Robin Field
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“A Tramp Abroad” is a work of travel literature, including a mixture of autobiography and fictional events, by American author Mark Twain, published in 1880. The book details a journey by the author, with his friend Harris (a character created for the book, and based on his closest friend, Joseph Twichell), through central and southern Europe. While the stated goal of the journey is to walk most of the way, the men find themselves using other...
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"Originally conceived as a novel but then transformed into a play by Ayn Rand, Ideal is the story of beautiful but tormented actress Kay Gonda. Accused of murder, she is on the run, and she turns for help to six fans who have written letters to her, each telling her that she represents their ideal a respectable family man, a far-left activist, a cynical artist, an evangelist, a playboy, and a lost soul. Each reacts to her plight in his own way, their...
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One of the most famous non-fiction American books, Walden by Henry David Thoreau is the history of Thoreau's visit to Ralph Waldo Emerson's woodland retreat near Walden Pond. Thoreau, stirred by the philosophy of the transcendentalists, used the sojourn as an experiment in self reliance and minimalism… "so as to "live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not,
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First appearing as an anonymous serial in "Harper's Magazine" in 1895, "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" was Mark Twain's final novel and was published as a complete work under his name in 1896. The novel is a stark departure from Twain's usual comic and satirical writings, which is why Twain insisted it initially be published anonymously so that the public would take it seriously. The work is told from the perspective of a fictionalized version...
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First published in 1907, "The Shepherd of the Hills" is Harold Bell Wright's mostly fictional tale of people living in the foothills of the Ozarks. The story is principally concerned with the relationship of Grant Matthews, Sr., affectionately known in his community as "Old Matt", and "The Shepherd of the Hills", a wise old man who has chosen the peace of the backwoods over the hustle and bustle of the city. The Shepherd is a quiet and mysterious...
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Published in 1875, this generous collection of sixty-three sketches and short stories includes the classic "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," as well as other standouts like "To Raise Poultry," "How the Author Was Sold in Newark," and "My Bloody Massacre."
8) Stoner
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"Born the child of a poor farmer in Missouri, William Stoner is urged by his parents to study new agriculture techniques at the state university. Digging instead into the texts of Milton and Shakespeare, Stoner falls under the spell of the unexpected pleasures of English literature, and decides to make it his life. Stoner is the story of that life"--Publisher description (January 2007).
9) Augustus
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"In Augustus, the third of his great novels, John Williams took on an entirely new challenge, a historical novel set in classical Rome, exploring the life of the founder of the Roman Empire, whose greatness was matched by his brutality. To tell the story, Williams also turned to a genre, the epistolary novel, that was new to him, transforming and transcending it just as he did the western in Butcher's Crossing and the campus novel in Stoner. Augustus...
10) The Civil War
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An extraordinary first-hand account of the Julius Caesar's Civil War, this work relates the years of battles and brilliant strategies that led to the beginning of the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great were widely known as two of the greatest generals ever to have lived in Rome, and their four-year struggle for supremacy is one of the biggest political and military conflicts in recorded history. While these two men had united to gain...
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Christian Science is Mark Twain's razor-sharp attack on a popular movement which was sweeping the country at the turn of the 20th century. One of the tenets of Christian Science is the healing of physical illness through prayer. Having recently lost a daughter to meningitis, Twain responded angrily to the notion that pain and sickness were easily surmounted. His deep-seated iconoclasm also caused him to take aim at Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of...
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Thomas Paine, a seminal figure in American History, was an Englishman by birth who immigrated to America in 1774, where he quickly took up the cause of the independence of the American colonies from England. His famous work "Common Sense", published in 1776, helped to gain public support for the American Revolution and established him as a central figure among the founding fathers. Later, while living in France during the French Revolution, Paine...
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Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852) is a novel by American writer Herman Melville. Published the year after Moby-Dick-a critical and commercial failure-Pierre: or, The Ambiguities is a psychological novel in the tradition of Gothic fiction. Melville struggled to find a publisher who would pay him in advance for the book, and its appearance prompted widespread ridicule and condemnation in the press, with some critics claiming that Melville himself had...
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"Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings" by Joel Chandler Harris is a timeless collection of African American folktales that resonate with the charm and wisdom of the Deep South's oral tradition. Published in 1881, these tales are framed through the character of Uncle Remus, a wise and kindly old freedman who shares stories with children.
Harris's work captures the essence of plantation life and the rich oral history passed down through generations....
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The book that made Mark Twain famous and introduced the world to that obnoxious and ubiquitous character: the American tourist Based on a series of letters first published in American newspapers, The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain's hilarious and insightful account of an organized tour of Europe and the Holy Land undertaken in 1867. With his trademark blend of skepticism and sincerity, Twain casts New World eyes on the people and places of the...
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The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the nineteenth century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection....
17) Holy Smoke
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Pucci Lewis was used to ferrying fighter planes and undercover work. But it is the dark hours of WWII, and Hollywood's biggest stars, studio moguls, and Washington bureaucrats are working hand-in-glove to merge entertainment and propaganda. Pucci has been dispatched to the First Motion Picture Unit, where a make-or-break documentary on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) is underway.
Pucci is stepping in for a sister-WASP, now hospitalized...
20) The Eighth Veil
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In January 532, mobs ruled Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire. Against a backdrop lit by raging fires, John, Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, must find those who would use the Nika Riots to dethrone the emperor. But are the ringleaders still in the city-or even alive?
Porphyrius, the famous charioteer, may know more than he tells about the disappearance of two men under imperial guard. What of the brothers with a distant claim on the throne?...