” Touching the Void is an account by Joe Simpson of a mountain climbing expedition gone awry. In 1985, Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Simon Yates set out to scale Siula Grande, a remote peak in the Peruvian Andes. At some point during the climb, Simpson fell and broke his leg. Though Yates was … Read more
Erich Fromm was best known for his revolutionary views on modern society, particularly in the areas of psychological and social development. He was a prolific writer who authored many books on psychology. Although Erich had studied at International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, he did not have an extensive background in clinical psychiatry. Erich had no formal … Read more
F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most famous and respected American writers in history. Among his more prominent works are some short stories and novels written during and about the Jazz Age, a time period following WWI known for its change in culture, classism, political unrest, and jazz music. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story … Read more
Elephant Run is a story that takes place during World War II. In Elephant Run, you get to know about a boy name Nick who has been living in the tea plantation of Burma with his mom and dad for almost all of his life. The time period is from 1942-1945, which definitely makes Elephant … Read more
Langdon Winner’s book, The Whale and the Reactor, is meant to be a critique of modern technology and more specifically, nuclear power. Langdon Winner begins the book by describing the perspective that activists in the 1960s had of technology; they believed that all new technologies were fundamentally opposed to their values. This perspective led many … Read more
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a five-thousand-year-old story that is considered the first great piece of epic literature from Mesopotamia. The epic also holds a special place in history as it contains one of the earliest flood myths, which would later inspire The Bible’s Old Testament flood account and The Qur’an’s account of Noah. The … Read more
The book ‘ The Summer I Turned Pretty’ is written by Jenny Han, who was born in Richmond, Virginia. This book is her first book. Jenny attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated with a degree in advertising (Staples-Morton 3). “The book actually started off as three different book ideas. While … Read more
Eleven is a book by Sandra Cisneros, which came out in 1984. The main character of Eleven is Esperanza, an eleven year old girl. Eleven was chosen for this year’s One Book, One Philadelphia program because it is about the life of a young Hispanic girl living in Chicago during 1969. Author Sandra Cisneros was … Read more
The Scarlet Letter is a novel set in the Puritan history of Massachusetts and tells the story of Hester Prynne, who has committed adultery and must wear a scarlet “A” on her chest as punishment. The letter “A” stands for adulterer, but it can also mean “adultery. ” The letters on her clothing reflect Hester’s … Read more
The book The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, was published in 1969. The two most popularly known movies The Godfather are both based on that novel. The first movie released in 1972 and the second followed in 1974. The story of The Godfather is about an Italian-American Mafia family, headed by Don Vito Corleone, based around … Read more
“The Jacket,” by Gary Soto tells the story of fifteen-year-old Tony Mendez living in a California ghetto. The book begins with Tony hearing that his friend had been stabbed defending him against bullies at school. The principal of the high school calls Tony’s father to let him know what happened and the police are called. … Read more
“The Cheater’s Guide To Love” features a main character that struggles with finding love again after ruining his first. The main character is described as a young man who was considered the catch in college due to his good looks, charm, and athletic physique. The story tells of how this main character meets someone that … Read more
In his book, Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, Shamus Khan, a sociologist, uses his observations, interviews, and analysis of St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire to use St. Paul’s as an example of how or why Privilege exists among the ‘elite’ classes. Shamus Khan argues that both privileges are … Read more
The book Dreamland, by author Sarah Dessen, is not exactly what the title seems to be. The first thing I thought of when hearing the title was a girl lost in a dream finding people and magic and waking up into reality. You may or may not have had the same thoughts as I had … Read more
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool” –William Shakespeare. In the book, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Javert is a man of the law, nothing more, nothing less. From the first time Javert and Jean Valjean met, he pretty much knew that was not going … Read more
He worked with Paul Green between 1940 and 1941 to create a stage adaptation of the novel. Paul Green later wrote another adaptation for the stage with the guidance of Richard Wright right beside him. He down plays Bigger and even lets him off of the hook for the murder of Bessie. Even though it … Read more
