The evils of greed and ambition overwhelm love, innocence, and the bonds of kinship in this dark tragedy, first presented circa 1613. John Webster's great Jacobean drama focuses on a secret marriage that strikes the disastrous spark to an inferno of violence. When the Duchess of Malfi marries Antonio, a household steward, her two fiendishly jealous brothers ― hoping to inherit her title and estates ― plant a household spy whose treachery leads to a bloody and horrifying climax. Often compared to Shakespeare in terms of his dynamic plots and poetic lyricism, Webster created...
The evils of greed and ambition overwhelm love, innocence, and the bonds of kinship in this dark tragedy, first presented circa 1613. John Webster's g...
A tremendously influential philosophical work of the late nineteenth century, Thus Spake Zarathustra is also a literary masterpiece by one of the most important thinkers of modern times. In it, the ancient Persian religious leader Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) serves as the voice for Friedrich Nietzsche's views, which include the introduction of the controversial doctrine of the Ubermensch, or "superman." Although later perverted by Nazi propagandists, the Ubermensch was conceived by Nietzsche to designate the ultimate goal of human existence as the achievement of...
A tremendously influential philosophical work of the late nineteenth century, Thus Spake Zarathustra is also a literary masterpiece by one of t...
A gloomy New England mansion provides the setting for this classic exploration of ancestral guilt and its expiation through the love and goodwill of succeeding generations. Nathaniel Hawthorne drew inspiration for this story of an immorally obtained property from the role his forebears played in the 17th-century Salem witch trials. Built over an unquiet grave, the House of the Seven Gables carries a dying man's curse that blights the lives of its residents for over two centuries. Now Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, an iron-hearted hypocrite and intellectual heir to the mansion's unscrupulous...
A gloomy New England mansion provides the setting for this classic exploration of ancestral guilt and its expiation through the love and goodwill o...
Probably composed in the eighth century B.C. and based on an actual historical event of the thirteenth century B.C., Homer's Iliad is one of the great epics of the Western world. The poem unfolds near the end of the ten-year-long Trojan War, detailing the quarrel between the great warrior-hero Achilles and King Agamemnon, the battle between Paris and Menelaus for Helen of Troy, the Greek assault on the city and the Trojan counterattacks, the intervention of the gods on the part of their favorites, and numerous other incidents and events. Vast in scope, possessing extraordinary...
Probably composed in the eighth century B.C. and based on an actual historical event of the thirteenth century B.C., Homer's Iliad is one of...
The distinguished American civil rights leader, W. E. B. Du Bois first published these fiery essays, sketches, and poems individually nearly 80 years ago in the Atlantic, the Journal of Race Development, and other periodicals. Reflecting the author's ideas as a politician, historian, and artist, this volume has long moved and inspired readers with its militant cry for social, political, and economic reforms for black Americans. Essential reading for students of African-American history
The distinguished American civil rights leader, W. E. B. Du Bois first published these fiery essays, sketches, and poems individually nearly 80 years ...
In the relatively short span of 25 years -- from his first national campaign in 1920 to his death in the first year of his fourth term as President in 1945 -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered hundreds of speeches, many of them masterly orations. Perhaps the finest speechmaker in American history, FDR was a consummate expert at reading his audience. He could be dazzlingly informal, imperiously statesmanlike, witheringly sarcastic, stern, and serious, and when the occasion permitted, outright funny. Though his audiences often included more than 30 million listeners in America and...
In the relatively short span of 25 years -- from his first national campaign in 1920 to his death in the first year of his fourth term as President...
First published in 1855, Bulfinch's Mythology has introduced generations of readers to the great myths of Greece and Rome, as well as time-honored legends of Norse mythology, medieval, and chivalric tales, Oriental fables, and more. Readers have long admired Bulfinch's versions for the skill with which he wove various versions of a tale into a coherent whole, the vigor of his storytelling, and his abundant cross-references to poetry and painting, demonstrating the relationship of literature and art. Now The Age of Fable, the first section of the Mythology, is...
First published in 1855, Bulfinch's Mythology has introduced generations of readers to the great myths of Greece and Rome, as well as time-hono...
During a business visit to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents. Jonathan Harker is attacked by three phantom women, observes the Count's transformation from human to bat form, and discovers puncture wounds on his own neck that seem to have been made by teeth. Harker returns home upon his escape from Dracula's grim fortress, but a friend's strange malady -- involving sleepwalking, inexplicable blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds -- initiates a frantic vampire hunt. The popularity of Bram Stoker's...
During a business visit to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying inc...
This treasured historical satire, played out in two very different socioeconomic worlds of 16th-century England, centers around the lives of two boys born in London on the same day: Edward, Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a street beggar. During a chance encounter, the two realize they are identical and, as a lark, decide to exchange clothes and roles -- a situation that briefly, but drastically, alters the lives of both youngsters. The Prince, dressed in rags, wanders about the city's boisterous neighborhoods among the lower classes and endures a series of hardships; poor Tom, now living...
This treasured historical satire, played out in two very different socioeconomic worlds of 16th-century England, centers around the lives of two boys ...
Widely considered the most popular modern French play, "Cyrano de Bergerac" has dazzled audiences with its wit and eloquence since it premiered in 1897. Cyrano, a quarrelsome, hot-tempered swordsman, as famous for his dueling skills and pugnacity as for his inordinately long nose, is hopelessly enamored of the beautiful Roxane. She, in turn, is in love with Christian, a handsome but inarticulate and slow-witted suitor. Asked for help by Christian in wooing Roxane, Cyrano pours out his heart in romantic dialogues -- delivered under cover of night and dense foliage -- and through ardent...
Widely considered the most popular modern French play, "Cyrano de Bergerac" has dazzled audiences with its wit and eloquence since it premiered in ...
