Social Studies Education

Published by sociologist and historian W. E. B. Du Bois in 1903, this series of essays addresses the plight of African Americans facing everyday racism in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. It has become one of the most important works on race and identity across the world. Du Bois sets out to explain how black interaction with a white world has caused psychological anguish and argues that blacks should demand total equality in their daily realities.

In 2009's Liquidated, anthropologist Karen Z. Ho takes the tools of ethnographic research, which are traditionally used to study distant societies, and instead uses them to dissect the culture of high finance on New York's famous Wall Street. Through close observation of the daily lives of the bankers working there, and the beliefs, rituals, and timeframes that define them, Ho uncovers a distinct culture in which she finds the ultimate causes of the financial crises of recent times.

The era after World War II saw America's urban planners treat the lives of city-dwellers with disdain. It spawned a philosophy of urban renewal that valued the efficient movement of cars more than it valued the lives of people, and that wiped out entire neighborhoods dismissed by bureaucrats as slums. Published in 1961, Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities examines the shortsightedness and failure of this philosophy. The book turns away from strict statistical study and abstract planning theory in favor of observations.

Published in 1990, The Anti-Politics Machine is American anthropologist James Ferguson's first book. It discusses international development projects: how they are conceived, researched, and put into practice. Importantly, it also looks at what these projects actually achieve. Ferguson is critical of the idea of development and argues that the process does not take enough account of the daily realities of the communities it is intended to benefit.

Philosopher Judith Butler's 1990 work, Gender Trouble, shook the foundations of feminist theory and changed the conversation about gender. While many thinkers already accepted that "gender" was a category constructed by society rather than defined by one's genitalia, Butler went further and argued that gender is performative - it exists only in the acts that express it. Society determines that wearing makeup is "feminine" - but some men wear makeup. Are they "women"?

In 1963's The Feminine Mystique, she identified "the problem that has no name" afflicting women pressured to devote themselves to domestic life. After World War II, society fostered the idea that women wanted different things from men - namely, to run homes and live through the achievements of their husbands and children. In reality, rigid gender roles left housewives frustrated and depressed and caused tensions both in their marriages and in how couples raised their children.

Why has gender inequality persisted for so long without revolutionary change? That's the central question Joan Wallach Scott poses in her 1998 collection of essays, Gender and the Politics of History. Scott notes that obvious economic, social, and class inequalities have produced large-scale social change, but uncovering the reality of gender inequality has not done the same.

Even as recently as the 1920s the historical lack of great female writers was often considered as evidence of women's inferiority. Virginia Woolf disagreed. In her 1929 essay A Room of One's Own, she argues that creativity is impossible without privacy and freedom from financial worries - and that throughout history women have had neither. As a result, no tradition of great female writing existed to inspire women. Woolf's focus on the everyday suppression of women was a turning point.

A middle-grade retelling of Richard Nixon’s downfall, Bringing Down A President: The Watergate Scandal is an inventive and timely look at one of the biggest scandals to ever rock our nation by Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy.

In this audiobook, we’ve narrated the most recent 100 questions and answers to the civics test. You can be sure that these are up to date, so you can go into the oral test feeling confident about scoring more than six out of ten.

This audio study guide for How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as the dire consequences of racism, historical knowledge in contemporary social transformation, and rethinking racist power. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

This audio study guide for So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as systemic racism, activism, and social justice. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

Nosotros, el pueblo de Who HQ, traemos a los lectores la historia completa (argumentos y todo) de cómo surgió la Constitución de los Estados Unidos.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for Circe by Madeline Miller includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as the nature and power of victory and misogyny and female suffering. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as public health and modern medicine, and bridging cultural boundaries. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the novel’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as the failure of democracy, the rise of tyranny, and the anti-democratic practices of an American president. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book's multiple symbols, motifs, and themes (such as "Mortality" and "Risk-Taking"). Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

This audio study guide for Saltwater Slavery by Stephanie E. Smallwood includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as the commodification of African captives, diaspora, and social death, and the Middle Passage. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the book’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as Dutch identity, white guilt, and traditions of the European Enlightenment. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality instructional study guides for challenging works of literature. This audio study guide for White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the novel’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes such as white resistance to race and complicity in a systemic system. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.