In this day and age, it’s hard to believe that books and plays used to be the only game in town. With the amount of digital distractions today, an unfortunate number of people turn on an electronic device to entertain them rather than open a book. But classic literature made such a mark on modern society because of its ability to transport people’s minds when, over the past centuries, physical transportation methods were much more arduous. For this reason, stories that would become classics captivated the collective consciousness of the literate.

This short list of some of the best of classic literature is missing a few heavy-hitters, of course. Crime and Punishment and Heart of Darkness already were featured on our Best Books list. Moby Dick and The Great Gatsby showed up on our Best Novels list. And dramatic classics from the likes of Shakespeare deserve their own category altogether. So without further ado, our choices for five of the best undisputed classics.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

Despite being penned in the early 1800s and being primary concerned with early-19th century British society, Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice routinely tops most-loved books lists. As protagonist Elizabeth weathers the rigors of manners, marriage and morality of England’s sophisticated and wealthy, the reader is privy to the intimate details of the lifestyle of the elite. Like much of Austen’s work, Pride and Prejudice focuses on how environment and upbringing influence an individual’s overall sense of morality.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1844)

Along with The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo is a true adventure classic by Alexandre Dumas. The Count has captured imaginations over much of the past two centuries through its tale of justice, vengeance and mercy. The hope-filled journey of a wrongfully convicted man who escapes from prison is soon transformed into a story of retribution as he acquires a fortune, but as he seeks revenge on his enemies the story becomes one of how such acts often harm the innocent as well as the guilty.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

This list would not be complete without Dickens. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” remains one of the more notable and recognizable literary references to this day. The two cities in question are Paris and London, as the French peasants feel squeezed under the grip of the pre-revolution aristocracy while parallels are made to life in London. One of only two historical novels the prolific and iconic Dickens wrote, it’s also one of his very best.

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

Vampires haven’t always been heartthrobs. In the 19th century, the were actually mysterious and vicious creatures of the night. Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula is the greatest vampire story ever told, and he managed to do it through an epistolary storytelling method (mostly letters and journal entries from various people who’d come in contact with the infamous Count or his aftermath). Though horror classics may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s difficult to imagine a world in which Bram Stoker’s Dracula didn’t give new meaning to garlic, coffins, bats, and wooden stakes.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937)

Steinbeck could have as easily made this list for The Grapes of Wrath, but none of his other books tug at the heartstrings quite like Of Mice and Men. As George and  Lenny (two migrant workers who share a dream of working their way up to one day owning their own land) butt heads with other workers at a ranch that briefly employs them, it quickly becomes apparent that Lenny’s limited mental abilities and large size are going to get him and George into trouble. The ending of this relatively short book is a truly heartbreaking scene of mercy and friendship.

Humans have pondered the nature of our perceived reality for millennia. While scientific innovation over the past couple of centuries has allowed for much deeper insight the workings of the mind and the nature of time and space, the great thinkers throughout history are still heavily influential on the world today. The Greek philosophers may have lived in such an ancient epoch that Aristotle laughably suggested that the brain’s function was to cool the blood, but his mentor, Plato, has been described as so instrumental to the eventual European philosophical tradition that it can be generalized as “a series of footnotes” referencing him.

So while any Best Philosophy Books list would be remiss to completely leave out Plato’s Republic, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Aristotle’s Metaphysics, or Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, we’re keeping our list more contemporary and focusing on the descendant philosophical traditions these works eventually encouraged through either agreement or rebuttal. We’re also not looking into political philosophy, so you won’t find the likes of Voltaire, Machiavelli, John Locke or Karl Marx. What you will find are five of the more influential philosophical works on the nature of existence from the past 250 years.

Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (1781)

Kant is one of the more challenging modern philosophers due to the precision of his focus. His philosophy espoused in Critique of Pure Reason is derived from Aristotle and primarily asserts that the nature of reality is unknowable to the human mind. He posits that everything in the universe is a thing “in-itself,” meaning a true essence that humans cannot hope to directly experience because of the limitations of our sensory perceptions. By passing through a filter, the true nature of objects in the world is changed and therefore reality itself is obscured.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Frederich Nietzsche (1883)

Nietzche’s seminal nihilist novel put forth his philosophical positions on eternal recurrence (his position that time is cyclical and everything that physically happens will continue to happen over and over), the death of God (and his critique on religion and politics as being based on hatred of the body and the physical world), and his Übermensch (higher form of life to which humans can aspire to achieve by improving ourselves and the world from generation to generation). He remains hugely influential and controversial to this day.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (1922)

Novelist, poet, and painter Herman Hesse expressed his philosophy through his creative output. In Siddhartha, he tells the tale of a man who went on a similar quest of self-discovery as that of the Buddha. The main theme of the book is that enlightenment and understanding is achieved not through events inside the mind (through study or meditation) or, conversely, from carnal pleasures in the physical world but rather comes about through the whole of experience. Therefore, even experiences that are painful or seemingly detrimental are not negative because they are one part of the completeness of one’s experience that ultimately leads to greater understanding.

Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (1927)

Heidegger was a crucial contributor to existentialism, positing in his most notable work, Being and Time, that despite the millennia of thought on the subject it’s still unclear exactly what “being” means. He was critical of philosophers in the past for so easily dismissing the question of what it means “to be.” There are separate beings, or entities that are in the physical world and interact with it, but the nature of Being is deeper and more mysterious. Authentic people appreciate this mystery and embrace it and go about their lives pondering the mystery but engaging the physical world.

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (1949)

As one of the more influential French philosophers of the 20th century, Simone de Beauvoir excelled in a field nearly exclusively dominated by white men. One of her most notable books The Second Sex contributed to the rise of second-wave feminism as it confronts human history from the feminist perspective. Her assertion that men have, throughout history, oppressed women by designating them as the “Other” is now essentially canon among contemporary thought. In addition to her work with lifelong partner Jean-Paul Sartre on the nature of being-in-itself, de Beauvoir blazed trails not only for her gender, but for the way we understand what it means to be human.

One could make the argument that recording historical events, capturing the fleeting nature of time in a more durable medium, was one of the primary reasons people started writing. While ancient times saw the mixture of history and folklore, of science and superstition, even the oldest, most esoteric writings provide invaluable insight into what it meant to be human in very different eras.

Reading about history is one of the best ways to ground oneself in a firm understanding of where we’ve been as people, as well as to help understand the mistakes and triumphs of those who have come before. Simply put, learning from the past helps inform our present. Below you will find some of the best history books from recent decades, with a focus on the history of broad events and trends rather than specific biographies. These are our picks for the best books for understanding the history of the human condition.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1953)

Anne Frank, the adolescent girl whose family hid from the Nazis in the attic of their Amsterdam home before their eventual capture and imprisonment within a concentration camp, could never have known just how many hearts her poignant diary (kept during her ordeal) would eventually touch. Possessing a mind beyond her years, she recounts both a first-hand account of the looming nightmare of the Third Reich, and also chronicles the various thoughts and musings of an adolescent who, despite the horrors around her, is still a precocious young girl. Despite the fact that she died in an concentration camp, Anne Frank’s spirit lives on in every page.

A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present
by Howard Zinn (1980)

History is most often told through from the perspective of those in power, whether politically or economically. To help buck that trend, historian and political scientist Howard Zinn wrote his compendium of U.S. history from the view of the common person, focusing on those historical figures who fought injustice and advanced the United States as a civilization. As an example of his approach he’s said that his American hero isn’t someone like Teddy Roosevelt, who glamorized war, but Mark Twain who satirized imperialism and denounced violence.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond (1997)

This Pulitzer Prize-winning book delves into the subject of why Eurasian civilizations were the ones to conquer other societies from around the world and colonize those regions instead of vice versa. Diamond offers evidence that the geographic locations of the conquering civilizations had much to do with this, allowing them to produce guns and steel and develop resistances to deadly germs. Diamond’s book helps to further dress down any latent notions that genetics or inherent intellect played a role in world conquest.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003)

Popular scientist Bill Bryson starts from the very beginning and breaks down the history of life and its formation on Earth as he discusses the history of geology and biology in lay terms, while also simply explaining complex themes such as subatomic particles. Focusing largely on the development of Homo sapien life, Bryson also delves into the historical accounts of global catastrophic events, including earthquakes, massive storms, and volcanic activity, while speculating on how life would react to another global event like a meteor strike.

