Western Canon reading path
Expanded Canon
A starting shelf for voices and traditions that enlarge the inherited survey.
How to use this reading path
This path is not an appendix to the canon. It places works about race, gender, empire, memory, and cultural inheritance into the central conversation.
- Books
- 8
- Estimated hours
- 150
- Suggested pace
- 6 months
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
The reading order
- The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois Find available editions on Bookshop.org
- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Find available editions on Bookshop.org
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Buy this available edition
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez Get the recommended edition
- Beloved by Toni Morrison Buy this available edition
- Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus Find available editions on Bookshop.org
- The Clouds by Aristophanes Find available editions on Bookshop.org
- Physics by Aristotle Find available editions on Bookshop.org
Some purchase links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Keep the path close
Get a monthly Canon reading plan
Join the occasional Canon Library letter for new reading paths, edition notes, and practical next steps.
Open the newsletter signup