The Skies Belong to Us

Killing Lincoln

Bill O'Reilly2011

A chronological account of the final days of the Civil War and the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. It follows both the victim and the killers.

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Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Michel Foucault

A philosophical history examines the shift from public torture to modern prison surveillance. It analyzes how power controls the body.

propulsive → clinical, still history

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The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

propulsive → bleak, still history

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Confessions

Augustine of Hippo

A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

propulsive → meditative

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Sticks & scones

Diane Mott Davidson2001

A caterer prepares Elizabethan dishes for a series of events at a Colorado castle while investigating a murder.

propulsive → playful

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Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

propulsive → playful

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The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown2003

A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.

Same propulsive register

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American Kingpin

Nick Bilton2017

This account follows Ross Ulbricht as he builds the Silk Road dark web market and the federal agents who spend years tracking him down.

Same propulsive register, still true crime

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The Sun and Her Flowers

Rupi Kaur2017

A collection of short, illustrated poems organized into five stages of growth. It covers themes of loss, trauma, and self-healing.

propulsive → earnest

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Pillow Thoughts

Courtney Peppernell2016

A collection of short poems and prose pieces organized by emotional state. It focuses on themes of heartbreak, healing, and loneliness.

propulsive → tender

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The Frontier in American History

Frederick Jackson Turner1920

A series of essays arguing that the American character and democracy were shaped by the continuous expansion into the western wilderness.

propulsive → clinical, still history

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Confessions

Augustine of Hippo

A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

propulsive → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

How to Read a Book

Mortimer J. Adler1940

This is a guide to active reading techniques for different genres. It outlines levels of reading from basic literacy to syntopical analysis.

propulsive → mysterious

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A Thousand Lives

Julia Scheeres2011

This history follows the members of the Peoples Temple from their beginnings in Indiana to the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

propulsive → bleak, still true crime

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The Blood of Emmett Till

Timothy B. Tyson2017

A historical account of the 1955 lynching of a Black teenager in Mississippi. It uses new interviews and recently found trial transcripts.

propulsive → elegiac, still true crime

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The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

Iris Chang

A historical account of the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking. It documents systematic mass execution and sexual violence.

propulsive → bleak, still true crime

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