Non-Fiction
Abigail Adams’ Letters to John Adams: March 31, 1776; May 7, 1776:
John and Abigail Adams’ historic correspondence reflect their personal sacrifices and abiding affection for one another as well as insight to the turbulent events surrounding the founding of the new nation. These letters address Abigail’s concern for the failure of the “Founding Fathers” to address the status of women in the Declaration of Independence.
Behind Barbed Wire: The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans During World War II, Daniel S. Davis (1982):
Davis discusses the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor, their way of life there, and their eventual assimilation into society following the war.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown (1970):
Dee Brown’s history of America’s policy toward Native Americans reveals the dark side of a government committed to expansion at all costs. “Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos in 1860 and ending 30 years later with the massacre of Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, it tells how the American Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically expanding white society. …Again and again, promises made to the Indians fell victim to the ruthlessness and greed of settlers pushing westward… (John Stevenson, n.d.). Relying on extensive primary sources and period photographs, Brown attacks the traditional stereotypes of Native Americans and reveals the genocidal fate of an indigenous people victimized by a society and its government that perverted the law to its own ends. (9-12, 7.9)
“Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau, (1849):
Thoreau’s famous essay on the relationship between individual conscience and duty to the government influenced both Mohandas Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s doctrine of non-violent passive resistance.
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (1947):
Discovered in 1947 and published in English in 1952, Diary of a Young Girl recounts the life of Anne Frank and her family as they seek refuge from the Nazis in an Amsterdam warehouse. Anne’s diary provides a highly detailed and intimate account of this horrific period and “epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust” (Wendy Smith, n.d.). Diary of a Young Girl also reminds us that the evil that killed Anne in 1944 at Bergen-Belsen is still with us in the genocidal wars that exterminate thousands annually. (6-8, 5.1)
My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass (1855):
“Frederick Douglass originally penned his book as a response to people’s accusations that someone as articulate and composed as he couldn’t possibly be a former slave. With that goal in mind, Douglass wrote his memoirs, in a straight forward, powerful way. In the book, he painfully and honestly documents the path his early life took; the memories of being owned, how slaves coped during these times, and how he managed to pull himself out of it all.” (James Hiller, 2004) (9-12)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845):
Escaping bondage in 1838, Douglass gives a detailed and moving account of his life as a slave and how he learned to read and write, the dehumanizing effects of slavery, and his own triumph over it to become one of his era’s most influential and out-spoken critics of America’s “peculiar institution.” (9-12, 7.9)
Night, Elie Wiesel (1960):
This gripping memoir describes Wiesel’s first hand experience with the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps probe the universal themes of guilt, survival, and human injustice and cruelty. His memoir speaks for those whose voices were silenced by the atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps and for all who continue to suffer the injustices of tyrannical regimes. (9-12, 8.7)
Nisei Daughter, Monica Sone (1953):
“Nisei Daughter describes the loss of property and the personal insults, the barbed wire and armed guards, the dust storms, horrible food, unfinished barracks, and barren land – and the efforts of the Japanese-Americans to maintain their ethics, family life, and belief in the United States. Monica Sone is furious at the blatant disregard of her civil rights, and yet ironically, it is during her time in the camps and afterwards in the Midwest that she finally brings together the various aspects of her heritage. Straightforward, searching, often funny, this is a highly readable account of one woman’s experience living in many worlds.” (Erica Bauermeister, n.d.)
Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi (1958):
Primo Levi provides a personal narrative of his capture and deportation from his native Italy to Auschwitz in 1943. His memoir recounts the 10 months of horror he witnessed and the enduring strength of the human spirit to survive even the most desperate and dehumanizing conditions.
We Are Witnesses, Jacob Boas (1995):
Boas, a Holocaust survivor, provides excerpts from five teenagers, among them Anne Frank, from different parts of Europe who shared a common experience: All were Jewish and all died at the hands of the Nazis. Accompanied by Boas’ commentaries, We Are Witnesses reflects the impact of the Holocaust on young people and “bears powerful witness to what happened to ordinary families as they were crowded into the ghettos, persecuted, and murdered” (Booklist, n.d.). (9-12, 7.0)
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass (1852):
“If Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the fictional masterpiece of American abolitionism…then Douglass’s Fourth of July address is abolition’s rhetorical masterpiece. In style and substance, no 19th century American ever offered a more poignant critique of America’s racial condition than Douglass did on July 5, 1852…. He had used language to move people and mountains; he had explained a nation’s condition, and through the pain of his indictment, illuminated a path to a better day. …The meaning of slavery and freedom in America had never found such a voice at once so terrible and so truthful." (David W. Blight, 2005)
The Witchcraft of Salem Village, Shirley Jackson (1956):
Author Shirley Jackson examines in careful detail the horrifyingly true story of accusations, trials, and executions that shook tiny Salem Village to its foundations. Jackson’s book serves as the perfect companion to The Crucible. (6-8, 5.9)
John and Abigail Adams’ historic correspondence reflect their personal sacrifices and abiding affection for one another as well as insight to the turbulent events surrounding the founding of the new nation. These letters address Abigail’s concern for the failure of the “Founding Fathers” to address the status of women in the Declaration of Independence.
