Adult & Teen Summer Reading Challenge 2026

Week Six — Industrial Revolution

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Armor of Light by Ken Follett
Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati
Dreamland by Kevin Bakker
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Serena by Ron Rash
Coal River by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn

Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day by E.J. Hobsbawm
The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention by William Rosen
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869 by Stephen Ambrose
Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria
The Devil In the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

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