Below are lists of 20th century biological science and history books that I read, mostly in my student days, and which I still recommend (especially for teachers), followed by prompts about short literary readings my college students and I discussed and wrote about in classes during three semesters.
(My undergraduate poetry teacher, Jonathan Culler, in his handbook, Literary Theory, gives an example of the interdisciplinary in his field, merging the study of history with that of narrative fiction: "Discussions of the nature of historical understanding have taken as a model what is involved in understanding a story.")
To bring us up to the 21st century, I've added thoughts about blogging and artificial intelligence.
Each of the four topics (I through IV) is demarcated on the screen by a long horizontal line before it. This post may appear too long and multi-faceted to read in one sitting. I suggest you might break it into two readings, with the following two options for cutting this post into two portions and reading those two portions separately: 1) Read, first, of the 20th century: the first two topics below; then, second, read of the 21st century: the last two topics. Or 2) Read about reading -- the reading lists, immediately below; then read about both reading and writing, the last three topics.
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I. Recommended 20th Century Readings – Favorite Classics
for biological sciences & U.S. history
not including textbooks, scientific articles, or
sources listed elsewhere in my website bibliographies.
About my two reading lists:
Part of the motivation for posting these titles is the realization that high school and undergraduate students today seem to neglect the 20th century readings. They shouldn’t. Twentieth century publications represent the last great research and expression before the onslaught of the internet, email, social media. . .and AI. Here are the last great thinkers and communicators who composed, in many cases, by pencil and cursive on paper or by manual typewriter. Written expression was particularly close to thoughtful self-reflection. Some of these, particularly about natural history or life science, are lyrical. And today's great expositors acquired some of their early inspiration from among the books listed here (and from many other 20th century sources not listed).
For biological science, these sources can represent a history of 20th century biology, including social and scholarly disputes. These sources also emphasize the outdoors.
For U.S. history, though each of the readings were authored in the 20th century, collectively they depict all centuries, up to that time, of the nation's history. I omitted memoirs that offer mainly personal narrative (so, I withheld Richard Rodriguez's paradigm-shifting "Hunger of Memory"). But I have included much material that could continue to be typical of a U.S. history curriculum, encouraging critical reasoning and consideration of various viewpoints.
The lists include influential authors of their time; so these texts provide foundations for later thinking and concerns. Though I try to exclude the obsolete, some of this content is limited in perspective. But some of these books were best-sellers in their day, or winners of national awards. I have chosen books and essays that have aged well -- largely because they are beautifully, eloquently, shockingly, creatively, or charmingly written. Many of these sources have messages that, for better or for worse, still resonate today. They offer snapshots of their era and heralds for today.
For some of these authors, I have listed more than one of their publications. Some of these items I have not read in their entirety; readers should feel free to skim or read only portions. But most of these texts can, should, be read from start to finish.
How many of these texts do you already know?
(Would you recommend others?)
Enjoy!
Twentieth Century Contributions: Studying Biological Sciences and Natural History:
amateur, scholarly, and professional perspectives
presented in alphabetical order by writers' last names:
