Literary History & Criticism

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare’s life ... here is a novel ... so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe In 1580’s England, during the Black Plague a young...

Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird...

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

An illuminating, electrifying exploration of the work of Toni Morrison by an award-winning novelist and Harvard professor—“a revelatory encounter with the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice) “A landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work...

“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time “It is impossible to name a book that had a greater effect on the political and moral consciousness of the late twentieth century.” —David Remnick, The New Yorker The Nobel Prize winner’s towering masterpiece of world literature...

Paul Bäumer is just 19 years old when he and his classmates enlist....

The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!). These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological, and literary importance....

Author Benjamin Hoff shows that the philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh is amazingly consistent with the principles of Taoism....

With a language disappearing every two weeks and neologisms springing up almost daily, an understanding of the origins and currency of language has never seemed more relevant....

The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky's crowning life work and stands among the best novels in world literature....

Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the 20th century, and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic....

The Heroine’s Journey describes contemporary woman’s search for wholeness in a society where she has been defined according to masculine values....

New York Times bestselling author Natalie Haynes returns to the world of ancient Greek myth in this scintillating follow-up to Pandora’s Jar. Few writers today have reshaped our view of the ancient Greek myths more than revered bestselling author Natalie Haynes. Divine Might is a...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Deepen your insight into and appreciation for the writings J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis as you explore the untold story of how the First World War shaped their lives, faith, and writings. Had there been no Great War, there would have been no Hobbit, no Lord of the...

From the New York Times bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves—and our world today. For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been...

African-American folklore was Zora Neale Hurston's first love. Collected in the late 1920's Every Tongue Got to Confess, from the celebrated author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, is published here for the first time, beautifully performed by Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Hilarious, bittersweet...

Continuously available in print since 1968, this novel has become embedded in progressive anti-racist culture with wide circulation of the book and hotly debated film. A literary classic, The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a strong comment on entrenched racial inequities in the United States in...

For over 40 years, Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan has inspired audiences to expand their world view beyond traditional Western forms....

Esteemed translator and best-selling author Stephen Mitchell energizes a heroic tale so old it predates Homer's Iliad by more than a millennium....

This program is read by actor and singer-songwriter Maya Hawke, star of Netflix's Stranger Things. "Narrating in a voice as clear and sustaining as a cool glass of water, Hawke’s unflashy approach allows the words to reveal their magic."—The Orange County Register "Didion’s timeless essays...

Number one New York Times best-selling author Diana Gabaldon has captivated millions of listeners with her critically acclaimed Outlander novels, the inspiration for the Starz original series....

“BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE 20TH CENTURY.” —Time Volume 1 of the gripping epic masterpiece, Solzhenitsyn's chilling report of his arrest and interrogation, which exposed to the world the vast bureaucracy of secret police that haunted Soviet society. Features a new foreword by Anne...

Grand Expectations weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate....

Ever since the birth of his daughter, Nalla, Zsadist has been regressing further and further into the life he led before he met Bella, his beautiful shellan. He has been waking up in cold sweats due to nightmares from his past, hasn't made love to his wife, and won't hold his baby girl, for fear...

Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Beloved Toni Morrison investigates Black characters in the American literary canon and the way they shaped the nation’s collective unconscious. In a dazzling series of lectures from her tenure as a professor at Princeton University, Toni...

THE WINE-DARK SEA AWAITS In July 2026, Christopher Nolan brings Homer's Odyssey to IMAX screens worldwide, with Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, and Charlize Theron. Before you see the film, read the epic that started it all. A man trying to get home. A journey of ten years. Gods who help, gods who hinder, and monsters who devour. Homer's Odyssey is the Greek epic that invented the story — the template for every quest narrative, every homecoming, every hero who must lose everything before finding what matters. Nearly three thousand years after Homer first sang ...

An illuminating, electrifying exploration of the work of Toni Morrison by an award-winning novelist and Harvard professor—“a revelatory encounter with the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice) “A landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work...

Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Beloved Toni Morrison investigates Black characters in the American literary canon and the way they shaped the nation’s collective unconscious. In a dazzling series of lectures from her tenure as a professor at Princeton University, Toni...

“Enchanting, unexpected, and razor-sharp. Jeanette Winterson and Shahrazad are the perfect copilots to take us into new worlds on the wings of old stories.” —Kamila Shamsie, award-winning author of Home Fire I can change the story because I am the story. “One of the most daring and...

