Although Shakespeare towers over the Elizabethan period, it was a robust time in the evolution of English theater, and many plays beyond the Bard's survive to enthrall modern drama students. This original anthology collects prime examples of the era's tragedies, dramas that both informed and were influenced by Shakespeare's work.
Include here are The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd; Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe; Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness; The Tragedy of Mariam, by Elizabeth Cary (the first work in English to be published under...

"All men by nature are actuated with the desire of knowledge," declared Aristotle. The philosopher's works are foundational to the history of science, and his treatise on metaphysics, or "first philosophy," is divided into sections of previous philosophical thought and theories; a refutation of skepticism; a demonstration of God's existence; an examination of the relation of metaphysics to the other sciences; an elucidation of the nature of the infinite; and other major philosophical issues.
The central theme consists of an inquiry into how substance may be defined as a category of being....

It is universally acknowledged that Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, was as much a master of the short story as of the full-length novel. This original collection, which features some of his most hard-to-find tales, will enchant longtime enthusiasts of Tolstoy's work as well as new readers.
"The Forged Coupon" traces how an act of deception leads to both murder and redemption. "After the Dance" depicts an army deserter's punishment and explores the subjective nature of opinions on good and evil. "Alyosha the Pot" profiles a simple man content to live...

In this spirited novel by master storyteller Jules Verne, five Civil War prisoners escape their Confederate jail by hijacking a hot-air balloon. Blown halfway across the world and stranded on a remote island, the fugitives' survival depends upon their ability to build a sustainable environment while withstanding pirate attacks, volcanic eruptions, and other challenges.
Engineer Cyrus Harding takes charge of the crew, consisting of his servant, Neb; journalist Gideon Spilett; sailor Bonadventure Pencroft and his adopted son, naturalist Herbert Brown; and Harding's faithful dog, Top....

A parody of chivalric romances, this story of an elderly knight and his loyalsquire offers a strikingly modern narrative that also reflects the historicalrealities of 17th-century Spain.