Writers
Only published 2 books in lifetime which shaped civil rights discourse
Harper Lee (1926–2016)
A comedic sci-fi adventure that begins when Earth is destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) – Douglas Adams
WWII veteran (Utah Beach on D-Day)
J.D. Salinger (1919–2010)
Cult author of adolescent alienation.
"The Catcher in the Rye" (1951) became postwar bible for disaffected youth.
Set in a futuristic society where humans are genetically engineered and controlled through pleasure and conditioning
Brave New World (1932) – Aldous Huxley
Nobel-winning social realist who worked as a laborer before writing
John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
Of Mice and Men (1937)
A mix of science fiction and war novel, it follows Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who becomes "unstuck in time"
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) – Kurt Vonnegut
Anglo-Irish dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, often wrote under pen names, including Isaac Bickerstaff (used to mock astrologers) and M.B. Drapier (for his Drapier's Letters protesting English economic policies in Ireland).
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
His work laid groundwork for political satire and absurdist literature, influencing writers like Orwell and Vonnegut.
Set during British colonial rule in India, the novel follows an Indian doctor, Aziz, who befriends an Englishwoman, Adela.
A Passage to India (1924) – E.M. Forster
Main characters: Dr. Aziz, Adela Quested, Mrs. Moor
A Princeton dropout, chronicler of the Jazz Age
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
Defined American Dream disillusionment
A groundbreaking modernist novel that follows a single day (June 16, 1904) in the life of Leopold Bloom as he moves through Dublin.
Ulysses (1922) – James Joyce