Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Long before he was President and having just started his law practice, 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln delivered (January 27, 1838) a speech on the dangers of mob rule. Seeming to speak to our present time, he warned that mobs, or people who disrespected U.S. laws and courts, could destroy the United States. He went on to say that the Constitution and rule of law in the United States are "the political religion of our nation."Delivered to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, the speech became known as "the Lyceum Address" and was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political ...

The English Romantic Period in literature featured a towering group of excellent poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats. If we add in forerunners Burns and Blake, we have perhaps an unmatchable collection of writers for any era. Of these, Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the brightest and best, coupling a giant intellect with a highly emotional and impetuous nature. He was always a champion of liberty, but was largely ignored when he tried to promote political and social reform. He was wise enough, however, to realize that his efforts were ineffective, and he chose instead, not ...

Originally published in serial form in 1879-80, “The Brothers Karamazov” is recognized as one of the very greatest masterpieces of world literature. It is the last and finest novel of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who died before writing a planned sequel. The story is organized initially around the efforts of adult sons to deal with their cantankerous and exasperating father. More important, they also have to deal with the problem of how to live in a world where it is difficult to be sure of the truth — whether that be “truth” about others, about oneself, or about deep questions such as faith,...

This sequel to Dumas' “Marguerite de Valois” begins four years after the sudden death of King Charles IX and succession of his brother Henry III. The reign of King Henry III was plagued with rebellion and political intrigue due to the War of the Three Henries, where his regency was challenged by King Henry of Navarre (leader of the Huguenots) and Henry I, Duke of Guise (leader of the Catholic League). Dumas weaves two main storylines through this turbulent backdrop: one of the love ignited between le Comte de Bussy and la Dame de Monsoreau, and another of the friendship between King Henry ...

The Koran (Qur'an) is regarded by Muslims as the word of God (Allah) as revealed to the prophet Muhammad. It is divided into 114 chapters (surahs), arranged roughly by length. This version, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, is a widely used English translation of the Koran by a Muslim Englishman. Many Muslims, however, including Pickthall, believe that true translations of the Koran from the original Arabic are impossible, and see translations into other languages only as useful interpretations. (Summary by Leon Mire)

El Evangelio según Juan es un libro de la Biblia en el Nuevo Testamento que contiene la historia de la vida de Jesucristo. El apóstol Juan el evangelista es considerado su autor.The Gospel according to John is a book of the New Testament of the Bible that contains the story of the life of Jesus Christ. The apostle John the evangelist is considered its author.

In the last year of the American Civil War, Horace Porter served as aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S. Grant, then commander of all the armies of the North. This lively 1897 memoir was written from the extensive notes he took during that time. It is highly regarded by later historians. Porter continued in that position with Grant to 1869. From 1869 to 1872 he served Grant as personal secretary in the White House. He was U.S. ambassador to France from 1897-1905. ( David Wales)

Following the Equator (American English title) or More Tramps Abroad (English title) is a non-fiction travelogue published by American author Mark Twain in 1897.Twain was practically bankrupt in 1894 due to a failed investment into a "revolutionary" typesetting machine. In an attempt to extricate himself from debt of $100,000 (equivalent of about $2 million in 2005) he undertook a tour of the British Empire in 1895, a route chosen to provide numerous opportunities for lectures in the English language.In Following the Equator, an account of that travel published in 1897, the author unmasks and ...

George Eliot's own favorite among her novels, this novel tells the story of Romola, the intelligent daughter of a blind scholar, who is falling in love with a man who is going to change her life and the politics of Florence in a way she doesn't like. Set in 15th century Florence, it is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view". Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.

This story is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War, and concerns a Huron massacre (with passive French acquiescence) of from 500 to 1,500 unarmed Anglo-American troops, who had honorably surrendered at Fort William Henry, plus some women and servants; the kidnapping of two sisters, daughters of the British commander; and their rescue by Hawkeye, the last two Mohicans, and others. Parts of the story may have been derived from the capture and death of Jane McCrea in July 1777 near Fort Edward, New York, by members of an Algonquian tribe. (Summary from ...

