Essays Books

Book SynopsisFor many years the victim of smear campaigns by notable male writers, and dismissed as being merely ‘the mother of Mary Shelley’, Mary Wollstonecraft has claimed her rightful title as one of the founders of feminist thought, a movement anchored in her Vindications. Outraged by Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, its use of gendered language and defence of monarchy and hereditary privilege, A Vindication of the Rights of Men turned the tables on philosophy. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman swiftly followed, taking the conversation further, and arguing the case for women’s education. Together, these two seminal works went on to change the course of history, and her arguments continue to hold water today. This edition contains explanatory notes and an introduction by Bee Rowlatt, Chair of the Wollstonecraft Society.Trade Review'Wollstonecraft's words ring as true today... as when she wrote them.' (Guardian), 'Changed the world for generations of women to come.' (Sunday Times)

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewChina's first iconic modern intellectual. His lucid and prolific writings, touching on all major concerns in his own time and anticipating many in the future, inspired several generations of thinkers including the much younger Mao Zedong. -- Pankaj Mishra

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Book Synopsis''A Scout is a Friend to all''An amalgam of imperial myth, borrowed tips on health and hygiene, and object lessons in woodcraft, the 1908 text of Robert Baden-Powell''s Scouting for Boys is the original blueprint and ''self-instructor'' of the Boy Scout Movement. One of the all-time bestsellers in the English-speaking world, this primer of ''yarns and pictures'' constitutes probably the most influential manual for youth ever published. Yet the book is at the same time a roughly composed hodge-podge of jingoist lore and tracker legend, padded with lengthy quotations from adventure fiction and Baden-Powell''s own autobiography, and seamed through with the multiple anxieties of its time: fears of degeneration, concerns about masculinity and self-restraint, and invasion paranoia.Elleke Boehmer''s edition of Scouting for Boys reprints the original text and illustrations, and her fine introduction investigates a book that has been cited as an authority by militarists and pacifists, capitalists and environmentalists alike.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book SynopsisUsman Khan was convicted of terrorism-related offences at age 20, and sent to high-security prison. He was released eight years later, and allowed to travel to London for one day, to attend an event marking the fifth anniversary of a prison education programme he participated in. On 29 November, 2019, he sat with others at Fishmongers' Hall, some of whom he knew. Then he went to the bathroom to retrieve the things he had hidden there: a fake bomb vest and two knives, which he taped to his wrists. That day, he killed two people: Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt. Preti Taneja taught fiction writing in prison for three years. Merritt oversaw her program; Khan was one of her students. 'It is the immediate aftermath,' Taneja writes. '"I am living at the centre of a wound still fresh." The I is not only mine. It belongs to many.' In this searching lament by the award-winning author of We That Are Young, Taneja interrogates the language of terror, trauma and grief; the fictions we believe and the voices we exclude. Contending with the pain of unspeakable loss set against public tragedy, she draws on history, memory, and powerful poetic predecessors to reckon with the systemic nature of atrocity. Blurring genre and form, Aftermath is a profound attempt to regain trust after violence and to recapture a politics of hope through a determined dream of abolition.Trade Review'Aftermath is a major landmark in British narrative non-fiction. It's a beautiful and profoundly important account of creative writing teaching as a radical act of trust and interrogation of power; its anti-racist and abolitionist stance makes it a vitally important as well as deeply moving book to read now in these dismal days for the British political project. It is fearless in the way it shows its agonised workings as it unfolds into a complex map of grief.' Max Porter ---- 'Astonishing. Radical, beautiful, broken, intimate. A surge. A yearning. A tribute. An indictment. You won't read another book like this ever. Taneja's attempt to wrestle with so much, with radical empathy, survivor's guilt, politics - is a masterclass work of literary brilliance.' Nikesh Shukla ---- 'It takes a rare talent to respond to a shattering act of violence by reassembling the pieces in a way that refuses easy explanations or platitudes, but is illuminating, daring, world-expanding. Essential, in the truest sense of the word.' Daniel Trilling ---- 'This is a remarkable book: generous, searching, insightful and searingly intelligent as it draws out the complex relationship between writing and terror, language and the unspeakable, trauma and event.' Olivia Sudjic ---- 'Aftermath is written from the heart. I am both impressed by it and so grateful that someone has tried to make some sense of the many issues surrounding what happened at Fishmongers' Hall. There is so much truth in this slim volume.' David Merritt, father of Jack Merritt ---- 'Aftermath is a book that's almost impossible to categorise: it sits in a tradition of bereavement literature; it sits with poetry. There is no fake moralising in its pages, just Taneja patiently walking us through the wreckage of unimaginable grief, noticing everything, lifting up the rubble, she makes us question everything we know and hold fast - a courageous and brilliant book.' Mona Arshi ---- 'A study, a song, a calling - Taneja's work offers a crucial and radical account of control, conviction, complicity and trauma.' Eley Williams ---- 'Aftermath is not just a personal reckoning with tragedy, it's a piercing inquiry into the ways criminality is perceived, and yet what Taneja does so skilfully is carefully unpack the complex systems violence emerges from. This is an inspired book fortified with acute contemplation and courage, a book born out of a love for the world and the people in it.' Anthony Anaxagorou ---- 'Aftermath is one of the most profound, urgent and thought-provoking books I've read in years. Taneja makes of the already capacious creative non-fiction form one that is all her own, and which enquires, with devastating and poetic precision, into the connections between language, violence, structural racism, the purposes of reading and writing fiction, and so much more. She invites the reader to share in her enquiry to narrate the unnarratable, and, through doing so, to locate a genuinely radical form of hope.' Clare Fisher ---- 'In this stunning book, light bleeds into darkness. An astute indictment of our carceral system and the violence it perpetuates, it is also a compassionate meditation on our interconnected lives. Taneja blurs the lines between literary genres so that the divisions between 'us' and 'them' also blur. She invites us to grieve and yet still be angry enough to demand change - to ask deep structural questions and to imagine new possibilities for justice. I was challenged, inspired and grateful for every word.' Tessa McWatt ---- 'This searing abolitionist work sees, and refuses, other prisons too - of narrative-for-hire, racial shame, the trauma industrial complex, cause and effect. It tries to convince no one of nothing, to confess nothing to no one. Instead it breaks sentences and pages open, makes language rush into you (you are an estuary, the dam is gone). Its shape is unmappable. It lives on as a drumming in your head.' Maria Tumarkin ---- 'A tremendous feat of scholarship, of historical interlacing, of contemporary criticism, of literary examination, of ethical clarity and personal interrogation and, most indelibly, of grieving.' Gina Apostol ---- 'With We That Are Young, Preti Taneja established herself as one of the most courageous and lyrically gifted writers of her generation. Here again she offers living proof that great literature does not rise fully formed from the canon. It begins, rather, with the anguished sifting of its fragments in the aftermath of tragedy, and a grasping in the dark for voices worthy of trust, until its urgent call for equality and dignity comes true - first on the page, and then in the hearts and minds of all who read it.' Maureen Freely

