Students often ask me for literature (using the broad definition here) recommendations. Below is a working list of some of my favorite texts across the genres, mediums, and modes. Last updated November 2021.
Essays
- “The Bible: An Introduction“
- “It’s Just A Movie“
- “Words Fail Me – Virginia Woolf“
- “Leaning In: A Student’s Guide to Engaging Constructively with Social Justice Content”
- “Learning Worth Crying About“
- “Reading Too Much Into This“
- “Why Does God Need a Penis?“
- “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is”
Books, Fiction
- Jane Austen, Emma
- Michael Cunningham, The Hours
- Michael Cunningham, A Home at the End of the World
- Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
- Lee Hutch, Molly’s Song
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland
- Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
- Maria Tatar, ed., Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales About Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World
- Monique Truong, Bitter in the Mouth
- Virginia Woolf, Orlando
Books, General
- Daniel Jurafsky, The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu
- Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
- Frank Warren, ed., PostSecret (any of the books)
Books, History
- Michael C. C. Adams, The Best War Ever: America and World War II (first edition!)
- Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser, A History of Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present
- Carlos Fuentes, The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World
- Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roark, Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South
- Miguel A. De La Torre, Reading the Bible from the Margins
- Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust
- Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
- Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals
- Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
- George J. Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945
- Charles Seife, Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
- John Shelby Spong, Why Christianity Must Change Or Die
- Phil Zuckerman, Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions
Books, History (reads like a novel)
- Luis Alberto Urrea, The Devil’s Highway
- Anand Giridharadas, The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas
- Peter Hessler, Country Driving : A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory
- Erik Larson, Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
- Amy Ellis Nutt, Becoming Nicole: Transformation of an American Family
- Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale: Murder and Anti-Semitism in a German Town
Books, Memoir/Autobiography
- Samra Habib, We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir
- Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
- Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
- Yolanda Pierce, In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit
Books, Writing
- Joseph M. Williams, et al., Style: Lessons in Grace and Clarity
Books, Theory
- Benedict Anderson, Imagined Community
- Meg-John Baker, Queer: A Graphic History
- Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender
- J. Jack Halberstam, Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal
- Sean Hall, This Means This, This Means That: A User’s Guide to Semiotics
- George Ritter, The McDonalidization of Society
- Jane Ward, Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men
- Jane Ward, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality
- Susan Wendell, The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability
- Anything by Susan Sontag, by Michel Foucault, by bell hooks, by Virginia Woolf
Academic Articles
- “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema by Horace Miner“
- “Beyond Compare: Comparative Model after the Transnational Turn”
- “Scholarly Authority in a Wikified World“
- “Think Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture”
- Beyond “Identity”
- “Behind, Beneath, Above, and Beyond: The Historical Unconscious”
- “Should Writers Use Their Own English”
- “Race is a Relationship, and Not a Thing”
Films, Fiction
- Antonia’s Line (1995)
- Bent (1997)
- Crazy in Alabama (1999)
- The Hours (2002)
- My Name is Khan (2010)
- Orlando (1992)
- Mildred Pierce (1945)
- Shoulder Arms (1918)
- Weekend (2011)
- Almost anything with Meryl Streep or with Toni Collette
Films, Documentary
- The Mask You Live In (2015)
- Samsara (2011)
Fiction, Television
- Lucifer (2016-2021)
- Scott & Bailey (2011-2016)
- Sense8 (2015-2018)
- The Good Place (2016-2020)
- Schitt$ Creek (2015-2020)
Music
- Anything by Amanda Marshall, by Jennifer Hudson, by Linkin Park, by Nina Simone, by Postmodern Jukebox, by Tyler Glenn,
- My iTunes playlist of current top favorites can be found here.
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 