First serialized in “The Atlantic Monthly” and then published as a novel in 1896, Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The Country of the Pointed Firs” is the story of a female writer seeking isolation and inspiration for her writing in the small coastal New England town of Dunnet Landing in the late 1800’s. Originally from Boston and drawn back to the quiet town after a visit years earlier, the narrator is at first frustrated by the constant interruptions of the small village’s inhabitants and seeks out the solitude she needs to ...

The first play in William Shakespeare’s tetralogy of plays which also includes “Henry IV, Part 1”, “Henry IV, Part 2”, and “Henry V”, “Richard II” is believed to have been written around 1595. A history play, the drama concerns the last two years of the life of King Richard II of England, spanning the years 1398 to 1400. The drama begins with a dispute between Richard’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who would later become King Henry IV, and Thomas de Mowbray, first Duke of Norfolk. Henry has accused ...

From his boyhood in Ohio to his graduation from West Point, and then through detailed accounts of his service in the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and his presidency, Grant gives a full report of his life and career in this remarkable firsthand account. Completed in the last year of his life, 1885, as Grant battled throat cancer and poverty, the “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” was published by Mark Twain shortly after Grant’s death. Instantly popular and praised by admirers, critics, and people throughout the country, this ...

Written by Baldasar Castiglione, count of Novilara and an Italian courtier himself, "The Book of the Courtier" remains as one of the most important and definitive accounts of Renaissance court life. Organized as a series of fictional conversations that occur between the courtiers of the Duke of Urbino in 1507, "The Book of the Courtier" discusses the expectations of a courtier who must have a warrior spirit, be athletic, and have good knowledge of the humanities, classics and fine arts. As the members of the court try to describe the perfect gentleman of ...

The nine lyric poets were a canon of ancient Greek composers esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria as worthy of critical study. The most famous of which is probably Sappho, who was born sometime between 630 and 612 BC on the Greek island of Lesbos. The famous Library of Alexandria collected Sappho’s poems into nine books, unfortunately these editions have been lost. Today only fragments of the poetess’ work remains. These fragments are collected together here in this volume of “The Poems of Sappho and Others” along with ...

First published in 1896, Charles Monroe Sheldon’s “In His Steps” is a classic of Christian literature whose premise centers on the idea of emulating Christ in one’s everyday life. The story concerns the lives of the residents of the fictional railroad town of Raymond, located somewhere in the Northeastern United States. When an out of work man, Jack Manning, appeals for help from Reverend Henry Maxwell, pastor of the first church of Raymond, and later collapses and dies in front of his congregation, because the Reverend refuses to ...

Thomas Bulfinch's "The Age of Fable; or Stories of Gods and Heroes" is a classic collection of ancient mythology. Is this collection are the following tales: Prometheus and Pandora, Apollo and Daphne-Pyramus and Thisbe-Cephalus and Procris, Juno and her Rivals, Io and Callisto-Diana and Actæon-Latona and the Rustics, Phaëton, Midas-Baucis and Philemon, Proserpine-Glaucus and Scylla, Pygmalion-Dryope-Venus and Adonis-Apollo and Hyacinthus, Ceyx and Halcyone, Vertumnus and Pomona-Iphis and Anaxarete, Cupid and Psyche, Cadmus-The Myrmidons, Nisus ...

First published in 1926, “The Secret of the Ages”, was one of the earliest and most influential self-help books that popularized the power of positive thinking. Written by the American author, editor, and researcher Robert Collier, “The Secret of the Ages” encourages readers to use the newly emerging psychological tools of visualization, faith, and personal development, to make their greatest dreams and wishes come true. Collier’s work is encouraging, uplifting, and full of practical guidance for those who wish to improve the ...

First published in 1909, “The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science” is the ground-breaking and influential work on the power of the mind by English author and jurist Thomas Troward. Largely credited with helping to create the New Thought Movement and the philosophy of the Science of the Mind, Troward’s work is cited by Ernest Holmes, Joseph Murphy, Emmett Fox, and others as a major influence on their philosophies. This collection of lectures explores how to control thoughts so that the full power of the mind may be realized. Troward fuses ...

Due to a lack of biographical evidence regarding the identity of Homer it has been suggested that the two great works attributed to him, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” may, in fact, be the work of multiple authors passed down through a long oral tradition. While scholarship on the subject will likely never definitely prove one way or the other, it is now generally accepted that these two great epic poems are the work of a single Greek author, Homer, who lived sometime during the 9th century BC. Set during a few weeks in the final year ...