The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer

When we study history, oftentimes the focus is on one specific culture or event at a time. Susan Wise Bauer’s stellar book on the ancient world seeks to change that by tying together the stories of all the worlds’ people from ancient times, explaining the connections between Europe, the Middle East and China. The book also draws its narrative style from literature, traditions and even letters from the era that unlock a vibrant view into the world of both those in power and those they ruled. The individual cultures are made even more vivid when their connections to others are shown.

Since the mind first gained the ability to conceive of its own capacity, humans have searched for ways to turn the light of consciousness upon itself. Before modern science, learning more about what makes us tick was left to philosophers and religion, to speculative theories and storytelling. While Hippocrates first conjectured that mental disorders were physical rather than supernatural in nature as early as the 4th century BCE, psychology didn’t see its first advancements into the laboratory setting until the late 19th century. Since then, humanity has achieved an unprecedented level of enlightenment about our own cognitive processes.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best modern psychological books. While classics like William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience, Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jung’s The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious obviously deserve mention on a list like this for laying the groundwork that subsequent psychology was built upon, we’re narrowing our focus here to more recent books that have greatly impacted the layperson’s understanding of the way the human mind works.

Games People Play by Eric Berne (1964)

Though we like to think of social interactions as ways in which we make connections with other people, much of the social behavior of humans is driven by mind games we’re not even aware of. In his landmark book on the subject, Eric Berne details the games we play in our various relationships, whether the games be for power and control in our work relationships, competitive games for status with our peers, or sexual games in our romantic relationships. With his focus on the procedures and rituals we follow in the various mind games we create, Berne’s book changed the way many people view the dynamic of human relationships.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1991)

In his book Flow, personal development guru and esteemed psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi provides enthralling analysis of the euphoric state of nearly uninterrupted concentration that many people experience. The state of “flow” occurs when our focus is honed so sharply that we are completely involved in the task at hand and essentially lose our self-consciousness. Best of all, Csikszentmihalyi details methods anyone can use to achieve this level of concentration and awareness almost at will.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)

Mark Haddon’s spellbinding book is such an insightful glimpse into the perceptions of people on the autism spectrum that it’s the only work of fiction to make this list. The first person narrator, a teenager with an autistic disorder, tries to solve the neighborhood mystery of who killed a neighbor’s poodle with a garden tool. Through his years of experience working with people on the autism spectrum, Haddon effectively sheds light on their sensory perceptions and cognitive processes while telling a compelling story.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (2005)

We’re often led to believe that snap judgments are always a bad thing, but Malcolm Gladwell challenges that notion in Blink. In this accessible read, Gladwell details behavioral economics theory and the processes of the “adaptive unconscious,” which is capable of making rapid decisions and judgments about given scenarios with a high degree of effectiveness. While making a strong case about how our brain is capable of thinking without our active conscious involvement, he also points out the drawbacks to this, such as humanity’s tendency to stereotype.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011)

Nobel Memorial Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s recent compendium on years of his behavioral research is a fascinating read. He goes in depth about cognitive bias (whereby we create our own social realities), prospect theory (where we make choices based on perceived losses or gains rather than final outcomes), and his general research on the nature of happiness. The scope of this book is as impressive as its author’s long history of research, and Kahneman will certainly make you stop and think.

We’re in the midst of another great year for books. As we’ve discussed, 2012 gave us some truly creative gems, and 2013 is shaping up to be another banner year. There are many exciting releases awaiting us, most notably a sequel to The Shining from Stephen King, another imaginative work by prolific bestselling author Neil Gaiman, and even a children’s book by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins. But plenty of great titles have already hit the shelves. Here are some of the best of the bunch

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

With his infectious blend of embellished memoir, David Sedaris has risen to the vanguard of humor writing. Every book release by the famed author is a literary event. Pilfering its title from an actual (and presumably much more serious) antique book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls is packed full of enthralling narrative essays from Sedaris’ unique mind, and it unsurprisingly debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

In writing this analysis of Scientology, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright was confronted with numerous threats of legal action by lawyers representing the Church of Scientology and celebrities who ascribe to the modern religion. Wright covers the history of Scientology as developed by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard and interviewed over 200 current and former members in writing this captivating and critical work of non-fiction.