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Book SynopsisUncovering the pernicious narratives white people create to justify white supremacy and sustain racist oppression The police murders of two Black men, Philando Castile and George Floyd, frame this searing exploration of the historical and fictional narratives that white America tells itself to justify and maintain white supremacy. From the country’s founding through the summer of Black Lives Matter in 2020, David Mura unmasks how white stories about race attempt to erase the brutality of the past and underpin systemic racism in the present.Intertwining history, literature, ethics, and the deeply personal, Mura looks back to foundational narratives of white supremacy (Jefferson’s defense of slavery, Lincoln’s frequently minimized racism, and the establishment of Jim Crow) to show how white identity is based on shared belief in the pernicious myths, false histories, and racially segregated fictions that allow whites to deny their culpability in past atrocities and current inequities. White supremacy always insists white knowledge is superior to Black knowledge, Mura argues, and this belief dismisses the truths embodied in Black narratives.Mura turns to literature, comparing the white savior portrayal of the film Amistad to the novelization of its script by the Black novelist Alexs Pate, which focuses on its African protagonists; depictions of slavery in Faulkner and Morrison; and race’s absence in the fiction of Jonathan Franzen and its inescapable presence in works by ZZ Packer, tracing the construction of Whiteness to willfully distorted portraits of race in America. In James Baldwin’s essays, Mura finds a response to this racial distortion and a way for Blacks and other BIPOC people to heal from the wounds of racism.Taking readers beyond apology, contrition, or sadness, Mura attends to the persistent trauma racism has exacted and lays bare how deeply we need to change our racial narratives—what white people must do—to dissolve the myth of Whiteness and fully acknowledge the stories and experiences of Black Americans.Trade Review "More than anything, David Mura reminds us that history is still just a story, and life and death lies in who gets to tell it and what’s been told. This is a re-examination of the American imagination itself and the myths we need to dismantle for a proper foundation to finally grow. It’s fearless, illuminating, and revolutionary."—Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize "The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is the book I wish I could have been handing out during the height of the Black Lives Matters protests. There are many works written about the overarching effects of white supremacy in America, but what’s essential about this book is the clarity provided by the wisdom and holistic vision of David Mura. The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is the rare book that pulls off the magic trick of taking an incredibly explosive issue and disarming it with such grace as to make elusive truths feel suddenly accessible."—Mat Johnson, author of Pym, Loving Day, and Invisible Things "A powerful meditation on the conscious and unconscious effects of racist narratives. Anyone who's lived through the last three years of racial reckoning and is wondering how we got here and where we go next will find this book useful."—Shannon Gibney, author of Dream Country "With this collection of taut essays, David Mura holds searing light on the epistemology of Whiteness, interrogating the brutal creation and lethal maintenance of this alibi rigged to serve as an identity. Mura, with painstaking patience half-masking anger and grief, offers what so many white Americans claim they want, what so many of the rest of us tire of providing: a rigorous education in perceiving themselves stripped of their dearest myths. I push back on the author’s use of ‘blindness’ as metaphor over the book’s arc, a way the sighted shorthand an inability to perceive. No. For what Mura argues with compelling intelligence is that most white people willfully ignore history and resent being reminded of their place within its present. I suspect some will, as always, manage to ignore this entry into a tradition that includes Baldwin, Morrison, Hartman, and Wilderson, but those who heed it will find themselves fortified for change."—Douglas Kearney, author of Optic Subwoof "The vitriolic discourse against educators and librarians displays the resurgence of overt hostility toward books, in particular stories coming out of marginalized communities. Books written by writers of color and writers writing about how race is experienced by people of color are accused of teaching people to hate America. Meanwhile, there is The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself. David Mura, a gifted Japanese American writer and storyteller is in conversation with gifted African American writers/prophets such as Baldwin, Morrison, Gates, Kendi, and his friend and contemporary Alex Pate, author of the novel Amistad. Together, Mura and the thinkers he’s enlisted serve to shore up the experiences of people of color against the gaslighting we face and provide Whiteness with an opportunity to engage with fuller stories that could bring it out of a ‘distorted reality’ where ‘the oppressor thus lies to himself both about himself and about those he oppresses.’"—Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, author of Soft: A Memoir "Full of insightful analysis and powerful personal anecdotes, Mura’s top-notch cultural criticism delivers. Challenging and provocative, this one’s sure to stick with readers."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "Fiery critique of how the semantics and signifiers of Whiteness maintain comforting historical illusions while upholding structural racism. In this wide-ranging and deeply felt narrative, Mura moves confidently among American history, literary critique, and social analysis, laying bare the secret terrors and coded defenses of being Black in America. "—Kirkus Reviews "An immense achievement and completely timely. "—MinnPost "[Mura's] writing is engaging, impassioned and anchored in moral, spiritual, and sociopolitical critiques of the harmful impacts of racism."—Colors of Influence "Taking readers beyond apology, contrition, or sadness, Mura attends to the persistent trauma racism has exacted and lays bare how deeply we need to change our racial narratives — what white people must do — to dissolve the myth of whiteness and fully acknowledge the stories and experiences of Black Americans. "—Rafu Shimpo "Brilliant... Mura offers a masterful class in American history, politics and culture, especially films and literature. "—Star Tribune

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Book SynopsisVolume two of Le Morte D''Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory''s powerful and elegaic version of the Arthurian legend, recounts the adventures of Sir Tristram de Liones and the treachery of Sir Mordred, and follows Sir Launcelot''s quest for The Holy Grail, his fatally divided loyalties, and his great, forbidden love for the beautiful Queen Guenever. Culminating in an account of Arthur''s final battle against the scheming, deceitful Mordred, this is the definitive re-telling of the Arthurian myth, weaving a story of adultery, treachery and ultimately - in its tragic finale - death. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory''s moving prose romance looks back to an idealised Medieval age of chivalry, drawing on French and English verse sources to create an epic masterpiece of passion, enchantment, war and betrayal.

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Book SynopsisA new historical anthology from transatlantic slavery to the Reconstruction curated by the Schomburg Center, that makes the case for focusing on the histories of Black people as agents and architects of their own lives and ultimate liberation, with a foreword by Kevin YoungThis is the first Penguin Classics anthology published in partnership with the Schomburg Center, a world-renowned cultural institution documenting black life in America and worldwide. A historic branch of NYPL located in Harlem, the Schomburg holds one of the world's premiere collections of slavery material within the Lapidus Center for Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery. Unsung will place well-known documents by abolitionists alongside lesser-known life stories and overlooked or previously uncelebrated accounts of the everyday lives and activism that were central in the slavery era, but that are mostly excised from today's master accounts. Unsung will also highlight related titles froTrade Review“As comprehensive a collection as now exists and one that should be required reading in history and literature courses.”—Kirkus, starred review“Remarkable anthology...As a whole, this collection showcases the vastness of Black thinking and writing, and nicely complements works by Martha S. Jones and Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. Complete with a list of suggestions for further reading, this winning anthology is a must for all interested in Black history, but unsure where to start.”—Library Journal, starred review“This anthology highlights the overlooked role that enslaved people played in emancipation.” —The New York Times Book Review“The song sung in these pages is not solely an aria to agency or a tragic chorus about limits; it is both. It perseveres in the mission described in Arturo Schomburg’s 'The Negro Digs Up His Past' as excavating history to 'restore what slavery took away.' It shouts against the silencing alluded to in the Unsung title. Like the Harlem Renaissance and the Schomburg Center, Unsung is a work of both history and art.” —Washington Post

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Book Synopsis'Every essay in this book is magnificent... Mesmerizing.' New York Times'How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,' writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she's been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.These stories consider a range of creatures - the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life. In her own backyard, Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens. In a different backyard, in New Jersey, she meets a woman who has twenty-three pet tigers - something none of her neighbours knew about until one of the tigers escapes. In Iceland, the world's most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world's hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home.Equal parts delightful and profound, enriched by Orlean's stylish prose and precise research, these stories celebrate the meaningful cross-species connections that grace our collective existence.Trade ReviewEvery essay in this book is magnificent... Each animal's turn in the warm spotlight of Orlean's gaze gives readers a chance to learn something enthralling about even the most ordinary of creatures... Mesmerizing. * New York Times *Beguiling, observant and howlingly funny. * San Francisco Chronicle *Her rich storytelling is almost soothing... Orlean is committed to investigating the dizzying multiplicity of roles animals serve - employee, best friend, harbinger of climate change - and the places where those functions intersect. * Los Angeles Times *Original, perceptive, and clever... Even though Orlean claims the animals she writes about remain enigmas, she makes us care about their fates. * Boston Globe *A close read of her new book suggests that beneath the surface variety of subjects and locales in her writing, there's an underlying unity: heedless, headlong enthusiasm... She is a moth drawn to moths who are drawn to the flame... Ms. Orlean has a rare knack for finding these people, and an even rarer one for starting them talking... Do not underestimate her curiosity, or the sharpness of her eyes. * Wall Street Journal *Spectacular... Orlean strikes a perfect balance between hilarious and informative. * Star Tribune *In appealing prose, Orlean displays her fascination and love for animals... Her appreciation of the friendship, strangeness, colors, textures and just plain mystery of animals is infectious and nicely documented. * The Columbus Dispatch *A broad meditation on how the connections we make, or fail to make, with animals mark us profoundly along our human journey. . . Orlean's tone is conversational and self-questioning. * USA Today *Entertaining and informative... Orlean's prose dazzles... Animal lovers will find much to savor. * Publishers Weekly *Delightful... Another winner featuring the author's trademark blend of meticulous research and scintillating writing. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *Vibrant. . . A revelry for readers wild for animals. . . Orlean's deep pleasure in learning startling facts, her often wry tales about her personal life, her omnivorous attention to detail, and her juggler's skill with words yield vivid, provocative, amusing, and wondrous stories. * Booklist *Fabulously fun. . . Orlean is such a virtuoso of unexpected joys and delights that she can make even the story of a lost dog read like a thriller. . . Orlean's high-octane enthusiasm never wanes. . . Orlean's readers will find themselves completely diverted by On Animals' irresistible menagerie. * BookPage (starred review) *Table of Contents1: Introduction: Animalish 2: The It Bird 3: Show Dog 4: The Lady and the Tigers 5: Riding High 6: Little Wing 7: Animal Action 8: Where's Willy? 9: Carbonaro and Primavera 10: Lifelike 11: Lion Whisperer 12: The Rabbit Outbreak 13: The Perfect Beast 14: Lost Dog 15: Where Donkeys Deliver 16: Farmville

