History & Society
See how societies, institutions, power, and historical change shape the present.
Books
Trevor Noah
Born a Crime
2 min read
Born a Crime
by Trevor Noah
For readers drawn to memoir in which language can change a person’s social position and humor never cancels historical seriousness, Born a Crime offers a voice unlike a conventional history.
Tara Westover
Educated
2 min read
Educated
What if gaining a wider vocabulary for your life makes belonging more complicated, rather than simply giving you a way out?
George Orwell
1984
2 min read
1984
What happens to a person when private thought is no longer safely separate from public power?
Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens
2 min read
Sapiens
A rule can feel natural until you notice how much shared practice it asks strangers to carry.
Arundhati Roy
The God of Small Things
2 min read
The God of Small Things
The order in which a life is remembered can be as consequential as the events themselves.
Rebecca Skloot
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
2 min read
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Scientific progress can be real without making the human terms of that progress simple.
Peter Frankopan
The Silk Roads
2 min read
The Silk Roads
What changes in a history of the world when Asia, the Middle East, and long-distance exchange become organizing questions rather than background context?
Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart
2 min read
Things Fall Apart
Before outsiders arrive in a novel, a community has already been arguing, celebrating, judging, and governing itself.