1. Alvarez, A. Night: Night Life, Night Language, Sleep, and Dreams
2. Carson, Rachel. “A Fable for Tomorrow," “The Obligation to Endure,” & The Sea Around Us
3. Compton, John. The Spider
4. Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene
5. De Kruif, Paul. Men Against Death & The Microbe Hunters
6. Dilliard, Anne. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
7. Durrell, Gerald. My Family and Other Animals
8. Fabre, J. H. The Life of the Grasshopper
9. Gibbons, Euell. Stalking the Faraway Places
10. Hubbell, Sue. A Book of Bees
11. Koestler, Arthur. The Case of the Midwife Toad
12. Kurlansky, Mark. Cod
13. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac
14. Lorenz, Konrad. On Aggression
15. Mowat, Farley. Never Cry Wolf
16. Schrodinger, Erwin. What is Life?
17. Thomas, Lewis. The Medusa and the Snail
18. Warner, William W. Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay
19. White, T. H. The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts
20. Wilson, E. O. On Human Nature & Naturalist
Twentieth Century Trail-Blazing: U.S. History and Government
both primary and secondary sources
presented in possible order for reading:
1. Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me
2. Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492
3. Fischer, David Hackett. Historians' Fallacies, Albion’s Way, Paul Revere’s Ride, Washington’s Crossing
4. Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
5. Huggins, Nathan Irvin. Black Odyssey: The Afro-American Ordeal in Slavery
6. Wills, Gary. Lincoln at Gettysburg
7. Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
8. Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform
9. Brooks, Van Wyck. The Flowering of New England & New England: Indian Summer
10. DuBois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America & The Souls of Black Folk
11. Schlesinger, Arthur. The Vital Center
12. Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Affluent Society
13. McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas
14. Tuchman, Barbara. The Zimmermann Telegram & Stilwell and the American Experience in China
15. Lippmann, Walter. U.S. Foreign Policy: Shield of the Republic
Hellman, Lillian. Scoundrel Time
17. May & Zelikow. The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis
18. Wills, Gary. A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government
19. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring
20. Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States
One of my history professors, Dominick LaCapra, taught that the history of ideas could be understood through the lens of imaginative literature. Indeed, I learned as a student in his class responding to writing prompts, as well as by my own teaching and learning, that classic novels can enlighten readers of their time and our own about how historiography works, and sometimes have even "made history". Here are a few such influential novels I've encountered (there are plenty more -- which might you recommend?), listed in alphabetical order by author, spanning three centuries, that teach in a variety of ways about history:
Amis, Martin. Time's Arrow
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. The Water Dancer
Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain (children's literature)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin
Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace
Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse five, or The Children's Crusade
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse
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II. Responding to Literature:
Sources about Writing:
At the start of each semester, we practiced the basics. Online resources eclipsed books for guidance on writing. As an example, my students benefited from Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
I don't recommend any survey list nor how-to books as initial preparation for interpreting literature.
But among many general how-to books on writing, I recommend these four; some of these authors remember or address their students. Eco's book is devoted to the methods and motives of research, while the three others to the writing process and clear, pithy composition:
William Strunk and E. B. White's Elements of Style
Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones
Umberto Eco's How to Write a Thesis (recently translated to English)
George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (a 21st century resource via 19th century stories)
Late in the semester, students met with me for about two class meetings to discuss assigned literature. The groups of writing prompts, below, were for short comparison-contrast essay writing, involving study of poetry or prose, in three semesters of an introductory, community college composition course (ENGL101). The discussion generally starts with asking who liked or did not like which selection, and why. Then, if it is a story, we make sure we understand “what it’s about” or “what happens”. Then we get to some puzzling aspects, and assess characters. If it’s a poem, the effects of structure and addressing puzzles may come first, and whether we agree with or like the poem perhaps last.
Upon completing the class discussion, I gave students the essay questions to study at home. I advised them not to search online for literary criticism or discussion. Then the students responded writing in class for two meetings. After I read the students’ first-day writing, which I collected, I sometimes followed briefly with discussion to clarify points about the literature and my reactions to reader responses, before readers complete their writing assignment.
The choices of authors and literature might be very different, today. For example, these days, I might choose stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, and poems by Amanda Gorman.
This reading-discussion-writing exercise was among the most meaningful and popular to students and me in my teaching experience. Depending on the literature chosen, it might provide opportunity for sharing sensitive personal outlooks, which could present risk or advantage to participants.
Jonathan Culler, in his Literary Theory: a Very Short Introduction (a book I recommend only after you've experienced at least a semester reading and interpreting literature your own way), explains how narrative fiction and poetry work, and how readers might derive meaning from it. His most recent revision (introducing the 21st century) was published close to 15 years ago, yet much of his discussion remains remarkably relevant today. He reports that some critics are skeptical of the benefits or virtue of reading literature, and suspect that forces in society may try to brainwash the populace through literary texts, or that reading is inadequate substitute for action.
"Literature has long been blamed for encouraging the young to see themselves as characters in novels. . . Literature is said to corrupt through mechanisms of identification. The champions of literary education have hoped, on the contrary, that literature would make us better people through vicarious experience and the mechanisms of identification." And, Culler reminds us, "There is a long tradition of reading literature for wisdom."
Many researchers of reading today conclude that interpreting imaginative or fictional literature, with sensitivity to characters and authors, can build empathy.