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Book SynopsisTo celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, the most important literary work of the twentieth century, eighteen artists, writers and thinkers respond to an episode each of the great modernist text. Each essayist is an expert in one of the subjects treated in the novel, but what brings them together is a common love of Ulysses. Joseph O'Connor considers the music-saturated Sirens episode and David McWilliams writes about the bigotry and violence of nationalism on display in Cyclops. Irish obstetrician Rhona Mahony responds to Oxen and the Sun, set in a maternity hospital, journalist Lara Marlowe examines the Aeolus episode, which takes place in a newspaper office, and Irish philosopher Richard Kearney reflects on the erudite musings of Stephen Dedalus as he walks along Sandymount strand. The Book About Everything counters the perception of Ulysses as the sole preserve of academics and instead showcases readers' responses to the book. It is a vivid, even eccentric collection, filled with life and Joycean spirit.Trade ReviewCan profitably be read by anyone with an interest in Joyce... Illuminating insights underscore that Ulysses will continue to be a touchstone into its second century * Irish Times *Show[s] Ulysses is not the sole preserve of academics * Big Issue North *

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Book SynopsisWith the natural world increasingly under threat, Our Place in Nature explores one of the most topical issues of our day; our appreciation of nature and recognition of our place in it.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Zachary Seager.A timely anthology of classic writing exploring our complex relationship with the natural world. Famous names such as George Orwell, Dorothy Wordsworth, John Muir and Rachel Carson are gathered here to share their wonder, concern and appreciation for our place in nature.

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Book SynopsisA delicious anthology of classic food writing to satisfy every palate, this gorgeous book will delight food lovers everywhere.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by food historian, lecturer and broadcaster Annie Gray.From ancient times to today’s celebrity chefs, people have always been inspired to write about food. In this delectable collection, Food for Thought, food historian Annie Gray has chosen an array of material to entertain and inspire. The variety is impressive – from lavish feasts in classical times to street food of pea soup and eels in 19th century London, and from how to find food on a desert island to meat free meals by Agnes Jekyll. Brimming with satire on Victorian etiquette, intriguing recipes through the centuries and culinary advice from cooks and hosts, there is so much here to enjoy.

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Book SynopsisTWELVE MOONS follows a year spent caught between the wild sea and the changing moon of the wide Northumberland skies.Caro Giles lives on the far edge of the country, with her tribe of daughters: The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One. She is at once alone and yet surrounded. Bound by circumstance, financial constraints, illness and the challenges of single motherhood, she has nowhere to go but the fierce landscape that surrounds her.Over the course of the year, the moon becomes her fellow traveller through dark times, and companion through joyful ones and even when the sky is wreathed in cloud, the moon is still felt in the pull of the tides.TWELVE MOONS follows the lunar calendar, each chapter sharing a month and a moon, and shows the simmering power that lies in our often hidden daily lives. A dazzlingly honest memoir that while never turning away from the awkward truths of life, also shows how love will flourish if we can only find a space for ourselves.SetTrade Review‘If Little Women had been written from the perspective of Marmee March – and Marmee was undergoing a divorce in the 21st-century Northumberland countryside – then it might read a lot like Caro Giles’ Twelve Moons…A reminder of motherhood’s tyrannous altruism, and of how nature’s changing contrasts – the moon, sea and seasons – can re-root us even during the hardest emotional storms.’New Statesman ‘A work of such determined beauty and generosity: the story of a mother making art and meaning in a difficult year and a remote location. Moonlit, full of strong tidal feeling, and deeply moving’ Tanya Shadrick ‘An incredibly poetic memoir…a woman finding her way back to herself’ Marianne Levy ‘A beautiful, absorbing story of what happens when a family doesn’t fit the mould and how solace can be found in the elements’ Amy Liptrot ‘A gorgeous, touching telling of a year of wild mothering – at the edge of place and time – but written straight from the very heart of its author’Kerri ní Dochartaigh ‘In this raw, fiercely honest memoir Caro Giles illuminates the madness, magic and mess of motherhood. It is a love letter to the wilds of Northumberland, a song to the pull of the sea and a heartful exploration of what it means to be broken and to fight to piece yourself back together’ Lulah Ellender ‘A hypnotic memoir of motherhood…Twelve Moons is an exploration of the annihilation and reclaiming of self that so many readers will recognise and return to. Caro Giles' writing exerts a gravitational pull, and her story of entanglement and enchantment, loneliness and love is a gift for these times’ Rebecca Schiller ‘There is power in her description of the relentlessness of life as a single parent, and in her evocation of the devastation that her divorce caused. You’ll finish the book full of admiration for Giles’s devotion to her girls, and hoping that she finds the identity she’s searching for’ Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisTo read through A Barthes Reader is finally to be left with the image of Barthes as one of the great public teachers of our time' New RepublicEdited by Susan Sontag, A Roland Barthes Reader offers a definitive selection of works by the French intellectual Roland Barthes, including seminal essays, such as ''Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives'' as well as his more unusual works, such as ''The World of Wrestling''.''At last, with A Barthes Reader, we have a sort of Michelin guide to one of the most beguiling minds of our era. Smartly introduced by Susan Sontag, the Reader samples Barthes'' achievement over three decades'' NewsweekTrade ReviewTo read through A Barthes Reader is finally to be left with the image of Barthes as one of the great public teachers of our time, someone who thought out, argued for, and made available several steps in a penetrating reflection on language, sign systems, texts - and what they have to tell us about the concept of the human * New Republic *Susan Sontag contributes an informative introduction to this collection and arranges his greatest hits chronologically... This is an excellent entree to a thinker whose precepts have often filtered down into mass culture * Glasgow Herald *Barthes's work, along with that of Wilde and Valéry, gives being an aesthete a good name... Defending the senses, he never betrayed the mind * Susan Sontag *

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Book SynopsisThis collection of Vonnegut’s letters is the autobiography he never wrote – from the letter he posted home upon being freed from a German POW camp, to notes of advice to his children: ‘Don’t let anybody tell you that smoking and boozing are bad for you.Trade ReviewThe collected letters of Kurt Vonnegut include some remarkable examples of epistolary eloquence… it is the tender letters to his youngest daughter, Nanette, that are the jewel of this collection -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph Seven *One closes this volume...full of gratitude for Dan Wakefield...the editor of this labour of love that gives us one more reason to love Kurt Vonnegut -- John Sutherland * The Times *This collection is perhaps the best insight into the everyday needles of a prolific author you could hope to read -- Ed Caesar * Sunday Times *Splendidly assembled and edited by Dan Wakefield . . . [Vonnegut’s] familiar, funny, cranky, acute voice . . . is chronicling his life in real time. * New York Times Book Review *Droll and self-deprecating letters offer intriguing insights into Vonnegut’s life * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisPaul Krugman has been proclaimed "the most celebrated economist of his generation" (The Economist), a judgement confirmed when he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, a prize given to the best American economist under the age of forty. Professorof economics at Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Krugman advised the US government and written widely of the international press.

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Book SynopsisSir Thomas Browne (1605-82) was a writer of breathtaking range and learning, whose works demonstrate a warm and humorous view of human nature. Religio Medici is a fascinating, witty and intimate exploration of his views on faith and tolerance, while substantial selections from Pseudodoxia Epidemica display Browne''s breadth of knowledge and omnivorous curiosity in his account of common errors in a startling array of subjects including sciences, history, literature and philosophy. Hydriotaphia or ''Urn Buriall'' is an intriguing meditation on death and the desire for immortality, The Garden of Cyrus considers the mysterious order to be found in nature, and A Letter to a Friend and the aphoristic Christian Morals provide profound spiritual guidance to readers.

