Chapter 8 opens with some reactions from people to the article about McCandless that Krakauer published in Outside Magazine. What do most people think? Why did Krakauer put this material here in the middle of the book?

The general reaction to Krakauer's article in Outside magazine is one of hostility towards Christopher McCandless. The consensus seems to be that Chris was, at best, a romantic fool, and at worst, a deeply irresponsible nihilist running away from the world and all its problems.
Krakauer defends McCandless by placing him firmly in a long tradition of American outdoorsmen, thus trying to persuade his critics that there was nothing particularly strange or out of the ordinary about his adventures in the Alaskan wilderness. By establishing parallels with explorers of the past, Krakauer aims to deepen his readers' understanding of Chris McCandless and perhaps generate some empathy as to his motives for embarking on his long, and ultimately tragic, journey.
Placing all this information in the middle of the book helps us gain a better understanding of Chris and what made him tick. The previous chapters largely take the form of narrative, providing us with details of Chris's family background and his subsequent journey into the wild. In the chapter prior to Krakauer's defense of McCandless, we see Chris indulging in selfish, irresponsible behavior where he alienates and emotionally hurts people he meets on his travels, such as the Vietnam veteran, Ronald Franz. Krakauer clearly feels it important at this crucial juncture to deal with some of the inevitable criticisms that will arise from many of his readers. As we've already seen, he does this by placing Chris's actions in a much wider historical context.

How does the inspector teach Gerald and the Birlings social responsibility?

The Inspector teaches Gerald Croft and the Birlings that being wealthy and privileged doesn't entitle them to treat the so-called lower classes like dirt. Yet that's precisely how they did treat poor old Eva Smith. At no point did they regard her as anything vaguely resembling a human being. To them, she was just one of many working-class women that people like themselves have been exploiting for centuries in one way or another. She was expendable, existing purely and solely to serve their own selfish needs, before being casually discarded like a used handkerchief when she was no longer of any use.
Inspector Goole hopes through his unusual investigation to change this attitude of corrosive snobbery. He wants the likes of Gerald and the Billings to recognize that they have a social responsibility towards the poor and dispossessed. He does this chiefly by showing them the tragic consequences of their actions, something they will never have seen before at any time during their lives of pampered leisure. By individualizing the suffering and torment that Eva endured, Goole is speaking the language of the upper-class, the better to drive home his powerful message.
For it's perfectly clear that the likes of Gerald Croft and the Billings have no real understanding of society as a whole; they can only relate to other people as individuals. So it is at the individual level that Inspector Goole endeavors to spell out in full the consequences of their selfish actions.

When Inspector Goole enters the Birling home, he states that his purpose for being there is to question all those present, hoping to obtain information about a young woman, Eva Smith (also known as Daisy Renton), who killed herself by drinking disinfectant.
Initially, Croft and the Birlings don't understand what his investigation has to do with them, but as he questions each person, he exposes how their actions contributed to Eva's death.
Because the group knows at the outset that Eva died by suicide, the belief that it is too late to rectify the situation increases their sense of guilt and makes their self-reflection more poignant.
The inspector reminds them that everyone has a responsibility to care for those around them. While Mr. Birling remains skeptical of the inspector's words, the younger members of the party are determined to change.

What is the narrator's relationship to Lionel Wallace?

The narrator, Redmond, was in school with Lionel Wallace at Saint Athelstan’s. It seems apparent that the two had since become friends. However, throughout the course of the story it is difficult to tell how close these "friends" truly are. In their time together at Saint Athelstan’s, they were more like rivals than friends, and it appears they moved in different circles; Lionel remarks several times about how Redmond "didn’t come [his] way" and would not have been in the group that taunted him about the door. Despite this, it seems that Lionel views Redmond as his saving grace in a way, noting that "It was you—your beating me in mathematics that brought me back to the grind again” after a depressive episode resulting from his inability to locate the door.
In the present day, Redmond repeatedly expresses difficulty in ascertaining the truth of Lionel's story of the door in the wall. He is initially inclined to believe his friend, demonstrating a degree of closeness. However, he then begins to doubt the story, no doubt due to its fantastical nature. As the story closes with news of Lionel's death, Redmond is certainly affected. He states his mind "is darkened with questions and riddles." It is worth noting that although Lionel's death troubles him, he does not appear to be wracked with grief, as might be expected of a close friend. Instead, his reaction seems more akin to their initial relationship: boys attending school together, mostly moving in different circles. As a closing thought, Redmond ponders on Lionel's perception of the world, which may have affected his perception of their relationship: "By our daylight standard he walked out of security into darkness, danger and death. But did he see like that?"
https://www.shortstoryproject.com/story/the-door-in-the-wall/

The narrator's an old school friend of Lionel Wallace. They attended St. Athelstan's College in West Kensington, London. When the narrator, Redmond, started school, he was very much Wallace's co-equal. But Wallace soon blazed ahead of him, racking up an impressive collection of prizes and scholarships. He's just one of those pupils who seem to be good at everything, whether it's sports or academics. This makes it all the more astonishing that someone like that would retreat into a world of fantasy and delusion. Wallace seems to have everything he could possibly want in this world, the world of the ordinary and the everyday. There seems no need for him to construct his own little fantasy world, from which to escape the real one.

What is the author Sherman Alexie trying to say about the human condition that is relevant in the story in This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona?

Sherman Alexie’s short story, This is What It Means to say Phoenix, Arizona was first published in 1994. It was featured in the Best American Short Stories of 1994. The short story follows Victor, whose father has just died, which occasions his return to Phoenix, though he is very poor. He meets a childhood friend, now estranged, named Thomas Builds-the-Fire. Thomas is, according to Victor, a “storyteller that no one wanted to listen to.” The story then takes the form of flashbacks to Victor and Tommy’s shared experiences.

