Notables: Translated in over 30 different languages

Season of Migration to the North* By TayebSalihGenre: Historical Fiction/Post-colonial Africa Pages: 169 Published: 1966 Awards/Reading Level: Adult Notables: Translated in over 30 different languages Content Connection: This book can be tied into American History by allowing the reader to understand the relationship (each exploiting each other etc.) between Great Britain and its colonies. Understanding this allows the student to see from a different standpoint why the 13 colonies of Colonial America rebelled and briefly touches the role of racism and sexism in society. This book can also be applied to the relationship between the United States and the Indians. Summary: Published in Arabic in 1966, Season of Migration to the North is a satirical re-write of ConradsHeart of Darkness. It is told from the point of view of a Sudanese narrator who tells the story of a young boy who is taken to Cairo by British officials to go to school because he showed he was “different.” By further impressing the Brits he is then sent to school in Britain where he unleashes a wrath of death and destruction on British women, lying and killing them as they willingly fall into his hands. (Barnes & Noble) *Parental waiver needed*

A Day No Pigs Would Die* By Robert Newton Peck • Genre: Historical FictionPages:176 Published: 1972 • Awards/Reading Level: Young Adult • WINNER 1973 - School Library Journal Best Book of the YearWINNER 1973 - Library of Congress Children's Books of the YearWINNER 1973 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults WINNER 1972 - Colorado Children's Book Award Content Connection: This book instills the great American values such as the value of truth, trust, how to work with each other and how hard honest work pays off. All while doing a solid job of shedding light on the way life was at the turn-of-the-century and the Shaker religion.Summary: The book is about a young adolescent named Robert. Robert is a Shaker boy, a member of a religious sect that no longer exists today. undergoes a "coming of age" as he unfolds the adventures and misadventures of the year or so before he becomes a man. Robert works much harder than many young people do today and that is one of the values the books is trying to instill in the reader. (bookrags.com)

Summary: This tells of the actions of Battalion 101 and their gruesome actions as the killed over 30,000 Jews. The crazy thing about it, is it allows one to see that the myth of “they had to do it” is false. The police were always given the opportunity to drop off the firing squad of be relieved of there duties on it for the time being. Instead they made games of shooting the helpless Jews. (Barnes & Noble) • Content Connection: What lies between the covers of this exciting book are fascinating accounts what happened during Germany’s occupation in Europe. However, it relates to U.S. history by allowing the reader to understand that it was up to the individual to commit the crime, not the society to which they belonged. This ties into the KKK and what happened to race relations in the 1960s. People will do what they want, not what society says they have to. Essential to WWII unit and could be used to explain our nations dealings with the Indians. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 304 Published: 1993 Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland*By Christopher R. BrowningAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: Its two stories - those of Henry Ford and Ford-worker AbnerShutt, unfold side by side, indeed dialectically. They are, in the end, one story: the saga of class and culture in 'Ford-America'. Workers and bosses, flappers and Klansmen, war and depression, Prohibition outlaws and high-society parties, unions and anti-union gun thugs in Ford-America. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: This novel ties into American History, touching nearly every aspect of American life in the 37 years of the 20th century prior to it being published. • Genre: Historical Non-fiction Pages: 264 Published: 1937 The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America* By Upton SinclairAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: The vast, semi-arid grasslands of the southern Great Plains could be dominated by hunters and warriors on horseback. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Comanches, often referred to as “lords of the Plains,” were the single most powerful military force in the region, to the frustration of both the Mexican and U.S. governments. In this engrossing chronicle, award-winning journalist Gwynne traces the rise of the Comanche people from their roots as primitive bands of hunter-gatherers to their mastery of the horse and emergence as the feared power brokers of the area.(amazon.com) • Content Connection: This non-fiction book tells the story of the American Indian from a different point of view. Rarely has a student learned about the greatness of the American Indian and this book does that. Different points of view are essential to truly understanding the history of this country. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 384 Published: 2010 Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American HistoryBy S. C. Gwynne Awards/Reading Level: Young Adult

