Constellations
The books around Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship
Every book here sits next to Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship for a reason, and the reason is written on the line between them. Click a book and the books next to it appear beside it, without the map moving. The list below has every reason in words, and a way to make any of these the book in the middle.
How to read it
One book in the middle, its neighbours around it, and a line for every reason they are neighbours. The order around the ring is the ranking: the closest neighbour is at the top, and the rest follow clockwise outward.
- a line drawn on a claim about what the books are — a shared subject, or the same author
- a line drawn on how they sit in the catalogue — the same genre, a similar reading measure — which is weaker evidence and is drawn dashed
- the book you started from
- a book with a solid border has neighbours of its own: click it and they appear beside it, while the ring stays exactly where it is
Every line, with its evidence
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In the Shadow of Liberty: The Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, & Five Black Lives 2016 · 1110L
The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents, African American and American/U.S. History) and the same catalogue tag (Biography and Nonfiction).
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Biographyboth filed under · Nonfictionsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentssame narrower subject · African Americansame narrower subject · American/U.S. Historyreading measure · 0L apart
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Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty 2013 · 1160L
The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents and American/U.S. History) and the same catalogue tag (Abraham Lincoln and Nonfiction). Also within 50L of its reading measure.
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Abraham Lincolnboth filed under · Nonfictionsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentssame narrower subject · American/U.S. Historyreading measure · 50L apart
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Lincoln's Grave Robbers 2013 · 930L
The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents and American/U.S. History) and the same catalogue tag (Abraham Lincoln and Nonfiction). Also within 180L of its reading measure.
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Abraham Lincolnboth filed under · Nonfictionsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentssame narrower subject · American/U.S. Historyreading measure · 180L apart
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The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents and American/U.S. History) and the same catalogue tag (Abraham Lincoln).
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Abraham Lincolnsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentssame narrower subject · American/U.S. History
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The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary 2008 · 1050L
The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents) and the same catalogue tag (Abraham Lincoln and Biography). Also within 60L of its reading measure.
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Abraham Lincolnboth filed under · Biographyboth filed under · Nonfictionsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentsreading measure · 60L apart
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Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit 2003 · 980L
The same subject (History and People), the same narrower subject (U.S. Presidents and American/U.S. History) and the same catalogue tag (Biography and Nonfiction). Also within 130L of its reading measure.
same subject · Historysame subject · Peopleboth filed under · Biographyboth filed under · Nonfictionsame narrower subject · U.S. Presidentssame narrower subject · American/U.S. Historyreading measure · 130L apart
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Pink and Say 1994 · 600L
The same subject (Interpersonal Relationships and History), the same narrower subject (African American and Friendship).
same subject · Interpersonal Relationshipssame subject · Historysame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · African Americansame narrower subject · Friendship
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Sugar 2013 · 430L
The same subject (Interpersonal Relationships and History), the same narrower subject (African American and Friendship).
same subject · Interpersonal Relationshipssame subject · Historysame subject · Peoplesame narrower subject · African Americansame narrower subject · Friendship
What the map is not showing
Coverage. 3,013 of the 3,815 books in the catalogue carry a curated subject tag, which is the strongest thing one book can share with another. Where a book has none, the map falls back to genre and reading measure — real reasons, drawn on the weaker line, but a beginning rather than a recommendation. The number above is also the work still to be done: a subject on the rest of the catalogue is the single change that would improve every map on this site at once.
Years and sizes. Two books published in the same decade are not more alike for it, and neither are two books of the same size. When they are neighbours here it is because of what they are, not when they were printed or how thick they are — which is why the ring around a book from 1937 can hold one from 1863 and one from 2003, and the list is better for it. The year is printed on a book's line because it is worth knowing, not because it draws anything.
Lists. Awards and recommended-reading lists are not used here at all. Every book on a list shares something with every other book on it, and that something is the list — which is what Treasury is for. Counting lists puts Holes next to The Hobbit.
One layer. This map shows what two books share. It cannot yet show what a book did for a reader — that a journey, or a funny voice, or being believed by somebody, is what made a book matter — because that is not written down anywhere in the catalogue. It comes from readers, and it is the next thing to build.
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