Tommy once told Victor a story of two modern-day Native Americans (a thinly veiled story of themselves) who steal a car and drive to the city. Humans are warriors, as described by Thomas. “Warriors” are how Alexie portrays humankind.

Thomas, though a bit of a social outcast, is also clairvoyant. He says: "Your father's heart is weak. He is afraid of his own family. He is afraid of you. Late at night he sits in the dark. Watches the television until there's nothing but that white noise. Sometimes he feels like he wants to buy a motorcycle and ride away. He wants to run and hide. He doesn't want to be found." Thomas predicted Victor’s father’s condition long before his death from a heart attack.

Thomas is ostracized as a student, telling Victor: "We are all given one thing by which our lives are measured, one determination. Mine are the stories which can change or not change the world. It doesn't matter which as long as I continue to tell the stories. My father, he died on Okinawa in World War II, died fighting for this country, which had tried to kill him for years. My mother, she died giving birth to me, died while I was still inside her. She pushed me out into the world with her last breath.”

Thomas’ story evokes a tremendous amount of sympathy. He also tells Victor that his father will rise, when his ashes are spread into the Spokane River, which inspires confidence in the reader and in Victor, owing to Thomas’ demonstrated clairvoyance. Through his characters, Alexie portrays humans as resilient, at times tragic (like Victor’s father, who died alone in a trailer), and occasionally clairvoyant.

The Book of Travels by Evliya Celebi, does anyone have any helpful insights on this book?

Evliya Çelebi (1611-1684) traveled through the Ottoman Empire in the seventeenth century. He grew up in Istanbul and reportedly spent forty years traveling across Anatolia, as well as reaching Cairo, Vienna, the Crimea, and the Caucasus.
His 10-volume travel narrative, the Seyahatname, or Book of Travels, provides an unmatched record of his eyewitness experience, as well as reported incidents, of all walks of Ottoman life. While some reports are clearly invented and fantastic, the book is considered a forerunner of scientific geography and ethnography. An alternate title is the Tarihi seyyah, "Chronicle of a Traveler."
The manuscript was completed in 1683 in Turkish, and in the 1740s, it was known to total over 4,000 pages. The first full Turkish publication came out piecemeal from 1896-1938. Portions appeared in German in the 1810s-1850s and in English in the mid-twentieth century.
A new, authoritative English-language edition of selected portions, translated and edited by Robert Dankoff and Sooyong Kim, was published in 2010.
https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Ottoman_Traveller.html?id=PNEaQAAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Evliya-Celebi

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Explain how important black families, churches, schools, and other institutions were to the development of African American culture and political activism during Reconstruction.

Several institutions helped African Americans come together during the Reconstruction period of American History. The church has long been an important part of the black experience in America, as demonstrated by Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights period. However, long before him, the church acted as a place of safety where black individuals could come together and show emotional and spiritual support for one another. Churches also doubled as places where people could discuss community issues and political topics. Education was made available to African Americans through the efforts of the Freedmen’s Bureau and various organizations based in the north. They helped fund schools where African Americans could learn basic skills such as reading or writing. Some schools also focused on trade skills that black Americans could use to make a living.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section2/section2_school.html

Why Did O. Henry Create a German Artist to Paint the Fake Leaf?

Old Behrman is a good example of how a skillful fiction writer will create characters to suit the needs of his plot. This tends to make both the plot and the character seem more realistic. O. Henry's plot required the introduction of a painter who would save Johnsy's life by painting a fake leaf on the nearby brick wall. But the author did not want to raise any suspicion that the artist he created would think of doing such a thing. O. Henry wanted the existence of a fake leaf to come as a complete surprise at the end of the story. The leaf deceives Johnsy and it also deceives the reader.
By making his artist a German who spoke very poor English with a heavy accent, O. Henry could introduce Behrman and show the sentimental old man's sympathy for the sick girl, but at the same time dissuade any reader from suspecting that this old man could or would paint a leaf high up on a wall in the middle of a stormy night. O. Henry intentionally has Behrman contradict himself repeatedly while speaking to Susie. For example:

"No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit-dunderhead."
“Who said I will not bose? Go on. I come mit you. For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose."

Behrman also expresses contempt for the notion that a leaf could have anything to do with Johnsy's life or death.

"Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der prain of her?"

Because of the language barrier, Behrman cannot understand Sue completely and she cannot understand him. The reader cannot understand him either--which is exactly what O. Henry wants.
There is also the fact, which O. Henry emphasizes, that Behrman is a heavy gin-drinker. This naturally interferes with his mental processes as well as with his ability to understand and communicate in English. He can't express himself, and he really doesn't know what he would like to express.
Old Behrman is a heavy drinker because he is depressed. He is depressed because he feels he is a failure as an artist. The intoxication created by all that gin will motivate him to make the fatal decision to get a ladder and a lantern and paint that last leaf as a farewell gift to Johnsy. He doesn't care about risking his life. He is a failure anyway. He has nothing left to live for. He puts all his emotions into the creation of a single ivy leaf which has the power to inspire the sick girl with the old man's love and courage. O. Henry describes the fake leaf seen by Johnsy in such a way that it can be regarded as an unusual artistic masterpiece.

Still dark green near its stem, but with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground.

It is not just a daub of green paint but a perfect representation of a real leaf which is gradually dying but still managing to cling to its branch. It seems to hang "bravely," and it is this bravery that inspires Johnsy to return to the struggle for existence which we all know and share.