"Never has a book hit my heart with its symbolism behind grief and hilarity."
- Zoë Stringer
Fun Home by
A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescense, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.
"This is the book that made it all click, made me realize I actually knew why I was a WGSS major. I have the biggest mind crush on Judith Butler."
- Becca Leavell
Bodies That Matter by
In Bodies That Matter, Judith Butler further develops her distinctive theory of gender by examining the workings of power at the most "material" dimensions of sex and sexuality. Deepening the inquiries she began in Gender Trouble, Butler offers an original reformulation of the materiality of bodies, examining how the power of heterosexual hegemony forms the "matter" of bodies, sex, and gender. Butler argues that power operates to constrain "sex" from the start, delimiting what counts as a viable sex. She offers a clarification of the notion of "performativity" introduced in Gender Trouble and explores the meaning of a citational politics. The text includes readings of Plato, Irigaray, Lacan, and Freud on the formation of materiality and bodily boundaries; "Paris is Burning," Nella Larsen's "Passing," and short stories by Willa Cather; along with a reconsideration of "performativity" and politics in feminist, queer, and radical democratic theory.
"Each chapter of the book tells us how to treat people and make our life better. It teaches us through the examples of many people in different situations."
- Dong Ngo
How to Win Friends and Influence People by
You can go after the job you want...and get it! You can take the job you have...and improve it! You can take any situation you're in...and make it work for you! Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnegie's first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie's principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age. Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.
"Not going there again."
- Mikel Qafa
Crime and Punishment by "It is an extremely well written and engaging book, one of the few novels that truly made me feel emotion and a sense of emptiness upon finishing the text. "
- David Nassau
The Great Gatsby by
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.
"This book really opened my eyes to the power of education that stems far beyond the mere memorization of static facts. By examining the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, we begin to understand that it is not only WHAT we are taught, but HOW we are taught it- are students empty vesicles waiting to be filled with bits of fixed knowledge, or are they co-creators of it, existing in an ever-growing universe? Do we live a life of silence and internalized oppression, or do we find it in ourselves to feel like empowered transforming agents? This book caused me to think critically about my education, myself as a student, the intention behind my pursuit of a college degree, and education as an agent of social change or a reinforcer of oppressive power structures. I've read it over 10 times, and it still remains just as salient as ever."
- Olga Galperin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by
First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished and illiterate people throughout the world. Freire's work has taken on especial urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is increasingly accepted as the norm. With a substantive new introduction on Freire's life and the remarkable impact of this book by writer and Freire confidant and authority Donaldo Macedo, this anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed will inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come. For more information, visit www.pedagogyoftheoppressed.com.
- Vesta Davis
Never Let Me Go by
From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, a moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love. As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old ; lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory. And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now. A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance–and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.
"Completely informed my thesis. Critical work."
- Annie Wright
Can the Subaltern Speak? by
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's original essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" transformed the analysis of colonialism through an eloquent and uncompromising argument that affirmed the contemporary relevance of Marxism while using deconstructionist methods to explore the international division of labor and capitalism's "worlding" of the world. Spivak's essay hones in on the historical and ideological factors that obstruct the possibility of being heard for those who inhabit the periphery. It is a probing interrogation of what it means to have political subjectivity, to be able to access the state, and to suffer the burden of difference in a capitalist system that promises equality yet withholds it at every turn. Since its publication, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" has been cited, invoked, imitated, and critiqued. In these phenomenal essays, eight scholars take stock of the effects and response to Spivak's work. They begin by contextualizing the piece within the development of subaltern and postcolonial studies and the quest for human rights. Then, through the lens of Spivak's essay, they rethink historical problems of subalternity, voicing, and death. A final section situates "Can the Subaltern Speak?" within contemporary issues, particularly new international divisions of labor and the politics of silence among indigenous women of Guatemala and Mexico. In an afterword, Spivak herself considers her essay's past interpretations and future incarnations and the questions and histories that remain secreted in the original and revised versions of "Can the Subaltern Speak?"--both of which are reprinted in this book.
"Opened my eyes to a world of conservation success, struggle, and hopes for the future."
- Taylor Boucher
Essentials of Conservation Biology by
This volume combines theory and applied and basic research to explain the connections between conservation biology and environmental economics, ethics, law, and the social sciences. This third edition stresses the need for theory, research, and an interdisciplinary approach in solving conservation problems. Written in clear, non-technical language this book is suitable for undergraduate biology students, as well as students in other disciplines. Its extensive bibliography with over 1000 references also makes it appropriate for graduate students and researchers.
"It has literally influenced every aspect of my life."
- Grace Braden
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by
After 10 miserable years with his aunt and uncle, Harry Potter is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each book follows another year in Harry's education while more of his frightening destiny is revealed.
"This work was instrumental in teaching readers about the stereotypes and prejudice that the Western World places upon the "East" or "Oriental." All individuals should look into this work to become grounded in the West's domination / colonization fo the world. Must READ!"
- Aaron Falsetto
Orientalism by
The noted critic and a Palestinian now teaching at Columbia University,examines the way in which the West observes the Arabs.
"This choreopoem is for all women as it details the beauty, strength, and uniqueness gathered from womanhood. This is every woman's bible. Yet, this is a book for all as we all are in debt to the creators of our society. I love this book. I have read it over and over and I am still thrilled and in awe after each read."
- Teonna Taylor
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow Is Enuf by
From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for "encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had," for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.
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