Newest Study Guides
Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
Boyz n the Hood is Writer/Director John Singleton's debut effort. It was released in 1991 and stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre Styles, Angela Bassett as Reva Styles, Laurence Fishburne as Jason Styles Jr., and Ice Cube as Darrin Baker. The movie...
In the early 1970s, an ethnic sub-genre of movies emerged known as "Blaxploitation". The films featured largely stereotypical black characters, and for this reason received considerable backlash, but despite this, Blaxploitation movies were the...
Maurice is a novel about homosexuality written by E. M. Forster. It was first published after several years of revision and work in 1971, a year after the death of its author. The book was initially written between the years 1913 and 1914, revised...
History of the Peloponnesian War is an historical recollection of the war between the Peloponnesian League and the Delian League, called the Peloponnesian War. It is also commonly known as a conflict between Athens and Sparta and their allies. The...
German film director Fritz Lang was sailing into New York City for the first time in 1924 when he was struck with his initial inspiration for Metropolis. He described his first glimpse of the skyline thus: "I looked into the streets—the glaring...
Little Dorrit is a novel written by Charles Dickens published between 1855 and 1857. The book was published in serial form and was divided into nineteen parts, each sold separately. Each installment was illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne and had...
Considered one of the defining works of contemporary gay literature, Call Me By Your Name is a coming-of-age-story and romantic novel that meditates on time, desire, and the intensity of the experiences that punctuate our lives and leave a...
"Memory Green" by Archibald MacLeish, though not one of MacLeish's most famous poems, is highly characteristic of his style and prowess. The poem, published in 1930, contains several of his signatures as a poet: the use of natural imagery to...
Written by author Carrie Ryan, Infinity Ring: Divide and Conquer (published in 2012) tells the story of three kids named Dak, Sera, and Riq and how they try to stop the Vikings from coming into Paris. When Dak gets captured he is forced to work...
“Absalom and Achitophel” is a heroic satire written by John Dryden in 1681-1682. John Dryden is an English poet, playwright, translator, essayist, and literary theorist. Along with Shakespeare and Milton, he is considered as one of the most...
Nashville is a musical comedy movie, starring the city of Nashville. The movie is both directed and produced by Robert Altman, and the screenplay is by Joan Tewkesbury. The movie was released in 1975 and is known for the heavy influence the music...
Looking for Alaska was published in 2005 by Dutton Children’s Books. It was John Green’s first novel. Inspired by his own education at Indian Springs School in Alabama, the book is set at the fictional Culver Creek Preparatory School, an upscale...
Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World, published anonymously in January of 1778, is the first novel written by Frances Burney. It is often considered her best work, and it is certainly her most popular and widely-read....
Saint Maybe is a novel written by the American author Anne Tyler. It was published in 1991 by Knopf, published in print with 337 pages. The book has elements of the genre literary realism, since that is the genre in which Tyler usually writes.
The...
In 1934 James M. Cain published his first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice. The tale of illicit lovers fueled by sexual obsession and greed to murder the woman’s husband became a best seller and inspired three different movie versions before...
Akira is an animated Japanese movie that resides in the cyberpunk sub-genre because of its futuristic setting that juxtaposes an ever-advancing technological world with a human world that is fast degenerating and where social order is disappearing...
Shadowboxing is a collection of short stories that are connected through the main character; Michael. It is written by Tony Birch, who is an Australian poet, short story writer and novelist. Shadowboxing is Tony’s first book, and it was published...
Naked Masks is a collection of five plays by Luigi Pirandello, who is a highly celebrated dramatist. Luigi Pirandello was born in 1867 and was educated in Rome. In 1889, he published his first work, a collection of poems called Mal Giocondo....
If R.K. Narayan was to go by his given name, then the cover would be an appealing hodge-podge of letters; born Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanswami in 1906, Narayan quickly became one of India's most internationally-revered writers and was at...
The Stepford Wives is an internationally famed book written by renowned author, Ira Levin, who is also known for his bestselling book, Rosemary's Baby. The book was published by Random House in September 1972.
The book centers around the...
Twelve Years a Slave is the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Published in 1853, the same year in which he was liberated, it covers his twelve years in servitude.
Northup recounts his life...
Animal House is a comedic film from 1978, written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, and Chris Miller, and directed by John Landis. It was produced by Matty Simmons of National Lampoon, a humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998, and based on...
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “A Musical Instrument” is a poem first published in Browning's volume Poems Before Congress. The collection was published in 1860, just one year before her death. Unlike the love sonnets of Browning’s earlier works,...
Bridge to Terabithia is a book turned movie adaptation of the book by Katherine Paterson under the same name. It is directed by Gábor Csupó and was written by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. David L. Paterson is both the producer and...