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  History of Herodotus The - Book...

  Herodotus, George Rawlinson

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  One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise to colorful digressions - a description of the natural wonders of Egypt; an account of European lake-dwellers; and far-fetched accounts of dog-headed men and gold-digging ants. With its kaleidoscopic blend of fact and legend, the "Histories" offers a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.BOOK 8: URANIA: The Greeks engaged in the sea-service were the following. The Atheniansfurnished a hundred and twenty-seven vessels to the fleet, which were manned in part by the Plataeans, who, though unskilled in such matters, were led by their active and daring spirit to undertake this duty.

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  The Haunted Palace

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Another well-known poem by Edgar Allan Poe presented by Renegade Arts Entertainment.

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  Sanditon (Unabridged)

  Jane Austen

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  Jane Austen's first novel - published posthumously in 1818 - tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical novel pokes fun at the gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.

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  Idylls Of The King

  Alfred Tennyson

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  Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom. 
   
  The whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom, from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, Balin, and Balan, as also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is  little transition between Idylls, but the central figure of Arthur links all the stories. The poems were dedicated to the late Albert, Prince Consort. 
   
  The Idylls are written in blank verse. Tennyson's descriptions of nature are derived from observations of his own surroundings, collected over the course of many years. The dramatic narratives are not epic either in structure or tone but derive elegiac sadness in the style of the idylls of Theocritus. Idylls of the King is often read as an allegory of the societal conflicts in Britain during the mid-Victorian era.

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  The Member and the Radical

  John Galt

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  Two novels by the 18th-century Scottish author that “focus on the foibles and fumbles, the humor and waste of people . . . of political ambition” (The National).   Galt’s two great political novels date from around the passing of the Reform Act of 1832. The Member has claims to be the first political novel in the English language and is a tour de force of wit, observation, and a devastating critique of political self-seekings. Its hero is a Scot, newly returned from India, who purchases a seat in a rotten borough. As a study of the corruption of the pre-reform parliament it is unsurpassed.  The Radical is a study of narrow-minded, humor-less fanaticism. Galt’s aim is to demonstrate the fragility of the existing order and the closeness of anarchy to the surface of society. This is the first republication of The Radical since its original edition.   “Galt has dropped from popular currency even more than Walter Scott, but he is an important novelist and warrants reappraisal and new reading.”—The National

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  The Scarlet Letter

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  The Scarlet Letter is generally considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. Set in 17th century Boston, it follows the plight of Hester Prynne, a young woman who bears a child out of wedlock, refuses to name the  father, and is condemned to wear a scarlet ‘A’ for the rest of her life. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reaches back to America’s Puritan roots to probe themes of lust, sin, guilt and redemption. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote at the forefront of dark romanticism. His renderings of colonial America reflect the strictures of New England Puritanism and give voice to characters who try to extricate themselves from social conventions.Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us   (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system.  She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.

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