Articles Index
What Is Historical Context?
It is essential to understand historical context of any event when pursuing the deeper meaning of any event in history. What is the historical context?
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird was written in the 1950s by Harper Lee, a native of the American South. This book profile will help you read the book with a better understanding and assist you as you write a book report.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rich in symbolism and adult themes. It offers a mocking and ironic view of life in the slave-holding south in the years preceding the American Civil War.
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most moving and telling depictions of the many atrocities carried out against Jewish families during World War II. This book summary provides an overview of Anne Frank's famous journal.
All Quiet on the Western Front
From the safety of the school room to combat on the front line, the book follows the path from the glory to the sheer horrors of warfare.
The Red Badge of Courage
The Red Badge of Courage is a short novel depicting the experience of a young man in a Union regiment. The brutality of the battlefront brings about a change in his views on war, courage, and life itself.
Frankenstein
This profile of Frankenstein provides information to help you read the book with a better understanding and create a better book report.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was introduced into the unjust world of slavery upon his birth in Maryland sometime before 1820. He learned to read as a youth and as a young adult escaped to New York. This book is the fascinating account of his journey from slave to free man.
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist is a young man born into the misery and cruelty of a workhouse in 1830s England. His experience there and on the crime-ridden back streets of London expose the hypocrisy that existed in some tiers of English society in the early nineteenth century.
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by pilgrims traveling to Canterbury. It was first published in the late fourteenth century, which means it can be difficult for some students to read. However, the clever humor and bawdiness make the venture well worthwhile.
Animal Farm
Amimal Farm is an allegory tale about life on an imaginary farm in England. It is a cleverly drafted politcal book about Soviet oppression, exploitation and control.
Harriet Tubman
She was born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland. In youth, she was beaten and sold away, but the harsh conditions of her life only made her strong. She would grow up to become a great American hero.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
One of America's most inspirational leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. led the way for equality and civil justice for African Americans. We celebrate his life and work on a Monday, near the date of his January 15th birthday.
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather was a complex man, living in a place and time when social change came about under rather violent and macabre circumstances. Although he was a devout man, Mather was open to new scientific ideas like innoculation, which upset some in his Puritan society. Mather was invloved in the Salem Witch Trials, at first encouraging the use of "spectre evidence" in the witchcraft trials, or evidence from supposed vicitims of witchcraft. He later changed his opinion of spectre evidence.
Susan B. Anthony
Can you imagine a time when women couldn't vote? Susan B. Anthony led a struggle for women's suffrage along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association. What a great choice for a biography.