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.
Eden Rock is a poem written in the 20th century by English poet Charles Causley. The poem is from his anthology collection, A Field of Vision (1988).
The poem itself is both a message and a vision of life after death. It describes a family where...
Blowin' in the Wind is a folk song by American singer-writer Bob Dylan and produced by John Hammond. The song was released in 1963 by Columbia Records after recording took place a year earlier in New York. The song was eventually included in...
The History Teacher was written by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins as part of his anthology collection Questions About Angels (1991).
In the poem, a teacher fails to do his job properly as a history teacher, and instead decides to create his...
Strange Fruit is a song written by Abel Meeropol, and a version of it was recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. Laura Duncan performed the song at a protest in New York City in the 1930s, and the song has since been covered by key musicians, such as...
Ex Machina is a science-fiction thriller from 2014, written and directed by Alex Garland, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac, and Sonoya Mizuno. It tells the story of a young coder at a large tech company who is invited to...
Ayad Akhtar's one-act play Disgraced is about Amir Kapoor, an American-born lawyer whose Muslim background interferes with his promotion to partner at his Jewish-run legal firm. Amir learns he has not made partner during a dinner party in his...
First published as Ice Candy Man in 1988, Cracking India tells the story of the Partition of India. This historical event occurred in 1947 when the British colony of India was split into two separate countries, India and Pakistan. The story is...
Bringing Up Baby is an American screwball comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1938. The story was based upon the short story by Hagar Wilde which was originally published in Collier's Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.
The film revolves...
Ernest Cline's well-known science fiction novel, Armada, departs from other cliche novels of this genre to freshly examine the familial bond of love and relationships in a dangerously alarming environment thwarting humankind's existence. The book...
Sounder is a young adult novel written by author William Armstrong. The book was published in 1969, telling the story of an unnamed African-American boy and his family, who suffer from hunger and poverty.
Interestingly, Armstrong does choose to...
Savage Sam is a children's story written by Fred Gipson, published in 1962. It follows on from Gipson's story Old Yeller, accompanying the Coates family on another adventure.
The book is set during the 1800s, on a ranch in Texas owned by the...
Ready Player Two is a science-fiction novel written by Ernest Cline and released in 2020. The sequel to the blockbuster novel Ready Player One was released in 2011. Cline had been planning a sequel for years, but he took his time writing this...
Old Yeller is a popular children's book written by author Fred Gipson and illustrated by Carl Burger. It was published in 1956 but remains a well-loved book today. The book was made famous by Walt Disney's film adaptation in 1957.
The story is set...
Sherman Alexie's first book, The Business of Fancydancing, was published in 1992 by an independent press, and Alexie was 26 years old at the time. His work received critical acclaim and attracted a great deal of attention from mainstream...
Around eighty-three million people speak Marathi, the official language of the South-Western region of India. Silence! The Court is in Session (Shanatata! Court Chalu Aahe!) is a play written in the Marathi language by playwright Vijay Tendulkar;...
Devil on the Cross is a novel by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, originally written and published in 1980 under the name Caitani Mutharabaini in the Gĩkũyũ language. The following year, it was translated to English by the author himself, and it was published...
“How Much Land Does a Man Need?” is one of Leo Tolstoy’s most gripping and affecting short stories. Published in 1886, the story examines the futility of chasing wealth, depicts the perils of greed and pride, and condemns corrupt economic...
Oliver Twist was first published in 1837 in serial format, in Bentley’s Miscellany, which Dickens was editing at the time. Oliver Twist was Dickens’s second novel and his first real social novel, critiquing the harm public institutions inflicted...
Calico Joe is a novel written by John Grisham, inspired by baseball. Published in 2012, the book mixes fact and fiction and is overall a great read for lovers of the sport. The novel is about pursuing a career in baseball and follows a...
Frank Stockton's short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" first published in 1882, tells the story of a "semi-barbaric" princess who is thrown into a difficult situation: having to decide whether her lover will marry another woman, or face a ravenous...
While Langston Hughes wrote a myriad of plays, short stories, and essays, he is primarily known for his poetry, especially the verses he wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. Scholars and critics regularly refer to him the “African American Poet...
A Life Sentence is a literary fiction novel by Adeline Sergeant, an English writer from the 19th century. The novel follows a trial for a murder of a respected member of the community called Mr. Vane, who left a widow and children behind. The...
Originally titled “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios”, the movie is based on a French play called “La Voix humaine” from the 1930. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a Spanish dark comedy movie released in 1988.
The movie follows...
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a mixture of comedy and horror based on the musical and the book of the same title, directed by Jim Sharman. The movie is a satiric take on the movies from the first half of the twentieth century, with horror and...