Summary

Naked Lunch is a 1959 novel by American author William. S. Burroughs. In it, Lee, a heroin user, looks to escape New York to avoid arrest by the police. He thus embarks on a journey through Philadelphia and Mexico before arriving in the fictional state of Freeland, where all life is well-ordered and hygienic. Following a riot in a Freeland psychological reconditioning center, however, Lee flees to the strange and fantastical city of Interzone. There... Read Naked Lunch Summary

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