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The Master of Ballantrae
By Adrian Poole, Robert Louis Stevenson. 1996
Set at the time of the Jacobite uprising, The Master of Ballantrae tells of a family divided. James Durie, Master…
of Ballantrae, abandons his ancestral home to support the Scottish rebellion - leaving his younger brother Henry, who is faithful to the English crown, to inherit the title of Lord Durrisdeer. But he is to return years later, embittered by battles and a savage life of piracy on the high seas, to demand his inheritance. Turning the people against the Lord, he begins a savage feud with his brother that will lead the pair from the Scottish Highlands to the American Wilderness. Satanic and seductive, the Master was regarded by Stevenson as 'all I know of the devil'; his darkly manipulative schemes dominate this subtle and compelling tragedy.This edition takes as its text the Edinburgh Edition of the novel, the last approved by the author. The introduction considers the novel's inspiration and its place as one of Stevenson's greatest studies in cruelty.Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Icelandic Stories
By Anonymous. 1971
Written around the thirteenth century AD by Icelandic monks, the seven tales collected here offer a combination of pagan elements…
tightly woven into the pattern of Christian ethics. They take as their subjects figures who are heroic, but do not fit into the mould of traditional heroes. Some stories concern characters in Iceland - among them Hrafknel's Saga, in which a poor man's son is murdered by his powerful neighbour, and Thorstein the Staff-Struck, which describes an ageing warrior's struggle to settle into a peaceful rural community. Others focus on the adventures of Icelanders abroad, including the compelling Audun's Story, which depicts a farmhand's pilgrimage to Rome. These fascinating tales deal with powerful human emotions, suffering and dignity at a time of profound transition, when traditional ideals were gradually yielding to a more peaceful pastoral lifestyle.The Gods Will Have Blood: (Les Dieux Ont Soif)
By Anatole France, Frederick Davies. 1979
It is April 1793 and the final power struggle of the French Revolution is taking hold: the aristocrats are dead…
and the poor are fighting for bread in the streets. In a Paris swept by fear and hunger lives Gamelin, a revolutionary young artist appointed magistrate, and given the power of life and death over the citizens of France. But his intense idealism and unbridled single-mindedness drive him inexorably towards catastrophe. Published in 1912, The Gods Will Have Blood is a breathtaking story of the dangers of fanaticism, while its depiction of the violence and devastation of the Reign of Terror is strangely prophetic of the sweeping political changes in Russia and across Europe.Egil's Saga
By Leifur Eiriksson. 1997
Egil's Saga tells the story of the long and brutal life of tenth-century warrior-poet and farmer Egil Skallagrimsson: a morally…
ambiguous character who was at once the composer of intricately beautiful poetry, and a physical grotesque capable of staggering brutality. The saga recounts Egil's progression from youthful savagery to mature wisdom as he struggles to avenge his father's exile from Norway, defend his honour against the Norwegian King Erik Bloodaxe, and fight for the English King Athelstan in his battles against Scotland. Exploring issues as diverse as the question of loyalty, the power of poetry, and the relationship between two brothers who love the same woman, Egil's Saga is a fascinating depiction of a deeply human character.Into the Jungle!: A Boy's Comic Strip History of World War II (Cultures of Childhood)
By Jimmy Kugler. 2023
Near the end of World War II and after, a small-town Nebraska youth, Jimmy Kugler, drew more than a hundred…
double-sided sheets of comic strip stories. Over half of these six-panel tales retold the Pacific War as fought by “Frogs” and “Toads,” humanoid creatures brutally committed to a kill-or-be-killed struggle. The history of American youth depends primarily on adult reminiscences of their own childhoods, adult testimony to the lives of youth around them, or surmises based on at best a few creative artifacts. The survival then of such a large collection of adolescent comic strips from America’s small-town Midwest is remarkable. Michael Kugler reproduces the never-before-published comics of his father’s adolescent imagination as a microhistory of American youth in that formative era. Also included in Into the Jungle! A Boy's Comic Strip History of World War II are the likely comic book