This is the first volume of Dumas' Marie Antoinette Romances (also called "The Memoirs of a Physician"). This historical fiction chronicles the strange events surrounding the fall of the French monarchy (starting ~1770) and rise of revolutionaries so terrifying that the period is still called "The Reign of Terrors" (1793-1794). In this volume, a renowned magician, Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (Balsamo), employs various occult tactics, like hypnotism and necromancy, to gain state secrets. Balsamo claims to be plotting against the Bourbons, but one must wonder whether this 3000 year old ...

A historical fiction novel set in Paris (1572) during Charles IX's reign and the French Wars of Religion. Marguerite de Valois, daughter of deceased Henry II, is the novel's protagonist set against the infamous schemes of the Catholic power player, Catherine de Medici. - Summary by Publisher

Two boys from the Foundling Hospital are given the same name, with disastrous consequences in adulthood. Two associates, wishing to right the wrong, are commissioned to find a missing heir. Their quest takes them from fungous wine cellars in the City of London to the sunshine of the Mediterranean—across the Alps in winter. Danger and treachery would prevail were it not for the courage of the heroine and the faithful company servant. The story contains crafted descriptions, well-drawn and diverse characters, eerie and exotic backgrounds, mystery, semi-concealed identities, brinkmanship with ...

Los auténticos cuentos de terror cuentan con algo más que un misterioso asesino, unos huesos ensangrentados o unos espectros agitando sus cadenas según la vieja regla. Pues debe respirarse en ellos una determinada atmósfera de expectación e inexplicable temor ante lo ignoto y el más allá. Deben estar presentes unas fuerzas desconocidas, la maligna y específica suspensión o la derrota de las leyes desde siempre vigentes de la Naturaleza, que representan nuestra única salvaguardia contra los asaltos del caos y los demonios del espacio insondable. Summary by Phileasfogg

Eugénie Grandet, first published in 1833, is one of Honoré de Balzac's finest novels, and one of the first works in what would become his large novel series titled La Comédie Humaine. Set in a provincial town in post-Revolutionary France, the story deals with money, avarice, love, and obsession. A wealthy old miser must manage the passion of his innocent daughter, who later has to navigate on her own the treacherous ways of a world in which money is "the only god." Balzac's meticulous use of psychological and physical detail influenced the development of 19th-century literary realism, in ...

« L'Aiguille creuse » est l'emplacement secret du Trésor des rois de France. Découvert par Arsène Lupin, un jeune étudiant Isodore Beautrelet s'emploie à le retrouver à son tour.La joute entre ces deux personnages, qui se respectent et s'apprécient, se déroule sur les terres de Normandie.Résumé par Bidou

The Peppers are a family of three boys, two girls, and Mamsie. They are poor, living in their "Little Brown House", but they always manage to be happy. This book comprises the adventures of Joel, the middle Pepper child and the most mischievous. Among other things, Joel encounters a snake, a thief, and a nail pile; puts on a circus; rides on a stagecoach; and gets into a fight on Strawberry Hill! (Summary by Rachel)

The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas) is a Portuguese epic poem, written in the 16th century by Luis Vaz de Camões. The poem tells the tale of the Portuguese discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries, specially the voyage to India by Vasco da Gama. Modelled after the classic epic tradition, Camões' Lusiads are considered not only the first literary text in Modern Portuguese, but also a national epic of the same level as Vergil's Aeneid. In the 19th century, Sir Richard Francis Burton translated Camões' Lusiads, in what he considered "the most pleasing literary labour of his life". (Summary by Leni)

The Ordeal of Mark Twain analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens' mother and wife. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says, Brooks' work "was a psychological study attempting to show that Twain had crippled himself emotionally and curtailed his genius by repressing his natural artistic bent for the sake of his Calvinist upbringing." Also, Brooks says, his literary spirit was sidelined as "...Mark Twain was inducted (with the success of 'Innocents Abroad') into the Gilded Age, launched, in defiance of that instinct which only for a few years was ...

Shirley is an 1849 social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre (originally published under Brontë's pseudonym Currer Bell). The novel is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811–1812, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The novel is set against a backdrop of the Luddite uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry. (Summary by Wikipedia)