"Spoon River Anthology" is a unique collection of free-verse poems that brings to life the stories of the people buried in a small, rural cemetery. The poems are written from the perspective of the dead and offer a glimpse into their lives, secrets, and regrets. Each poem is a self-contained story, and together, they paint a vivid picture of life...

"Democracy In America" is a political analysis of the United States during the time of its writing in the early 19th century. The author explores the nature of American democracy, focusing on its strengths and weaknesses, and how it is different from European democracies of the time. The book provides insight into the American political system and...

Yei Theodora Ozaki was an early 20th-century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. Her translations were fairly liberal but have been popular, and were reprinted several times after her death.According to “A Biographical Sketch” by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, included in the introductory material to Warriors of old Japan, and other stories,...

Complete and unabridged paperback edition. A letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to Lord Alfred Douglas. First published in 1905....

Susan Keating Glaspell was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known for her short stories, Glaspell also wrote nine novels, fifteen plays, and a biography....

Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance, singlehandedly responsible for popularising the essay as a literary form. In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books...

Resistance to Civil Government, also called On the Duty of Civil Disobedience or Civil Disobedience for short, is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to...

In more than a century since its appearance, José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere has become widely known as the great novel of the Philippines. A passionate love story set against the ugly political backdrop of repression, torture, and murder, "The Noli," as it is called in the Philippines, was the first major artistic manifestation of Asian resistance...

"When I was alive and had a human heart," answered the statue, "I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans–Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to...

What nuclear war may do to the world we know is a closed book to mankind — but here's what coming eras may bring!...