1. Books with Powerful Messages of Social Change
How to Change the World
Books with Powerful Messages of Social Change
Non-Fiction Personal stories of journeys to break social barriers
Fiction A deepening understanding of the complexity of the human experience
Social Analysis Issues, activism, and visions for social change

2. What is the value added of reading different genres/types of books?
The literary genres that we are reading in this class offer different approaches to addressing social issues: true stories, imaginary stories, and social analysis. Each brings a different dimension and perspective of social change.

3. Fiction brings the “voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society… to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope…, writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries, the realists of a larger reality.” – Ursula K Le Guin

4. The magic behind different types of books
Narrative Non-Fiction Personal stories of journeys to break social barriers
Books that recount factual stories, windows into people’s personal journeys
Memoir/biography/creative non-fiction – stories based on personal events or research
Ethnography – story told by a researcher to provide insight into people’s lives and context
Investigative journalism – story on a community with the aim of bringing about change
Fiction A deepening understanding of the complexity of the human experience
Books that describe imaginary events and people – providing “alternatives to how we live”
Novel – a fictitious narrative representing a story with some degree of realism
Science fiction/fantasy – uses magic and other supernatural forms/ fantasy is a form of sci-fi that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology
Social Analysis Issues, activism, and visions for social change
Books that systematically examine a social issue with the aim of prompting change
Activist biography – for the purposes of this class, books that tell the stories of activists, including the analysis of a specific social issue and vision for social change from their perspective
Social analysis – often written by a researcher, a scholar, a policy maker, or other professional

5. Powell's Books