The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger. First published in the US in 1951, the novel remains controversial to this day for its liberal profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst; it was the thirteenth most frequently challenged book of the 1990s according to the American Library Association.

The novel has become one of the most famous literary works of the 20th century, and a common part of high school curricula in many English-speaking countries, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 60 million.

A murder in a small English village leads Hercule Poirot into a strange mystery involving a determined, curious spinster, the local doctor, and a wide range of suspects with possible motives and mysterious relationships.
Read by Robin Bailey.

24 lectures (30 minutes/lecture)
Taught by: Dr. Jeremy Shearmur—

The aim of his course is not to take sides on any public issue, but rather to explain what is at stake, and to improve your own grasp of why those on all sides of many widely discussed public questions—be they liberals, socialists or libertarians, radical feminists or religious conservatives—think as they do. Dr. Shearmur’s work is thus not persuasion, but clarification. And he accomplishes it through an analysis that is more profound, cogent, philosophically informed, and comprehensive than anything you’re ever likely to glean from ordinary news coverage or day-to-day political commentary.