This course explores the power of literature to create and break social bonds. How can books help us to build inclusive communities? When do they exclude? Course readings will center on nineteenth-century British literature, with the possible addition of the UCSB Reads book for the year. Assignments will ask students to consider how literature can participate in and change existing social infrastructures. A main goal of the class is to prompt us to be self-reflective about what it means to be a reader at UCSB.