models for these stories and inspiration from news coverage in newspapers, radio, movies, and newsreels. Kugler emphasizes how US propaganda intended to inspire patriotic support for the war gave this young artist a license for his imagined violence. In a context of progressive American educational reform, these violent comic stories, often in settings modeled on the artist’s small Nebraska town, suggests a form of adolescent rebellion against moral conventions consistent with comic art’s reputation for “outsider” or countercultural expressions. Kugler also argues that these comics provide evidence for the transition in American taste from war stories to the horror comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Kugler’s thorough analysis of his father’s adolescent art explains how a small-town boy from the plains distilled the popular culture of his day for an imagined war he could fight on his audacious, even shocking terms.Farewell Dinner for a Spy (William Catesby)
By Edward Wilson. 2024
"A compelling slice of mid-century espionage that expertly blends history with possibility. All comparisons that will inevitably be made with…
le Carré are entirely apt" Tim Glister'Edward Wilson seems poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carré' Irish Independent1949: William Catesby returns to London in disgrace, accused of murdering a 'double-dipper' the Americans believed to be one of their own. His left-wing sympathies have him singled out as a traitor.Henry Bone throws him a lifeline, sending him to Marseille, ostensibly to report on dockers' strikes and keep tabs on the errant wife of a British diplomat. But there's a catch. For his cover story, he's demobbed from the service and tricked out as a writer researching a book on the Resistance.In Marseille, Catesby is caught in a deadly vice between the CIA and the mafia, who are colluding to fuel the war in Indochina. Swept eastwards to Laos himself, he remains uncertain of the true purpose behind his mission, though he has his suspicions: Bone has murder on his mind, and the target is a former comrade from Catesby's SOE days. The question is, which one.Hope Leslie, or, Early times in the Massachusetts: Or, Early Times In The Massachusetts (American Women Writers Ser.)
By Catharine Maria Sedgwick. 1987
Set in seventeenth-century New England, Hope Leslie portrays early American life and celebrates the role of women in history. At…
the heart of the story is a cross-cultural friendship between Hope-Leslie, a spirited thinker in a repressive Puritan society and Magawisca, the passionate daughter of a Pequot chief. It challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and claims for women their rightful place in history. Adult. UnratedThe myth of Perseus, told through the story of the three women who knew him best - his mother Danae,…
his wife Andromeda, and his victim, Medusa.History remembers him as a hero. But the women who knew him best remember a different man...Perseus grows up wanting to be a hero, but he cannot become one if his mother Danae still sees him as a boy. When his stepfather Polydektes casts him away on a voyage across the sea, Perseus is determined to fulfil the great destiny of the son of a god and the grandson of a king. But the line between heroism and monstrosity is thin, and when Perseus attempts to seduce first gentle Medusa and then beautiful Andromeda, before finally reuniting with Danae, they each learn of the dangers of resisting a boy prepared to risk it all for greatness . . .(p) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedThirty Pieces of Silver: A Play in Three Acts
By Howard Fast. 1954
A couple in Washington, DC, is torn apart when a friend is accused of treasonJane and David Graham live upper-middle-class…
lives in mid-century Washington, DC. Jane minds the home with the help of a fulltime maid, and David works at the Treasury Department. But when the FBI visits their house one evening to ask questions about a friend&’s political beliefs, the answers the two give separately cause them both to wonder whether they truly know each other. Soon nothing is certain as the ideological fears plaguing the nation threaten to destroy Jane and David&’s family. Howard Fast&’s first play, Thirty Pieces of Silver was performed in several countries, from Australia to Europe, and offers an insightful look at the destructive power of reactionary politics in America. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Howard Fast including rare photos from the author&’s estate.Ruler of the Sky: A Novel of Genghis Khan
By Pamela Sargent. 2006