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Book SynopsisDiscusses truth, death, revenge, adversity, envy, marriage, love, goodness, superstition, friendship, ambition, aging, beauty, gardens and honour.Table of ContentsPrincipal Dates in Bacon's LifeIntroductionA Note on the Text and AnnotationFurther ReadingTHE ESSAYSAPPENDICESThe Essays: Fragments, Versions and Parallels1. Writing the Essays2. Counsels for the Prince3. The Wisdom of the Ancients4. Idols of the Mind5. A Poetical Essay

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Book SynopsisWe are bought and sold like apes or monkeys, to be the sport of women, fools, and cowards, and the support of roguesWhen Prince Oroonoko’s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko’s noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn’s visit to Surinam, Oroonoko (1688) reflects the author’s romantic view of Native Americans as simple, superior peoples ‘in the first state of innocence, before men knew how to sin’. The novel also reveals Behn’s ambiguous attitude to African slavery – while she favoured it as a means to strengthen England’s power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.This new edition of Oroonoko is based on the first printed edition of 1688, and

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Book SynopsisWritten between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius records Antony's extreme seclusion in the Egyptian desert, despite temptation by the devil and visits from his followers. Jerome also shows those who fled persecution or withdrew from society to pursue lives of chastity and asceticism in his accounts of Paul of Thebes, Hilarion and Malchus. In his Life of Martin, Sulpicius Severus describes the achievements of a man who combined the roles of monk, bishop and missionary, while Gregory the Great tells of Benedict, whose Rule became the template for monastic life. Full of vivid incidents and astonishing miracles, these Lives have provided inspiration as models for centuries of Christian worship.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the EnglTable of ContentsChronologyMap of the World of Antony, Paul, Hilarion, Malchus, Martin and BenedictGeneral Introduction:The Early Development of MonasticismThe Writing of Biography: Pagan Past and Christian FuturePrincipal Primary Sources relating to Early MonasticismThe Saints in IconographyTranslation Past and PresentFurther ReadingEarly Christian LivesLife of Antony by AthanasiusLife of Paul of Thebes by JeromeLife of Hilarion by JeromeLife of Malchus by JeromeLife of Martin of Tours by Sulpicius SeverusLife of Benedict by Gregory the GreatNotes

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Book SynopsisContains a selection from the essays Johnson published twice weekly as 'The Rambler' in the early 1750s. This volume includes the best of Johnson's journalism, including essays from the periodicals 'The Adventurer' and 'The Idler'.

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Book SynopsisIn The War with Hannibal, Livy (59 BC-AD 17) chronicles the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, until the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. He vividly recreates the immense armies of Hannibal, complete with elephants, crossing the Alps; the panic as they approached the gates of Rome; and the decimation of the Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Yet it is also the clash of personalities that fascinates Livy, from great debates in the Senate to the historic meeting between Scipio and Hannibal before the decisive battle. Livy never hesitates to introduce both intense drama and moral lessons into his work, and here he brings a turbulent episode in history powerfully to life.Table of ContentsThe War with Hannibal - Livy Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt and Edited with an Introduction by Betty RadiceIntroductionBook XXIBook XXIIBook XXIIIBook XXIVBook XXVBook XXVIBook XXVIIBook XXVIIIBook XXIXBook XXXMapsChronological IndexIndex

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Book SynopsisOne of the most influential political texts ever written on America, and an indispensable authority on the nature of democracy In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and civil servant, made a nine-month journey through eastern America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the strengths and weaknesses of the nation''s evolving politics. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing its egalitarian ideals reflected the spirit of the age. This edition, the only one that contains all Tocqueville''s writings on America, includes the rarely translated ''Two Weeks in the Wilderness'', an evocative account of Tocqueville''s travels among the Iroquois and Chippeway, and ''Excursion to Lake Oneida''. Translated by Gerald Bevan with an Introduction and Notes by Isaac KramnickTrade Review“No better study of a nation’s institutions and culture than Tocqueville’s Democracy in America has ever been written by a foreign observer.” –The New York Times“The Bradley edition of Tocqueville’s classic is the best now available in English.” –Charles A. Beard“Professor Bradley’s edition should remain the standard one for our time.” –F. O. MatthiessenWith an Introduction by Alan RyanTable of ContentsChronology; further reading; translator's notes; democracy in America, notes; "Two Weeks in the Wilderness"; "Excursion to Lake Oneida".

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Book SynopsisGathering a wide range of traditional African myths, this compelling new collection offers tales of heroes battling mighty serpents and monstrous birds, brutal family conflict and vengeance, and desperate migrations across vast and alien lands. From impassioned descriptions of animal-creators to dramatic stories of communities forced to flee monstrous crocodiles, all the narratives found here concern origins—whether of the universe, peoples or families. Together, they create a kaleidoscopic picture of the rich and varied oral traditions that have shaped the culture and society of successive generations of Africans for thousands of years, throughout the long struggle to survive and explore this massive and environmentally diverse continent.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout historTable of ContentsAfrican Myths of OriginIntroductionA Note on the TextList of MapsPart I. Some General ThemesStories About Hunters1. The San Peoples of Southern Africa2. Pygmies of The Central African Forests3. The Songhay Hunters of the Niger River4. The Origin of Hunters' Associations: Sanen and Kontron of the Manden5. How Hunters Learned about Magic6. The Animal Bride I: The Changed Skin7. The Animal Bride II: SirankomiThe Cattle-Herders8. Khoi-Khoi Cattle Stories9. Fulbe Stories of Cattle10. The Maasai of East Africa11. The Great Lakes I: The Origin of Cattle (Rwanda)12. The Great Lakes II: The Story of Wamara (BaHaya)13. The Chagga of East Africa: MurileTricksters14. Uthlakanyana, the Zulu Child Trickster15. Stories of Moni-Mambu of the BaKongo16. Ture, the Zande Trickster17. Eshu of the Yoruba18. Legba of the Fon19. Ananse the Spider, of the AshantiPart II. Stories of Kingdoms and PeoplesAncient Africa20. Egyptian Stories21. EthiopiaPeoples of the Upper Nile and East Africa22. The Oromo of Southern Ethiopia23. The Shilluk of Southern Sudan24. The Luo of Sudan and Uganda25. The Gikuyu of Kenya26. The Swahili of the CoastKingdoms of the Great Lakes27. The Kingdom of Bunyoro28. The Kingdom of Buganda29. The Kingdom of Rwanda30. The Kingdom of BurundiCentral East Africa31. Nsong'a Lianja, Hero of the Mongo32. The Kuba Kingdom of the Bushoong: Mboom and Woot33. The First Kings of the Luba34. The Kingdoms of the Lunda35. The Bemba of ZambiaThe Peoples of Southern Africa36. The Shona of Zimbabwe37. The Nguni Peoples of Southern Africa: Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi38. The Khoi-Khoi: Stories of Heitsi-EibibThe Central Atlantic39. The Yaka of the Kwango River40. The Kingdom of Kongo41. The Fang of Gabon and Cameroon42. Jeki la Njambe of the Duala43. The Bamun Kingdom of CameroonFrom the Forest to the Niger44. The Igbo45. The Kingdom of the Nupe: Tsoede46. The Jukun Kingdom of the Kororofa47. The Bachana and Bata of the Upper BenueThe Peoples of the Coast48. The City of Benin49. The Yoruba of South-western Nigeria50. Borgu and the Legend of Kisra51. The Fon and the Kingdom of Dahomey52. The Akan-Ashanti and the Baule of the ForestThe Mossi Plateau53. The Founding of Gonja54. A Dagomba Hero55. The Mossi of Burkina Faso56. The Dogon of the Bandiagara EscarpmentLake Chad and the Central Sudan57. The Sara and Sow of Lake Chad58. The Kingdom of Bagirmi59. The Kingdoms of Kanem and Bornu60. The HausaThe Kingdoms of the Western Sudan61. The Songhay Peoples of the Middle Niger62. The City of Djenne63. The Soninke64. The Maninka and the Empire of Mali65. The Bamana of the Middle NigerThe Peoples of Senegambia66. The Mandinka of Senegambia67. The Sereer of Senegal68. Njaajaan Njaay and the Wolof69. The Futa Tooro70. Malick Sy and Bondu71. The Tuareg of the SaharaSources and Further ReadingIndex

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Book SynopsisThe definitive Norman Mailer collection, as he writes on Marilyn Monroe, culture, ideology, boxing, Hemingway, politics, sex, celebrity and - of course - Norman MailerFrom his early ''A Credo for the Living'', published in 1948, when the author was twenty-five, to his final writings in the year before his death, Mailer wrestled with the big themes of his times. He was one of the most astute cultural commentators of the postwar era, a swashbuckling intellectual provocateur who never pulled a punch and was rarely anything less than interesting. Mind of an Outlaw spans the full arc of Mailer''s evolution as a writer, including such essential pieces as his acclaimed 1957 meditation on hipsters, ''The White Negro''; multiple selections from his wonderful Advertisements for Myself; and a never-before-published essay on Freud. The book is introduced by Jonathan Lethem.

