Catalog Search Results
21) O pioneers!
Author
Series
Description
John Bergson, a Swedish farmer, struggles desperately with the soil but dies unsatisfied. His daughter Alexandra resolves to vindicate his faith, and her strong character carries her weak older brothers and her mother along to a new zest for life. Years of privation are rewarded on the farm. But when Alexandra falls in love with Carl Linstrum, and her family objects because he is poor, he leaves to seek a different career. After Alexandra's younger...
Author
Description
"Stephen Crane's immortal masterpiece about the nightmare of war was first published in 1895 and brought its young author immediate international fame. Set during the Civil War, it tells of the brutal disillusionment of a young recruit who had dreamed of the thrill and glory of war, only to find himself fleeing the horror of a battlefield. Shame over his cowardice drives him to seek to redeem himself by being wounded -- earning what he calls the "red...
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Description
First published in 1926, "The Story of Philosophy" is noted historian Will Durant's survey of Western philosophy. Having been described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy", the book begins with detailed descriptions of the philosophical ideas of the ancient Greeks, i.e. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The book then proceeds in chronicling the different philosophical doctrines of French Enlightenment, German Idealism, Pessimism,...
25) Tom Jones
Author
Series
Description
For Coleridge the plot of Tom Jones was, along with that of Oedipus The King, the most perfect ever constructed. Fielding used all his art and all the craft he had amassed as a successful playwright for the eighteenth-century London stage to tell this hugely entertaining story of a foundling and how he arrives, through sexual misadventures and elaborate disasters, to claim his legitimacy, his fortune, and his true love. Describes the foundling, Tom,...
26) Siddhartha
Author
Series
Appears on list
Description
A young man, blessed with loving parents and a safe home in a world where want and neglect abound, leaves his family in search of himself. He joins the Samanas, a band of wandering ascetics without possessions or earthly ties. His quest unfulfilled, he descends into a life of unbounded luxury and indulgence. Where is truth? Where will his soul find true ease, in denial, in decadence, or in some truth far greater than himself, so simple, so close to...
27) Selected poems
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1953
Description
Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay (1889–1948) came to the U.S. in 1912 and became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. This inexpensive edition includes a representative sample of his Jamaican dialect verse, but concentrates on poems from Harlem Shadows (1922) and uncollected verse. Edited and with an introduction by Joan R. Sherman.
28) Henry IV, part I
Author
Description
Presents William Shakespeare's history play "Henry IV, Part I," which depicts the fifteenth-century English king's struggle to put down a rebellion.
30) Frankenstein
Author
Series
Description
Victor Frankenstein leads an idyllic life in Switzerland with his family and friends until a thirst for knowledge sends him off in search of something that no human being has yet attained--the ability to create life. Victor's success soon proves that, through the work of his own hands, he and his family are destined to live a life of pain and suffering.
31) Sister Carrie
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Description
Sister Carrie is a Theodore Dreiser novel about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream. She first becomes a mistress to men that she perceives as superior and later emerges as a famous actress. Sister Carrie is considered as the "greatest of all American urban novels." Theodore Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist who the naturalist school and is known for portraying characters whose...
Author
Description
"Born a free man in New York State in 1808, Solomon Northup was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841. He spent the next twelve harrowing years of his life as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation. During this time he was frequently abused and often afraid for his life. After regaining his freedom in 1853, Northup decided to publish this gripping autobiographical account of his captivity. As an educated man, Northup was able to present an exceptionally...
33) Summer
Author
Description
Originally born in an impoverished community, Charity's parents sought out the most educated man in the nearby New England town to raise their daughter. After being surrendered to a lawyer named Royall, Charity was raised comfortably by Mr. Royall and his wife. However, when Mrs. Royall tragically passes away, Charity's relationship with Royall is threatened. After his wife's death, Royall begins to feel sexually attracted to Charity, and when she...
Author
Description
Harriet Jacobs was born a slave in the American South and went on to write one of the most extraordinary slave narratives. First published pseudonymously in 1861,Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl describes Jacobs's treatment at the hands of her owners, her eventual escape to the North, and her perilous existence evading recapture as a fugitive slave. To save herself from sexual assault and protect her children she is forced to hide for seven years...
35) Howards End
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Description
"First published in 1910, Howards End is the novel that earned E. M. Forster recognition as a major writer. At its heart lie two families - the wealthy and business-minded Wilcoxes and the cultured and idealistic Schlegels. When the beautiful and independent Helen Schlegel begins an impetuous affair with the ardent Paul Wilcox, a series of events is sparked - some very funny, some very tragic - that results in a dispute over who will inherit Howards...
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Description
Since the French Revolution the influence of woman in Europe has DECLINED in proportion as she has increased her rights and claims; and the "emancipation of woman," insofar as it is desired and demanded by women themselves (and not only by masculine shallow-pates), thus proves to be a remarkable symptom of the increased weakening and deadening of the most womanly instincts.
38) Selected poems
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1991
Description
In his unconventional verse, Walt Whitman spoke in a powerful, sensual, oratorical, and inspiring voice. His most famous work, Leaves of Grass, was a long-term project that the poet compared to the building of a cathedral or the slow growth of a tree. During his lifetime, from 1819 to 1892, it went through nine editions. Today it is regarded as a landmark of American literature. This volume contains 24 poems from Leaves of Grass, offering a generous...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1992
Description
Written between 1845 and 1846 and first published in 1850, "Sonnets from the Portuguese" is a series of love poems written by the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her husband, the famous English poet and playwright, Robert Browning, which was critically acclaimed and instantly popular upon its publication and has remained so to this day. Referring to her olive-skinned complexion, Robert called his wife "his little Portuguese". It is from...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1993
Description
Follow the thoughts of essayist, poet and American Transcendentalism founder Ralph Waldo Emerson as he discovered his own belief system in the anthology "Self-Reliance and Other Essays." In "Self-Reliance," Emerson explained that standing on one's own two feet against society was essential to forming a strong union with God. Once this essay was published, it received both wild praise and hurtful backlash from different factions of America. However,...