In the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), Styron tells the story of the 1831 Virginia slave rebellion. The novel explores the effects of the institution of slavery on American history.

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Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (1990) is Styron’s autobiographical essay about mental depression, which was brought on by the death of his father and many decades of alcohol abuse.

In Stones from the River, Ursula Hegi tells the story of Trudy Montag, a dwarf who lives with her father in Burgdorf. Spanning the years from 1916 to the 1950s, the novel is about this little town of ordinary German citizens who carry on with their lives despite the horrific events occurring around them.

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s Night is a work of creative nonfiction that follows the experience of a young Jewish boy through the oppression of Nazi occupation and the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. This is a seminal work of Holocaust literature that explores religious faith, the bond between father and son, the survivor coming to terms with humanity, and the importance of learning from the terrible events of history.