Bernard Mayes
In the Mexican state of Tabasco in the 1930s, all vestiges of Catholicism are being outlawed by the government. As churches are razed, icons are banned, and the price of devotion is execution, an unnamed member of the clergy flees. He’s...
Famous for its unflagging narrative power, fine organization, and irresistibly persuasive arguments, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has earned a permanent place of honor in historical literature. Gibbon's elegantly detached erudition is seasoned with an ironic wit, and remarkably little of his work is outdated.
This second volume covers AD 395 to AD 1185, from the reign of Justinian in the East to the establishment of the
...Considered one of the finest historical works in the English language, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is lauded for its graceful, elegant prose style as much as for its grand scope and considerable accuracy. It is a remarkable survey of what the author calls "the greatest and, perhaps, most awful scene in the history of mankind."
This third volume of Gibbon's masterpiece covers the years 1185 to 1453 and explores the rise
...Written more than a century before man landed on the moon, this classic adventure tale has proved to be one of Jules Verne's most prophetic. It is also a forerunner of today's science fiction.
At the close of the Civil War, the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves unemployed and bored. Finally, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes a new project: build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when a daring
...8) The Law
One of the world's most profoundly influential literary works and the basis for Shakespeare's Roman plays (Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra), Plutarch's Lives have been entertaining and arousing the spirit of emulation in countless readers since their creation at the beginning of the second century.
Originally named Parallel Lives, the work pairs eminent Romans with famous Greek counterparts—like the orators Cicero
...10) The Histories
Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. His Histories is regarded as one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. He wrote these accounts of the fifth-century-BC wars between the Greeks and Persians with a continuous awareness of the mythic and the wonderful, while laying bare the intricate human entanglements at their core.
...11) The time machine
During the 1930s at Oxford, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams-remarkable friends, writers, and scholars-met regularly to discuss philosophy and literature and to read aloud from their own works in progress. Calling themselves the Inklings, their circle grew. It was in this company that such classics as The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first found an audience.
...Having coined the phrase "the war that will end war," H. G. Wells was disillusioned by the World War I peace settlement. Convinced that humanity needed to awaken to the instability of the world order and remember lessons from the past, the author of numerous science fiction classics set out to write about history. Wells hoped to remind mankind of its common past, provide it with a basis for international patriotism, and guide it to renounce war.
...Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as "a voice from the sea." Influencing such authors as Conrad and Melville, it has become a maritime classic that has inflicted legions of men with a passion for the sea.
Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 on the brigPilgrimfor a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. Dana Point was named as a result of this journey. Drawing from his journals,Two Years
...16) The City of God
Written between AD 413 and 426, The City of God is one of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, a book vital to understanding modern Western society. Augustine originally intended it to be an apology for Christianity against the accusation that the Church was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire. Indeed, Augustine produced a great amount of evidence to prove that paganism was responsible for this event. However,
...Having coined the phrase "the war that will end war," H. G. Wells was disillusioned by the World War I peace settlement. Convinced that humanity needed to awaken to the instability of the world order and remember lessons from the past, the author of numerous science fiction classics set out to write about history. Wells hoped to remind mankind of its common past, provide it with a basis for international patriotism, and guide it to renounce war.
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