Samuel Johnson is famously known for single-handedly creating the first recognized dictionary of the English language, just one of many his many renowned accomplishments. The biography of this remarkable writer, dramatist, poet, and moralist was penned by his friend, James Boswell, in 1791. An immediate success upon its publication, this work has come to be considered the greatest biography produced in the English language, and has earned Boswell...

"In 1917, after the entry of America into World War I, E. E. Cummings, a recent graduate of Harvard College, volunteered to serve on an ambulance corps in France. Arrived in Paris with a new friend, William Slater Brown, the two young men set about living it up in the big city before heading off to their assignment. Once in the field, they wrote irreverent letters about their experiences which attracted the attention of the censors and ultimately...

First published in 1896, this is the saga of a small town Methodist minister entangled in religious doubts and allured by sex and beauty.

Beyond the Pleasure Principle, published in 1920, by world-renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud, marks a major turning point in the author's theoretical approach. Prior to this work, Freud's examination of the forces that drive people focused primarily on the sexual drive, or Eros of man, the life instinct to reproduce that is innate in all humans. Freud had attributed most of human behavior to the seeking of sexual pleasure. In reasoned progression...

In his Discourses (1755), Rousseau argues that inequalities of rank, wealth, and power are the inevitable result of the civilizing process. If inequality is intolerable - and Rousseau shows with unparalledled eloquence how it robs us not only of our material but also of our psychological independence - then how can we recover the peaceful self-sufficiency of life in the state of nature? We cannot return to a simpler time, but measuring the costs of...

Celtic origins, heroes, and stories spring to life in T. W. Rolleston's classic work, Celtic Myths and Legends. Spanning thousands of years and across thousands of miles, these myths and legends offer a glimpse into worlds long gone that continue to influence modern culture. The book includes classical accounts of Celtic tribes in Europe that describe their lives, the ancient gods and world of nature that they worshiped during and after their migrations...

In "Meno," Socrates and Meno set out to find teachers of ethics. When they are unable to find any, the reader is left wondering if knowledge, goodness, and justness can be taught. "Parmenides" tells of the meeting between a young Socrates and two philosophers from the Eleatic school, Parmenides and Zeno. In his most challenging work of philosophy, Plato debates monism and plurality. In "Theaetetus," Socrates and Theaetetus explore the three definitions...