Climb aboard the sailboat Oceano and get ready to depart on an expedition around the world! This beautiful pop-up book, by award-winning illustrators Boisrobert and Rigaud,lets you explore the hidden depths that lie beneath you as you go.
Discover the magical world of nature in this information book for young children, with over 80 flaps to lift. There are woods, rivers and ponds to explore, and animals to discover under the ground, hiding in trees and rustling in the bushes. There's information on how plants grow, habitats and nature spotting and links to websites to find out more.
This amazing picture book uses a patented technology called Scanimation, which makes the figures actually move on the page. It brings to life the movement of animals from a galloping horse to a fluttering butterfly, so children can see the motion verb they are learning before their very eyes. This is the first time that Scanimation has been published in book form.
No creature is more fascinating and terrifying to an adventurer than a dragon! This illustrated guide takes a deeper look at the abilities, personalities, and treasure collections of every major dragon type in Dungeons & Dragons.Dragons & Treasures transports new players to the magical world of Dungeons & Dragons and presents a one-of-a-kind course on the unique characteristics, fabled treasures, and wondrous artifacts of the most legendary of creatures: dragons! The book profiles all main dragon classes, and features easy-to-follow and entertaining explanations of how to identify and interact with these legendary beasts during your adventures. Advice, encouragement, and storytelling tips provide strategies for dealing with dragon encounters, hoards of treasure, and draconic artifacts, along with action-packed illustrations that will ignite your imagination.Dragons & Treasures is the perfect way for young fans to learn how to incorporate dragons into their stories, whether as foes, allies, or something in between.
Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Regarded as one of world literature's foremost novelists, Fyodor Dostoevsky's short stories are also some of the best ever written. 'White Nights' tells of love and loss on the streets of St. Petersburg, 'A Nasty Business' presents the hilarious tale of a general dropping in on the wedding of a subordinate, while 'The Meek One' is an existentialist tale of marriage and tragedy.
'I did have hallucinations, but did they harm anyone? Who did they harm, that's what I'd like to know!' This title features three disturbing tales of supernatural hallucinations, hysterical obsession and moral decay. It includes fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
It is a selection of Maupassant's brilliant, glittering stories set in the Parisian beau monde and Normandy countryside. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday.Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Maupassant's works available in Penguin Classics are A Parisian Affair and Other Stories, Bel-Ami and Pierre and Jean.
It’s hard to overstate just how influential The King of Elfland’s Daughter has been to modern fantasy; particularly high fantasy, sword and sorcery, and high fantasy.Lyrical and dream like it takes us on a search for a fairy princess and the magic that man has always secretly craved.Masterfully written, poignant, and yet still full of exciting action and adventure.
Agatha Christie's first ever murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover - includes for the first time the original courtroom climax as an alternate ending. 'Beware! Peril to the detective who says: "It is so small - it does not matter..." Everything matters.' After the Great War, life can never be the same again. Wounds need healing, and the horror of violent death banished into memory. Captain Arthur Hastings is invited to the rolling country estate of Styles to recuperate from injuries sustained at the Front. It is the last place he expects to encounter murder. Fortunately he knows a former detective, a Belgian refugee, who has grown bored of retirement ...The first Hercule Poirot mystery, now published with a previously deleted chapter and introduced by Agatha Christie expert Dr John Curran.
'One of his masterpieces ...without doubt a great novel' Guardian One of Hermann Hesse's greatest novels, Narcissus and Goldmund is an extraordinary recreation of the Middle Ages, contrasting the careers of two friends, one of whom shuns life in a monastery and goes on the road, tangled in the extremes of life in a world dominated by sin, plague and war, the other staying in the monastery and struggling, with equal difficulty, to lead a life of spiritual denial. An superb feat of imagination, Narcissus and Goldmund can only be compared to such films set in medieval Europe as Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev. It is a gripping, profound reading experience - as startling, in its different way, as Hesse's Siddhartha and Steppenwolf.
'Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was a groan of mortal terror ...the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul.' Stories about murder, mystery and madness, portraying the author's feverish imagination at its creative height. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday.Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Poe's works available in Penguin Classics are The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings, The Masque of the Red Death, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Portable Edgar Allan Poe and The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe.
Language: English, Binding: Hardback, Number of pages: 1060, Publishers: Rock Point, Author: Lori M. Campbell,John Tenniel, ISBN-13: 9781631069291, Date of issue: 2023
First in a series of hardback boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 1 contains special editions of THE SILMARILLION and UNFINISHED TALES reproducing the first edition text, together with the two volumes of THE BOOK OF LOST TALES.