The original 1897 text of Bram Stoker's gothic horror masterpiece—with a critical afterword by philosopher and writer Henry Bugalho. "I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome..." In the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains, a young English solicitor arrives at a crumbling castle to meet his mysterious client. What Jonathan Harker discovers there will shatter everything he believed about the boundaries between life and death, desire and dread, the civilized world and the darkness that hungers at its edges. Bram Stoker's Dracula is the novel that invented the modern vampire and launched over a ...

Read the story that inspired the 2026 film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — the complete tale, retold for modern readers "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." You know the story. Or you think you do. On the wild Yorkshire moors, a foundling named Heathcliff and a girl named Catherine form a bond so fierce it will destroy everyone it touches — and outlast death itself. But you've never read it like this. Wuthering Heights in One Hour is a complete literary adaptation of Emily Brontë's masterpiece — not a summary, not a study guide, but the full story ...

Drawing from exclusive interviews and previously unseen archival materials, this one-of-its-kind biography of Hannibal Lecter documents the cannibal’s journey from terrifying villain to unexpectedly adored antihero. This unique biography traces the many lives and crimes of Hannibal Lecter: his...

Architects of the Nineteenth Century: Biographical Studies of the Figures Who Shaped Modern Culture, Politics, and Art BOOK THREE: Matthew Arnold Explained: Life, Poetry, Criticism, and the Making of Modern Culture is a comprehensive and deeply researched biography that explores the life, ideas, and lasting influence of one of the most important intellectual figures of the Victorian era. Written for thoughtful readers, students, and lovers of literary and cultural history, this book presents Matthew Arnold not only as a poet, but as a cultural critic, educational reformer, and moral thinker...

Now a major motion picture — THE BRIDE! starring Christian Bale, Jessie Buckley, and Penelope Cruz, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. In theaters March 2026. Read Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece before experiencing the bold new film that reimagines her creation through a female lens. Mary Shelley's definitive vision — the 1831 edition she revised and perfected. In 1831, thirteen years after Frankenstein first shocked readers, Mary Shelley revisited her creation. She refined the prose, deepened Victor's tragic arc, and added something readers had long demanded: the story behind the story....

Original critical afterword on the novel's hidden structures Biographical essay on Charlotte Brontë's life Historical context of Victorian England Charlotte Brontë's original preface to the second edition The complete text of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece — the novel that changed the way women speak in fiction — with a critical afterword by philosopher and writer Henry Bugalho. "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will." Jane Eyre is ten years old, orphaned, penniless, and locked in a red room for the crime of fighting back. From that ...

The oldest surviving philosophy of work, justice, and what it means to live in hard times. Nearly three thousand years ago, a Boeotian farmer named Hesiod sat down to tell his brother the truth: that the gods have hidden the good life from mortals, that work is the price of survival, and that justice — fragile, cosmic, indifferent to power — is the only thing standing between civilization and collapse. Works and Days is one of the founding texts of Western literature — and one of the least read. While Homer sang of heroes, Hesiod sang of the field, the season, the neighbor's debt, and...

As a child, Lucy Mangan was reading all the time, using books to navigate the challenges and complexities of this world and many others. As an adult, she uses her new relationship with literature to seize upon the most important question: (how) do books prepare us for life? Bookish vividly tells the story of a reader's life from the cusp of teenagehood, when everything—including the way we read—undergoes a not-so-subtle transformation.

Brought to you by Penguin. A masterclass in telling stories - and how they shape our world - from the internationally renowned narrative expert To command narrative is to control a sometimes frightening power. What is it that turbocharges some tales, and how is it possible to harness that...

The Antaeus's Wordbook. Where words get wonderfully weird because English is stranger than you think. Formerly titled Disremembered Words. This lexicon has been revised with an additional 1,200 words that I have collected, curated, and illuminated. There are now over 2,725 words with definitions and example sentences in this reiteration of my lexicon. From archaic curiosities to Scottish insults and joyful nonsense, this lexicon turns the English language into an adventure. *** Fall in love with words you never knew you needed. Step into The Antaeus's Wordbook where forgotten words breathe ...