A novel of the thirteenth-century Mongolian warrior, and the women who surrounded him, that offers &“a panoramic view of the…
charismatic leader&” (Library Journal). In 1167, in the harsh homeland of Mongol tribes, a child was born who was to change the course of human history. His father named him Temujin, but the world knows him as Genghis Khan. Set amid the barbaric splendor of the Mongol hordes, Ruler of the Sky tells the tale of the warrior who forged one of the greatest and most terrifying armies the world had ever seen, and conquered the world from Peking to Persia. Not only is this the story of Genghis Khan, it is also the story of those who were closest to him, especially the women who played such an important role in his life. From the windswept plains of Mongolia to the opulence of the Chinese court, Ruler of the Sky is unforgettable.THE CHINESE "LORD OF THE RINGS" The most popular series by the most successful Chinese author - a cultural monument…
translated into English for the first time.China: 1200 A.D. In the fourth and final volume of Legends of the Condor Horoes, the first novel in the Condor Trilogy, Guo Jing is at last forced to make a choice between loyalty to the land of his birth and keeping faith with Genghis Khan, who has been like a father to him. As the Mongol armies descend on China, Jin Yong brings this most beloved of his books to a thrilling conclusion, complete with vast battles, stirring heroism, heartbreak, triumph and loss.This volume will be followed by the first volume in the second novel of the Condor Trilogy, Return of the Condor Heroes.THE SERIES EVERY CHINESE READER HAS BEEN ENJOYING FOR DECADES - 300 MILLION COPIES SOLD."Jin Yong's work, in the Chinese-speaking world, has a cultural currency roughly equal to that of "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" combined" Nick Frisch, New Yorker"Like every fairy tale you're ever loved, imbued with jokes and epic grandeur. Prepare to be swept along." Jamie Buxton, Daily MailTranslated from Chinese by Gigi Chang(P) 2023 Quercus Editions LimitedThe Crooked Line (Women Writing The Middle East Ser.)
By Tahira Naqvi, Ismat Chughtai. 1995
In India's colonial past, in a time of political and social revolution, Ismat Chughtai masterfully unfolds her magna opus, The…
Crooked Line: the semi-autobiographical tale of a fiery-spirited, middle-class Muslim girl bent on exploring the shape and nature of consuming desire. Writing with the same honesty and passion as her scandalous short-story, "The Quilt," Chughtai exposes the complex relationships developed between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.The Selected Works of Margaret Oliphant, Part VI Volume 24: The Ladies Lindores (The Pickering Masters)
By Josie Billington. 2017
Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) had a prolific literary career that spanned almost fifty years. She wrote some 98 novels, fifty or…
more short stories, twenty-five works of non-fiction, including biographies and historic guides to European cities, and more than three hundred periodical articles. This is the most ambitious critical edition of her work. This volume includes her 1883 novel The Ladies Lindores with editorial notes by Josie Billington including a new introduction and headnote, giving key information about the book and its publication history.The Tablet of Destinies
By Roberto Calasso. 2020
Roberto Calasso, "a literary institution of one" (The Paris Review), tells the story of the eternal life of Utnapishtim, the…
savior of man, in the eleventh part of his great literary project.A long time ago, the gods grew tired of humans, who were making too much noise and disturbing their sleep, and they decided to send a Flood to destroy them. But Ea, the god of fresh underground water, didn’t agree and advised one of his favorite mortals, Utnapishtim, to build a quadrangular boat to house humans and animals. So Utnapishtim saved living creatures from the Flood. Rather than punish Utnapishtim, Enlil, king of the gods, granted him eternal life and banished him to the island of Dilmun. Thousands of years later, Sindbad the Sailor is shipwrecked on that very same island, and the two begin a conversation about courage, loss, salvation, and sacrifice. What Utnapishtim tells Sindbad is the subject of this book, the eleventh part of Roberto Calasso’s great opus that began in 1983 with The Ruin of Kasch. The Tablet of Destinies, a continuous narrative from beginning to end, delves into our earliest mythologies and records the origin stories of human civilization.Blake; Or, The Huts of America: A Corrected Edition (Mint Editions--black Narratives Ser.)