Number of the StarsBy Lois Lowry Summary: The evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark is one of the great untold stories of World War II. On September 29, 1943, word got out in Denmark that Jews were to be detained and then sent to the death camps. Within hours the Danish resistance, population and police arranged a small flotilla to herd 7,000 Jews to Sweden. Lois Lowry fictionalizes a true-story account to bring this courageous tale to life. She brings the experience to life through the eyes of 10-year-old Annemarie Johannesen, whose family harbors her best friend, Ellen Rosen, on the eve of the round-up and helps smuggles Ellen's family out of the country. (amazon.com)Content Connection: By allowing the reader to understand the hardships of the Holocaust and trials and tribulations one must endure throughout their life. Number of the Stars enlightens the students minds to the harsh reality of the world allowing them to see a darker side of human history.Genre: historical Fiction Pages: 136 Published: 1998 (amazon.com)Awards/Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: On The Road, the most famous of Jack Kerouac's works, is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, On The Road is thinly fictionalized autobiography, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers, and fellow travelers. Narrated by Sal Paradise, one of Kerouac's alter-egos, On the Road is a cross-country bohemian odyssey that not only influenced writing in the years since its 1957 publication but penetrated into the deepest levels of American thought and culture. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: To understand the connection between “OTR” and America one must first define the American dream and American (a collection of ideas, philosophy and laws) but have many different interpretations.”OTR” is an autobiographical examination (fiction based off facts)of America and the American dream through the eyes of Jack Kerouac, a strong influence in the Beat movement. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 320 Published: 1957 On The Road* By Jack KerouacAwards/Rewards: Adult

Summary: In forthright, unemotional words and affecting pictures, Morimoto, a high-school student when her city was destroyed by the first atomic bomb, relates her experience. The day of the bomb, the explosion, and the devastation it brought are rendered in artwork that moves from peaceful snapshots of daily life, to a small plane in a clear blue sky, through the explosion--an all-encompassing brown swirl in which Junko and her sister cling to one another--and climaxes with a mushroom cloud superimposed over almost surrealistic masses of writhing, pleading, and grasping hands. The horrors of the suffering and destruction are shown in strong shades of brown and black. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: This book shows the destructive force of the atomic bomb and the damage it cause the nation of Japan in a unique way that a textbook or magazine would not be able to. Good for a World War II unit. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 320 Published: 1990 My Hiroshima By Junko MoromitoAwards/Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary:In the story, a young boy and his mother witness a riot on the streets outside their home. Later that evening, their building catches fire, and they go to a shelter until the fire can be extinguished and the building repaired (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Race relations have played such a major part in American History and ignoring this fact could be dangerous. Children's books present an alternative way to touch a hot topic or race relations in the 20th century. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 36 Published: 1990 Smoky Night By Eve BuntingAwards/Reading Level: Caldecott Metal, Ages 4-8

Summary:To capture the lessons their tactical leaders learned in Afghanistan & to explain the change in tactics that followed, the Frunze Military Academy in Russia compiled this book for their command & general staff combat arms officers. The lessons are valuable not just for Russian officers, but for the tactical training of platoon, company & battalion leaders of any nation likely to engage in conflicts involving civil war, guerrilla forces & rough terrain. This is a book dealing with the starkest features of the unforgiving landscape of tactical combat: casualties & death, adaptation, & survival. Provides an intimate look at the boring but brutal business of counterinsurgency. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: This book can easily be tied into the U.S. involvement in the Russian invasion of Afghanistan as well as related to the current war in Afghanistan. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 223 Published: 1996 Bear Went over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan BY Lester GrauAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: The Cigar City. The year is 1898. Young Cuban rebel Salvador Ortiz and his family have escaped the hardship of war-torn Cuba, but the union halls, cigar factories, and dark alleys of Tampa are filled with violence and vendetta. Salvador must defy constant labor strife and deadly corruption in a one-industry town known for backroom cockfights, street thugs, late-night abductions and mass production of the world's best hand-rolled stogies. An ideological battle for control of the cigar industry tests Salvador's self-respect and love of hard work as he fights to abandon his rambunctious, outlaw past and lead his proud Cuban family into a colorful immigrant society. (powells.com) • Content Connection: This book can be connected with a unit dealing with the struggle that immigrants faced when they came to this country in 19th century America. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 464 Published: 2010 The Cigar Maker* BY Mark McgintyAwards/Reading Level: General Fiction Honorable Mention --London Book Festival 2010 Book of the Year Awards: Historical Fiction, General Fiction Honorable Mention --New England Book Festival, Adult

