Prompts

Which books made you think deeply about freedom, truth, and society?

Books have the power to challenge our perspectives, reveal hidden truths, and inspire us to think critically about the world around us. Stories—both real and imagined—can illustrate the importance of freedom, the consequences of unchecked power, and the resilience of those who fight for justice. Whether through dystopian fiction, historical accounts, or thought-provoking analysis, these books help us understand society in new ways. Which books have made you reflect deeply on freedom, truth, and the structures that shape our world?

1984
Fahrenheit 451
Animal Farm
The Handmaid's Tale
Brave New World
Night
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
The Left Hand of Darkness
We
The Hunger Games
Kindred
Slaughterhouse 5
On Tyranny
Tender Is the Flesh
All Systems Red
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Plague
Catching Fire
Kokoro
The Running Man
The Dispossessed
Watchmen
Vox
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
The Water Dancer
No Longer Human
Unwind
Amusing Ourselves to Death
I Must Betray You
The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, books I-II
Mockingjay
Lilith's Brood
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Chain Gang All Stars
Careless People
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
How Fascism Works
The Federalist Papers
Ringworld
The Plotinus
Children of Time
1Q84
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town
A People's History of the United States
The Power
Kafka in Tangier
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
On Freedom
Cyberspies
Internment
Libertie
Lovesick
We Should All Be Feminists
A Short Stay in Hell
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery
Grave of the Fireflies
Education and Peace
Angel of Greenwood
Metamorfosis
The Torture Camp on Paradise Street
The Stories of Ray Bradbury
What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics
How Do You Live?
We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice
Hollow Fires
The New Flesh: Life and Death in the Data Economy
Development as Freedom
The Inheritance Trilogy
The Wanting Way: Poems
Indian Horse
The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine
Autocracy Inc.
Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
The Jailing of Cecelia Capture
Girls' Last Tour, Vol. 6
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Parable of the Sower
Prophet Song
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
Elijah of Buxton
Cain
Break the Wheel: Ending the Cycle of Police Violence
The Hellbound Heart
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
The 48 Laws of Power
Teaching to Transgress
Gravity's Rainbow
A Time of Changes
Foundation
The Grapes of Wrath
The Memory Police
Fascism: A Warning