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The Proper Study Of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays
by Isaiah Berlin‘He becomes everyman’s guide to everything exciting in the history of ideas’ New York Review of BooksIsaiah Berlin was one of the leading thinkers of the twentieth century, and one of the finest writers. The Proper Study Of Mankind selects some of his best essays in which his insights both illuminate the past and offer a key to the burning issues of today.The full (and enormous) range of his work is represented here, from the exposition of his most distinctive doctrine - pluralism - to studies of Machiavelli, Tolstoy, Churchill and Roosevelt. In these pages he encapsulates the principal movements that characterise the modern age: romanticism, historicism, Fascism, relativism, irrationalism and nationalism. His ideas are always tied to the people who conceived them, so that abstractions are brought alive. EDITED BY HENRY HARDY AND ROGER HAUSHEER AND WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY ANDREW MARR
The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (Penguin Modern Classics)
by A. J. Symons'What had happened to the lost manuscripts, what train of chances took Rolfe to his death in Venice? The Quest continued'One summer afternoon A.J.A. Symons is handed a peculiar, eccentric novel that he cannot forget and, captivated by this unknown masterpiece, determines to learn everything he can about its mysterious author. The object of his search is Frederick Rolfe, self-titled Baron Corvo - artist, rejected candidate for priesthood and author of serially autobiographical fictions - and its story is told in this 'experiment in biography': a beguiling portrait of an insoluble tangle of talents, frustrated ambitions and self-destruction.
The Serpent's Teeth
by OvidIn a world of gods and monsters, nothing is as it seems.When a deadly serpent's teeth are sown in the ground, warriors spring from the bloody soil. Only a great man can tame them and fulfil his destiny. Far away, Medusa, snakes writhing in her hair, meets her nemesis; the princess Andromeda is chained to a rock; people are transformed into owls, frogs, even mountains; a boy falls tragically in love with his own reflection.Enter a universe where love is cruel, men are destroyed by the gods and treachery is paid for in blood ...
Essays On Elizabethan Drama
by T. S. EliotTouching on everyone from Marlowe to Middleton, Essays on Elizabethan Drama is a rigorous collection of Eliot’s works on the great dramatists of the 16th century.
The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club
by Peter HookThe acclaimed and wildly outlandish inside account of England’s most notorious music club, The Hacienda, from Peter Hook, the New York Times bestselling author of Unknown Pleasures and co-founder of Joy Division and New Order—a story of music, gangsters, drugs, and violence, available for the first time in the United States.During the 1980s, The Hacienda would become one of the most famous venues in the history of clubbing—a celebrated cultural watershed alongside Studio 54, CBGBS, and The Whiskey—until its tragic demise.Founded by New Order and Factory Records, The Hacienda hosted gigs by such legendary acts as the Stone Roses, the Smiths, Bauhaus, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, and Happy Mondays; gave birth to the “Madchester” scene; became the cathedral for acid house; and laid the tracks for rave culture and today’s electronic dance music. But over the course of its fifteen-year run, “Madchester” descended into “Gunchester” as gangs, drugs, greed, and a hostile police force decimated the dream.Told in Hook’s uproarious and uncompromising voice, The Hacienda is a funny, horrifying, and outlandish story of success, idealism, naïveté, and greed—of an incredible time and place that would change the face and sound of modern music.The Hacienda includes 32 photographs in 16-page four-color insert.
Imperial Dreams: Tracking the Imperial Woodpecker Through the Wild Sierra Madre
by Tim GallagherA decade ago, Tim Gallagher was one of the rediscoverers of the legendary ivory-billed woodpecker, which most scientists believed had been extinct for more than half a century—now Gallagher once again hits the trail, journeying deep into Mexico&’s savagely beautiful Sierra Madre Occidental, home to rich wildlife, as well as to Mexican drug cartels, in a perilous quest to locate the most elusive bird in the world—the imperial woodpecker.The imperial woodpecker&’s trumpetlike calls and distinctive hammering on massive pines once echoed through the high forests. Two feet tall, with deep black plumage, a brilliant snow-white shield on its back, and a crimson crest, the imperial woodpecker had largely disappeared fifty years ago, though reports persist of the bird still flying through remote mountain stands. In an attempt to find and protect the imperial woodpecker in its last habitat, Gallagher is guided by a map of sightings of this natural treasure of the Sierra Madre, bestowed on him by a friend on his deathbed. Charged with continuing the quest of a line of distinguished naturalists, including the great Aldo Leopold, Gallagher treks through this mysterious, historically untamed and untamable territory. Here, where an ancient petroglyph of the imperial can still be found, Geronimo led Apaches in their last stand, William Randolph Hearst held a storied million-acre ranch, and Pancho Villa once roamed, today ruthless drug lords terrorize residents and steal and strip the land. Gallagher&’s passionate quest takes a harrowing turn as he encounters armed drug traffickers, burning houses, and fleeing villagers. His mission becomes a life-and-death drama that will keep armchair adventurers enthralled as he chases truth in the most dangerous of habitats.
