A Timeless Classic of Societal Customs, Cultural Disputes, and The Cost of Non-Conformity Henry James' novella Daisy Miller, features one of his greatest heroines. At first glance it seems to be a simple story of a lovely young, independent American girl traveling through Europe. But her flouting of social conventions has the potential to lead to catastrophe as she disrupts the rigid social rules of the Old World, attracting and scandalizing all...

Oscar Wilde's autobiographical work on suffering, self-realization, and the artistic process De Profundis (Latin for "from the depths") is Oscar Wilde's reconciliation from a life full of pleasure. In 1891 the author began an intimate relationship with the young aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. This affair led to speculations about Wilde's sexuality just as his career was reaching its apex. Ultimately, Bosie's father,...

First published in 1899, this graphic depiction of urban American life centers around its title character, McTeague, a dentist practicing in San Francisco at the turn of the century. While at first content with his life and friendship with an ambitious man named Marcus, McTeague eventually courts and marries Trina, a frugal young woman who wins a large sum of money in a lottery. The greed of the majority of the characters in the novel creates a chain...

An ancient Greek mercenary soldier's account of leading an army on a dangerous march from Babylon to the Black Sea. Hired by a Persian prince hoping to take the throne from his brother, Xenophon was one professional soldier in an army of many when disaster struck and their leaders were killed or captured, leaving them stranded. Along with two others chosen by their fellow soldiers, Xenophon would lead the army to safety on the "March of the Ten Thousand."...

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893—4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend and mentor Siegfried Sassoon, and stood in stark contrast both to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert...

What is an idiom? It can be an insult - "He has more brawn than brains." - or a compliment - "She's a real trooper." Idioms add life to our language: "I have ants in my pants." Idioms can cast light on a topic, and they have the power to add color to your language and add punch to your vocabulary. Have FUN WITH IDIOMS, and improve your command of English at the same time!

Lavishly illustrated with 60 drawings by Keith Henderson, W.H. Hudson's most famous novel, Green Mansions is the book that sparked the nature conservation movement. The inspiration for the movie starring Audrey Hepburn, Green Mansions stunningly recreates the untouched forests of South America with amazing detail. After a failed revolution, Abel is forced to seek refuge in the virgin forests of southwestern Venezuela. There, in his "green mansion",...

The Fortune of the Rougons (1871) is a novel by French author Émile Zola. The first of twenty volumes of Zola's monumental Les Rougon-Macquart series is an epic story of family, politics, class, and history that traces the disparate paths of several French citizens raised by the same mother. Spanning the entirety of the French Second Empire, Zola provides a sweeping portrait of change that refuses to shy away from controversy and truth as it gets...

The Essays of Francis Bacon The Essays was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. Includes 58 essays. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic. They cover topics drawn from both public and private life, and in each case the essays cover their topics systematically from a number of different angles, weighing one argument against another. Translations...

Aspects of English Sentence Stress is written within the conceptual framework of generative-transformational grammar. However, it is atheoretical in the sense that the proposals made cannot be formulated in this theory and are a challenge to many other theories. The author's concern is not with the phonetic nature of stress; rather, using a working definition of stress as subjective impression of prominence, she attempts to formulate general principles...