In We Have Nothing to Lose: A Dark Optimist's Call to Action, Ralph Groce III presents an unflinching narrative that intertwines personal memoir with a passionate political manifesto. This book is a bold exploration of leadership, responsibility, and the urgency of acting in a world on the cusp of pivotal change. With Groce's audacious life story as the backdrop, listeners will delve into: Thought-provoking insights on the power of individual choice and responsibility. A critical look at current global and political challenges, offering actionable solutions.

The King of Schlock: Confessions from the Low End of High Art by W. J. O’Reilly Chuck Barris built an empire out of noise, nerve, and unapologetic spectacle — creating television that critics mocked even as audiences couldn’t look away. The King of Schlock explores the life, mythology, and cultural impact of Barris and the strange territory where entertainment, art, and audacity collide. Part memoir, part cultural investigation, and part insider confession, this book moves beyond nostalgia to examine how Barris reshaped popular culture by embracing what others dismissed as disposable....

Learn It in a Day: Macbeth by William Shakespeare Complete Overview • 15 Multiple-Choice Questions • Essay Prompts • Key Quotes Macbeth is often read as a story about unchecked ambition or the corrupting lure of power. But its deeper argument focuses on how interpretation—of prophecy, language, and authority—drives moral collapse. Many readers follow the plot, yet struggle to explain why Macbeth acts when he does, how violence escalates, or what the play ultimately argues about legitimacy and control. Learn It in a Day is designed to solve that problem. This study companion breaks...

Learn It in a Day: Hamlet by William Shakespeare Complete Overview • 15 Multiple-Choice Questions • Essay Prompts • Key Quotes Hamlet is often taught as a story about indecision or revenge, but its real complexity lies in how truth, power, and moral action collide in a corrupt political system. Many readers follow the plot—yet struggle to explain why Hamlet delays, what the play argues about justice, or how language itself becomes a form of control. Learn It in a Day is designed to solve that problem. This study companion breaks the play down into a clear, accessible format built ...

Melissa Lucashenko is one of Australia's most admired and awarded novelists. She is renowned for writing about ordinary Australians and the extraordinary lives they lead. This timely collection of essays and journalism - published together for the first time - spans two turbulent decades. With her trademark wit and wisdom, Lucashenko reflects on being caught in a siege, on the marginalised lives of prisoners and the urban poor, on Blak identity, Australian literature and on meeting her writing idol.

Learn It in a Day: Animal Farm by George Orwell Complete Overview • 15 Multiple-Choice Questions • Essay Prompts • Key Quotes George Orwell’s Animal Farm is often taught as a simple political allegory—but its real power lies in how it reveals the mechanics of power, propaganda, and control. Many readers understand the story, yet struggle to clearly explain how and why the revolution fails. Learn It in a Day is designed to solve that problem. This study companion breaks the novel down into a clear, accessible format built for fast understanding. In a single focused session, ...

As Viv Groskop knows from experience, everything that has ever happened to a person has already happened in the Russian classics: from not being sure what to do with your life (Anna Karenina), to being hopelessly in love with someone who doesn’t love you back (Turgenev’s A Month in the Country), or being socially anxious about your appearance (all of Chekhov’s work). In The Anna Karenina Fix, Groskop mines these and other works, as well as the lives of their creators and her own experiences as a student of Russian, to answer the question “How should you live your life?”

"Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines." James Longenbach opens this provocative audiobook with that essential statement. Through a range of examples—from Shakespeare and Milton to Ashbery and Glück—Longenbach describes the function of line in metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. The Art of the Poetic Line is a vital new resource by one of America's most important critics and most engaging poets.

A title listing 48 of the greatest American novels.

This book is aimed at GCSE students of English Literature who are studying William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It focuses on the key ideas, quotations, and analytical skills required for success in the examination. Each chapter is covered in a clear, structured way, helping students understand how to respond effectively to exam questions and meet assessment objectives with confidence.

Your story carries impact. Your words have weight. And your book has the power to reach readers who need exactly what you have to say. So, take the leap. Start the next chapter of your author career. Your story deserves not only to be written—but to be published, shared, TOLD AND SOLD. Inside, you will find a complete roadmap for writing, publishing, and selling your book. Read to understand the importance of choosing your subject, outlining with purpose, publishing strategically, and marketing with intention - in order to build long-term profitable momentum.