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Book SynopsisCharts the connections that the author has made between sexuality, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics. This book considers the author's ideas alongside Freud's and helps gain a clearer understanding of human identity and how we relate to one another.Trade Review"In this fascinating and disturbing book, two writers with prose styles and intellectual styles that are at once famously identifiable and intimately personal celebrate the possibility of relationships that defy identity and undo personality." - Stephen Greenblatt "This is a beautifully crafted book, one that underscores how the social life of the psyche is a matter of risk, wager, suspense, excitation, bodies, talk, and all manner of things both dangerous and sustaining." - Judith Butler"

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the ways authors have traditionally responded to censorship, this is a collection of essays which attempt to understand the motives for censorship. It argues that a society bound by censorship engenders a destructive dynamic of belligerence and escalating rivalry.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'Radiates a familiar humorous charm and robust sensuality' -- Irish TimesThis volume should fit nicely inside a Christmas stocking, perhaps belonging to a young writer -- The IndependentI'm Not Here... proves the Colombian to be as poetic and polemical in speaking as he was in writing -- ArtReviewOne of this century's most evocative writers -- Anne TylerMarquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no-one else can do -- Salman RushdieAn exquisite writer, wise, compassionate and extremely funny * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of Ancient Egyptian literature, revised to offer fresh translations of all the texts as well as some 25 new entries, including writings from the late literature of the Demotic period at the end of classical Egyptian history. It also includes an extensive bibliography.Trade Review"A reliable rendering of the Egyptian text that can be useful to students of Egyptology and provide the layman with delightful reading material."—Mordechai Gilula, Cultura"One may rarely recommend a volume which gives both an enlightening and a reliable insight into an ancient civilization. In this volume of translations, however, the reader can understand and empathize with much of the vitality of ancient Egypt, in mental and social life rather than the familiar icons of monumental architecture."—South African Archaeological Bulletin"The scope of the material presented is varied and representative, and the names of the triad of translators constitute a warrant of quality."—J. Gwyn Griffiths, Journal of Egyptian ArchaeologySelected as an "Outstanding" title in the 2003 Association of American University Presses (AAUP) University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries

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Book SynopsisThe first book to bring together the key writings and speeches of civil rights activist Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander – the first Black American economist.Trade Review“Nina Banks’ excavation and presentation of Sadie Alexander’s words offers this pioneer’s early vision into the complex and irreducible structures race, class, gender and power in American economic life.”—Marcellus Andrews, Bucknell University “Sadie Alexander embodies the Black feminist saying, 'the political is personal.' Her speeches brilliantly intertwine economics and law and will empower the next generation scholars-activists fighting for social justice.”—Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, President, Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race "The speeches and writings of Sadie Alexander capture the intellectual reflections of a brilliant political economist, lawyer and racial justice advocate. Some of her observations have been confirmed by modern analysis; some cry out for closer scrutiny; others turn out to be dire predictions of the existential threat of racial discriminations for the rule of law and the fate of our democracy. Ignore at our own peril."—Warren C. Whatley, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

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Book SynopsisSelections from the Pandemic Files published by The Yale Review, the preeminent journal of literature and ideasTrade Review“Here diverse contributors, from Zimbabwe to Rikers to Yale itself, discuss their fear for loved ones, their adjustment to new conditions, and their research into historical precedents (AIDS) or structural inequalities behind the pandemic.”—Alexander Wells, Exberliner“We are still making sense of the COVID-19 pandemic. A World Out of Reach gives us a path towards understanding by offering direction from diverse domains: personal vignettes, poetry, law, public health and history. This multicultural compendium is unflinching in depicting what we face while giving hope that the human spirit is resilient and determined.”—Jerome Groopman, M. D., Harvard Medical School, author of The Measure of Our Days “A World Out of Reach is a necessary and illuminating archive. . . . Invaluable and absorbing.”—Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings: An Asian-American Reckoning"'Who are we—who were we—in the pandemic?' Meghan O'Rourke asks in the introduction to this remarkable new anthology. A World Out of Reach is an astonishing look at the early months of COVID-19.”—Jess Row, author of White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination “This book will be valuable for decades to come for anyone who wants to study, analyze, or simply contemplate what happened to America and the world in 2020.”—Ruth Franklin, author of Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life “This absorbing and impressive gathering—broad in cultural and geographic range—beautifully integrates the immediate with long-range views. This is a special collection.”—Langdon Hammer, Yale University

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Book SynopsisWalking through the wilderness of this world I came upon a place where there was a hollow. There I lay down to sleep: and as I slept I dreamed a dream.PILGRIM''S PROGRESS tells the story of Christian and his spiritual pilgrimage from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. On his journey he experiences joy, struggle, temptation and danger during his memorable encounters with such characters as Pliable, Talkative, Giant Despair, Worldly-Wiseman, Evangelist, Apollyon, Faithful, Hopeful and Ignorance. One of the most significant works in the English language, it has encouraged and inspired generations of Christians in their own spiritual journeys.This new edition brings Bunyan''s seventeenth-century English up to date and includes all of his Bible references, an introduction and a new foreword.

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Book SynopsisIn Secret History Procopius (late fifth century to after AD 558) attacks the sixth-century emperor Justinian and empress Theodora and alleges their ruinous effect on the Roman empire. Procopius’ pen is particularly sharp in portraying Theodora’s lewdness, duplicity, cruelty, spite, vanity and pride.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of THE COLOR PURPLE, a unique collection of essays about her life and her activism

