10 novels that brilliantly capture the American experience

The distance between the American dream and reality is expressed best through literature.

American novelist, writer, playwright, poet, essayist and civil rights activist James Baldwin poses at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France, on November 6, 1979. (Photo: Ralph Gatti/AFP/Getty Images)
  • Literature expands our ability to feel empathy and inspires compassion.
  • These 10 novels tackle some facet of the American experience.
  • The list includes a fictional retelling of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, and hiding out in inner-city Newark.
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Human encroachment is obliterating chimpanzee culture

We are destroying who they are.

(Brenda Bakker/Shutterstock)
  • A study finds that human impact is decimating the cultures of chimpanzee communities in the wild.
  • Unique localized behaviors are being reduced by 88 percent.
  • Socialized learning in chimps has finally been established, just in time to be destroyed.
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A new Dr. Seuss book — 'Horse Museum' — is coming out this fall

A new generation is waiting for the whimsy and wit of Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Wikimedia
  • The new book will be titled Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum.
  • Author of 45 children's books, Dr. Seuss's profundity mixed seamlessly with his simplicity.
  • Revisit and explore these timeless classics by yourself and with your children.
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10 Golden Age science fiction novels

Transport yourself to other worlds and states of mind.

Stranger in a Strange Land Cover
  • The early 20th century saw explosive growth for the science fiction genre.
  • A wide range of these books would go on to become classics.
  • These great works explore the strange, zany and absurd profundities of our existence.
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How the '60s counterculture created Silicon Valley

How did psychedelics and computers converge?

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  • Steve Jobs was influenced by an important counterculture and computing periodical.
  • San Francisco went from hippie haven to technological hub in the years that followed the 1960s.
  • The Homebrew Computer Club was founded by a draft resister and spawned dozens of tech companies.
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