Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

*Social issue(s): health, psychology of food

*Summary: Traces the history of the fast food industry and discusses how it arose in postwar America

Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

●Social Issues : Alcoholism, poverty, homelessness

●Summary : The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

● Social Issue : child soldiers, African civil war

● Summary : Ishmael Beah, now 25 years old, tells how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is the first time a memoir has been published about someone who survived despite these circumstances.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

●Social Issue : World War 2, survival

●Summary : A biography of Olympic runner and World War II bombardier, Louis Zamperini, who had been rambunctious in childhood before succeeding in track and eventually serving in the military, which led to a trial in which he was forced to find a way to survive in the open ocean after being shot down.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

● Social Issue : employment, poverty, socioeconomic status

● Summary : Author Barbara Ehrenreich relates her experiences from 1998 to 2000, during which time joined the ranks of the working poor as a waitress, hotel housekeeper, cleaning woman, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart clerk to see for herself how America's "unskilled" workers are able to survive on only $6 or $7 an hour.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

● Social Issue : Teenage Violence, school shootings, psychological profiling

● Summary : Provides an account of the shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, focusing on the teenage killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, drawing from interviews, police files, psychological studies, and writings and tapes by the boys to look at the signs they left that disaster was looming.

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

● Social Issue : Murder/serial killings, history of Chicago

● Summary : Tells the parallel stories of Daniel Burnham, the main architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and serial killer Henry H. Holmes, discussing the challenges Burnham faced in creating the hugely successful White City, and looking at how Holmes used the opportunities afforded by the fair to lure victims to their deaths.

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Album

●Social Issue : Religion

●Summary: A remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds—two men, two faiths, two communites. Follows an eighty-year old rabbi, and a pastor from Detroit.

Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher

●Social Issue : adolescent psychology/society and females

●Summary: Societal pressures on American adolescent girls, and utilizes many case studies from the author’s experience as a therapist. Highlights the increased levels of sexism and violence that affect young females.

Freakonomics By:Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

●Social Issue: Economics

●Summary: The authors explore the economics of real-world issues often viewed as insignificant, such as the extent to which the Roe v. Wade decision affected violent crime, and examine hidden incentives behind all sorts of human behavior.

I Am Malala By: Malala Yousafzai

●Social Issue: Education, Woman’s rights, Taliban

●Summary: Malala Yousafzai describes her fight for education for girls under Taliban rule, the support she received from her parents to pursue an education, and how the Taliban retaliated against her by trying to kill her

Three Cups of Tea By:Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Social Issue : Girl’s education, humanitarian assistance, Taliban

Summary: The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard.

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth.

My Forbidden Face by Latifa

● Social issue : Women in Afghanistan, social conditions

● Summary :An astonishing first-hand account of a young womans life lived under the tyranny of the Taliban.On September 26, 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. In a step of defiance, she set up a clandestine school in her home for a small number of young girls. Latifa knew that she was risking her life for something that could change little. But the teaching gave her a reason to get up in the morning, it helped restore meaning in her life. Latifa eventually escaped to Europe with her parents.My Forbidden Face provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime.

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

●Social issue: Immigrant children and illegal aliens

●Summary: Sixteen-year-old Enrique embarks on a journey to find his mother, who eleven years earlier had illegally entered the United States hoping to find work and make enough money to send home to her starving family in Honduras.

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson

●Social issue: Navy seals, Afghan war

●Summary :American Navy SEAL and team leader Marcus Luttrell tells his story of the loss of his teammates in July 2005 along the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border to al-Qaida insurgents.