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Book Synopsis''There never was anybody who had adventures as well as Miss Bird'' SPECTATOR''Venture deep into the Colorado wilderness, and you will find her long-lasting legacy in the community of people choosing to live a life without limits'' RUBY WAX, GUARDIAN ''This book is an unputdownable record of a truly astounding journey'' DERVLA MURPHY, IRISH TIMESBorn in 1831, Isabella, daughter of a clergyman, set off alone to the Antipodes in 1872 ''in search of health'' and found she had embarked on a life of adventurous travel. A year later she took a solo trip from San Francisco to the Rocky Mountains. ''I dreamt of bears so vividly I woke with a furry death-hug at the my throat, but feeling quite refreshed.'' The intrepid journeys of the indefatigable Miss Bird are relayed here in the delightful letters she wrote to her sister. They tell of ''truly grand'' isolated wilderness and abundant wildlife, of small remoteTrade ReviewVenture deep into the Colorado wilderness, and you will find her long-lasting legacy in the community of people choosing to live a life without limits . . . Isabella inspired a generation of Victorian women to dare to be bold, and her spirit lives on -- Ruby Wax * Guardian *There never was anybody who had adventures as well as Miss Bird * Spectator *This book is an unputdownable record of a truly astounding journey -- Dervla Murphy * Irish Times *The adventure inspired her travel book, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, which became my bible as we revered this incredible woman in the Colorado wilderness -- Ruby Wax * Guardian *A forty-something British woman rode for 800 miles through the Rockies, consorting with pioneers, consumptives and desperadoes as she went. The result was A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, an instant bestseller at the time, and a classic of travel literature to this day * Independent *There never was anybody who had adventures as well as Miss Bird * SPECTATOR *This book is an unputdownable record of a truly astounding journey * Dervla Murphy, Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisFrom its origin as the Roman city of Londinium through to its latest incarnation as a super-diverse World City in the twenty-first century, London's history and culture has been shaped by migration. This book expresses and celebrates the plurality of the capital's cultures and affirms the importance of migration in the making of the modern city through thirty-three short essays written by academics, artists, broadcasters and curators. Subjects range from the mediaeval to the contemporary: buildings and institutions, individuals and communities, objects, visual art, street performances and literary texts. Some contributors focus on famous people and places, like Shakespeare and St Paul's, while others explore less well-known subjects, like the Free German League of Culture (1939-46) or Ignatius Sancho, the eighteenth-century musician, grocer and man-of-letters.It is not only London's cultures which are diverse, migration is also plural. This book engages with the very many huTrade ReviewThis pathbreaking and extensive volume brings together a wide range of authors from academia and beyond to investigate the role and lives of migrants throughout the history and geographical extent of London. * Panikos Panayi, Professor of European History, De Montfort University, UK *Table of ContentsFrontmatter Author Biographies Introduction, Charlotte Grant and Alistair Robinson CENTRAL 1. St. Erkenwald and the Hidden Histories of St Paul’s Cathedral, Alastair Bennett 2. Ignatius Sancho: Musician, Man of Letters, Grocer, Markman Ellis 3. The ‘Black-birds’ of St. Giles: Community and Place in Eighteenth-century London, Nicole N. Aljoe and Savita Maharaj 4. Styling the Other: Hazlitt’s ‘The Indian Jugglers’, Uttara Natarajan 5. Begging Places: Poverty, Race, and Visibility on Ludgate Hill, c. 1815, David Hitchcock 6. 13 Red-Lion Square: The Mendicity Society, 1818–76, Oskar Cox Jensen 7. The Chinese Aesthetics of the Admonitions Scroll at the British Museum, Kent Su 8. ‘A terrain on its own’: Elizabeth Bowen and Regent’s Park, Heather Ingman INFRASTRUCTURE: WATER 9. London’s Water: City Comedy, Migration and Middletons, Susan J. Wiseman EAST 10. Shakespeare in Shoreditch, Daniel Swift 11. Hostile Environments: Disinterring a Lascar Barracks in Nineteenth-Century Shadwell, Eliza Cubitt 12. 19 Princelet Street, Spitalfields: A Case Study in the Architecture of Migration and Diversity, Dan Cruikshank 13. The Slot-Meter and the East End Avant-Garde, Alex Grafen INFRASTRUCTURE: WASTE 14. Blockage and Recuperation: Sewer-Hunters in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor, Naomi Hinds SOUTH 15. Culture and Horticulture in Lambeth from ‘Tradescant’s Ark’ to Vauxhall Gardens, Charlotte Grant 16. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, Sydenham, and St Petersburg, Catherine Brown 17. 87 Hackford Road: The London of Vincent Van Gogh, Livia Wang 18. Writing London: Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia, Ruvani Ranasinha INFRASTRUCTURE: TRANSPORT I 19. Existing Triply: Race, Space and the London Transport Network, 1950s–70s, Rob Waters WEST 20. Scotch Hornpipes and African Elephants: The May Fair in 1700, Alistair Robinson 21. Feathered People in Enlightenment London: Queen of the Bluestockings meets Cherokee King, Elizabeth Eger 22. Prince Eugen in Kensington: Anglo-Scandinavian Artistic, Networks and the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897, Eva-Charlotta Mebius 23. ‘What a relief to be back in London’: The Silences of Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, Edmund de Waal 24. Tricksters of the Water: Sam Selvon's West London and the Migrant Experience, Peter Maber and Karishma Patel 25. Arabian Nights on the Edgware Road: Hanan al-Shaykh’s Only in London, Susie Thomas 26. The Grand Prince of Kyiv in Holland Park: The Statue of Saint Volodymyr, Sasha Dovzhyk 27. ‘Is real mas outside’: Community, Resistance and Notting Hill Carnival, Leighan Renaud 28. ‘Where the City Dissolves’: Suburban Diasporas, Psychosis and Reparative Writing, Martin Dines INFRASTRUCTURE: TRANSPORT II 29. A Bus for Everyone: The Role of the London Omnibus in Enabling Access to the City, Joe Kerr NORTH 30. John Keats and London: Nature, the City and the Suburbs, Flora Lisica 31. The Battle for an African Space in London: WASU Hostel and Aggrey House, William Whitworth 32. Northview: A Snapshot of Multiracial London during the Second World War, Oliver Ayers 33. Exiles of NW3: The ‘Free German League of Culture’ in Upper Park Road, David Anderson Select Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis''Required reading.'' - CosmopolitanRemember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves reflected on the pages of a book.In this timely anthology, Glory Edim, founder of the online community, Well-Read Black Girl, brings together original essays by some of America''s best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature. Whether it''s learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative black future, each essay reminds us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. Here, Edim has created a Trade ReviewYes, Well-Read Black Girl is as good as it sounds. . . . [Glory Edim] gathers an all-star cast of contributors-among them Lynn Nottage, Jesmyn Ward, and Gabourey Sidibe. * O: The Oprah Magazine *These essays build the altars for black women to recognize and support each other's work, not as collectibles rendered visible or easily consumed by non-black audiences, but as an acknowledgment of black women as architects of their own futures and universes. . . . Each essay can be read as a dispatch from the vast and wonderfully complex location that is black girlhood and womanhood. . . . They present literary encounters that may at times seem private and ordinary-hours spent in the children's section of a public library or in a college classroom-but are no less monumental in their impact, * The Washington Post *Glory Edim has curated a brilliant collection of essential American reading for the twenty-first-century reader. This book is smart, powerful, and complete. * Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires *Edim's collection of brief, pithy, and original essays by twenty-one distinguished black women addresses the question, 'When did you first see yourself in literature?' . . . Speaking directly to black women readers, this book contains a journey from which anyone can derive enjoyment and benefit. * Publishers Weekly *Required reading. * Cosmopolitan *Edim expands her breakout Brooklyn book club with this vibrant anthology celebrating black women in literature. The beyond impressive list of contributors includes Jesmyn Ward, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Gabourey Sidibe. * Entertainment Weekly *This book is a star chart, a map readers can use to navigate the world via the minds of brilliant black women writers. The essays extol us all to regard-and to celebrate-the written word anew. * Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House *As far as I'm concerned, this should be read as a sacred text. Here, you will bear witness to a perpetual salvation song. * Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down and All American Boys *Edim, creator of the Brooklyn-based Well-Read Black Girl book club, invites readers to discover uplifting stories by black women writers in this thoughtfully edited anthology. . . . This work affirms the transformative power of reading. * Library Journal *

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Book SynopsisThis anthology presents important early essays that laid the foundation for queer studies of the Bloomsbury Group together with new essays that build upon this foundation to provide ground-breaking work on Bloomsbury figures and cultural achievements. As a whole, Queer Bloomsbury stands alone as a wide-ranging and critical resource that traces the cultural, ideological, and aesthetic facets of Bloomsbury''s development as a queer intellectual and aesthetic subculture.

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Book SynopsisA vibrant, surprising and thought-provoking collection of essays from an exciting new literary voice who has been compared to John Jeremiah Sullivan, David Foster Wallace and Janet MalcolmTrade ReviewAgain and again, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS proves that Brian Phillips is a cultural codebreaker of the highest order, unlocking the hidden systems of our mad world. Hilarious, nimble and thoroughly illuminatingA rich mix of derring-do, insightful analysis and creative non-fiction . . . funny, sharp, obsessive and very readable * i NEWSPAPER *Brian Phillips's essays are out of this world: big-hearted, exhaustive, unrelentingly curious, and goddamned fun * THE MILLIONS *An absolute blast . . . I couldn't get enough of this book: Phillips is the perfect adventure guide ? down for anything, talented enough to translate the experience * BUZZFEED *Phillips is a long-form journalist of the old school, a deep research artist, and a killer stylist. His digressive and frequently hilarious explorations . . . recall the work of John Jeremiah Sullivan and the late David Foster Wallace, with a dash of Janet Malcolm. IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is an absorbing and totally distinctive exploration of wildly disparate corners of our world * VOGUE *Brian Phillips has a way of making you care about the things he cares about in the way he cares about them, which is passionately, almost obsessively . . . invigorating and muscular . . . the book is a must-get * ELLE *Big, powerful, beautiful essaysPhillips takes readers down unexpected paths that are as world-expanding as they are entertaining * TIME MAGAZINE *These far-flung tales all share the same inspirational spark: Brian Phillips's soulful, intrepid spirit, and his masterful ability at turning everyday curiosities into epic quests that you can't stop readingGet lost in this captivating essay collection, which brings to life both the extraordinary and the mundane * VULTURE *Takes you deep into worlds both far-flung and familiar - tiger trails, tiny towns of the Yukon, Route 66, a Walmart parking lot. Brian Phillips riffs and reports with abiding curiosity and incisive humour. A fantastic, transporting readWitty, pensive, sometimes whimsical, always truthful, IMPOSSIBLE OWLS is testament to Phillips's gift for enchantment, and his genius for knowing exactly where our alienation from the world meets our sympathy for itI love that this is a book of highways and historical touchstones and large geographic shifts. But I also love that at the heart of those bigger things, there is the gentle touch of Brian Phillips underneath it all, creating a landscape for a reader to see not his work, but to better see themselves[Phillips] has now established himself as a master of long form reporting that is indistinguishable from the literary essay, through which he bares witness to our contemporary moment * LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS *

