"Born a free man in New York State in 1808, Solomon Northup was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841. He spent the next twelve harrowing years of his life as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation. During this time he was frequently abused and often afraid for his life. After regaining his freedom in 1853, Northup decided to publish this gripping autobiographical account of his captivity. As an educated man, Northup was able to present an exceptionally...

Professor Challenger leads an expedition to explore an isolated plateau rising above the Amazon jungles where they discover dinosaurs, primitive ape-men, and prehistoric monsters. The Lost World, first published in 1912, tells the story of Professor Challenger, Professor Summerlee, adventurer Lord John Roxton, and reporter Ed Malone as they travel to a remote plateau in South America inhabited by dinosaurs, ape men, and prehistoric humans. In trying...

"Ranked among the classic novels of the English language and the inspiration for several unforgettable movies, this early work of H. G. Wells was greeted in 1896 by howls of protest from reviewers, who found it horrifying and blasphemous. They wanted to know more about the wondrous possibilities of science shown in his first book, "The Time Machine, "not its potential for misuse and terror. In "The Island of Dr. Moreau" a shipwrecked gentleman named...

Blessed with enormous talents and the energy and ambition to go with them, Franklin was a statesman, author, inventor, printer, and scientist. He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later was involved in negotiating the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War. He also invented bifocals, a stove that is still manufactured, a water-harmonica, and the lightning rod. Franklin's extraordinary range of interests and accomplishments...

In this book, the author depicts the glittering salons of Gilded Age New York with precision and wit, even as she movingly portrays the obstacles that impeded women's choices at the turn of the century. The beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart has been raised to be one of the perfect wives of the upper class, but her spark of character and independent drive prevent her from becoming one of the many women who succeed in those circumstances. Though her...

It was the indifferent shrug and callous inertia that this 'optimism' concealed which so angered Voltaire, who found the 'all for the best' approach a patently inadequate response to suffering, to natural disasters - such as the recent earthquakes in Lima and Lisbon - not to mention the questions of illness and man-made war. Moreover, as the rebel whose satiric genius had earned him not only international acclaim, but two stays in the Bastille, flogging...

"Published by E.M. Forster in 1908, A Room with a View follows the story of Lucy Honeychurch, a well-to-do young woman living in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. While on vacation in Italy, she finds her somewhat neatly ordered existence thrown off balance, when she meets and falls for the passionate, but conventionally unsuitable, George Emerson. With a cast of flamboyant and memorable characters, including romantic novelist Eleanor...

Lambert Strether, a mild middle-aged American of no particular achievements, is dispatched to Paris from the manufacturing empire of Woollett, Massachusetts. The mission conferred on him by his august patron, Mrs. Newsome, is to discover what, or who, is keeping her son Chad in the notorious city of pleasure, and to bring him home. But Strether finds Chad transformed by the influence of a remarkable woman; and as the Parisian spring advances, he himself...

A brilliant psychological portrait of a troubled young manb2ss quest for self-awareness, this coming-of-age novel achieved instant critical and popular acclaim upon its 1919 publication. A landmark in the history of 20th-century literature, it reflects the authorb2ss preoccupation with the duality of human nature and the pursuit of spiritual fullfillment. Excellent new English translation. Introduction.