Society & Class

Examinations of class, power, and the structures we live within.

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The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family, tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hoping to find work and a better future, they travel west to California, joining thousands of other migrants searching for survival. Instead of prosperity, they encounter exploitation, overcrowded camps, low wages, and hostility from landowners who fear the growing number of desperate workers. As the family’s circumstances deteriorate, Tom Joad and his mother struggle to preserve their dignity and solidarity in the face of injustice. Steinbeck portrays the human cost of economic collapse, revealing how powerful institutions can profit from the vulnerability of ordinary people. The novel explores poverty, migration, collective resistance, and the importance of community, arguing that human survival depends not only on individual determination but also on mutual responsibility and social justice.

United States 1939

The Groves of Academe

The Groves of Academe

At the progressive Jocelyn College, literature instructor Henry Mulcahy receives devastating news: his contract will not be renewed. Convinced that the college president is conspiring against him, Mulcahy launches a desperate campaign to save his career. As Cold War paranoia and anti-Communist suspicion sweep through America, he discovers that political loyalties and accusations can be powerful weapons in the battle for academic survival. But the more he fights for justice, the more his own dishonesty and ambition come to light. Sharp, witty, and mercilessly observant, The Groves of Academe exposes the rivalries, ideological hypocrisy, and petty power struggles lurking behind the respectable façade of university life.

United States 1952

Best of Everything

Best of Everything

The Best of Everything follows five young women working in a New York publishing company during the late 1950s as they navigate professional ambition, romance, and the expectations placed on women in postwar America. Caroline Bender dreams of building a meaningful career, while her colleagues struggle with relationships, financial insecurity, and the pressure to find suitable husbands. Their experiences reveal a world in which women are encouraged to pursue independence but are still judged by their marital status and appearance. As the characters encounter workplace discrimination, emotional disappointments, and difficult personal choices, they begin to question what success and happiness really mean. Jaffe offers an unvarnished portrait of women’s lives in a rapidly changing society, exploring the conflict between individual aspirations and conventional expectations. The novel examines gender inequality, ambition, and the price women are often expected to pay for trying to have both a career and a fulfilling personal life.

United States 1958

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by Scout Finch, a young girl growing up in a deeply segregated society. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. As Scout and her brother Jem observe the trial and its consequences, they encounter the realities of racial prejudice, social inequality, and moral courage. Their experiences challenge their childhood assumptions about justice and human goodness. Through Scout’s developing understanding of the world, Harper Lee examines the conflict between personal conscience and social convention, showing how prejudice can distort even the most fundamental principles of fairness.

United States 1960

Covering Islam

How does the media shape what the world believes about Islam? In Covering Islam, Edward W. Said investigates how Western news organisations, academics, and political commentators represent Islam and Muslim societies. He argues that media coverage often reduces diverse communities to simplified images associated with extremism, conflict, and political threat, obscuring the complexity of their histories and everyday lives. Said explores the relationship between knowledge, media institutions, and political power, asking readers to question who gets to define another culture and whose perspectives are excluded. The book remains an important study of representation, stereotyping, and the influence of public narratives on international understanding.

Palestine United States 1981

The World, the Text, and the Critic

The World, the Text, and the Critic

Can literature ever be separated from the world in which it is created? In The World, the Text, and the Critic, Edward W. Said challenges the idea that literary works should be understood independently of their historical and political contexts. Through a series of essays, he examines the relationship between literature, intellectual life, institutions, and social power. Said introduces the idea of worldliness: texts are produced within particular historical circumstances and participate in the societies around them, whether their authors acknowledge it or not. He also considers the critic’s responsibility to question established assumptions rather than simply reinforce dominant ideas. This influential collection explores how literary criticism can become a form of intellectual independence and public engagement.

Palestine United States 1983

The Secret History

The Secret History

At an elite Vermont college, a tight-knit group of classics students becomes consumed by beauty, intellectual obsession, and the darker side of ancient philosophy. When their pursuit of an extraordinary experience leads to murder, their carefully constructed world begins to unravel. An atmospheric psychological novel about guilt, privilege, and the dangerous allure of belonging.

