Though his reasoning and conclusions may alarm some and even offend others, his thinking and writing is lucid and cogent, and for reflective minds will provide much food for thought. Accused of sophistry and impudence by some of his contemporaries, his reasoning is normally sound and simple, as he inquires into the root of things, and only seldom does he make debating points fit only for the playground. A sensible and likable man, Paine's writing should engage any American for its historical sense, any lover or researcher interested in human rights and the hope of removing human misery, and...

Meet little Mole, willful Ratty, Badger the perennial bachelor, and petulant Toad. Over one hundred years since their first appearance in 1908, they've become emblematic archetypes of eccentricity, folly, and friendship. And their misadventures-in gypsy caravans, stolen sports cars, and their Wild Wood-continue to capture readers' imaginations and warm their hearts long after they grow up. Begun as a series of letters from Kenneth Grahame to his son, The Wind in the Willows is a timeless tale of animal cunning and human camaraderie.

In 1865, English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), aka Lewis Carroll, wrote a fantastical adventure story for the young daughters of a friend. The adventures of Alice-named for one of the little girls to whom the book was dedicated-who journeys down a rabbit hole and into a whimsical underworld realm instantly struck a chord with the British public, and then with readers around the world. In 1872, in reaction to the universal acclaim *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* received, Dodgson published this sequel.

Tom Grogan is a novel published in 1896 by Francis Hopkinson Smith that was the best selling book in the United States in 1896. The novel also ran in the The Century Magazine starting in December 1895, with illustrations from Charles Stanley Reinhart. Tom Grogan, by F. Hopkinson Smith (1895.) is a spirited and most entertaining and ingenious study of laboring life in Staten Island, New York. Tom Grogan was a stevedore, who died from the effects of an injury. With a family to support, his widow conceals the fact of her husband's death, saying that he is sick in a hospital, that she may assume...

The narrative drive of Stowe's classic novel is often overlooked in the heat of the controversies surrounding its anti-slavery sentiments. In fact, it is a compelling adventure story with richly drawn characters and has earned a place in both literary and American history. Stowe's puritanical religious beliefs show up in the novel's final, overarching theme-the exploration of the nature of Christianity and how Christian theology is fundamentally incompatible with slavery.

First published in 1516, Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of the mysterious traveler Raphael Hythloday, More describes a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and political theory.

El capitan Lemuel Gulliver que es llevado por el mar a mundos fantasticos en donde: es un gigante entre enanos, un enano entre gigantes y un ser humano avergonzado de su condicion en una tierra poblada por caballos sabios que son mas humanos que los propios hombres y desconfian, con razon, de estos. La obra se considera un clasico de la literatura universal y ha inspirado numerosas adaptaciones y versiones. El libro se volvio famoso tan pronto como fue publicado"

hombre que nos habla de su propia experiencia vital, pero no lo hace por soberbia o porque estime que su vida es especialmente interesante, sino para ayudar a otros seres humanos que siguen siendo esclavos mientras el ha conseguido, despues de muchos avatares, alcanzar la libertad. Los relatos de antiguos esclavos fueron un genero literario que prolifero en Estados Unidos en el siglo XIX, al auspicio del movimiento abolicionista, que intentaba probar algo tan evidente para nosotros como que todos los hombres son iguales y que no se puede comerciar con los miembros de una raza como si de...

Disdainful of America's growing commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau left Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845 to live in solitude in the woods by Walden Pond. Walden, the classic account of his stay there, conveys at once a naturalist's wonder at the commonplace and a Transcendentalist's yearning for spiritual truth and self-reliance. But even as Thoreau disentangled himself from worldly matters, his solitary musings were often disturbed by his social conscience. 'Civil Disobedience', expressing his antislavery and antiwar sentiments, has influenced nonviolent resistance movements...

"A light proceeding from the edifice made every part of the scene visible. A gleam diffused itself over the intermediate space, and instantly a loud report, like the explosion of a mine, followed. She uttered an involuntary shriek, but the new sounds that greeted her ear, quickly conquered her surprise. They were piercing shrieks, and uttered without intermission. The gleams which had diffused themselves far and wide were in a moment withdrawn, but the interior of the edifice was filled with rays." From "Weiland," by Charles Brockden Brown.