American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson

Sylvia Plath’s spellbinding creative output is only enhanced by the fact that she left this world too soon. In a year that marks the 50th anniversary of her suicide, Carl Rollyson digs into Ted Hughes’ personal archives to get a more intimate look at Plath’s life from the perspective of her fellow poet husband. The book reassesses the life that has become overshadowed by  mystique, and points out how Hughes strove to reshape the perception of his late wife following her untimely death.

All That Is by James Salter

James Salter is one of America’s greatest living writers, yet he’s anything but a household name. Perhaps the octogenarian’s most recent novel will help change that. Set in the World War II era, a returning soldier finds success in the book publishing world, but is unhappy in his romantic life until he meets an intriguing woman who changes everything. This moving novel is both romantic and harrowing and is yet another page-turner from an author who’s quietly been captivating readers for decades.

The fantasy genre is often maligned for being too focused on swords and sorcery and dragons. While store shelves are certainly packed with books within this particular scope (fantasy is one of today’s most popular genres, especially with younger readers), the beauty of fantasy is that, when done right, it can reveal greater truth through its transcendence of the mundane. As stories in which literally anything can happen, fantasy not only displays the boundlessness of the human imagination, but often can use invented worlds populated with whimsical, dark or grotesque characters to shed greater light onto our own. Rather than simply being limited to entertaining escapism, the best fantasy stories reshape the way we understand our humanity through the use of allegory. Simply put, fantasy can often tap into hidden truths that are difficult to convey in reality.

Our list of the best fantasy novels includes those titles that bear universal themes, regardless of whether its our own universe or another. One book that also belongs on this list is the 1865 Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which is so good that it already made it onto our Best Novels of All Time list. But without further ado, it’s time to take a trip over the rainbow, through the wardrobe, or into Middle-earth with our list of Best Fantasy Novels

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)

You probably know it best by the classic 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland, but L. Frank Baum’s novel about a Kansas girl with her head in the clouds who’s whisked away by a tornado and deposited over the rainbow is one for the ages. Through her adventures with Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy not only learns the value of friendship, but also discovers that while the grass may seem greener elsewhere, there’s really no place like home.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950)

In the first installment of the dazzling Chronicles of Narnia series, C.S. Lewis introduces us to four London-based siblings who escape the horrors of WWII not only by being sent to the countryside, but also by discovering a portal into another world. Controlled by the evil White Witch, Narnia is frozen in a state of perpetual winter and is awaiting the return of its lion king, Aslan. Lewis pulls from many mythologies and traditions to craft story that serves as an imaginative allegory to the stories of sacrifice and redemption that permeate Christianity.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)

It’s been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s a running theme throughout The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien’s first volume in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The hobbit Frodo Baggins has a ring bestowed upon him that turns out to be the One Ring of Sauron, a dark lord who oppressively rules Middle-earth. With everyone wanting to get a hold of the powerful ring, some craving it above all else, Frodo decides to trek to Mordor, the dwelling place of Sauron, in order to destroy the ring in this epic tale that echoes with themes of the corrupting influence of power.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

Goldman’s The Princess Bride is an amalgam of many genres, including fantasy, fairy tale, romance, adventure, and comedy. It’s framed by the author as though it’s an abridgement of a much older text by the fictional author S. Morgenstern. Through this narrative device, Goldman not only spins the tale of the rescue of an unwilling princess by her one true love, but also throws in something for everyone. With giants, pirates, swashbuckling, Rodents of Unusual Size, and plenty of romance, The Princess Bride is a perfect introduction to fantasy for those unfamiliar with the genre.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (1996)

As the first novel in the Song of Fire and Ice series of high fantasy novels, A Game of Thrones succeeds in the swords-and-sorcery subgenre by weaving together a host of competing families and lineages along with multiple perspectives from chapter to chapter. The human touch in this engrossing novel makes it stand apart from its contemporaries, and even as Martin uses well-worn fantasy genre tropes, the book’s humanity transcends these conventions. It’s little wonder that the epic scope of the book would convert so successfully to the wildly popular HBO series.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (2007)

Patrick Rothfuss burst onto the fantasy scene in 2007 with his New York Times bestseller The Name of the Wind, the first book in the still in-progress The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. As legendary hero Kvothe tells his story to the Chronicler over the course of three days (hence the three books), a dazzling story of magic and mayhem unfolds. But Kvothe’s first person tale is not of the epic scope that fans of the genre are so used to; instead it’s a story of personal love and loss, fear and hope, and despite the magical abilities of its hero, The Name of the Wind is a highly relatable personal journey.