The Lonely Londoners (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Sam SelvonBoth devastating and funny, The Lonely Londoners is an unforgettable account of immigrant experience - and one of the great twentieth-century London novelsAt Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived in the city for years, meets Henry 'Sir Galahad' Oliver and shows him the ropes. In this strange, cold and foggy city where the natives can be less than friendly at the sight of a black face, has Galahad met his Waterloo? But the irrepressible newcomer cannot be cast down. He and all the other lonely new Londoners - from shiftless Cap to Tolroy, whose family has descended on him from Jamaica - must try to create a new life for themselves. As pessimistic 'old veteran' Moses watches their attempts, they gradually learn to survive and come to love the heady excitements of London.This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Susheila Nasta.'His Lonely Londoners has acquired a classics status since it appeared in 1956 as the definitive novel about London's West Indians'Financial Times'The unforgettable picaresque ... a vernacular comedy of pathos'Guardian
Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury
by Drew Gilpin FaustAN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA memoir of coming of age in a conservative Southern family in postwar America.To grow up in the 1950s was to enter a world of polarized national alliances, nuclear threat, and destabilized social hierarchies. Two world wars and the depression that connected them had unleashed a torrent of expectations and dissatisfactions—not only in global affairs but in American society and Americans’ lives.A privileged white girl in conservative, segregated Virginia was expected to adopt a willful blindness to the inequities of race and the constraints of gender. For Drew Gilpin, the acceptance of both female subordination and racial hierarchy proved intolerable and galvanizing. Urged to become “well adjusted” and to fill the role of a poised young lady that her upbringing imposed, she found resistance was necessary for her survival. During the 1960s, through her love of learning and her active engagement in the civil rights, student, and antiwar movements, Drew forged a path of her own—one that would eventually lead her to become a historian of the very conflicts that were instrumental in shaping the world she grew up in.Culminating in the upheavals of 1968, Necessary Trouble captures a time of rapid change and fierce reaction in one young woman’s life, tracing the transformations and aftershocks that we continue to grapple with today.Includes black-and-white images
Russian Thinkers
by Isaiah BerlinFew, if any, English-language critics have written as perceptively as Isaiah Berlin about Russian thought and culture. Russian Thinkers is his unique meditation on the impact that Russia's outstanding writers and philosophers had on its culture. In addition to Tolstoy's philosophy of history, which he addresses in his most famous essay, 'The Hedgehog and the Fox,' Berlin considers the social and political circumstances that produced such men as Herzen, Bakunin, Turgenev, Belinsky, and others of the Russian intelligentsia, who made up, as Berlin describes, 'the largest single Russian contribution to social change in the world.'
Selected Poems (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Patrick KavanaghPublished in order of first publication as far as possible, this selection ranges from initial offerings such as 'Tinker's Wife' and 'Inniskeen Road: July Evening' to his tragic masterpiece 'The Great Hunger' (1942) and his celebratory later verse, 'To Hell with Common Sense' and 'Come Dance with Kitty Stobling', which show his increasing comic verve and detachment. The first comprehensive selection of Kavanagh's poetry to be published, this volume offers a timely reassessment of a poet unfairly neglected outside Ireland.
Selected Poetry: Poems
by Isabel Quigly Percy ShelleySHELLEY'S WORK HAS BEEN CRITICIZED FOR ITS DIDACTICISM AND UNDISCIPLINED EMOTIONALISM. BUT ESSENTIALLY HE WAS A POET OF IDEAS AND IN HIS SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND ORIGINAL HUMAN PERFECTION, SHELLEY WAS INSPIRED AS MUCH BY THE GREEK POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS, PARTICULARLY PLATO, AS BY THE RADICALISM OF HIS OWN AGE. ABOVE ALL, HIS GREAT GIFT WAS HIS LYRICISM AND HIS VERSE COMES AS NEAR TO MUSIC AS POETRY CAN.
