This extraordinary book does in 120 pages what it would take most people a treatise to do - deliver a clear-eyed and devastating takedown of authoritarianism and, more specifically, Soviet-style "communism." Let's talk about what it says, what it doesn't say, and whether we should still be listening more than thirty years after the collapse […]
March is both Short Stories Month and Women's History Month, so for the month's contemporary lit choice, we went with a short stories collection edited and curated by one of the most talented female authors currently writing. We're excited to discuss the impact of the variety of pieces and what makes the "best" short stories!
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson is one of the most impactful books that a reader can pick up in their lifetime. It moves beyond the concept of race to reveal an underlying "invisible" architecture of human ranking that has shaped America's history and current events, expertly drawing parallels between the caste systems of Nazi Germany, India, […]
Another one none of us had heard of! Appointment in Samarra is John O'Hara's acclaimed 1934 novel about the rapid, self-destructive downfall of Julian English, a wealthy young man in the fictional Pennsylvania town of Gibbsville over three days during Christmas 1930. Driven by alcohol, social pressure, and impulsive acts, Julian alienates his wife and […]