DIRECTIONS, the same for all three essay options (during three semesters):
A) PICK ONLY ONE TOPIC, BELOW. WRITE AT LEAST THREE PARAGRAPHS, ABOUT 500 WORDS, TOTAL. UNLESS DIRECTED OTHERWISE, ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS FOR YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC.
B) YOU MAY CONSULT A ROUGH, ONE-PAGE OUTLINE YOU BRING TO CLASS – WHICH YOU TURN IN WITH YOUR ESSAY. THE OUTLINE MUST NOT HAVE SENTENCES.
C) YOU SHOULD CONSULT, AND USE, THE STORY (or poem) TEXT -- QUOTE FROM THE STORY (or poem) WHERE APPROPRIATE - no need to use MLA format in this case, since we all know the texts. YOU MAY ALSO CONSULT A DICTIONARY.
D) UNDERLINE IN YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH YOUR THESIS STATEMENT – YOUR OPINION THAT YOU WILL DEFEND IN YOUR FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS.
E) DOUBLE-SPACE. WRITE YOUR NAME, CLASS HOUR, THE DATE, AND YOUR TOPIC # ON YOUR ESSAY PAGES.
F) MENTION IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH THE TITLE AND AUTHOR OF THE WORKS OF LITERATURE YOU DISCUSS.
G) USE THE PRESENT TENSE WHEN REFERRING TO ACTION IN A STORY.
H) DO NOT TELL ME THE STORIES – I HAVE READ THEM.
I) REMEMBER TO DISCUSS THE AUTHOR’S OPINIONS OR INTENTIONS.
J) REMEMBER TO PROOFREAD YOUR ESSAY (FOR COMMAS, VERBS, SPELLING, ETC.)
Essay Topic Options #1
The works of literature:
Jack Handey’s “What I Would Say to the Martians”
Gerald Manley Hopkins’ “Spring and Fall”
Dorothy Parker’s “Waltz”
1. Compare Humor in Handey’s and Parker’s works: include a discussion of diction, word choice, sentence structure, conflict, and general topic. Which work is more funny to you, and why?
2. If the woman in Parker’s “Waltz” were speaking to the Martians, what would the woman say, and how, to the Martians, and what would she think about them and about herself? Give evidence for your views.
3. a) If the man of Handey’s Martian cage were on earth dancing with the woman in Parker’s “Waltz” – considering if the man were a skilled OR a poor dancer -- how do you think the two dancers would get along: what would they each say and think?
b) OR, Compare the men in the two stories, and how you get your information about them. Do you have sympathy for either of the men, and why?
c) OR, Compare the speakers AND/OR compare the “captor(s)” in the two stories.
4. What are Handey and Parker each saying about the society we live in or know? What are their different messages? Any similarities?
5. Distinguish between the author’s view and the speaker’s view in Handey’s and/or Parker’s story. In what way do the authors’ opinions differ from their speakers’, and how can you tell?
6. Compare the relationship between speaker and audience in Handey’s story and Hopkins’ poem. In each work, how does the speaker talk to his audience, and why?
Thoughts and Information about the two stories , upon reading student drafts:
Handey’s “What I Would Say to the Martians”
was published in The New Yorker magazine in 2005.
It includes a critique of the attitude of men in U.S. society.
The speaker is imprisoned by his need to fight or be in opposition.
Parker’s “Waltz”
was published in The New Yorker magazine in 1933.
It includes a critique of the attitude of women in U.S. society.
The speaker is imprisoned by her need NOT to fight or be in opposition.
In your essay, remember to answer the question, “So, what?”
What are the authors’ opinions? (See above.)
Problems in the in-class Literature Essay Results:
For both stories: What is "irony"? What are the opinions of the authors?
Essay Topic Options #2
The works of literature:
Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
William Saroyan’s “Gaston”
1. Walking or Wandering
Compare and contrast the way in which the authors LeGuin and Saroyan use the notion of walking or wandering in their respective stories. The father walks away from his apartment and daughter and then goes around the neighborhood, the caterpillar wanders around the plate, in Saroyan’s “Gaston”. The emigrants walk away from LeGuin’s Omelas. Is there passivity, rebellion, sacrifice, nonconformity, or curiosity in these acts?
