The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck (1939)
Set during the Great Depression in America,
this novel tells the story of the Joad’s, a poor
family of farmers driven from their Oklahoma
home by drought, economic hardship and
changes in the agricultural industry. The Joad
family represent so many other families who
made the Western migration and suffered as
a result of a crumbling economy. The book’s
enduring legacy lies in the universal themes
of poverty and hardship, as well as the often
enduring capacity of human beings when they
are placed under pressure.
On the Road
Jack Kerouac (1957)
Through On the Road the wanderings of
Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty have come
to embody the Beat generation and a
counterculture which was prevalent at the time
of publication. The novel is considered to be
not only Kerouac’s defining work, but a defining
work of the time; a partly autobiographical story
of two friends travelling the North American
continent. It tells of the value of detachment
from society, as well as the loneliness that
accompanies the spirit of a wanderer.
Hell’s Angels
Hunter S Thompson (1966)
From one counterculture hero to another,
Hell’s Angels depicts the two years Thompson
spent living with the controversial motorcycle
gang in the mid-60s. His book also serves as
a snapshot of a particular time in American
history, when countercultural movements
were gaining momentum. Thompson, the
creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with fierce
honesty and without inhibition, and his style
of writing oozes vibrancy. You want to read
a book by a guy who believed in euthanasia
and arranged to have his own ashes blasted
from a cannon.
Slaughterhouse Five
Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
Kurt Vonnegut’s absurdist classic is a satirical
novel about WWII told through the life of Billy
Pilgrim, a soldier and later American prisoner
of war who is witness to the bombing of
Dresden. While the story is complex, and not
told in chronological order, it is worth a read
due to it’s exploration of intricate themes
such as free will, human senselessness and
fate.
The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins (2006)
The question “Who is God?” is often asked.
In reply, Dawkins ask why there should be a
God at all. An evolutionary theorist, Dawkins
gives a voice to atheism explaining that it
is not that atheists are devoid of belief, it is
just they don’t believe in personal gods. He
argues that belief in a personal god qualifies
as a level of delusion which he defines as an
enduring, yet incorrect belief held in the face
of strong contradictory evidence. He accuses
religion