There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. Maya Angelou's words in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings reveal her own need to tell stories, a lifelong passion that manifested itself in the form of memoirs and poetry as well as essays, film, and music. This in-depth guide utilizes the fascinating life story of Angelou, who was also an educator and activist, as a springboard for exploring the themes, motifs, and literary techniques...

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. Observations like this make Mark Twain the most widely read and quoted American author. This guide utilizes quotes, excerpts, biographical information, and critical analysis in examining Twain s vast output of novels, personal memoirs, social criticisms, and essays, both serious and hilarious. It also demonstrates how Twain carefully...

Jack London s stories of adventure in the early twentieth century captured the imagination of the American public. As he ventured around the United States and the globe, he documented his adventures through his writing. Through excerpts and critical analysis, readers will examine London s most famous works (The Call of the Wild, To Build a Fire), which are dramatic and compelling stories of man versus nature and versus himself. Other works explore...

The ancient Greeks hard-wired a tragic sensibility into their culture. By looking disaster squarely in the face, by understanding just how badly things could spiral out of control, they sought to create a communal sense of responsibility and courage--to spur citizens and their leaders to take the difficult actions necessary to avert such a fate. Today, after more than seventy years of great-power peace and a quarter-century of unrivaled global leadership,...

Presents Mark Twain's authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions, and speaking clearly from the grave as he intended.

Encompassing fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children's books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die moves across cultures and through time to present an eclectic collection of titles, each described with the special enthusiasm readers summon when recommending a book to a friend. Mustich provides brief (usually one page) introductions to works of fiction, poetry, science and science...

"Honorable Mention for the 2018 Louis Gottschalk Prize, American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies" Jonathan Lamb is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. His many books include The Things Things Say (Princeton) and The Evolution of Sympathy in the Long Eighteenth Century. An intellectual history of scurvy in the eighteenth century Scurvy, a disease often associated with long stretches of maritime travel,...

A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's long hidden notebooks, including illustrations, analyses, and two previously unpublished short stories. This was first published in the UK --Provided by publisher.

An illustrated collection of twenty-six poems and excerpts from longer poems by the renowned nineteenth-century poet. Walt Whitman changed American poetry forever. He wrote poems that were open, flowing, charged with bold, passionate energy. He broke all the rules, and though this made him the target of criticism during his lifetime, he quickly emerged as one of America's best known and loved poets. Here, a Columbia University professor of literature...

William Shakespeare's tragedy, set in Roman times, deals with the revenge by Titus Andronicus for the atrocities committed against his family by Tamora, the captive queen of the Goths, and her faction.