What Are You Doing With Your Life?
by J. Krishnamurti'One of the greatest thinkers of the age' The Dalai Lama'One of the five saints of the 20th century' - TIME magazine 'Krishnamurti influenced me profoundly' - Deepak Chopra Who are you?What are you?What do you want from life? One of the world's great philosophical teachers, Krishnamurti, offers his inspiring wisdom on many of life's hurdles from relationships and love, to anxiety and loneliness. He answers such questions as 'What is the significance of life?' and 'How do I live life to the full?' to reveal the best way of being true to yourself. Read by millions from all walks of life, Krishnamurti shows us there is no path, no higher authority, no guru to follow, and that ultimately it is our own responsibility as to how we live our lives.
Persuasion (The Penguin English Library)
by Jane AustenWith an essay by Elizabeth Bowen'Her attachment and regrets had, for a long time, clouded every enjoyment of youth; and an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect'Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel, is a moving, masterly and elegiac love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. It tells the story of Anne Elliot, who, persuaded to break off her engagement to the man she loved because he was not successful enough, has never forgotten him. When he returns, he brings with him a tantalizing second chance of happiness ...The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.
Tokugawa Religion: The Cultural Roots of Modern Japan
by Robert BellahRobert N. Bellah's classic study, Tokugawa Religion does for Japan what Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism did for the West. One of the foremost authorities on Japanese history and culture, Bellah explains how religion in the Tokugawa period (160-1868) established the foundation for Japan's modern industrial economy and dispels two misconceptions about Japanese modernization: that it began with Admiral Perry's arrival in 1868, and that it rapidly developed because of the superb Japanese ability for imitation. In this revealing work, Bellah shows how the native doctrines of Buddhism, Confucianism and Shinto encouraged forms of logic and understanding necessary for economic development. Japan's current status as an economic superpower and industrial model for many in the West makes this groundbreaking volume even more important today than when it was first published in 1957. With a new introduction by the author.
We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run (We Were There Books)
by Jim KjelgaardTHOUSANDS of land-hungry people edged the Oklahoma border that April day in 1889, awaiting the signal that would send them across! What was in store for them? Wild riding! Possibly danger. Certainly adventure. And young Alec Simpson with his twin sisters, Cindy and Mindy, was to be a part of it. It had been a long, hard journey for Jed Simpson and his family up the Cherokee Trail from Missouri. But the promise prize of a homestead in the rich, fertile land of Oklahoma was worth it. Then came the long-awaited starting shot! And men on horseback, on foot, in buckboards and covered wagons careened across the border to stake their claims. Jed Simpson, riding alongside his partner, Pete Brent, leapt out in front. And just as fast, tomboy Cindy raced after them to give her father his forgotten gun. So it was three, rather than two, who staked claim to the homestead in all of Oklahoma. Their joy was short-lived, however, with the sudden disappearance of gentle Mindy and the arrival of a short, swarthy man with cat's eyes. It took all of Alec and Cindy's own special brand of magic to spirit Mindy back. The Simpsons had indeed earned the proud name of homesteaders. And for Alec, Cindy and Mindy it was a new life just begun in a golden land. WE WERE THERE BOOKS are easy to read and provide exciting, easy-going stories, based upon true historic events. Each story is checked for factual accuracy by an outstanding authority on this particular phase of our history. Though written for young readers, they make interesting reading for boys and girls well into their teens.
Wolf Brother
by Jim KjelgaardThis is the story of a young Apache in the 1880's, when Indian reservations were new. Returning to his "home" after six years in the white man's schools, Jonathan hoped to help his people adjust to new ways of life. Instead, he was forced by circumstance to flee the reservation and join Cross Face's band of outlaws, who would not be confined. Jonathan soon learned that the lost cause of constantly raiding, fighting, or eluding the white soldiers was no solution. How he was captured, escaped, and worked out his own destiny form the climax of an eventful, moving book told entirely from the Indian viewpoint. Although fiction, Wolf Brother is based on actual events in Apache history. It is one of Jim Kjelgaard's most unusual, gripping tales of outdoor adventure.
Writings from the Zen Masters (Penguin Great Ideas)
by VariousThese are unique stories of timeless wisdom and understanding from the Zen Masters. With rich and fascinating tales of swords, tigers, tea, flowers and dogs, the writings of the Masters challenge every perception - and seek to bring all readers closer to enlightenment.Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
The Years with Ross
by James ThurberFrom iconic American humorist James Thurber, a celebrated and poignant memoir about his years at The New Yorker with the magazine’s unforgettable founder and longtime editor, Harold Ross“Extremely entertaining. . . . life at The New Yorker emerges as a lovely sort of pageant of lunacy, of practical jokes, of feuds and foibles. It is an affectionate picture of scamps playing their games around a man who, for all his brusqueness, loved them, took care of them, pampered and scolded them like an irascible mother hen.” —New York TimesWith a foreword by Adam Gopnik and illustrations by James ThurberAt the helm of America’s most influential literary magazine from 1925 to 1951, Harold Ross introduced the country to a host of exciting talent, including Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, Ogden Nash, Peter Arno, Charles Addams, and Dorothy Parker. But no one could have written about this irascible, eccentric genius more affectionately or more critically than James Thurber, whose portrait of Ross captures not only a complex literary giant but a historic friendship and a glorious era as well. "If you get Ross down on paper," warned Wolcott Gibbs to Thurber," nobody will ever believe it." But readers of this unforgettable memoir will find that they do.Offering a peek into the lives of two American literary giants and the New York literary scene at its heyday, The Years with Ross is a true classic, and a testament to the enduring influence of their genius.