Anthony C. Yu's translation of "The Journey to the West", initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time. Written in the sixteenth century, "The Journey to the West" tells the story of the fourteen-year pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang, one of China's most famous religious heroes, and his four supernatural disciples, in search of Buddhist scriptures. An adventure rich with danger and excitement, this seminal work of the Chinese literary canon is by turns allegory, satire, and fantasy. With one hundred chapters written in both prose and poetry, "The Journey to the West" has always been a complicated and difficult text to render in English while preserving the lyricism of its language and the content of its plot. But Yu has successfully taken on the task, and in this new edition he has made his translations even more accurate and accessible. The explanatory notes are updated and augmented, and Yu has added much new material to his introduction, based on his original research as well as on the newest literary criticism and scholarship on Chinese religious traditions.He has also modernized the transliterations included in each volume, using the now-standard Hanyu Pinyin romanization system. Perhaps most important, Yu has made changes to the translation itself in order to make it as precise as possible.
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods.' Still considered one of the most important and groundbreaking works of science ever written, Darwin's eminently readable exploration of the evolutionary process challenged most of the strong beliefs of the Western world. Forced to question the idea of the Creator, mid-nineteenth century readers were faced with Darwin's theories on the laws of natural selection and the randomness of evolution, causing massive controversy at the time. However, Darwin's theories remain instrumental in providing the backbone to modern biology today.
"The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories" is a collection of stories that emerged from a profound spiritual crisis, during which Leo Tolstoy believed that he had encountered death itself. This "Penguin Classics" edition is translated with an introduction by Anthony Briggs, David McDuff and Ronald Wilks. These seven compelling stories explore, in very different ways, Tolstoy's preoccupation with mortality. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is a devastating account of a man fighting his inevitable end, and asks the existential question: why must a good person be taken before his time? In "Polikushka", a light-fingered drunk's chance to prove himself has tragic repercussions, while "Three Deaths" depicts the last moments of an aristocrat, a peasant and a tree, and "The Forged Coupon" shows a seemingly minor offence that leads inexorably to ever more horrific crimes. And in three tales about soldiers, "After the Ball", "The Wood-felling" and "The Raid", Tolstoy portrays the brutality that all too often accompanies military life. The translations by Anthony Briggs, David McDuff and Ronald Wilks capture Tolstoy's powerful, vivid prose.This edition also includes a new introduction by Anthony Briggs discussing Tolstoy's breakdown and the effect this had on his writing, as well as a chronology, further reading and notes. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnaya Polyana, in central Russia. He led a life of wasteful idleness until 1851, when he travelled to the Caucasus and joined the army with his older brother, fighting in the Crimean war. After marrying Sofya Behrs in 1862, Tolstoy settled down, managing his estates and writing two of his best-known novels, "War and Peace" (1869) and "Anna Karenina" (1878). In 1884 Tolstoy experienced a spiritual crisis, becoming an extreme moralist, rejecting the state, the church and private property. His last novel, "Resurrection" (1900), was written to raise money for the Doukhobor sect of Christian spiritualists. If you enjoyed "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", you might like Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment", also available in "Penguin Classics".
Beautiful, bored and bourgeoise, Sabina leads a double life inspired by her relentless desire for brief encounters with near-strangers. Fired into faithlessness by a desperate longing for sexual fulfilment, she weaves a sensual web of deceit across New York. But when the secrecy of her affairs becomes too much to bear, Sabina makes a late night phone-call to a stranger from a bar, and begins a confession that captivates the unknown man and soon inspires him to seek her out
This is the "Penguin English Library Edition" of "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. 'Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness'. A twisted, upside-down creation myth, Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale lays bare the dark side of science, and the horror within us all. It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, who plunders graveyards to create a new being from the bodies of the dead - but whose botched creature causes nothing but murder and destruction. Written after a nightmare when its author was only eighteen, "Frankenstein" gave birth to the modern science fiction novel."The Penguin English Library" - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.
