Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature by Erich Auerbach (Princeton University, $20). A classic. After one reads this book, no text—whether the Bible or a novel by Stendhal—will ever seem the same.
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn (Belknap, $20). The indispensable book for understanding the significance of the American Revolution. It also makes clear why we Americans developed the notion that we were an exceptional people.
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Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner (Vintage, $13). Perhaps Faulkner’s greatest novel. Not only does it deal with the central American issues of slavery and miscegenation, but it also helps explain how history is reconstructed. It is a mystery tale, a compilation of stories, all told from different perspectives and distances, all trying to get at an elusive truth about something that happened in the past.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner, $13). The great American novel about the American dream, “the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us.” If Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography embodies the American dream, The Great Gatsby is its antidote.
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