While storytelling predates the written word, the novel in its current form is a relatively recent phenomenon, rising to prominence in the 19th century. Whereas stories in centuries and millennia past often required grounding in claims of historical fact or at least widely-accepted myths, the evolution of the novel to its current status as fiction that reveals greater truth has only achieved widespread legitimacy within the past 200 years.

The greatest achievement of the novel is the ability to convey truth and meaning about the human condition through both the painstaking attention to detail in realism or the creation of fantastical worlds and scenarios that could only exist within the vast landscape of the human mind. Our Best Novels of All Time list focuses most on those novels that use surreal or sensational imagery to convey meaning. Some titles that were included in our Best Books of All Time list would also fit in well here, but there’s no need to repeat ourselves. Still, Lolita, Crime and Punishment, and To Kill a Mockingbird are also among the best novels of all time.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

A wandering sailor called Ishmael narrates this Great American Novel as shipmates discuss the meaning of life, the nuances of good and evil, and the universe at large. Meanwhile, Captain Ahab follows his obsession with destroying the whale that wrecked one of his previous ships and took his leg. This triumph of American literature illustrates the ravages of unhealthy fixations and points out how one cannot get revenge on an animal because revenge is a human construct that does not apply to other living creatures.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)

The strange creatures Alice encounters in Wonderland serve as projections of the human psyche and imagination in this classic novel. The story has been adapted numerous times, including into many films, and remains one of the most beloved surrealist stories. In addition to being a mind-bending story, the novel has entered our modern lexicon with expressions like “down the rabbit hole” and “through the looking glass” taking on their own meanings outside of Carroll’s wonderful book.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

In one of the more historically-grounded entries in this list, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel vividly outlines the excess and kinetic energy of America’s “Roaring Twenties.” This novel packed full of intrigue, hedonism, betrayal, and violence serves as a cautionary tale of the excesses of youth and downsides to luxury. Amidst Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties, there’s a dark undercurrent that ultimate makes The Great Gatsby not only an informative book about one of the most intriguing eras of American history, but also a thrill ride from cover to cover.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1931)

Through his non-fiction writing, Aldous Huxley become a notable pioneer for the expansion of human consciousness. But he’s best known for his unsettling speculative fiction novel Brave New World. In a not-too-distant future where mass consumption is the new religion, and individuality is demonized, the possibilities for what can become of society are frighteningly outlined by Huxley. Brave New World manages to foresee both the social engineering aspirations of fascism and the collectivist perils of communism that would overtake the world in the years to come.

The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

One of the most notable existentialist works, Albert Camus’ The Stranger is narrated by a man named Mersault who feels no emotion, but rather experiences only sensory perceptions. Due to excessive heat and a trick of the sun, Mersault irrationally murders a man at the beach. He’s convicted of the crime and sentenced to execution, but the books excels at showing how Mersault finds much of the world, and especially the criminal justice system, entirely arbitrary.

1984 by George Orwell (1949)

George Orwell’s commentary through his fiction has impacted society to such a degree at the term “Orwellian” is commonplace. 1984 also gave us the often used term “Big Brother.” In this dystopian society, Thought Police not only use intrusive surveillance cameras to watch people’s every move but also monitor their thoughts for anything negative about the  watchful leader Big Brother. 1984 is the story of one man’s attempt to carve out a slice of privacy in a world gone mad with propaganda and strict adherence to overbearing government control.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

Vonnegut’s most famous book blends both heart-wrenching WWII imagery with wildly imaginative sci-fi. Like Vonnegut did, the novel’s protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, survives the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by the Allied Forces. However, Billy has another issue: he has come unstuck in time. Billy jumps around to different periods of his life, and is even abducted by an alien race who teach him that people simply perceive time as though they were “bugs stuck in amber,” and that our perception of time is an illusion. Slaughterhouse-Five is a masterpiece of incredible wisdom mixed with bizarre imagery.

The written word has held a special place in the hearts of humans since long before widespread literacy. Whether in the form of Greek tragedies and comedies, religious texts, or later in Shakespeare’s plays, the written word has been physically performed on stage, internalized by those who have had the privilege to read, and has otherwise become a crucial pillar in the framework of how we understand the world around us. Storytelling is an important part of what makes us human.