Alice Munro grew up on a small farm which provided her with a firsthand view of the imagery she would come to use in her writing. One story with a small farm family is “Boys and Girls. ” It is an initiation story of a young girl at conflict with the gender roles placed upon … Read more
My Journey into Tai Chi For the past month and a half, once a week I go to my Tai Chi session. I took Tai Chi is a way for me to lightly exercise during my first year in college. In the beginning I found Tai Chi to be a little difficult and at times … Read more
People embodies social institutions within them, and all social cues and behaviors are passed down, weather through direct education or not. The subtle process allows for unhealthy conducts and damaging ideals to seep through and pass on unseen, until it manifest itself in destructive ways, and this destruction can happen to a singular person or … Read more
The Mind of Steinbeck and the Eyes of Charley A dog is a man’s best friend. Man and dog have been known to complete each other. A man tells his dog all of his deepest thoughts and feeling with the knowledge that he will not be judged. He brings human-like characteristics to his dog and … Read more
Camille sipped her tea and enjoyed the rays of sunlight streaming into the coffee shop. Class had finished and her friend Lena had just left her. For now, she enjoyed the bliss of peace and quiet of being alone without lonesomeness. She took her book” Girl, interrupted” and sipped her tea. She sympathised with the … Read more
As a human being, it is essential to have some type of occupation in your lifetime. This is due to the necessity of financial compensation or money in order to live. Some people may need more money than others based on how their life is orchestrated. Now just because someone might simply have a specific … Read more
In the book: Persepolis Marji and others are surrounded by oppression set upon them and they have to live their lives under the control of the Regime, The Shah, and being in the mix of a war between Iran and Iraq. Persepolis reflects on what happened during the Iranian Revolution, the way of life for … Read more
If history has shown us one thing it is that in times of terrible injustice and horrid tragedy how people react tends to be radically divided. When looking back at unjust acts done against others there always seem to be a large amount of people who seem to agree with said action, or are indifferent … Read more
The Castle Of Otranto Summary In 1764, author Horace Walpole published a new form of literacy; the gothic novel. The Castle of Otranto, known as the first gothic book takes place in Italy during the twelfth century. It is a book containing a fundamental plot with ghost, knights, damsels in distress and the continuous battle … Read more
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is based off of how an author named Rebecca Skloot, describes learning about an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 as a result of cervical cancer, but her cancerous cells became the first immortal human cell line, which would be known as Hela. Rebecca … Read more
Imagine being thrust into the middle of a raging battle, a battle that lasts for 3 long days. The book Killer Angels by Michael Shaara does just that, introducing the reader to the Battle of Gettysburg in detail. Killer Angels elaborates upon the 5 days surrounding the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War, using … Read more
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot covers multiple topics regarding legal, cultural, and medical issues in health care through the story of Henrietta Lacks, her children, and her immortal cells. Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. While living in what her family called the “home house”, Henrietta … Read more
In his book, The Working Poor, David Shipler introduces readers to the culture of those he calls “invisible” Americans. He describes these people as the struggling poor who work to provide a comfortable lifestyle to the same people that are unaware of their plight. In the chapter entitled, “Sins of the Fathers,” readers meet Wendy … Read more
In The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. Moore states, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” (180). In my opinion, this statement is true, depending on how people interpret it. I see it as yes, it is a tragedy that … Read more
A topic that is shown throughout A Long Way Gone is the desire to escape the war. Ishmael Beah had the want, the need, and the desire to escape the war that was happening in Sierra Leone. He had to escape those who turned on the country and became rebels. Running away became part of … Read more
In the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, two people by the name of Wes Moore turned out to have different fates. One became a Rhodes Scholar while the other became a convicted murderer who’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison. How did one become more traditionally successful than … Read more