Written more than 70 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever...Nominated as one of America s best-loved novels by PBS s The Great American ReadThe Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching...A startling and haunting novel, 1984 creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the novel s hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
"The Call of the Wild, White Fang and Other Stories" collects some of Jack London's most profound and moving allegorical tales. This "Penguin Classics" edition is edited by Andrew Sinclair with an introduction by James Dickey. "The Call of the Wild", London's masterpiece about a dog learning to survive in the wilderness, sees pampered pet Buck snatched from his home and set to work as a sled-dog. White Fang, set in the frozen tundra and boreal forests of Canada's Yukon territory, is the story of a wolf-dog struggling to survive in a human society every bit as violent as the natural world. This volume of Jack London's famed stories of the North also includes "Batard", in which an abused dog takes revenge on his owner; and "Love of Life", in which an injured prospector, abandoned by his partner, must struggle home alone through the wilderness, stalked by a lone wolf. In his introduction, James Dickey probes London's strong personal and literary identification with the wolf-dog as a symbol and totem. Andrew Sinclair, London's official biographer and the volume's editor, provides a brief account of London's life as a sailor, desperado, socialist, adventurer and acclaimed author.Jack London (1876-1916) was born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco, California. By the age of sixteen he had left school, worked in a canning factory, spent time as an oyster pirate and been a member of the Fish Patrol in the San Francisco Bay. In 1893 he joined a sealing cruise, which took him as far abroad as Japan. In 1896 he was caught up in the gold rush to the Klondike river in north-west Canada, which became the inspiration for "The Call of the Wild" (1903) and "White Fang" (1906). If you enjoyed "The Call of the Wild", you might like Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories", also available in "Penguin Classics".
'The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude'When 'The Awakening' was first published in 1899, charges of sordidness and immorality seemed to consign it into obscurity and irreparably damage its author's reputation. But a century after her death, it is widely regarded as Kate Chopin's great achievement. Through careful, subtle changes of style, Chopin shows the transformation of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother, who - with tragic consequences - refuses to be caged by married and domestic life, and claims for herself moral and erotic freedom.The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.
A sumptuous full-colour art book containing the complete collection of almost 200 sketches, drawings, paintings and maps created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings. As he wrote The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien’s mental pictures often
Kafka's last great, unfinished novel - the book that hangs over the whole modern era like a nightmare. With a new introduction and notes by John Zilcosky The Castle is the story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never to be admitted to the Ca
"A desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century." - TimeSelected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all timeSlaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.
This is the "Penguin English Library Edition" of "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. 'Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window'. A chilling masterpiece of the horror genre, "Dracula" also illuminated dark corners of Victorian sexuality. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to advise Count Dracula on a London home, he makes a horrifying discovery. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the arrival of his 'Master', while a determined group of adversaries prepares to face the terrifying Count. "The Penguin English Library" contains 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.
When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their Children's and Household Tales in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as "Rapunzel," "Hansel and Gretel," and "Cinderella" would become the most celebrated in the world. Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style.For the very first time, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm makes available in English all 156 stories from the 1812 and 1815 editions.These narrative gems, newly translated and brought together in one beautiful book, are accompanied by sumptuous new illustrations from award-winning artist Andrea Dezsö.
One of fifty new books at 1.00 pound each, celebrating the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics series, from inspiring essays to groundbreaking fiction and poetry - all complete, standalone works, some never published in Penguin Modern Classics before.
A murderer is forced to reveal his crime by the sound of a beating heart, a mysterious figure wreaks havoc among a party of noblemen during the time of the plague, a grieving lover awakens to find himself clutching a box of his beloved blood-stained teeth, a man is obsessed with the fear of being buried alive - these are only some of the memorable characters and stories included in this volume, which exemplify Poe's inventiveness and natural talent as a storyteller.Immensely popular both during and after his lifetime, and a powerful influence on generations of writers and film-makers to this day, Edgar Allan Poe is still counted among the greatest short-story writers of all time and seen as one of the initiators of the detective, horror and science-fiction genres.Contains: 'Metzengerstein', 'MS Found in a Bottle', 'Berenice', 'Morella', 'Ligeia', 'The Devil in the Belfry', 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'William Wilson', 'The Man of the Crowd', 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'A Descent into the Maelstrom', 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head', 'Eleonora', 'The Masque of the Red Death', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Black Cat', 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'A Tale of the Ragged Mountains', 'The Premature Burial', 'The Oblong Box', 'The Purloined Letter', 'Some Words with a Mummy', 'The Oval Portrait', 'The Imp of the Perverse', 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', 'The Sphinx'.
Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a sprawling epic covering the impact of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia on five different families. This "Penguin Classics" edition is translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony Briggs, with an afterword by Orlando Figes, author of "A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution 1891-1924". At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself. In "War and Peace", Tolstoy entwines grand themes - conflict and love, birth and death, free will and faith - with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur. Anthony Briggs' superb translation combines stirring, accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy's original, while Orlando Figes' afterword discusses the novel's vast scope and depiction of Russian identity.This edition also contains appendices, notes, a list of prominent characters and maps. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnaya Polyana, in central Russia. After marrying Sofya Behrs in 1862, Tolstoy settled down, managing his estates and writing two of his best-known novels, "War and Peace" (1869) and "Anna Karenina" (1878). In 1884 Tolstoy experienced a spiritual crisis, becoming an extreme moralist, rejecting the state, the church and private property. His last novel, "Resurrection" (1900), was written to raise money for the Doukhobor sect of Christian spiritualists. If you enjoyed "War and Peace", you might also like Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov". "A masterpiece...This new translation is excellent". (Anthony Beevor). "A book that you don't just read, you live". (Simon Schama).
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind...' Based on a lecture given at Cambridge and first published in 1929, 'A Room of One's Own' interweaves Woolf's personal experience as a female writer with themes ranging from Austen and Bronte to Shakespeare's gifted (and imaginary) sister. 'Three Guineas', Woolf's most impassioned polemic, came almost a decade later and broke new ground by challenging the very notions of war and masculinity. This volume combines two inspirational, witty and urbane essays from one of literature's pre-eminent voices; collectively they constitute a brilliant and lucid attack on sexual inequality.
In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's great literary treasures - as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled in Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured farther west to Greenland and, ultimately, North America. Sailing as far from the archetypal heroic adventure as the long ships did from home, the Sagas are written with psychological intensity, peopled by characters with depth, and explore perennial human issues like love, hate, fate and freedom.
One of fifty new books at 1.00 pound each, celebrating the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics series, from inspiring essays to groundbreaking fiction and poetry - all complete, standalone works, some never published in Penguin Modern Classics before.
Agatha Christie's most exotic murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything - until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: 'I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.' Yet in this exotic setting' nothing is ever quite what it seems...
Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith The small incidents of life become moments of inner rev
This title comes with an introduction by P.D. James. The Vintage Classics Austen series is designed by the writer and illustrator Leanne Shapton and introduced by some of our finest contemporary writers and Austen fans: Alexander McCall Smith, Lynne Truss, Amanda Vickery, Francesca Segal, P.D. James and Andrew Motion. "Jane Austen is a genius, and Northanger Abbey is hugely underrated". (Martin Amis). Catherine Morland is a young girl with a very active imagination. Her naivety and love of sensational novels lead her to approach the fashionable social scene in Bath and her stay at nearby Northanger Abbey with preconceptions that have embarrassing and entertaining consequences.
'Things are not simple but complex. If he bit Mr. Browning he bit her too. Hatred is not hatred; hatred is also love.' Virginia Woolf's delightful biography of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel, which asks what it means to be human - and to be dog. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946.Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
The Cthulhu Mythos was H.P. Lovecraft's greatest contribution to supernatural literature. This anthology includes 23 of his weirdest tales, including 'The Call of Cthulhu', 'The Colour Out of Space', 'The Dunwich Horror' and 'The Shadow Out of Time'.
For the first time ever, a very special edition of the classic masterpiece, illustrated throughout in colour by the author himself and with the complete text printed in two colours. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy and epic adventure has touched the hearts of young and old alike.Over 150 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the world, and occasional collectors' editions become prized and valuable items of publishing. This one-volume hardback edition contains the complete text, fully corrected and reset, which is printed in red and black and features, for the very first time, thirty colour illustrations, maps and sketches drawn by Tolkien himself as he composed this epic work. These include the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, marvellous facsimiles created by Tolkien to accompany the famous 'Bridge of Khazad-dum' chapter.Also appearing are two removable fold-out maps drawn by Christopher Tolkien revealing all the detail of Middle-earth. Sympathetically packaged to reflect the classic look of the first edition, this new edition of the bestselling hardback will prove irresistible to collectors and new fans alike.
J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a 'dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told'. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father's death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book's content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans' power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien's magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.Now, adhering to the timeline of 'The Tale of Years' in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolour and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.
A new translation and abridgement of one of the four classical Chinese novels - an epic story of warring factions in the era of China's Han dynastyWritten more than six centuries ago and still read by millions throughtout Asia today, The Romance of Three Kingdoms is an epic Chinese novel set during the Han dynasty that dramatizes the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, recounting their personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles to achieve dominance for almost 100 years. Part historical record and part legend, the novel covers the turbulent final years of the Han dynasty when China broke into three competing kingdoms, and delves into the politics of war, power, and diplomacy, causing it to be viewed not just as a great work of literature, but also as a guide for success in business and leadership. The most famous historical novel in China, it has inspired countless adaptations worldwide and remains one of the most beloved works of East Asian literature.
Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future.Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex. Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.