Behind Barbed Wire: The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans During World War II, Daniel S. Davis (1982):
Davis discusses the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor, their way of life there, and their eventual assimilation into society following the war.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown (1970):
Dee Brown’s history of America’s policy toward Native Americans reveals the dark side of a government committed to expansion at all costs. “Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos in 1860 and ending 30 years later with the massacre of Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, it tells how the American Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically expanding white society. …Again and again, promises made to the Indians fell victim to the ruthlessness and greed of settlers pushing westward… (John Stevenson, n.d.). Relying on extensive primary sources and period photographs, Brown attacks the traditional stereotypes of Native Americans and reveals the genocidal fate of an indigenous people victimized by a society and its government that perverted the law to its own ends. (9-12, 7.9)
“Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau, (1849):
Thoreau’s famous essay on the relationship between individual conscience and duty to the government influenced both Mohandas Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s doctrine of non-violent passive resistance.
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (1947):
Discovered in 1947 and published in English in 1952, Diary of a Young Girl recounts the life of Anne Frank and her family as they seek refuge from the Nazis in an Amsterdam warehouse. Anne’s diary provides a highly detailed and intimate account of this horrific period and “epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust” (Wendy Smith, n.d.). Diary of a Young Girl also reminds us that the evil that killed Anne in 1944 at Bergen-Belsen is still with us in the genocidal wars that exterminate thousands annually. (6-8, 5.1)
My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass (1855):
“Frederick Douglass originally penned his book as a response to people’s accusations that someone as articulate and composed as he couldn’t possibly be a former slave. With that goal in mind, Douglass wrote his memoirs, in a straight forward, powerful way. In the book, he painfully and honestly documents the path his early life took; the memories of being owned, how slaves coped during these times, and how he managed to pull himself out of it all.” (James Hiller, 2004) (9-12)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845):
Escaping bondage in 1838, Douglass gives a detailed and moving account of his life as a slave and how he learned to read and write, the dehumanizing effects of slavery, and his own triumph over it to become one of his era’s most influential and out-spoken critics of America’s “peculiar institution.” (9-12, 7.9)
Night, Elie Wiesel (1960):
This gripping memoir describes Wiesel’s first hand experience with the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps probe the universal themes of guilt, survival, and human injustice and cruelty. His memoir speaks for those whose voices were silenced by the atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps and for all who continue to suffer the injustices of tyrannical regimes. (9-12, 8.7)
Nisei Daughter, Monica Sone (1953):
“Nisei Daughter describes the loss of property and the personal insults, the barbed wire and armed guards, the dust storms, horrible food, unfinished barracks, and barren land – and the efforts of the Japanese-Americans to maintain their ethics, family life, and belief in the United States. Monica Sone is furious at the blatant disregard of her civil rights, and yet ironically, it is during her time in the camps and afterwards in the Midwest that she finally brings together the various aspects of her heritage. Straightforward, searching, often funny, this is a highly readable account of one woman’s experience living in many worlds.” (Erica Bauermeister, n.d.)
Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi (1958):
Primo Levi provides a personal narrative of his capture and deportation from his native Italy to Auschwitz in 1943. His memoir recounts the 10 months of horror he witnessed and the enduring strength of the human spirit to survive even the most desperate and dehumanizing conditions.
We Are Witnesses, Jacob Boas (1995):
Boas, a Holocaust survivor, provides excerpts from five teenagers, among them Anne Frank, from different parts of Europe who shared a common experience: All were Jewish and all died at the hands of the Nazis. Accompanied by Boas’ commentaries, We Are Witnesses reflects the impact of the Holocaust on young people and “bears powerful witness to what happened to ordinary families as they were crowded into the ghettos, persecuted, and murdered” (Booklist, n.d.). (9-12, 7.0)
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass (1852):
“If Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the fictional masterpiece of American abolitionism…then Douglass’s Fourth of July address is abolition’s rhetorical masterpiece. In style and substance, no 19th century American ever offered a more poignant critique of America’s racial condition than Douglass did on July 5, 1852…. He had used language to move people and mountains; he had explained a nation’s condition, and through the pain of his indictment, illuminated a path to a better day. …The meaning of slavery and freedom in America had never found such a voice at once so terrible and so truthful." (David W. Blight, 2005)
The Witchcraft of Salem Village, Shirley Jackson (1956):
Author Shirley Jackson examines in careful detail the horrifyingly true story of accusations, trials, and executions that shook tiny Salem Village to its foundations. Jackson’s book serves as the perfect companion to The Crucible. (6-8, 5.9)