Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
Library Description: “Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people’s lives been seen on the stage,” observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959. This edition presents the fully restored, uncut version of Hansberry’s landmark work with an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of Black America—and changed American theater forever. The play’s title comes from a line in Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem,” which warns that a dream deferred might “dry up/like a raisin in the sun.”
Access: Only one student can read this ebook at a time.
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Library Description: It’s Christmastime in Norway, and Norma Helmer is preparing her lovely home for the holidays. A dainty, jovial woman, Norma is adored by her husband, Torvald, and their three children. But when an old friend comes to visit, Norma reveals that her life is not as carefree as it seems. Norma is keeping a secret from Torvald, a secret that would shatter his illusion of her as the perfect wife. But is she prepared to maintain that illusion for the rest of her life? This unabridged edition of Henrik Ibsen’s provocative three-act play, originally published in 1879, explores the life of a 19th-century wife, ready to disregard social customs and financial security for a shot at independence.
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People
Library Description: Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote An Enemy of the People in 1882 as a response to the public outrage over his play Ghosts. Part comedy, part serious drama, the play looks at Dr. Thomas Stockmann’s struggle to uphold the truth in the face of intolerance and willful ignorance, as his entire community turns against him. Branded an “Enemy of the People,” Dr. Stockmann can only take solace in the idea that “the strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone.”
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Library Description: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Brooding Hamlet, the son of the recently deceased king, is about to discover the royal family’s corruption firsthand. Taken by the castle watchman to meet the apparition they see at night, Hamlet is surprised to find it is his father’s ghost. Hamlet seeks to avenge his father’s dishonorable death, but the casualties along the way may prove to be just as tragic. Enter William Shakespeare’s famous world of betrayal, madness, and “murder most foul” through this unabridged version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, first published in England in 1603.
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Library Description: Hermia’s father has given her a seemingly impossible decision: marry Demetrius, a man she doesn’t love, or die. Instead, she decides to take fate into her own hands and run off with her true love, Lysander. Demetrius sets off into the forest to find them, followed by Helena, a young woman smitten with Demetrius, whom he constantly ignores. But the forest is filled with fairies—including the mischievous Puck—whose magic just might spoil everything. This is an unabridged version of William Shakespeare’s multilayered comedy, first published in England in 1600.
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
William Shakespeare, Othello
Library Description: Othello, a general in the Venetian army, has married the lovely Desdemona, and Roderigo is not at all happy. He was hoping to woo Desdemona for himself. Roderigo’s jealousy is all Iago, Roderigo’s sneaky friend, needs, as he has his own reasons to be angry with Othello. By weaving an intricate web of deceit, infidelity, and envy, Iago is able to plant false suspicions and lead people to commit crimes that will destroy the relationships dearest to them. This is an unabridged version of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, first published in England in 1622.
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
William Shakespeare, Richard III
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
Sophocles, Oedipus the King
Library Description: Disregard for messages from the oracles and gods doesn’t turn out well for characters in Greek stories, and Oedipus is no exception. Encompassing murder and betrayal, incest and patricide, this set of three plays follows the life of a man doomed to suffer from birth. Sophocles wrote these classic Greek tragedies in fifth century BCE. This English translation, by F. Storr, was first published in 1912.
Access: Multiple students can read this ebook at once.
August Wilson, Fences
Library Description: From legendary playwright August Wilson comes the powerful, stunning dramatic bestseller that won him critical acclaim, including the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize. Troy Maxson is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be to survive. Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, a spirit that is changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can, a spirit that is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and to a wife and son he understands less and less. This is a modern classic, a book that deals with the impossibly difficult themes of race in America, set during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Access: Only one student can read this ebook at a time.
