Popular North American Philosophical Books
Find philosophical books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (7)
1.
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly,the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage fr... continue
2.
Colonel Lágrimas by Carlos Fonseca Suárez EN
Country: North America / 
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Description:
“Beware, reader, in these pages you will experience vertigo, anxiety and joy. You will become a ghostly presence in a Borgesian world, a camera obscura, where mathematics is a secret weapon, and memory the object of an archaeological pursuit. Loosely inspired by the eventful life of the French mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, Fonseca has created a gorgeous opera prima.” —Valerie Miles, The New York Times Book Review Holed away in a cabin in the Pyrenees, the world-famous and enigmatic mathematician Alexander Grothendieck is working furiously on a final project. But what exactly is this mo... continue
3.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
The biblical account of Cain and Abel is echoed in the history of two generations of the Trask family in California.
4.
Embers : One Ojibway's Meditations by Richard Wagamese EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
"Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on--and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop away. It's a good way to travel; eventually I will wear away all resistance until all there is left of me is light. I can live towards that end." --Richard Wagamese, Embers In this carefully curated selection of everyday reflections, Richard Wagamese... continue
5.
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis EN
Country: North America / 
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Description:
Winner of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalist for the 2015 Toronto Book Awards Winner of the 2015 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize "[Alexis] devises an inventive romp through the nature of humanity in this beautiful, entertaining read … A clever exploration of our essence, communication, and how our societies are organized." – Kirkus Reviews "This might be the best set-up of the spring." – The Globe & Mail "André Alexis has established himself as one of our preeminent voices." – Toronto Star — I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence. — I'll wager... continue
6.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read First published in 1851, Herman Melville’s masterpiece is, in Elizabeth Hardwick’s words, “the greatest novel in American literature.” The saga of Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal pursuit of the white whale remains a peerless adventure story but one full of mythic grandeur, poetic majesty, and symbolic power. Filtered through the consciousness of the novel’s narrator, Ishmael, Moby-Dick draws us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories, from the noble cannibal Queequeg to the natural history of ... continue
7.
Where We Go when All We Were is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Fiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. "A combination of the mystical, magical, and marvelous, Sequoia Nagamatsu weaves a collection of bold, hysterical, and moving tales into an unforgettable debut. From shape- shifters, to star-makers, to babies made of snow, the characters in WHERE WE GO WHEN ALL WE WERE IS GONE form a community of longing, of the surreal, of wonder. What a joy it is to read each and every story."--Michael Czyzniejewski "Sequoia Nagamatsu's universe is one in which modern Japan and its ancient folklore play in the same delightful puddle. Creepy, unnerving, and full of hea... continue