Summary: Clearly written and understandably organized, this classic book about European political, social, economic, and intellectual history covers events throughout the Continent from 1914 to the present, treating Europe as a single unit. This new edition features a thoroughly updated final chapter with the latest research on contemporary subjects. The author begins with a view of Europe in 1914 with an emphasis on Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Mediterranean, as well as on Western Europe. The book thoroughly covers such contemporary topics as: the successful launch of the Euro as the currency of the European Union; the election of Vladimir Putin and the emergence of a new Russia; the election of Tony Blair and the rise of New Labor in the United Kingdom; the expansion of NATO; the rise of right-wing extremism; and the tense relations between Europeans and immigrant groups, particularly Muslims; all topics contribute to this being the leading source of information on this important and timely field. (amazon) • Content Connection: There are exorbitant amounts of information available here to use in a unit dealing with post-WWI America and how our economy was intertwined with Europe. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 619 Published: 2003 Contemporary Europe: A History (10th Edition) By James Wilkinson, H. Stuart HughesAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: Banks' story of abolitionist John Brown is at once a meditation on race, a domestic drama, and a major novel with powerful resonances on the dangerous fanaticisms of our time. Prompted by an historian's request, Brown's reclusive son Owen relives and reimagines his nomadic family life and his father's evolution from idealist to violent radical. The intensity of Brown's passion and prophecy scar many, motivate others, and illustrates how righteousness can turn into terrorism and martyrdom. (powell.com) • Content Connection: Can connect this book to a unit on John Brown’s raid or how the tension of the day really split the country. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 768 Published: 1995 Cloudsplitter* By Russell BanksAwards/Reading Level: PEN/Faulkner & Pulitzer Finalist, Adult

Summary: This is an important legacy of Morehouse College as it relates to the founding of the college; a benefit has been named in the book's honor to raise money for scholarships. (amazon.com) • Content Connections: This would be great for a unit during black history month. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 380 Published: 1967 A Candle in the Dark; a History of Morehouse College By Edward Allen JonesAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary:The wild rush of action in this classic frontier adventure story has made The Last of the Mohicans the most popular of James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his loyal Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas become embroiled in the bloody battles of the French and Indian War. The abduction of the beautiful Munro sisters by hostile savages, the treachery of the renegade brave Magua, the ambush of innocent settlers, and the thrilling events that lead to the final tragic confrontation between rival war parties create an unforgettable, spine-tingling picture of life on the frontier. And as the idyllic wilderness gives way to the forces of civilization, the novel presents a moving portrayal of a vanishing race and the end of its way of life in the great American forests. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: This is a great novel about pre-Revolution/Colonial America and a must read to gain an understanding about colonist relationship with the crown as well as the colonist relationship with the Indian. Would work great with a unit about Colonial America. • Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 432 Published: 1757 The Last of the MohicansBy James FenimoreCooperAwards/Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Summary: It depicts the tension between the corrupt (the octopus) railroad and the ranchers and the ranchers' League in California late 19th century America. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Allows student to make connection between RR and other industries and how big business worked at the time The Octopus: A Story of California* By Frank NorrisAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: Tobacco War charts the dramatic and complex history of tobacco politics in California over the past quarter century. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Make connection to the passage 18th Amendment, giving the students to see what a modern form of “prohibition” is. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 486 Published: 2000 Tobacco War: Inside the California Battles* By Stanton A. Glantz, Edith D. BalbachAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: The retelling of American History through a left-wing view, but this is good because most textbooks white-wash everything to avoid controversy. Starting with Columbus and ending with the Iraq/Afghanistan war (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Since the book covers all of American History, it would be a good tool to rely on for a paper explain a hot topic or something that is commonly overlooked. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 464 Published: 2007 The Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong* By James W. LoewenAwards/Reading Level: "Remarkable." – USA, Today Grades 9-12

