This abridged edition makes the great German scholar's multi-volume work accessible to a larger audience. Rivaling Gibbon, Macaulay, and Burckhardt in its scope and power, it chronicles Roman society and government from the second century BC to the end of the Republic and rise of Julius Caesar - and helped earn Mommsen the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature.

"On the windy Nebraska prairie, Alexandra Bergson tends to the failing farm that she inherited from her father. She struggles to raise her brothers on her own. And hse is torn by the emergence of an unexpected passion...This magnificent story, Willa Cather's second novel, has become one of the geat classics of American literature--telling a timeless tale of a strong pioneer woman facing extraordinary challenges and conflicts, shining a light on the...

Hailed as the world's first novel, "Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded" by Samuel Richardson is a gripping tale about a beautiful young maidservant in mid-1700's England. After her employer dies, the employer's son begins making advances toward her. The virtuous girl tries to stave off his advances, but Mr. B's desperation eventually causes him to kidnap her in a misguided attempt to try and make her understand how much he loves her. When he realizes that...

Written in a fit of pique brought about by Edmund Burke's blistering attack of the French Revolution, Paine's The Rights of Man has come to be regarded as one of the most important works in the realm of Western political philosophy. In it, Paine contends that some rights that are granted through natural law, rather than by governments or constitutions. A must-read for those interested in politics, philosophy, and the intersection of the

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The epic battle between man and monster reaches its greatest pitch in the famous story of Frankenstein. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor himself to the very brink. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship ... and horror.

Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking,...