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Book SynopsisVeteran scholar and critic Henry Sussman deploys anecdote, reportage, and memoir to lament and scrutinize the rise of anti-intellectualism in the past few decades. How are we to reckon with the decline of impartiality and sharp increase in self-interested interference in politic, legal, and cultural spheres; the normalization of pathological narcissism in public life; and the blanket dismissal of scientific findings and their counterparts in the humanities and social sciences?In retracing his own intellectual and experiential steps, Sussman revisits many of his lasting inspirations, including Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Immanuel Kant, and J. Hillis Miller. The result is an intellectual meditation on the great dismissal,' in public and political life, of venerable and vital humanistic traditions, ethics, and ways of thinking.Trade ReviewThis book establishes a new critical standard for memoir. The Great Dismissal demolishes efforts to expunge controversial books from our society simply because they induce people to think. Through an improvised mash-up of original poetry, trenchant cultural analysis, and touching memoir, Sussman's amazing book is an electroshock to the deadened brain of America. This kaleidoscopic survey of life during the Trump-COVID years from one of Derrida's most celebrated students is an extremely important and highly original work of social and political criticism. A must read for anyone who wants to make thinking great again! * Jeffrey R. Di Leo, Professor of English and Philosophy, University of Houston, Victoria, USA, and Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange *In The Great Dismissal, Henry Sussman crafts an extraordinary voice meticulously registering the existential vagaries of life in New York City during the twin plagues of COVID and Trump. This intimately personal, nonlinear chronicle foregrounds contemporary journalism that challenges the mendacity, hypocrisy, and subterfuge of American political culture. The Great Dismissal is a sustained meditation on intellectual redemptions that refuse to be dismissed by the Pharisees of disinformation. * Bruce Clarke, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Literature and Science, Texas Tech University, USA *No one today writes – or thinks – quite like Henry Sussman. A rhizomatic memoir of the Trump era, The Great Dismissal reads as a critique of the present penned simultaneously from the future and past. Pulling from Piketty and Poe and conversations in the street with equal attentiveness, Sussman offers a vibrant, searing, subjective answer to the still critical questions: What is to be done, and Who is to blame? The passion of the prose itself models an alternative – an irrational but inexhaustible, perennial hope – to the post-apocalyptic global present he so skillfully scalpels apart. * Marijeta Bozovic, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, USA *Table of Contents1. November 18, 2020. Postal. 2. October 6, 2020. Apocalypse red, apocalypse blue. 3. December 12, 2020. Confederacy of zombies. 4. October 18, 2019. Protests, curtailment of bus service, Queens. 5. June 7, 2020. Atlas of vanished places. 6. February 10, 2021. Requiem to disinterest. 7. January 27, 2020. New feudal lords. 8. Thanksgiving, 2021. Partisans of writing: Mayer with Derrida 9. April 1, 2018. Welcome to the Great Dismissal! 10. August 15, 2020. Co-lateral dommages. 11. December, 31, 2020. What on earth to do with the bodies? 12. August 30, 2018. Midterm enigmas for progressives. 13. December 15, 2021. Partisans of writing. Tobin Smith. 14. January 19, 2021. Politics of entertainment 15. May 24, 2020. Sikhs and other cabbies. 16. November 15, 2020. Electronic ticks and leaden bubbles. 17. June 13, 2019. Three deer in a development near Harrisburg, PA. 18. Labor Day, 2021. Partisans of writing. Shoshanah Zuboff. 19. March 15, 2022. Partisans of writing. Adam Serwer. 20. February 14, 2022. University of the street. 21. May 15, 2022. This Thing that dwells within us. 22. June 27, 2022. Dismissal day: The strange loop of identity politics. 23. January 23, 2023. I was there.

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Book SynopsisWhat makes a home, and when do we really feel at home? Is it a physical place, or something we all carry inside us wherever we go?Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by writer and academic Professor Michèle Mendelssohn.In No Place Like Home: An anthology about the places we come back to, writers from around the world celebrate the comfort of home, capturing its emotional power and sharing nostalgia for what we leave behind. There are extracts from the likes of Louisa May Alcott, Kenneth Graham and Charlotte Brontë as well as lesser known but no less insightful poets and writers to discover.

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Book SynopsisA sparkling anthology celebrating sport in all its variety; from elite rugby and football to rural games on the village green, from an exclusive golf club to the sheer pleasure of a bicycle ride.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by sports historian, Professor Martin Polley.A treat for sports fans, dip into this wide-ranging, entertaining collection of classic writing drawn from journalism, diaries, drama, fiction and more. On Your Marks spans from Elizabethan Shakespeare to twentieth-century George Orwell and features Daniel Defoe on horse racing, Jane Austen on baseball, Lewis Carroll on croquet and many more.

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Book SynopsisFrom 'Best of the Booker' winner Salman Rushdie, an incisive and inspiring collection of non-fiction essays, criticism and speeches that takes readers on a thrilling journey through the evolution of language and culture.'One of the greatest writers of our age' Neil GaimanAcross a wide variety of subjects, Rushdie delves into the nature of storytelling as a deeply human need and what emerges is a love letter to literature itself. Throughout, he shares his personal encounters, on the page and in person, with storytellers from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison and revels in the creative lines that can join art and life. Rushdie considers, too, the nature of truth and looks afresh at migration, multiculturalism and censorship.'Essential reading... Powerful' Financial Times'Rushdie is vital, expansive, the critic as storyteller, championing his subjects with gusto' TLSTrade ReviewSalman Rushdie is one of the greatest writers of our age; he is a giant of literature. -- Neil GaimanRushdie is vital, expansive, the critic as storyteller, championing his subjects with gusto... Rushdie is a still a writer to be reckoned with. -- Claire Lowdon * Times Literary Supplement *Powerful... Languages of Truth feels like essential reading in this time, reminding us that the stories we have told each other over millennia are universal, even if this shared heritage is often lost or forgotten in today's angry, fractured world. -- Nilanjana Roy * Financial Times *Probably the best nonfiction he [Rushdie] has written in years... Rushdie is happy to record just what he sees and feels. You sense that he has arrived somewhere new...a sign of good things to come. -- Abhrajyoti Chakraborty * Guardian *Rushdie's writing is erudite and full of sympathy, brimming with insight and wit . . . Fans will be delighted . . . [A] mesmerizing collection. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *

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Book Synopsis'A dazzling and joyous celebration' i-D'A wonderful book - so timely and much needed. I loved the collection and I hope everyone will read it' Elif ShafakIn this bold, first-of-its kind collection, East Side Voices invites us to explore a dazzling spectrum of experience from the East and Southeast Asian diaspora living in Britain today.Showcasing original essays and poetry from well-known celebrities, prize-winning literary stars and exciting new writers, East Side Voices takes us many places: from the frontlines of the NHS in the midst of the Covid pandemic, to the set of a Harry Potter film, from a bustling London restaurant to a spirit festival in Myanmar. In the process we navigate the legacies of family history, racial identity, assimilation and difference.Edited by Helena Lee, founder of the East Side Voices cultural salon and Acting Deputy Editor of Harper's Bazaar. Featuring writing from: Romalyn Ante, Tash Aw, June Bellebono, Gemma Chan, Mary Jean Chan, Catherine Cho, Tuyen Do, Will Harris, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Claire Kohda, Katie Leung, Amy Poon, Naomi Shimada, Anna Sulan Masing, Sharlene Teo, Zing Tsjeng and Andrew Wong.'Dazzling... The strength of this slim collection is in its nuance' Bidisha, Observer'Invaluable and delightful' EsquireTrade ReviewDazzling... The strength of this slim collection is in its nuance... East Side Voices is a thoughtful, painful reminder of the grand narratives that get buried under belittling stereotypes, of how progress can also regress and how self-actualisation, self-discovery and personal excellence still grate against the perceptions of strangers. -- Bidisha * Observer *In East Side Voices, the first anthology of its kind, writers of East and Southeast Asian descent and diaspora in the UK reflect on identity, community and family. Coming after an especially traumatic few years for ESEA communities, East Side Voices is a dazzling and joyous celebration. -- Katie Goh * i-D *A wonderful book - so timely and much needed. I loved the collection and I hope everyone will read it. -- Elif Shafak (November 2021)This collection is illuminating, funny, sad, and reveals aspects of Britain that for too long have not been addressed. This is the first but hopefully not the last assemblage of Asian and Southeast Asian writers discussing their experiences of life in Britain. It is an important book and a cracking read. * Herald *Varied and thought-provoking... Invaluable and delightful * Esquire *A strong, compelling, and quietly beautiful collection of stories that have gone untold for too long, from voices that have too often been sidelined from the artistic mainstream. -- Jonathan Liew (November 2021)(An) illuminating essay collection...Contributions to the collection are wide-ranging in form and scope but always affecting. * New Statesman *A terrific read. It's going to be very important in all the debates around the ever-changing political and cultural life in this country. -- Lubaina Himid (November 2021)Never has a book roused such a swelling of pride in my chest to be a part of the Asian diaspora living in Britain today... Scintillating * Refinery29 *Excellent... An important addition to the growing literature of contemporary identity and cultural politics. -- Matthew d’Ancona * Tortoise *This important book, which is full of wit and insight, sheds light on aspects of racism that are often overlooked and it offers welcome exposure for a collection of voices that are too often sidelined from the cultural mainstream. -- Martin Chilton * Independent *East Side Voices expands the reader's understanding of today's Britain and its makeup. Often moving, the writers share generously with the readers their hopes and fears. It is worth listening. * The Scotsman *This first-of-its-kind anthology edited by founder of the East Side Voices cultural salon and acting deputy editor of Harper's Bazaar, Helena Lee, explores and celebrates East and Southeast Asian identity in Britain. With contributions from actors, novelists and poets, among others, this riveting and important book covers themes of family history, racial identity, assimilation and difference. * Red *Illuminating... For all readers - not just ESEA people - this book is a fantastic insight into the experiences of what it means to be ESEA in a country that has by and large overlooked us. May East Side Voices be the first of many works dedicated to our peoples, our cultures, our struggles, and our triumphs. * besea.n (Britain's East and South East Asian Network) *At times humorous and gripping, heart-breaking and urgent, this is a collection that feels both timely and much-needed - one that made me feel seen, and that gave me hope for what is to come -- Cecile Pin * Bad Form *Powerful * TLS *

