By Marie Hassett
 

Harriette Arnow. The Dollmaker. A hard-to-find but wonderful novel about a woman who leaves her home 
in Appalachia for industrial work in Detroit during WWII. A film version is available starring Jane Fonda.

Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street. Broadly appealing writing.

Robert Frost. "The Death of the Hired Man." A poem that addresses issues of home.

Winifred Gallagher. The Power of Place. A discussion of behavioral and environmental science research 
about the ways that places affect our lives.

Lorraine Hansberry. A Raisin in the Sun. Available as a play, and in a film version starring Sidney Poitier.

Kathleen Hirsch. A Home in the Heart of the City. About Hirsch's home, Jamaica Plain, MA.

It's a Wonderful Life. (film)

Stephen King. "The Reach" A beautiful short story about a woman's life and community on a small island in Maine.

Jonathan Kozol. Amazing Grace. A bleak but powerful look at New York's poorest neighborhood.

Robert Levine. A Geography of Time.How our home culture affects our perception and use of time.

Janet McCarthy. Project Girl. An autobiography about how growing up in the projects affected one 
woman's sense of herself and her ability to succeed.

Gloria Naylor. The Women of Brewster Place. This is available as a book, and as a film starring Oprah Winfrey.

Gloria Naylor. Linden Hills. Naylor's examination of a middle-class black community, and the price 
of belonging there.

Kathleen Norris. Dakota.

Constance Perin. Belonging in America. A sociological study of American patterns of family and home culture.

Lisbeth Schor. Common Purpose. A study of programs that have helped to strengthen and rebuild families 
and communities.

Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass. The ultimate discussion of America as home.

The Wizard of Oz. (film)

Jacqueline Woodson. The House you Pass on the Way.

William Zinsser. They Went. Discussions with travel writers that highlight some of the ways we define places, 
and by extension, how we define home.