2. Symbolism
Compare Saroyan’s caterpillar, Gaston, to LeGuin’s imprisoned child. What do they each represent in their stories?
3. Daughter
Consider in detail the daughter in Saroyan’s “Gaston”. In what ways is she like her father? In what ways is she like her mother?
4. Leaving
If you were born or grew up in another country, can you compare leaving that country to people leaving Omelas in LeGuin’s story? Why did you leave your other country? Why do other people emigrate? Do you think LeGuin’s story should talk about how the people live after they leave? OR
If you have never left the U.S. to live somewhere else, or if you do not want to write about the experience of leaving a country: what is it like to leave a relationship or home or school or situation? When is it better to stay? When is it better to leave?
Essay Topic Options #3
The Works of Literature:
Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” opening three lines of Part I AND all of Part II
Marge Piercy’s, “To Be of Use”
James Thurber’s “Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
1. Interpersonal Relations. Consider interpersonal relations and behavior in you and Walter Mitty. Does Mitty daydream because people boss him, or do people boss him because he daydreams? Think of an instance when people mistreated you: was there something about you that encouraged the treatment? What was your response? How would you compare yourself with Mitty? Cite examples from Thurber's story. OR, Was there a time when you felt like protesting, very publicly, as Ginsberg’s “Howl” speaker is protesting? What was the situation, and the result? Do you agree with Ginsberg’s speaker? Refer to the poem.
2. Arranged Marriage. If Piercy’s speaker in “To Be of Use” were a matchmaker, why would she recommend that a young woman not marry Thurber’s Mitty (if he were single with the personality he has in the story) or Ginsberg’s speaker in “Howl”? Imagine what Piercy’s speaker would say, and refer to all three works in your writing. You may include in your response a letter to a young woman (maybe to Mrs. Mitty when she was young and single), if you like.
3. “Crazy” Characters. Who is more crazy, do you think: Thurber’s Mitty or Ginsberg’s speaker in “Howl”? Are neither crazy? You should include your own thoughtful definition of “crazy” (not just from a dictionary). Whom would you rather have as a friend, or rather meet? Whom might you admire more? Why? Do either of them help society in some way? How? If the two of them met, how would they relate to each other? Do they both want to be understood? Cite examples from the works of literature.
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III. Blogging Resources:
When I met Walter Isaacson after his National Endowment for the Humanities lecture of 2014, in which he extolled the potential of computers for our learning, I lamented to him the decline in student writing over the decades. How might students use computers to learn the craft of writing? He recommended to me, in part, blogging. Fast-forward a decade, and another commentator has called blogging perhaps the writer's last, best hope. Currently, "large language models" crunch huge amounts of online human text to generate human-like compositions. In Moment Magazine, summer 2023 (probably similarly observed in more technical journals), Scott Rosenberg imagines that “if the language models do entrench themselves, all written expression will become weirdly frozen." He adds hopefully, "It’s as if the blogs we wrote and thought were so trivial were actually the last blooming of writing.”
(After I posted the above paragraph, I discovered among my papers a print-out of a Power Point presentation from late 2009, by an Andrew J. Ryan, for instructors to use "blogs in the classroom". I don't recall my colleagues at the time using blogging as part of pedagogy, but in this professional development presentation, recommendations for student blogging included "self-reflections, citizen journalism, diary of historical events. . .reading other people's blogs". Instructors could "summarize notes" and "post useful links/resources".)
Resources for reading and writing blogs often turn to monetizing one's writing. A current well-traveled resource for students and instructors, reading or publishing thoughtful essays online in diary-form -- shared experiences, interests, expertise -- might be Substack: https://substack.com/for-bloggers .
(Please note: At this time, the start of 2024, a controversy has emerged as American Nazis have allegedly benefited monetarily from their Substack account and posts; some writers consider boycotting Substack and moving their blogs elsewhere.)
Here are three Substack blogs I found and recommend for information or writing models:
Biological sciences and natural history:
Life in the Real World, by Karen Davis
WanderFinder, by Hannah
U.S. government and history:
Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson (her recent book, Democracy Awakening, became a New York Times listed best-seller)
You may find many other insightful blogs at a variety of sites, on science, nature, society, and humanities. . . .or create one -- and become a positive "influencer" -- yourself.