By Martin R. Delany. 2017
Martin R. Delany’s Blake (c. 1860) tells the story of Henry Blake’s escape from a southern plantation and his travels…
in the U.S., Canada, Africa, and Cuba on a mission to unite blacks of the Atlantic region in the struggle for freedom. Jerome McGann’s edition offers the first correct printing of the work and an authoritative introduction.The Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai
By Barbara Lazar. 2012
I am Kozaisho: Fifth daughter, Woman-For-Play, teller of stories, lover, wife and Flower Samurai. In the rich, dazzling, brutal world…
of twelfth century Japan, one young girl begins her epic journey, from the warmth of family to the Village of Outcasts. Marked out by an auspicious omen, she is trained in the ancient warrior arts of the samurai. But it is through the power of storytelling that she learns to fight her fate, twisting her life onto a path even she could not have imagined...Jacopo Caviceo’s Peregrino (1508) was a popular Renaissance prose romance in Italy, France, and Spain. Considered the first novel written…
for women, Peregrino relates the courtship of two young lovers from hostile households who succeed in doing what Romeo and Juliet, among others, could not: reconcile their families and marry without resorting to suicide. Peregrino features cameos of historical celebrities who interact with fictitious characters during their many adventures, which include a Mediterranean pilgrimage, courtly celebrations, funerals, legal trials, and a journey to the Other World. The book presents female agency in psychologically developed characters and contexts and includes allusions to previous literary masterpieces, such as Homer’s epics, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. This edition includes a detailed introduction and a biography of Jacopo Caviceo. Drawing on critical and comparative studies in a broad range of literary interests, the book sheds light on the emergence of the modern novel in the early modern period.The Shadow of Perseus
By Claire Heywood. 2023
History remembers him as a hero. But the women who knew him best remember a different man...Perseus grows up wanting…
to be a hero, but he cannot become one if his mother Danae still sees him as a boy. When his stepfather Polydektes casts him away on a voyage across the sea, Perseus is determined to fulfil the great destiny of the son of a god and the grandson of a king. But the line between heroism and monstrosity is thin, and when Perseus attempts to seduce first gentle Medusa and then beautiful Andromeda, before finally reuniting with Danae, they each learn of the dangers of resisting a boy prepared to risk it all for greatness . . .The earth is the Lord's: a tale of the rise of Genghis Khan
By Taylor Caldwell. 1975
Novel based upon the life of Genghis Khan, the thirteenth-century Mongol chieftain who led his swarm of shaggy barbarians over…
Asia, the Near East, and Hungary. The story begins with his birth as Temujin, the son of a petty chief in the Gobi desert, and ends with his first great victoryThe Samurai of Seville: A Novel
By John J. Healey. 2016
A sumptuous novel inspired by one of history’s most intriguing forgotten chapters—the arrival of Japanese Samurai on the shores of…
Europe.In 1614, twenty-two Samurai warriors and a group of tradesmen from Japan sailed to Spain, where they initiated one of the most intriguing cultural exchanges in history. They were received with pomp and circumstance, first by King Philip III and later by Pope Paul V. They were the first Japanese to visit Europe and they caused a sensation. They remained for two years and then most of the party returned to Japan; however, six of the Samurai stayed behind, settling in a small fishing village close to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where their descendants live to this day. Healey imbues this tale of the meeting of East and West with uncommon emotional and intellectual intensity and a rich sense of place. He explores the dueling mentalities of two cultures through a singular romance; the sophisticated, restrained warrior culture of Japan and the baroque sensibilities of Renaissance Spain, dark and obsessed with ethnic cleansing. What one culture lives with absolute normality is experienced as exotic from the outsider’s eye. Everyone is seen as strange at first and then—with growing familiarity—is revealed as being more similar than originally perceived, but with the added value of enduring idiosyncrasies.The story told in this novel is an essential and timeless one about the discoveries and conflicts that arise from the forging of relationships across borders, both geographical and cultural.