Summary: This book centers around a young Lithuanian couple who move to Packingtown, the center of Lithuanian immigration and of Chicago’s meatpacking industry, is a hard, dangerous, and filthy place where it is difficult to find a job. The absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness take over in this expose of the Chicago stockyards and meat packing plants. (Amazon.com) • Content Connection: This book is contained in GPS SSUSH13 but could be used in a unit about the migration of Eastern European immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 318 Published: 1906 The Jungle* By Upton SinclairAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary:A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, but Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Allows reader to gain a closer more personal look at the “roaring 20s” through a fiction novel. Could aslo be used in a Literature class. • Genre: Fiction Pages: 180 Published: 1925 The Great Gatsby By F. Scott FitzgeraldAwards/Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Summary: A handy one-volume guide to our nation's glorious past that has one key advantage over today's dozens of dreary PC history books: this one tells you what really happened – “not what liberals wish had happened.” (lewrockwell.com) • Content Connection: Covers from the 13 Colonies through the Clinton era and would be useful in any unit. Showing a different side of history then conventional text books and • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 270 Published: 2004 The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History By Thomas E. Woods Jr.Awards/Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Summary:is an incredible tale of the most famous feud in our nation's history. It is a story of jealousy, murder, vengeance and unrequited love that is rich with vivid historical characters in a post Civil War setting.(amazon.com) • Content Connection: A closer investigation of post-Civil War American life, from the view of an Appalachian American. Would fit into a Civil War unit, focuses on rural famlies (people) instead of the people in the city like every other book dealing with the Civil War. • Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 254 Published: 2006 Kingdom of the Hollow, The Story of the Hatfields and McCoysBy Phillip HardyAwards/Reading Level: Young Adult

Summary :Here is the true look of the war with 836 pictures including many in color that have never been printed before. The illustrations range from the superb photographs of Mathew Brady and the famous sketches of Winslow Homer to dozens of previously unknown paintings, drawings, and eye-witness battle scenes. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: Linked directly with the Civil War, this book literally shows a different way of looking at the civil war. • Genre: Non-fiction Picture Pages: 632 Published: 1994 American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War By Bruce CattonAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Summary: This book tells the story of two Migrant farm workers George and Lennie who are traveling through California during the Great Depression working jobs so they can fulfill their dream of owning their own place. The fascinating friendship between George the strong man and Lennie the giant with the mind of a child plagued with mental retardation. However, they are driven from job to job by the failure of the Lennie to fit into the social pattern, they finally find - in a ranch - what they feel is their chance to achieve a homely dream they have built in their minds over and over again. (amazon.com) • Content Conncetion: This novel demonstrates the relationship of unequal parties and how their symbiotic relationship and the unreachability of the American Dream. This is related to the Great Depression because of the idea that the American Dream was no longer plausible because of the economic plight. • Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 107 Published: 1937 Of Mice and MenBy John SteinbeckAwards/Reading Level: Grades 9-12

Summary: They came from different occupations, one was a shoemaker two became president, one vice president. Over half were experienced in the legal profession. The majority were well off and, for their time, well educated. And when they came together in Philadelphia in 1787 to create the Constitution. This book contain their biographies. (amazon.com) • Content Connection: This book is more than necessary when it comes to fully grasping the information in GPS SSUSH5. • Genre: Non-fiction Pages: 244 Published: 1994 Founding Fathers: Brief Lives of the Framers of the United States Constitution By M.E. BradfordAwards/Reading Level: Adult

Notables: Translated in over 30 different languages