Great books tend to build on the themes and knowledge of the books that came before. In this list you will find those books that have had lasting impacts on our collective consciousness. They have challenged preconceived notions, established new norms, or simply helped us realize greater truth about ourselves by articulating sentiments about what had previously seemed inexpressible.

The Odyssey by Homer (8th century BCE)

The Greek epic poem The Odyssey is one of the most seminal of all narratives. In this sequel to Homer’s The Iliad, the trials and tribulations that hero Odysseus would encounter upon his 10-year return journey from the 10-year long Trojan War (in which it was assumed by his wife Penelope that he’d died) are the stuff of legend and would inspire countless stories in the coming centuries. Odysseus’ navigation between sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis itself would spawn the idiom “between a rock and a hard place,” only one small debt modern storytelling and language owes to Homer’s ancient writings.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles (429 BCE)

As it was known in Latin, Oedipus Rex changed the course  of storytelling and humanity’s understanding of the world, as it was one of the first notable Greek tragedies to shift the cause of events onto the actions of its tragic hero rather than simply a result of the fates. While Oedipus was destined from birth to murder his father and marry his mother, the chain of events indicates how Oedipus (despite being prophesied to commit these heinous acts) indirectly chooses his own fate through actions of his own free will. This interaction between predestination and free will would lay the groundwork for myriad fictional works to come.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605 & 1615)

Written in two volumes 10 years apart, Cervantes’ Don Quixote stands as one of the great intersections between tragedy and comedy. As the titular protagonist, an aging gentleman otherwise of sound mine, Don Quixote is enraptured by a book he reads about chivalry and has a mental break. He finds himself a squire and sets out on a knight-errand that ends up being a foolhardy enterprise. Most famously, Don Quixote attacks a set of windmills thinking they are menacing giants. As with many great works of literature, the meaning of Cervantes epic two-volume story is open to many interpretations, making it all the more engrossing.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)

Troubled young man Raskolnikov murders and robs an aged money-lender due to an ideological rationalization he’s developed that some people have the right to take the lives of others if done for some higher purpose. Of course, Raskolnikov’s conscience begins to wear him thin as an investigator suspects him of the crime. Raskolnikov begins to understand the error of his ways and even as his threat of prosecution wanes, he’s bound to confess. Dostoyevsky expertly incorporates his own philosophy against anti-radicalism into his anti-hero in this all-time classic brimming with internal tension.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Conrad’s most famous work, Heart of Darkness, focuses on the universal themes of humanity’s primal tendency toward violence and also our penchant for civilization. Moreover, the book delves into how “civilization” throughout the centuries has pillaged indigenous people and built imperialist empires on the backs of other cultures. As the book’s protagonist journeys down an unnamed African river to the compound of the brutal and unhinged Mr. Kurtz, Conrad illustrates the light and darkness within humans.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)

Sinclair used his investigation skills as a journalist to put together one of the 20th century’s most important books, The Jungle. In it, he exposed the brutal conditions of low-wage workers and immigrants within the meat packaging industry. In an age before social welfare programs and other efforts to fight poverty, Sinclair’s book helped to re-shape how the nation viewed the working poor who often suffered through dangerous and harsh working conditions in order to try to survive, while not being paid enough to do so. In a century defined by protest and social change, The Jungle was a bellwether of things to come.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

Lolita is notable not only for pushing boundaries with its prurient subject matter, but for Nabokov’s innovative writing style. Narrator Humbert Humbert details his criminal desires and pursuit of a young girl who has become his step-daughter in one of the most striking examples in literature of an unreliable narrator. Nabokov proved that we don’t have to trust or even like the narrator of a story to make it compelling fiction and Lolita continues to appear near the top of many Best Books lists to this day.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Harper Lee rightfully won the Pulitzer Prize for her tale of overcoming racial prejudice and  injustice in the pre-Civil Rights United States. Narrated by a young girl named Scout, as she comes to grips with the loss of innocence associated with living in highly racist town in the Deep South and the first hand accounts of injustice she witnesses as her father, Atticus Finch, unsuccessfully defends an innocent African American man wrongfully accused of assaulting a white woman. The book is a triumph in stating through the simple language of a child how civilization and freedom for all depends on seeing things from other people’s perspectives.