In his book, “The Shame of the Nation”, Jonathan Kozol outlines core inequalities in the American educational system. According to Kozol although great steps were made in the 1960s and 1970s to integrate schools, by the end of the 1980s schools had begun to re-segregate. In inner cities such as Chicago, eightyseven percent of children … Read more
The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and a Nations Call to Greatness. It was written by Harlow Giles Unger, who also wrote Lafayette. It was published in 2009 and 2010. This book is about James Monroe and his life. Including his family life, work life, and personal life. Including his life as the fifth president … Read more
The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, is a wonderful book full of many different stories that made her childhood unique. This book is a memoir of the interesting and talented Jeannette Walls. The second chapter of the book begins with her, as a three year old, burning herself severely when making hotdogs for herself. … Read more
Jeannette changes over the course of the novel tremendously, and she uses acceptance to obtain the fact that life is not as successful as it could be. In the book The Glass Castle there are many instances where the family has a problem and they have to accept the fact that life is going to … Read more
The catalogue of works we have covered in class ranges from many different topics. What does seem to be a constant is the similarities the stories have in some major influential areas. Throughout all of the stories we have been through this year authority figures have had important roles on how the story has played … Read more
In the book King Philip’s War by Daniel R. Mandell, Mandell argues that King Philip’s War is the fundamental turning point in the relations between the Indians and Anglo Americans and the Sovereignty of the Indians. This ultimately led to the war known as King Philip’s War. King Philip’s War talks about the encounters between … Read more
Two men grew up in the same city, but are similar in many ways, created a difference in their lives. The author Wes had factors that affected his life, also the Other Wes. Wes had support from his strong mother and from the military. The other Wes didn’t quite have support from his mother and … Read more
In the book, The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers, the author uses the setting to develop the theme and conflict that people will have to face challenges everyday, but the consequences you can receive can draw the line between life or death because sometimes people don’t want to see you succeed in life with … Read more
In the book Nickel and Dimed on (Not) getting by in America, the author lived a life of a low wage worker. This experiment, while deemed insightful by some people, was considered dull and unrealistic to one of my classmates. In response to the question, “What parts of the book made Ehrenreich’s experience unrealistic? ” … Read more
Book Analysis Assignment: Killer Angels In the book Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, he analyzes the roles of two important men in Civil War history. One is Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, and the other is James Longstreet, a Confederate general. Both men play key parts in the battle of Gettysburg … Read more
The pure tenacity that seeps from the pages of Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle is mesmerizing enough in its own right to merit the praise that has been heaped upon the memoir; these pages expose their readers to the scorching heat of deserts’ sundance-yellow sands and the blackened clothing and miners’ pails of a soot-and-work … Read more
This essay is based on the ideas of reporting and producing which are analyzed in Kathleen Jamie’s travel writing in her book Among Muslims. By talking to real “Shia Girls”, Jamie observes how their lives are different then hers. Jamie wants to understand the lives of the Shia Girls and see what their culture is … Read more
I chose Holes by Louis Sachar for the book that I would save if I could only save one book. Although I read it about eight years ago, I have very fond memories of this story. I remember when I was about eight years old, my family and I listened to the audiobook while we … Read more
In the children’s bedtime storybook, Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd, the author introduces the reader to “… the great green room” (1) in which greeting the inanimate objects that are first seen when the story begins. The storybook consists of simple lines of rhymes throughout each page along … Read more
Stephen Bates Battleground is a non fictional book that tells the story of a protest, by a group of parents against what they see as secular humanism in a public school reading series designed for elementary, middle and high school students. The protest eventually turned into a lawsuit in 1983 known as Mozert, who was … Read more
Abrashoff begins the book by informing the reader of how his story begins; when he is given command of the USS Benfold. The Benfold was the Navy’s most advanced guided missile destroyer the Navy had in 1997 and its command was to be one of the Navy’s top innovators. Unfortunately, Abrashoff points out some flaws … Read more
