For years, a prognostication by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe appeared on the masthead page of World Literature Today: “These journals, as they reach a wider public, will contribute most effectively to the universal world literature for which we are hoping. There can be no question, however, of nations thinking alike. The aim is simply that they shall grow aware of one another, understand one another, and, even where they may not be able to love, may at least tolerate one another” (On Art and Antiquity, 1828). 

In 2017 WLT published a special issue devoted to “Belief in an Age of Intolerance,” and in 2018 a booklist called “11 Books for Tolerance and Understanding.” The issue and the booklist were intended to facilitate reflection, promote tolerance, and foster understanding. WLT published the list on November 16 in conjunction with the International Day for Tolerance and in the spirit of UNESCO’s 1995 Declaration of Principles on Tolerance.

Five years later, the editors of WLT decided to compile a new booklist for this year’s Day for Tolerance, drawn from recommendations by University of Oklahoma faculty/grad students and featuring teachable books on the theme of tolerance especially from a literary, cultural, and/or historical perspective.

The etymology of tolerance in English is rooted in the Latin tollere (to lift up) and the Greek tlēnai (to bear). In this time of murderous intolerance, the editors hope that the following booklist will give readers a reason to lift one another up and to bear the weight of historical injustices and current violence.