Showing results by publisher "Simply Media" in Classics

Plato's Allegory of the Cave is what many believe to be the foundation of Western Philosophy. It addresses what is visible and invisible, seen and observed versus intuited and imagined, and what is public versus private and just versus unjust. It also concerns the meaning and importance of education, the state of the soul, the conflict between truth and beauty, animal urges versus higher aspirations, knowledge versus ignorance, and on and on.

The novel focuses on love, society norms, and freedom, centered on Anna’s affair with Count Vronsky.

The legendary tale of romance, fishing, fiestas, and bullfighting. The remarkable Lady Brett Ashley bowls over the men, drinks heavily, and bathes continually. Jake Barnes, the Paris correspondent and impotent with a World War 1 injury, longs for Brett but can’t have her.

> Walking is not as well known as Thoreau's other works Walden, The Maine Woods, and Civil Disobedience. But it is a good place to start exploring his writing because it was his last book, in 1862, published by the Atlantic Monthly shortly after his death. It is less well known because it is general, as opposed to singular, in focus. It is his summing up of his thoughts on life: One should saunter through life and take notice; one need not go far.

An early 20th century American story written in the Theodore Dreiser style of each word and chapter building on the previous ones, telling the saga of evangelical religion & people with irony throughout.

Seen through the eyes of a French Catholic missionary, Death Comes for the Archbishop is a tale about the development of the 19th-century American Southwest as the Indians and Spanish deal with each other and the arriving Americans.

An early 20th Century tale about a booster & businessman who followed the standard program, deviated, and wished his son well in going his own way.

The brilliance of this story is in how a normal bureaucrat, a judge in this case, has a small accident that winds up gradually taking his life. As he deals with this incident, with hope at first and then despair, he comes to terms with his family, his life, and the mediocrities that we all suffer with, except for the exceptional few. This story rings a particularly poignant note for those in early middle age facing the next part of their lives. This story is considered Tolstoy's best.

The Prince is considered the all-time best book on political strategy. It has of late become a much-referred-to book for all competitive situations. Machiavelli's name is associated closely with his philosophy, as he well deserves. His other works are worth reading or hearing, as well, especially his Art of War and Belfagor: The Devil Who Took a Wife.

This letter is the closest that Kafka came to setting down his autobiography. He was driven to write it by his father's opposition to his engagement with Julie Wohryzek. The marriage did not take place; the letter was not delivered.

A breathtaking story of a woman marrying, growing up, bravely persevering, and seeing what traditionally was a man's point of view with the insights of a woman growing up in the same way. An insightful novel in so many ways.

A novel about Soviet repression in the Russian tradition of Nikolai Gogol in Dead Souls and The Inspector General. Great fun as it explores the repression of that era.

Rare insights into Kafka stories, thoughts, philosophy, aging, friendship, love, sex & marriage with his rare insights and thoughts.

Kiev suffers from abandonment by the Germans and takeover by the Soviet Bolsheviks. Streamlined for narration and the American ear.

"White Nights" is the third major Dostoyevsky short story that everyone should read or listen to, along with "A Faint Heart" and "The Christmas Tree and Wedding". The story contains a series of Winesburg, Ohio-like moments: a woman and man meet on the First Night; proceed to meet again on the Second and Third, almost fall in love, and at the last minute the former lover of the woman returns to take her away. But the point is that the man had a glorious moment....

Travel back to the 17th century & experience Germany's brutal 30-year war with someone who lived through it all. Dark, dark humor, bloody, gory, evil, with witches & fantasy episodes.

Psmith is one of P. G. Wodehouse’s most charming, adventurous characters that has enchanted so many and caused them to relisten to his stories many times. Psmith is right up there with Jeeves.

The Art of War is the most famous and longest-lasting book on the practice of war. The book does not mince words: war is about winning; it is not a gentleman's game; it is about using every means at one's disposal to tip the odds in one's favor. Of the centuries, this book has been used by military figures, war departments, business people, educators, and politicians, to name a few. This is the original work without additional editorial comment.

An English saga centered around one family at their summer house, the goings on of one and all, written elegantly and insightfully with each word and phrase wonderful for the listener.

The rollicking humorous ribald story of soldiers in World War I carrying on and living and dying in war, worthy of Catch-22 fame. Translated from German into modern American English with a simplification of place names, as well as people's names, to not distract the American listener from unfamiliar names and places and stay focused on the story itself.