New Favorite Book

OK, so I've been doing a fair amount of reading over the summer, most of it for AP English, and I have found a absolute gem. The Poisonwood Bible is quite possibly the best book I have read, ever. It was one of the choices we had for our summer homework, and while required reading usually eliminates a lot of the excitement from books I read (I don't know what exactly it is, just something about the "required" part that makes it less fun), the feeling quickly passed with this novel.
It is essentially about a Baptist family that takes a one year trip into the Congo in the 60's in order to convert the masses. But, it ends up being so much more than that. The book makes clear what happens when one culture or belief system decides that it is superior to another. Nathan Price, the patriarch of the family, is blinded by arrogance and stupidity, and attempts to force his way of life on the Congolese, ignoring the traditions (most of them there for a very good reason) of the native Congolese and often risking the well being of his own wife and daughters. In the end, he pays for his foolishness, but he still tried with all his might to win over the Congolese because his path was the true path.
The book also goes into describes the consequences of this sense of moral superiority on a larger scale. When whole nations, most notably the United States, feel that they know what is best for all the peoples of the world. In the end, countless lives are broken due to interference by nations like the U.S., who are often only serving their own interests while veiling their true motivations behind "the fight against communism."
This book will force you to think about yourself, the possibility that you have been complicit in atrocities, regardless of whether you were actually involved or are even aware of their occurrences, and the meaning of values and traditions. Much of this book focuses on the fact that many follow the belief that their set of values, and their set of traditions, is correct, and that those who do not follow them are either evil, or simply backward fools. But in reality, no one is right, society develops along its own path for a reason, and different traditions exist because they work in a specific set of circumstances.
At any rate, it's an excellent book, and at some point I would highly recommend that everyone gets around to reading it. Just make sure you have plenty of time, because like I said, it's a thinker.