United States 1992

Representations of the Intellectual

Representations of the Intellectual

Should intellectuals challenge those in power, even when doing so threatens their careers, reputations, or personal safety? Based on his 1993 BBC Reith Lectures, Representations of the Intellectual explores the role of the thinker in public life. Edward W. Said argues that intellectuals have a responsibility to question accepted wisdom, resist political and institutional pressure, and speak honestly about injustice—even when their views are unpopular. Drawing on figures such as Theodor Adorno and Jonathan Swift, as well as contemporary political events, Said examines the dangers of allowing expertise, ambition, nationalism, or financial interests to silence independent thought. He presents the intellectual as an outsider who must remain willing to challenge authority rather than simply serve it. Passionate and provocative, this short collection asks what it means to preserve intellectual independence in a world shaped by powerful institutions and competing interests. It remains a compelling reflection on the relationship between knowledge, conscience, and public responsibility.

Palestine United States 1994

Heads of the Colored People

Heads of the Colored People

Nafissa Thompson-Spires

In Heads of the Colored People, Nafissa Thompson-Spires explores race, identity, and belonging in contemporary Black America. Through interconnected stories, she examines the complexities of social expectations, cultural stereotypes, and the pressures of navigating identity in a society shaped by racial inequality.

United States 2019

Neruda on the Park

Neruda on the Park

For twenty years, the Guerrero family has called Nothar Park, a predominantly Dominican neighbourhood in New York City, home. But when a neighbouring tenement is demolished to make way for luxury condominiums, the threat of gentrification pushes the community toward a breaking point. Eusebia Guerrero, determined to protect the neighbourhood and the people who shaped her life, begins organising increasingly risky schemes to frighten developers away. Her daughter, Luz, has very different ambitions: a successful career in corporate law and the comfortable lifestyle her immigrant parents worked hard to provide. When Luz loses her job and falls into a passionate relationship with a wealthy property developer connected to the very project her mother opposes, the conflict between them becomes deeply personal. Meanwhile, Luz’s father secretly plans their retirement in the Dominican Republic, reopening old tensions about home and belonging. With humour and emotional depth, Neruda on the Park explores gentrification, generational conflict, immigrant identity, and the difficult choices families face when the place they call home begins to disappear.

Dominican Republic United States 2022

Witness

What does it mean to witness someone else’s suffering—and what responsibility comes with seeing the truth? Set in contemporary New York City, Witness brings together ten stories about people caught between the desire to care for one another and the uncomfortable truths that make connection difficult. A young girl tries to navigate tensions within her family as the home she knows faces an uncertain future. A man struggles with memories he cannot escape. A woman living with the aftermath of violence searches for a way forward. Across these lives, ordinary encounters become moments of revelation, exposing the quiet decisions that can shape a family, a friendship, or an entire community. Jamel Brinkley writes about the spaces between people: the affection that survives disappointment, the secrets that fracture trust, and the moments when silence becomes its own kind of betrayal. His characters are neither wholly innocent nor easily condemned; they are human, complicated, and often uncertain about what doing the right thing actually requires. Tender, unsettling, and deeply observant, Witness explores grief, belonging, inequality, and the moral weight of looking away. It asks whether truly seeing another person is enough—or whether we must also find the courage to act.

United States 2023

Yellowface

Rebecca F. Kuang

How far would you go to become the writer you believe you deserve to be? June Hayward has spent years watching her university friend Athena Liu enjoy the literary success she desperately craves. When Athena dies unexpectedly, June steals her unpublished manuscript, makes a few changes, and publishes it under the ambiguous name Juniper Song. The novel becomes a sensation, bringing June fame, fortune, and the recognition she has always wanted. But as questions about authorship and cultural appropriation begin to surface, maintaining her carefully constructed identity becomes increasingly dangerous. With biting humour and escalating suspense, Yellowface exposes the darker side of the publishing industry, exploring racism, jealousy, literary ambition, and the ethics of telling stories that are not yours.

United States 2023

About this theme

Books: 17
Countries: 54

Countries with this theme

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Congo, Democratic Republic

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Dominican Republic