Newest Study Guides
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.
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.
The people of England have taken a rough view toward the manners, taste and sophistication of Americans since they themselves became the first colonists. Almost two full decades before witches started suddenly popping up with shocking frequency...
Judith is an Old English poem written by an anonymous author. This is possibly the same author who wrote the epic poem Beowulf as it appears in the same manuscript as this poem. This poem is based on the Book of Judith, which is present within...
The Neon Bible, authored by John Kennedy Toole, was originally published during 1989 and was later published during 1994 by Grove Press. This book is centered on David, a rather dramatic and peculiar boy living in a small town within the South...
The Battle of Maldon refers to an alliterative poem glorifying an actual historical engagement which shares its name. The actual battle of Maldon occurred in 991 and pitted valorous Anglo-Saxon warriors against the Danish Vikings. The poem is...
Say What You Will is a contemporary young adult novel by Cammie McGovern, published on June 3, 2014. McGovern is an American author born in Illinois. This novel is her first young adult novel. The novel is centered around two main characters: Amy...
The Silence of the Lambs became the third novel published by Thomas Harris. His freshman effort about a mad bomber using a blimp to terrorize America at its very cultural soul—the Super Bowl—appeared to acclaim a dozen years earlier. Black Sunday...
British author Evelyn Waugh is far better known for his stories about classically British people in classically British settings like Brideshead Revisited. In fact, were it not for Brideshead Revisited, Waugh would likely never have written The...
The Blind Assassin is a novel published on September 3, 2000, by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. Atwood was born in Ottawa and was raised there. The setting of the story is in Canada, where the story centers on three main characters: Iris, Laura,...
In the pantheon of science fiction writers, three names continue to arise in any argument over who has been the most influential: Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. (Although, certainly, Bradbury, Verne, and H. G. Wells have their hardcore supporters...
The Heart of a Woman (1981) by Maya Angelou is the fourth book in her series of seven autobiographies. The Heart of a Woman tells the tale of Angelou as she leaves the world of show biz behind and moves to New York to become a writer and join the...
Guillaume de Machaut wrote The Fountain of Love (La Fonteinne Amoureuse), which was published during 1993 by Routledge. Machaut was a notable French poet and musician of the fourteenth century. "The Fountain of Love" is a popular love vision poem...
Before there was Al Pacino and the profanity-laden iconic gangster movie "Scarface", there was the 1932 version, directed by Howard Hawks, a movie that, although constrained far more than its modern counterpart by rules that prevented the showing...
Red Sorghum, written by Mo Yan, tells the story of the Chinese battling Japanese intruders as well as each other during the 1930s. Furthermore, it details the tragedy of the Chinese defending and preserving their culture through a series of...
Jez Butterworth wrote Jerusalem, a melancholic yet humorous play published during 2009 by Nick Hern Books. This play's setting and story plot are rooted in an English country community involving gangs and gypsies, among other things. Specifically,...
I Shall Not Hate (A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity) was written by Izzeldin Abuelaish, which is a riveting yet heart-breaking account of his life. It was first published during 2010 and was later published during 2011...
Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, poet, composer, and logician of the twelfth century. He was also known as a prominent theologian of the Middle Ages. He was born during 1079 and died during 1142. From a philosophical standpoint, he is...
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a well-regarded poet born during 1952 in Chapelton, a small town within Clarendon, Jamaica. After moving to London during 1963, he embarked on a compelling journey of educational achievements, political activism, and...
Inspired by The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood, Cabaret is a musical/drama film directed by Bob Fosse released in 1972. It was an extremely successful film, winning 8 Oscars and earning $48.2 million worldwide.
The movie is set in 1931...
"Berlin Stories" is a collection of short stories written by Christopher Isherwood, first published in 1935. The stories are set in Berlin during the early 1930s, a period of great social and political upheaval in Germany. Isherwood, an English...
George Meredith was an English poet and novelist in the Victorian Era. He originally read law and was on the path to be a lawyer but chose instead to abandon that career and pursue poetry and journalism. He began a literary magazine called the...
Excitement sizzled like electricity through the air when Tim Burton was announced as the director who would bring Batman back to the screen with a new big screen update promising to take the Caped Crusader back from the campy wilderness he’d been...
The Dark Knight Rises is the finale to the famed Batman trilogy directed by the acclaimed Christopher Nolan, and was released on July 2012 and distributed by Warner Bros.
In this movie, Christian Bale reprises his role as the infamous playboy...
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (1927-2008) worked closely with her husband Robert A. Fernea for years as an ethnologist of African and Middle Eastern cultures. She has earned a reputation as a brilliant filmmaker and author. As a woman, her work in the...
Originally published in Harper’s Bazaar in July 1926, the first of what would become a seemingly endless series of republications in anthologies and textbooks commenced the very next year when D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” appeared in...