A Discourse on Inequality is a 1754 philosophical essay by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that examines the source of political and ethical inequality within society. After disregarding natural, or physical, inequality, Rousseau examines the transition from his idealized "natural man," living alone, balancing self-love with compassion, to the corrupt societal man, constantly suffering, living for and under the judgments of others. According to Rousseau, the division of land into private property was the original sin of society, allowing for the powerful to continually exploit the weak through social conventions and laws.
Set in the late 1960s, Go Ask Alice is the story of an unnamed diarist whose journals show her journey through a pill addiction. The novel's tumultuous course follows the nameless girl through a flight from home, a harrowing and mentally scarring stay in an asylum, and a slide into heroin use during which she is brutally raped. Although the diarist makes heroic efforts to throw off her addiction, in the end she dies of an overdose.
Song of Kali is the story of Robert Luzcak, an American writer sent to Calcutta to ferret out a poet producing new work after being presumed dead for nearly a decade. Robert soon finds himself embroiled in the apocalyptic madness of a cult dedicated to Kali, goddess of war and destruction. Robert's son is kidnapped and killed by the cult and the poet, Das, is killed or commits suicide. Robert and his wife depart, despairing, and attempt to piece their life back together.