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IV. A.I. (Generative Artificial Intelligence)
Teachers of writing have for years opposed or dreaded the use of AI by students, fearing that the technology could lead students to plagiarize – and may have already done so – or simply to a lack of independent thought. But increasingly, ceding to the inevitable as we have long done with information technology, teachers have shared, in various publications, pedagogical counsel on the advantages and disadvantages of AI for classrooms and assignments. Instructors have learned to join forces with the younger generations to benefit from their tech inclinations and facility.
Here are three recent articles I’ve found useful to my thinking. I steered away from the potential value for ESOL or ESL learners, a fascinating area of burgeoning literature in AI, as that community of language learners is generally not the focus of my blogging. I found some of this material seemingly familiar, using AI to receive feedback: it’s reminiscent of my experience with science peer reviewing (see blog on the returning cicadas: "together again," for peer review).
Whatever insights I share here may eventually become obsolete artifacts of technological and pedagogical history.
Some jargon and starters: Here is a list of current AI resources I’ve encountered, some readily available online, and their descriptions or definitions:
· Bard - a chat bot from Google that allows users to brainstorm ideas, with feedback, for writing on various topics
· ChatGPT – a guide to explain a topic, providing sample responses, according to parameters set by the user
· GPT-3 – a chat bot, of an evolving series, that particularly features generative learning –- responding to changing Internet content -- providing sophisticated and current texts created at the user’s request
· GPTZero – software that can detect whether a text was created by AI, used by teachers to watch student work
· Turnitin – software meant to detect plagiarism, reveals the extent to which any text is similar to one already published (Note: media recently drew attention to a case of a student who claimed she was falsely accused of plagiarism after a school used this software to evaluate her essay; this raises the possibility of "false positive" readings.)
1. “ChatGPT & Generative AI: Teaching Students How to Use AI Responsibly”
by Shelby Scoffield, November 10 2023
This high school English teacher, from a technologically “sophisticated” school, offers seven concepts for students’ critical reasoning about AI, similar to evaluating internet sources in general. The teacher uses ChatGPT, preparing at home the material to bring to school because ChatGPT is blocked for the students at school. Students could use their cell phones in class.
“I constantly reminded them that the things they saw on AI websites would be useless if they did not have preexisting knowledge about the subject already in their heads. I pointed out that they wouldn’t know what bad writing looked like if they didn’t have knowledge of good writing in the first place.”
The seven thought-questions Scoffield uses for school exercises include judging the accuracy of text that AI offers – some AI-created content is false -- defining and discovering bias, and defining, discovering, and practicing good feedback and paraphrasing. The students conclude by discussing the value of AI, the ethics of its use, and what is cheating and plagiarism, especially from the point of view of the teacher and her accompanying AI resources.
2. “Embracing Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom,” in Usable Knowledge, Harvard University Graduate School of Education by Elizabeth M. Ross, July 20 2023
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/07/embracing-artificial-intelligence-classroom
This article, which concludes with links to additional resources, reports the experience and thinking of Houman Harouni, who lectures on education and offers teachers four items of advice for dealing with AI. “The educator's job is to understand what opportunities are left open beside the technology,” he explains. Show students what they can do that AI cannot. Students should ask questions of themselves and of AI, critiquing their own thinking and the computer responses. The students can start with their interests, should interrogate themselves, find out what they really want to know. As the “exploration ends with the answer, you know that your work as a teacher begins”. Teachers also become challenged to improve their assignments, ask open-ended questions for team work about dilemmas that don’t present easy answers.
3. “Better feedback with AI?” in Usable Knowledge, Harvard University Graduate School of Education by Ryan Naglehout, November 17 2023
Researchers observed the use of AI as a tool for students studying in a large laboratory setting and seeking continual feedback. Findings: AI did well summarizing and evaluating students' detailed and comprehensive work. But, according to student feedback on AI feedback, the AI frequently did not positively support them, seemed not to know them well, and hence left the students feeling discouraged. Instructors need to know their students, critique the AI resources, and supplement the AI feedback.
Students and teachers: Information or invention are not the same as knowledge or imagination, wisdom or creativity!
(AI did not compose this encouraging statement.)
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