Classical Europe

To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....

Christine Hoflehner is twenty-eight years old, works behind the counter of a provincial Austrian post office, and cares for her invalid mother on wages that barely cover the rent. It is 1926. The war ended eight years ago, but for Christine — and for most of Austria — the ending changed very little. She has no expectations. She endures. Then a telegram arrives from a wealthy American aunt she has never met, inviting her to a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. For a few extraordinary weeks, Christine lives in a world she did not know existed — fine clothes, beautiful rooms, people who ...

Joan of Arc's life and her accomplishments, as seen through the eyes of her childhood friend, are described with irony and brilliant insight into human nature. This was Twain's last book and he considered it to be his best.

Daniel Defoe (1659-1661 to 1731) was an English writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton is one of his earliest novels. The narrative describes the life of an Englishman, stolen from a well-to-do family as a child and raised by Gypsies, who eventually makes his way to sea.

If you want to discover the captivating history of Europe, then this audiobook might be what you're looking for. It includes five books that cover topics like ancient history, influence of ancient Greece and Rome, fall of the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, important events, and much more.

Hans Castorp is twenty-three years old, a well-bred engineer from Hamburg, when he travels to the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin at the Berghof sanatorium. He plans to stay for three weeks. He stays for seven years. The sanatorium is high above the world of ordinary time, work, and consequence. Its patients — drawn from across Europe, representing every tradition and intellectual persuasion — live in the peculiar suspended present of the chronically ill, where days blur into weeks and years pass without the usual markers of progress or purpose. Into this world Hans Castorp stumbles, ...

THE DEFINITIVE EDITION Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, the remarkable diary that has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. Updated for the 75th Anniversary of the Diary’s...

Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilization, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning and Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, and beyond - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times.

The gallows, the rack, and angry mobs are part of the menace in this horrific novel set in 15th century Paris. Quasimodo, the kind-hearted, hunchbacked bell ringer and the lovely La Esmaralda struggle to survive the brutality that surrounds them.

Three works from the exile years of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers — each different in form, all unmistakably Roth. In The Bust of Emperor Franz Joseph, a Polish count of the old Habsburg world finds himself stranded in a new nation-state that has no language for the kind of belonging he has always taken for granted. His devotion to a vanished empire is treated as an eccentricity. It is, in fact, a form of faith. In Confession of a Murderer, a Russian exile in a Paris restaurant tells the story of his life to a group of silent listeners — a tale that moves from Odessa ...

This collection, Fairy Stories from Europe: A Selection of Famous European Fairy Tales, is inspired by the bedtime stories my grandmother used to tell us. Growing up, my siblings and I were captivated by the tales she shared from India, weaving magic and morals into each night’s slumber. Her stories were more than just entertainment; they were lessons in life, culture, and the power of imagination. My first venture into writing was a compilation of those cherished tales from my childhood. Immersing myself in the stories she had lovingly passed down, I discovered a deep appreciation for ...

The most important American literature of the twentieth century was written outside America. This anthology collects the definitive works of the writers who proved it. In the decade between the end of the First World War and the Wall Street Crash, a group of American writers crossed the Atlantic and produced, from the distance of exile, the books that would define modern American prose. Hemingway developed the iceberg theory in the cafés of Montparnasse. Fitzgerald anatomized the corruption of the American Dream from the Rive Gauche. Stein invented the continuous present in her salon at 27...

2007 Audie Award Finalist for Classics “The ideal companion for troubled times: equal parts Continental escape and serious grappling with the question of what it means to be, and feel, lost.” —The Wall Street Journal Originally published in 1926, The Sun Also Riseshelped cement Ernest...

Titus Livy's only known surviving work is a monumental history of Rome that was originally written in Latin. It is estimated that Livy's The History of Rome was written between 27 and 9 BC and covers the legends of Aeneas, the fall of Troy, the city's founding in 753 BC, and Livy's account ends with the reign of Emperor Augustus. The History of Rome is a must-have for anyone interested in ancient history and the Roman era. With colorful detail and intriguing insight, Titus brings to life some of the most turbulent times in human history.

2026 PEN AMERICA AWARD FOR TRANSLATION FINALIST From “one of the great—if not the greatest—contemporary Yiddish novelists” (Elie Wiesel), the long-awaited English translation of a work, Tolstoyan in scope, that chronicles the last, tumultuous decade of a world succumbing to the march...

Many have heard the term “Balkans” tossed about but likely don’t know a whole lot about the region. The saga of the Balkans is profound yet incredibly complicated. Bordered by both the Balkan Mountains of southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, this region holds a strong place in the history of Western civilization and is also a major crossroads of Eastern civilization as well.

Mr. Henty weaves a story of the life and times of King Richard the Lion-hearted that is yet to be equaled. Cuthbert de Lance, the hero of the story, is of Norman blood on his father's side and Saxon by his mother. By providing timely aid to the Earl of Evesham, Cuthbert is rewarded by being allowed to go to the Crusade as his page. He gains a reputation for valor and prowess due to gallant deeds, and his resourcefulness not only helps King Richard but aids Cuthbert in many a 'hairbreadth escape'.

A strikingly original collection of short stories and accompanying vignettes that marked Ernest Hemingway’s American debut. When In Our Time was first published in 1925, it was widely praised for its simple and precise use of language to convey a wide range of complex emotions, and earned...

When Livy began his epic The History of Rome, he had no idea of the fame and fortune he would eventually attain. He would go on to become the most widely read writer in the Roman Empire and was eagerly sought out and feted like a modern celebrity. And his fame continued to grow after his death. His bombastic style, his intricate and complex sentence structure, and his flair for powerfully recreating the searing drama of historical incidents made him a favorite of teachers and pupils alike.

Coming out of retirement can be deadly… After tragedy struck three years earlier, art sleuth Carmen De Luca vowed to never work in the field again. But fifty is too young to fill her days with water aerobics and bingo, so when her former partner calls and begs for her help, Carmen gladly agrees. Yet after their first assignment – the recovery of a rare medieval prayer book from an eccentric collector living in rural France – goes horribly wrong, Carmen ends up in the crosshairs of both the local police and a murderer! With her target dead and the stolen book missing, she and her ...