The Penguin Book of Classical Myths
by Jennifer MarchThe figures and events of classical myths underpin our culture and the constellations named after them fill the night sky. Whether it’s the raging Minotaur trapped in the Cretan labyrinth or the twelve labours of Hercules, Aphrodite’s birth from the waves or Zeus visiting Danae as a shower of gold, the mythology of Greece and Rome is full of unforgettable stories. All the stories of the Greek tragedies – Oedipus, Medea, Antigone – are there; all the events of the Trojan wars and of Odysseus and Aeneas’ epic journeys; the founding of Athens and of Rome… These are the strangest tales of love, war, betrayal and heroism ever told and, while brilliantly retelling them, this book shows how they echo through the works of much later writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Camus and Ted Hughes. Full of attractive illustrations and laid out in eighteen clear chapters (the titles include ‘Dangerous Women’ and ‘Heroes’), Dr Jennifer March has written a fascinating guide to the myths of classical civilization that is as readable as a novel.
Puritanism & Revolution
by Christopher HillThis illuminating collection of essays assesses the seventeenth century, interpreting what used to be called 'The Puritan Revolution', the ideas which helped to produce it and resulted from it, and the relation between these ideas and the political and economic events of the day. Each essay approaches the subject from a different angle, looking at aspects of the revolution - whether religious, constitutional, economic or biographical - in conjunction with a lively sympathy for the men who lived in that revolutionary time. Analysing the writings of Marvell, Hobbes, Harrington and Samuel Richardson, as well as less 'respectable' writers, Professor Hill examines the legacy of the Reformation and the inspiration provided by ideals like the Brotherhood of Man and the desire to re-create a pre-Norman Golden Age. A book that no serious student of our history should miss; it is a treasury of interesting detail and strong ideas, CV Wedgwood.
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
by Diana CooperLady Diana Cooper was a star of the early twentieth stage, screen and social scene. This first instalment of her sparkling autobiography tells of her upbringing, her beautiful artistic mother and aristocratic father, her debut into high society and the glittering parties - 'dancing and extravagance and lashing of wine, and charades and moonlit balconies and kisses' - which were interrupted with the outbreak of the First World War. This volume ends with Diana's marriage to the 'love of her life', diplomat and politician Duff Cooper.
The Tale of Troy (Puffin Classics)
by Roger GreenThe story of Helen and the judgement of Paris, of the gathering Heroes and the seige of Troy; of Achilles and his vulnerable heel, reared by the Centaur on wild honey and the marrow of lions; of Odysseus, the last of the Heroes, his plan for the wooden Horse and his many adventures on his long journey home to Greece.Also contains a beautiful introduction by best-selling author Michelle Paver, and additional endmatter including an author profile, who's who, activities, glossary and more.
Tales of the Greek Heroes (Puffin Classics)
by Roger Lancelyn GreenPuffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child.Heracles hauling the triple-headed dog Cerberus from the underworld. Jason voyaging across oceans to seize the golden fleece. Odysseus and the Trojan wars. Tales of the Greek Heroes tells the mysterious and exciting legends of the gods and heroes in Ancient Greece. Greek mythology has inspired stories for thousands of years, with tales of lost love and magic. Join our heroes in their journeys of resilience and revenge, guilt and love, and trials and betrayal.This edition includes a special introduction by Rick Riordan, creator of the highly successful Percy Jackson series, inspired by the great Greek myths.
Tales of the Greek Heroes (Film Tie-in)
by Roger Lancelyn GreenExplore the real Greek myths behind Percy Jackson's story - he's not the first Perseus to have run into trouble with the gods . . .These are the mysterious and exciting legends of the gods and heroes in Ancient Greece, from the adventures of Perseus, the labours of Heracles, the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts, to Odysseus and the Trojan wars.Introduced with wit and humour by Rick Riordan, creator of the highly successful Percy Jackson series.
The Travels
by Marco PoloMarco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life; on the spices and silks of the East; on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy.