Resources
Bibliography for teachers
Arendt, Hannah. 2017. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Penguin Modern Classics. London, England: Penguin Classics. This book is a great resource for building background knowledge on the usage of propaganda in totalitarian regimes, specifically in Nazi Germany.
Aristotle. Selections from Politics. Trans. H. Rakham. Loeb Classical Library 264. Harvard Univ. Press, 1932. This collection gives teachers essential philosophical discussions about citizenship, justice, why governments exist, and how individuals relate to the state.
Bradbury, Ray. 1951. "The Pedestrian." The Reporter, August 7, 1951. This is the mentor text for the braided essay.
Frankl, Viktor E. 2006. Man's Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press. A powerful account of Frankl's time in Auschwitz, and a complementary historical companion to 1984.
James, CLR. Toussaint Louverture. Ed. Christian Høgsbjerg. Foreword by Laurent Dubois. Duke
Univ. Press, 2013. A great play that showcases the only successful slave revolt in history. This is a great piece for highlighting historical resistances.
Le Guin, Ursula K. 1973. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. HarperCollins. This is the mentor text for the braided essay.
Livy. Life of Cincinnatus. In History of Rome, Volume II: Books 3-4. Trans. B.O. Foster. Loeb
Classical Library 133. Harvard Univ. Press, 1922. This primary source tells the story of Cincinnatus, who gave up power by choice. It gives teachers helpful background for talking about civic virtue, republican leadership, and the ethical use of political authority.
Milton, John. Samson Agonistes. In Complete Poetry and Essential Prose. Eds. William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen M. Fallon. Modern Library, 2007. Milton’s Samson Agonistes offers helpful background for teachers who want to better understand the literary and philosophical influences on George Orwell’s 1984. Orwell refers to Milton’s work several times in the novel. Knowing Samson Agonistes can help teachers lead richer classroom discussions about resistance, moral conviction, suffering, and the challenge of keeping one’s integrity under oppression, even if students do not read the text themselves.
National Archives. 2025. “The Bill of Rights: A Transcription.” National Archives. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. April 28, 2025.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript. This is a great resource for introducing themes of individual and moral responsibility as a citizen of the United States.
Niemöller, Martin. "First They Came." Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Accessed July 9, 2026. https://hmd.org.uk/resource/first-they-came-by-pastor-martin-niemoller/. This is the mentor text for the braided essay.
Orwell, George. 1984. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. This is the mentor text for the braided essay.
Plato, from The Statesman. In The Collected Dialogues. Eds. Edith Hamilton and Huntington
Cairns. Princeton Univ. Press, 1961. Plato's Statesman gives teachers helpful background by exploring what makes a just leader and how government should work. Themes presented support the unit’s focus on tyranny, civic responsibility, and resistance, giving teachers a wider perspective for leading conversations about the ethical use of power in 1984 and related texts.
The Red Nation Collective. The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save our Earth. Common
Notions, 2021. This text gives teachers a current Indigenous perspective on resistance, justice, and collective responsibility. It offers helpful background for classroom conversations about power, civic engagement, and moral choices.
Schrader, Paul, dir. First Reformed. Killer Films, 2017. Schrader's film gives educators a modern way to explore Thoreau's idea of civil disobedience, Frankl's search for meaning, and the tough choices faced by characters like Winston Smith and the people of Omelas. Watching the film can help teachers better understand the unit's main themes and see how both literature and film encourage audiences to think about the balance between personal beliefs and what society expects.
Shakespeare, William. The Rape of Lucrece. In The Norton Shakespeare, Vol. 1: Early Plays and Poems. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt et al. Norton, 2008. While The Rape of Lucrece is not part of this unit, Shakespeare’s poem gives teachers helpful literary and historical context for themes like tyranny, abuse of power, moral resistance, and political corruption. Its focus on personal conscience and standing up to injustice can help educators lead deeper discussions about the ethical and political issues found in 1984 and the unit’s other texts.
Sophocles, Antigone. In Greek Tragedies, Vol. 1. Eds. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
Univ. of Chicago Press, 1960. This is additional text that illustrates the theme of resistance more discreetly.
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2017. A great resource for introducing your students to the terminology of tyranny and resistance.
Tacitus, Agricola. In Agricola, Germania, Dialogue on Oratory. Trans. M. Hutton, W. Peterson. Loeb Classical Library 35. Harvard Univ. Press, 1914. This classical text gives teachers historical background to explore authoritarian rule. It helps students link Orwell's critique of totalitarianism to earlier cases of political oppression and moral resistance in the Roman Empire.
Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John D'Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016. This essay can be used to support themes present in the short story, “The Pedestrian.”
Walker, David. Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. Ed. Peter P. Hinks. Penn State
Univ. Press, 2000. Walker's abolitionist text gives teachers important historical background for talking about resistance, moral courage, and civic responsibility. While it is not a main part of this unit, it helps educators understand principled opposition to injustice and supports the themes found in 1984, Civil Disobedience, On Tyranny, and the unit’s other texts.
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. London: Penguin Books, 2006. A powerful account of Wiesel’s time in a concentration camp, and a complementary historical companion to 1984. This book is great for teaching students that resistance often preserves truth, identity, and humanity in the face of oppression.
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