Henry Fleming, a young, inexperienced soldier in the American Civil War has romantic notions of the hero he will be when he enters his first battle. Amidst the brutal realities of warfare, however, his illusions are shattered.
The story of Frank Norris's The Pit could be taken from today's a businessman begins speculating in the commodities market on a small scale until, overcome by greed, addicted to the art of the deal, and harboring an ever-increasing appetite for power, he gambles recklessly in the market while the fortunes of farmers and small investors hang in the balance.
From slavery to liberation to life as an abolitionist, feminist, orator, and preacher—the autobiography of a woman who refused to be anything but free.
Widely admired for its vivid accounts of the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano's autobiography -- the first slave narrative to attract a significant readership -- reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual.
The brilliant defense of the U.S. Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay at a time when that document was considered revolutionary.
This self-portrait covers Franklin's boyhood, work as a printer, political career, scientific experiments, and much more.
The autobiographical account of the life of Frederick Douglass, describing his life, his freedom, and how slavery effects slaves and slave owners.
The book details his experiences growing up in China, his journey to America, and his struggles to adapt to a new culture and way of life.
Common Sense by Thomas Paine advocates independence from Great Britain to people in the 13 colonies. "The Crisis" was published to reinvigorate the revolutionary cause.
Every lover of classic literature should read Candide , the satirical masterpiece that shocked Paris upon its publication in 1759. The novel challenges many of the core assertions of Enlightenment philosophy and calls into question vast swaths of Christian dogma. Though widely banned after its publication, it propelled Voltaire to literary stardom and remains one of the most popular French novels ever written.
Britain's three-hundred-year relationship with the Indian subcontinent produced much fiction of interest but only one indisputable masterpiece: E. M. Forster's A Passage to India , published in 1924, at the height of the Indian independence movement. Centering on an ambiguous incident between a young Englishwoman of uncertain stability and an Indian doctor eager to know his conquerors better, Forster's book explores, with unexampled profundity, both the historical chasm between races and the eternal one between individuals struggling to ease their isolation and make sense of their humanity.
Swift's proposal is a savage comment on England's legal and economic exploitation of Ireland.
Describes life in United States in the year 1968, including the war in Vietnam, the draft, war protesters, hippies and yippies, the presidential campaign and election, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.
Explains the situations behind the cases of Leopold and Loeb, the Lindbergh kidnapper, the Rosenbergs, the Brown school segregation suit, the Manson family, the Pentagon Papers, and O.J. Simpson, and discusses the trials and aftermath.
From the Patty Hearst kidnapping to the Oklahoma City bombing, these cases kept America watching.
