The War of the Worlds tells the story of Earth being invaded by Martians. Told through the eyes of an unnamed protagonist, the narrative follows the invasion from the moment the aliens land on Earth through a lengthy military conflict between humans and Martians. Published near the end of the nineteenth century, The War of the Worlds is an early science fiction novel that touches on themes of natural selection, imperialism, and religion.
The Woman Warriors is an anthology of short stories intermixing Chinese folklore and memoirs. It shows Chinese cultural stories in several contexts and through the lenses of several narrators with widely divergent viewpoints. The Cultural Revolution is a prominent thematic context, framing most of the stories to greater or lesser degrees. The place of women in Chinese society is also addressed at length. The text is widely taught and very dense in its treatments of folklore and modern analysis thereof.
War and Peace is an epic novel by Leo Tolstoy published in 1869, centering around Russians during Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia. The novel mainly follows two wealthy families, the Bolkonskys and the Rostov's, particularly Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov, the former of whom dies in the end. The novel presents a spiritual tension between individual enlightenment and historical glory--a theme that many of the characters struggle during their near-death experiences. The novel ends with an epilogue in which Tolstoy expounds upon his theory of history.
Chief Joseph: War Chief of the Nez Perce is a historical text about Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, whose tribe resisted the United State's attempts to remove them from their home in Wallowa Valley in Oregon. U.S. Army General Oliver Howard chased Chief Joseph and his people more than 1,000 miles through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana until they finally surrendered in 1877 near the Canadian border. The book documents the moral injustices and evils of US Indian removal and Chief Joseph's tribe's attempts to defend themselves.