One long range assignment I give my students on the first day:
. Each student in the class is required to choose a
separate text from the list at the end of the syllabus and read that text, and then write about it and present it to the
class. Your paper must have an engaging
introduction, a thesis, and evidence to develop it. A Works Cited page is crucial and must list all sources, including web sites
and ideas from other students expressed outside
class. More details of this
assignment will be provided in class.
Set in:
1859 England The Origin of the Species Darwin
(NF)
1900-present Man and
Microbes: Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times ~ Arno Karlen (NF)
1911 France Madame Curie by Eve Curie (NF)
1914 Europe CATASTROPHE 1914: Europe Goes to War. By Max Hastings.This excellent chronicle of World War I’s first
months by a British military historian dispels some popular myths.
1918 The Great
Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History John Barry
1917 Germany All
Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque
1918 – 40 The Demon
Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's
Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager (NF)
1930 Russia Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler
1939 Germany The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
1939 Soviet
Union The
Good Republic William Palmer
1940s
Germany/Italy
Survival In Auschwitz Primo Levi
It describes
his arrest as a member of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during the Second
World War, and his incarceration in the Auschwitz concentration camp from
February 1944 until the camp was liberated on 27 January 1945.
THE GERMAN WAR: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945. By Nicholas
Stargardt. A dramatic look at the lives of ordinary
German men and women during World War II.
1940’s
Germany Forty Autumns Nina Willner
1940’s France and Germany All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr
1940 Russia A Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovitch Solzhenitsyn
1940 South
Africa Cry, the Beloved
Country Alan Paton
1940’s London
Life After Life Kate Atkinson
1940 Hungary
Fateless Imre Kertész
1940’s North
Africa The Stranger Albert Camus
1940’s North Africa The Plague
Albert Camus
1945 Europe Year Zero: A History of 1945 . By Ian Buruma. This lively
history shows how the Good War turned out badly for many people and splendidly
for others less deserving
1940’s Europe Battlefield Surgeon: Life and Death on
the Front Lines Paul Kennedy
1940’s
Russia Last Witnesses: An Oral History
of the Children of World War II
by Svetlana Alexievich (Author), Richard Pevear (Translator),
Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator) Available on Kindle
1945 Japan Hiroshima John Hersey (NF)
1948 Israel Exodus Leon Uris
1950’s Eastern Europe
Iron Curtain:The Crushing of Eastern Europe(NF)Anne Applebaum
1950’s Europe
Savage Continent Europe in the
Aftermath of WWII Keith Lowe
1950 Nigeria Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
1950’s Europe Aftermath: The Remnants of War (NF)
Donovan Webster
1965-90 Prague Open Letters: Selected
Writings, 1965-1990, by Vaclav
Havel
1950’s
Turkey Istanbul:
Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk (NF)
1965 South
Africa African Stories Doris Lessing
1963 Kenya
Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter
Kimani
1960’s South Africa
Red Dust by
Gillian Slovo
1970 Moscow Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith
1970s Ireland Say Nothing: A True Story of
Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe (NF)
1978 Albania
Broken April, Ismail Kadare
1980s England/France
Black Dogs Ian McEwan
1980s Turkey Snow Orhan Pamuk
1986 Soviet
Union Midnight in Chernobyl: The
Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by
Adam Higginbotham
1987 Hungary The Door By Magda Szabo. Szabo’s haunting 1987 novel
examines the bonds between two very different women in Communist Hungary.
1989 Berlin The Magic Lantern: The
Revolution of 89 witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague Timothy Garton Ash (NF)
1980’s Russia The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of
Cold War Espionage and Betrayal. David
Hoffman available on Kindle
1989 Cuba Havana Bay Martin Cruz Smith
1989 Germany
Revolution 1989 by Victor
Sebestyen, (NF)
1990 South Africa Boyhood Scenes from Provincial Life
by J. M. Coetzee ( 1998) (NF)
1990 Kenya
The Constant Gardener John
LeCarre
1980s Ireland
Belfast Diaries: War as a Way of Life
by John Conroy NF)
1990s Romania The Appointment Herta Muller
1993 Eastern Europe Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through
History (NF)
~
Robert D. Kaplan
1996 Eastern Europe Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their
Journey (NF) Isabel Fonseca
1996 Russia Wolves Eat Dogs Martin Cruz Smith
1990’s London
Londongrad: From Russia with Cash
Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley (NF)
1990’s Zimbabwe
The Hairdresser of Harare by
Tendai Huchu
1990’s Zimbabwe
We Need New Names by Elizabeth
Tshele, NoViolet Bulawayo, .
Now I ask you: which books caught your eye? Which ones have you already read?
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