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Book SynopsisYves Bonnefoy (1923-2016), a major poet, was equally a seminal essayist and thinker. This companion volume to Yves Bonnefoy: Poems contains what he regarded as his foundational essays, as well as a generous selection from all periods. In his art criticism, as in his literary essays, Bonnefoy manages that rare thing: to impart metaphysical urgency to each discreet encounter with a painting or a poem, born of his constant quest for intensity, for 'presence'. Whether he is examining an early Byzantine fresco, a Shakespeare play, a Bernini angel, a drawing by Blake, a poem by Rimbaud, the exigency, the high seriousness and the challenge is the same: to affirm presence, and finitude, against all forms of life-sapping conceptual thought. If they cannot always deliver ecstasy or hope, the great poets, argues Bonnefoy, are pledged to 'intensity as such', sustained by 'une mélancolie ardente'.Trade Review'His writings... are an important lighthouse on the contemporary cultural coastline.' - Emily Grosholz

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Book SynopsisIn January 2014 Henning Mankell was informed that he had cancer. However, Quicksand is not a book about death, but about what it means to be human. Mankell writes about love and jealousy, courage and fear, about what it is like to live with a fatal illness. This book is also about why the cave painters 40,000 years ago chose the very darkest places for their fascinating pictures. And about the dreadful troll that we are trying to lock away inside the bedrock of a Swedish mountain for the next 100,000 years. It is a book about how humanity has lived and continues to live, and about how Henning lived his own life. And, not least, about the great zest for life, which came back when he managed to drag himself out of the quicksand that threatened to suck him down into the abyss.Trade ReviewAn extraordinarily moving book… The chief strength of this book – and what makes it such a beautiful, moving document – is in the descriptions that Mankell gives of the joy and suffering he has seen, especially in Africa… Throughout Quicksand, there are scenes [of] joy and triumph in the midst of suffering and loss. This grave book, intensely beautiful in spirit, takes us to these places in the thoughtful company of a great soul -- Alexander McCall Smith * New Statesman *An honourable, courageous piece of work… A work of considerable scope… A remarkable man -- Sean O’Brien * i *An extraordinary book, mixing the intimate detail of memoir (the incidents from his childhood and early life are told beautifully, and with wonderful economy) with the moral beliefs of a man whose concern with social justice has dictated the pattern of his mature years. At times Mankell can sound like a latter-day Seneca, and he brings the same gravitas and moral authority to bear on his arguments… A deeply serious, and highly uplifting book…profoundly moving. -- John Burnside * Guardian *Potent and evocative -- Nick Rennison * The Sunday Times *Quicksand, a hybrid of essay and memoir, reflects knowledgeably on art, religion, childhood and the “final insensibility” that is our dying. Rarely has a writer contemplated the mystery of the end of life with such a wide-ranging curiosity -- Ian Thomson * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating collection of essays on literary subjects ranging from Daniel Defoe to Samuel Beckett by a Nobel and Booker Prize-winning writerLate Essays gathers together J.M. Coetzee’s literary essays from 2006 to 2017. The subjects covered in this stunning collection range from Daniel Defoe in the early eighteenth century to Coetzee’s contemporary Philip Roth. Coetzee has had a long-standing interest in German literature and here he engages with the work of Goethe, Hölderlin, Kleist and Walser. There are four fascinating essays on fellow Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett and he looks at the work of three Australian writers: Patrick White, Les Murray and Gerald Murnane. There are essays too on Tolstoy’s great novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, on Flaubert’s masterpiece Madame Bovary, and on the Argentine modernist Antonio Di Benedetto.Trade ReviewA writer of JM Coetzee’s stature needs no preamble… This book emerges as an engaging series of master classes in novel writing, from which we might distil a selection of dos and don’ts -- Lauren Elkin * Guardian *J.M. Coetzee's essays are filtered through boundless reserves of knowledge, wisdom and reading...A spare, dry sense of humour...Not a single page goes by in this collection when you don't learn something * Spectator *Coetzee remains a highly original thinker, able to take a much-dissected novel such as Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and offer an appreciation that stretches the boundaries of the reading experience. The most intriguing essay is one on Philip Roth, a rare occasion where Coetzee tackles one of his contemporaries -- Tobias Grey * Financial Times *His essays are models of clarity, judicious reasoning, and respectful attention… a kind of sage who brings composure to bear on the earthquake zones of mind and heart. He is a master of prose’s lucidities, all the while cognisant of the hidden presence of poetry… Late Essays gives you the feeling that Coetzee has come to look into the eyes of writers, the better to read them with the justice they deserve * The Monthly *His interest is in delving into the writer’s mind, the circumstances surrounding the work and the thinking processes that led to writerly choices in terms of form, style, and themes...Above all, he brings the perspective of one who has much to teach us about slow reading. * Australian Book Review *

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Book SynopsisThis ravishing book opens a window onto the lives, designs, and passions of two charismatic artists. Born a generation apart, they were seeming opposites: Mariano Fortuny, a Spanish aristocrat thrilled by the sun-baked cultures of Crete and Knossos; William Morris, a British craftsman, in thrall to the myths of the North. Yet through their revolutionary inventions and textiles, both men inspired a new variety of art, as vibrant today as when it was first conceived. Acclaimed writer A.S. Byatt traces their genius right to the source.The Palazzo Pesaro Orfei in Venice is a warren of dark spaces leading to a workshop where Fortuny created his designs for pleated silks and shining velvets. Here he worked alongside the French model who became his wife and collaborator, including on the ‘Delphos’ dress – a flowing gown evoking classical Greece.Morris’s Red House, outside London, with its Gothic turrets and secret gardens, helped inspire his stunning floral and geometric patterns; it also represented a coming together of life and art. But it was Kelmscott Manor in the English countryside that he loved best – even when it became the setting for his wife’s love affair with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Generously illustrated with the artists’ beautiful designs – pomegranates and acanthus, peacock and vine – A.S. Byatt brings the visions and ideas of Fortuny and Morris dazzlingly to life.Trade ReviewByatt's latest offering is a slender but deliciously rich meditation on two artists who blurred the boundary between art and craft -- Erica Wagner * Harper's Bazaar *A shimmering book… All admirers of AS Byatt's writing are aware of her profound intellectual awareness of the visual coexisting with an almost childlike delight in the colours and tactilities of everyday life... This is a small book but, in its enchanting way, it brings together so many of the themes of Byatt's larger and more obviously ambitious work. [...] Through concentrating on the interlocking worlds of Morris and Fortuny she makes a great defence of the values of art. -- Fiona MacCarthy * Guardian *Charming... A. S. Byatt outlines the lives and passions - both intellectual and romantic - of two multitalented artist-designers who have captured her imagination * ELLE Décor *Compact, beautifully illustrated... Byatt teases out connections between [these two artists], using Fortuny to reimagine Morris and vice versa... [Her] short but luminous book is a celebration of the arts they practised -- Nick Rennison * The Sunday Times *Filled with lovely images .... Byatt shows in her latest book, with her characteristic literary panache, these two titans of decoration and design had much in common, and the study of one brings into better relief the work of the other -- Violet Henderson * Vogue *A fascinating read. A.S. Byatt has limned mini-biographies of both artists, drawing illuminating comparisons and contrasts between them ... Not only a pleasure to peruse, it will send its readers to libraries and museums to find out more about these two talented and immensely energetic men ... This is a book to enjoy, to think about, and to present to others as a gift -- Claire Hopley * The Washington Times *Peacock and Vine is a very personal exploration of visual pleasure. The book is, accordingly, small and precious, its pages waxy and illustrations lush -- Frances Wilson * The Daily Telegraph *A thoughtful exercise in parallel biography... by putting Morris and Fortuny side by side, Byatt celebrates their differences as much as their surprising affinities -- Tanya Harrod * Literary Review *Beautifully produced little book…heavy with sensory perceptions. She mixes biographical details with accounts of their houses and luscious descriptions of the beautiful things that they made. -- Michael Prodger * The Times *Her fictions swarm with physical objects of intense emotional potency and with characters whose lives they touch in strange and unexpected ways… In this brilliant and tenderly observant little book, with its elegant Gill typeface and handsome colour illustrations, she [Byatt] celebrates the fruits of making and looking. -- Jane Shilling * New Statesman *[A] faceted gem of a book… An ingenious comparison. -- Barbara Kisser * Nature *A lavishly illustrated blend of travelogue and art history. * Lady *Persuasively argued ... Abundant illustrations ... Byatt is an unabashed enthusiast of both her subjects, and her passion for their work enlivens every sentence of her text * Publishers Weekly *The book looks ravishing * Bookseller *[An] elegant new book. * The Economist *

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