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.

"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...

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...

A documentary novel portraying industry's conditions at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair's novel prompted public outrage which led President Theodore Roosevelt to demand an official investigation. This eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.

An annotated edition of Shakespeare's historical drama about the Duke of Gloucester's lust for power and obsessive pursuit of his brother's throne, with an introduction, an essay by Harold Bloom, and a note on the text used.

This is a story of moral corruption. A gothic melodrama, it is full of subtle impression and epigram. It touches on many of Wilde's recurring themes, such as the nature and spirit of art, aestheticism and the dangers inherent in it.In the wealthy and vain hedonist Dorian Gray, London painter Basil Hallward has found his muse. Only when the portrait of Dorian begins to age, while the man himself remains untouched by time, do they realize they may have...

The story of the Phantom of the Opera, a half-crazed musician hiding in the labyrinth of the famous Paris Opera House and creating a number of strange and mysterious events to further the career of a beautiful young singer, is today regarded as one of the most famous of all horror stories: widely mentioned in the same breath as Frankenstein and Dracula.

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,...

"Hank Morgan, cracked on the head by a crowbar in nineteenth-century Connecticut, wakes to find himself in the England of King Arthur. The tough minded Yankee, an embodiment of scientific enlightenment, faces a world whose idyllic surface only masks the dark forces of fear, injustice, and ignorance. This is the springboard which launches one of literature's most extraordinary excursions into fantasy. With the agility of Mark Twain's unique virtuosity,...

"To buy books would be a good thing," observed Arthur Schopenhauer, "if we also could buy the time to read them." All devoted readers long for more time to spend with their books, and the next best thing to buying time is making the most of the available moments. Great Short Short Stories: Quick Reads by Great Writers offers that opportunity. An outstanding collection of 30 brilliant short stories, each just six or fewer pages in length, it...