Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
An American Dream is a novel by Norman Mailer, first serialized in the magazine Esquire in 1965. The serialized method was previously used by famous authors such as Charles Dickens. Mailer wrote the novel based on a monthly deadline, with each...
Pariah was written and directed by Dee Rees. It was released in 2011, distributed by Focus Features and produced by Nekisa Cooper with Spike Lee being a notable executive producer on the project. The estimated budget for the project was $450,000...
The Persians is considered to be the only existing ancient Greek tragedy that was based on actual historical events. Dating back back to 472 B.C.E, The Persians is a work by one of the most famous of all figures in Greek literature, Aeschylus....
Slapboxing with Jesus is a collection of short stories that was originally published in 1999 and written by Victor LaValle. LaValle, who is an associate professor at the prestigious Columbia University, is an American author and writer. He has...
In the Country of Men is a novel published by the Libyan author, Hisham Matar. Released in 2006 by Viking Press, the book follows a young boy living in crime-filled Libya, with parents that turn to alcohol to rid themselves of their problems and a...
Playing for the Devil's Fire is a book written by author Phillippe Diederich, who was born in the Dominican Republic. The book was published in 2016, and is a coming of age novel for a young boy who lives in a Mexican town full of poverty and...
Playwright August Wilson set out to chronic\le the African-American experience throughout the 20th century by writing one play set in each of the decades. Of the cycle’s ten plays, King Hedley II is the ninth, set in 1985 and includes characters...
The Time Machine, directed by Hungarian-American filmmaker George Pal, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1960. This science-fiction film won an Academy Award for Best Effects, Special effects the following year. It was made for an...
English writer Jane Austen wrote in the genre of realism; she also liked to use satire in her works and wrote novels about morals. Her books are considered masterpieces around the world, and each generation reads them with ecstasy. What is the...
Published in 1914 by Irish author William Butler Yeats, Responsibilities and Other Poems is a collection of poems about the responsibilities of life and how people must handle them. A play of a similar name and idea was published by Yeats' sister...
The Little Stranger is a gothic novel set in post-war Britain, penned by Sarah Walters, whose previous work, "Tipping The Velvet" and "Affinity", also presented a blend of history and character-driven stories. The Little Stranger checks all the...
Fools and Other Stories is a collection of five stories in which Njabulo Ndebele examines the complexities of life for black South Africans in the closing days of apartheid rule. This book won the Noma Award, the most impressive accolade in Africa...
Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays is a collection of essays written by Zadie Smith and was first published in 2009. Smith is a British author, essayist and professor of creative writing. She is known for numerous best-selling novels, perhaps...
Author Anne Moody's novel Coming of Age in Mississippi chronicles her childhood in rural Mississippi in the 20th century. She was born to tenant farmers and had to endure the South and its racism and injustices pre-Civil Rights. When she heard of...
Shirley is a novel published in 1849 by the English novelist Charlotte Bronte. Her second novel after publishing Jane Eyre, the story popularized a previously only male name into a female one; since the name "Shirley" reflected the title of a book...
"Boule de Suif" is a very famous short story by the French author Guy de Maupassant, and has gained worldwide recognition for its setting in the Franco-Prussian War. Many say that it is his most popular work, leading to the reasoning for this book...
Airplane!, written and directed by Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker, is considered an American classic when it comes to "spoof" cinema. Contrary to popular belief, this blockbuster-sleeper-comedy-runaway-hit of 1980 is not merely a generic...
Aged 21, Colum McCann, the author of TransAtlantic moved from Dublin to New York to write “the great Irish-American novel”. McCann’s novels typically dwell on multiple storylines, diverse perspectives and wide sympathies- all usually arranged...
Zero Hour! was released in 1957. Directed by Hall Bartlett, written by Arthur Hailey, Hall Bartlett and John Champion and produced by John C. Champion along with Hall Bartlett. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures and had an estimated...
Arun Krushnaji Kamble was an author and poet from Maharashtra, India. Born in 1953, he died 56 years later in 2009. Not only a poet but also a Dalit activist, Kamble did much for the Indian government, marching and leading protests to challenge...
Citizenfour was released in 2014. It is a documentary directed by Laura Poitras and produced by Mathilde Bonnefoy, Laura Poitras and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh. The film focuses on Poitrais's interaction with Edward Snowden in...
Gregory Nunzio Corso (born in 1930) was an American poet of Italian descent. Corso spent the majority of his childhood in foster homes and orphanages as well as two traumatic stays in prison during which he first began to write and developed an...
Born Hilda Doolittle in Pennsylvania in 1886, the course of her future as a published poet was set both literally and figuratively by a close and intense relationship with one of the most famous and influential literary figures of the 20th...
"Poor Liza" was written in 1792 by Nikolay Mikhaylovich Karamzin, a Russian historian, poet and journalist who was also the key figure in the sentimentalist school of Russian literature. "Poor Liza" was well-received as soon as it was published...
