Black Elk Speaks told through John G. Neihardt by Nicholas Black Elk
The acclaimed story of Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his people during the momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens
At the Court of Chancery the interminable suit of Jarndyce and Jarndyce becomes the center of a web of relationships at all levels, from Sir Leicester Dedlock to Jo the crossing-sweeper, and a metaphor for the decay and corruption at the heart of English society.

Family by Ian Frazier
A family history from early colonial days to the present which reconstructs two hundred years of middle-class life as well as the larger forces of history that affected them.

Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
A true story of one spirited Japanese American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention. This story focuses on a native born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Gothic thriller, passionate romance and cautionary tale about the dangers of science told through the story of devoted student Victor Frankenstein who bestows animation on lifeless matter.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
A luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening as seen through the eyes of a young girl on the brink of womanhood whose life is transformed.

The Inn at Lake Devine by Eleanor Lipman
Twelve-year-old Natalie Marx has a stubborn sense of justice and rises to an infuriating, irresistible challenge after her mother is rebuffed from booking summer accommodations in Vermont at which "guests are Gentiles" in this provocative, romantic comedy.

In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden by Kathleen Cambor
The story of a bittersweet romance set against the backdrop of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood - a tragedy that cost 2,200 lives when the South Fork Dam burst on Memorial Day weekend in 1889 - and the lives that were lived, lost and irreparably changed in a disaster that could have been averted.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
This unique, sweeping and unforgettable novel recreates four of the most bloody and courageous days in the nation's history. At Gettysburg, two armies fought for two dreams. While one dreamed of freedom, the other fought for a way of life and the battle for Gettysburg gives insight into what the war was about and what it meant.

The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave, who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, one of the most powerful men in Manchester County, Virginia. When Townsend dies, chaos ensues as his widow Caldonia tries to uphold his estate in an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
A glittering gem of detective fiction featuring characters Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own code of ethics; Joel Cairo, a perfumed grafter, a fat man named Gutman; and Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman. This novel has haunted generations of readers.

Montana 1948 by Larry Wilson
The events of a small town summer in David Hayden's twelfth year forever alter his view of his family: his self effacing father a sheriff who never wears his badge; his clear sighted mother; his uncle a charming war hero and respected doctor; and the Hayden's lively, statuesque Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier whose revelations are at the heart of the story. It is a tale of love and courage, of power abused, and of the terrible choices between family loyalty and justice.

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
An Indian request in 1854 for 1,000 white brides to ensure peace is secretly approved by the U.S. government in this alternate history novel. Their journey west is described by May Dodd, a high-society woman released from an asylum where she was incarcerated by her family for an affair.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The quiet 1960s Midwestern life of the Land family upended when Davy kills two teenage boys who have come to harm the family. On the morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from his cell and the Lands set out in search of him. Their search is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world.

Plainsong by Kent Haruf
An unlikely extended family is formed when a high school teacher helps a pregnant student make a home with two elderly bachelor ranchers.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
This novel revels in the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood-the world of the red tent. It begins with Dinah and the story of her mothers-Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah the four wives of Jacob. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection.

The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids choked tributary of the Amazon River. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer, Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt changed the map of the Western Hemisphere while facing an unbelievable series of hardships along the way. This nonfiction narrative thriller brings to life an episode in the life of one of the most famous American who ever lived.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
They carried malaria tablets, love letters, mine detectors, dope, Bibles, each other. If they made it home, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. This classic work of American literature has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.

West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary
Born to an Afghan father and American mother, Tamim Ansary grew up in the intimate world of Afghan family life and emigrated to San Francisco thinking he'd left Afghan culture behind forever. He took a harrowing journey through the Islamic world and in the years that followed struggled to find a place in his imagination where his Afghan and American identities might meet.

Text credits to book publishers and NoveList.