Various
1) Richard III
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Believed to have been written in 1591, William Shakespeare's "Richard III" is one of the bards first plays, the first installment in a tetralogy of plays which includes "Henry IV, Part I," "Henry IV, Part II," and "Henry V." One of the longest of Shakespeare's plays and consequently rarely performed unabridged, "Richard III" is the story of the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. The play begins with...
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"The author of the sensational national best seller For the Relief of Unbearable Urges returns with a commanding new collection of short stories: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank establishes Nathan Englander beyond all doubt as the heir to Roth, Malamud, and Babel. A tour de force. The title story, inspired by Carver's masterpiece, is a comic classic, a provocative portrait of two marriages in which the holocaust is played out as a...
3) East
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Full of fear and excitement, a young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear, only to find that her journey has just begun.
4) Bull Run
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Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.
5) Henry VIII
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Henry VIII - William Shakespeare - King Henry VIII has one of the fullest theatrical histories of any play in the Shakespeare canon, yet has been consistently misrepresented, both in performance and in criticism. This edition offers a new perspective on this ironic, multi-layered, collaborative play, revealing it as a complex meditation on the progress of Reformation which sees English life since Henry VIII's day as a series of bewildering changes...
7) Coriolanus
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“O mother, mother! What have you done?”
—Coriolanus
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this gripping political and personal tragedy—along with more than a hundred pages of exclusive features, including
• an original Introduction to Coriolanus
• incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital facts about...
—Coriolanus
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this gripping political and personal tragedy—along with more than a hundred pages of exclusive features, including
• an original Introduction to Coriolanus
• incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital facts about...
8) Richard II
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Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Richard II". This edition features a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. The play is the first in Shakespeare's tetralogy chronicling the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and covers the battle for power between King Richard and Henry Bolingbroke (who would eventually be Henry IV). Embezzlement, exile and an uprising...
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Contains the text of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Troilus and Cressida" accompanied by explanatory notes, a scene-by-scene plot summary, and character profiles as well as an introduction to the life and works of the author, modern perspective on the play, suggestions for further reading, and key lines and phrases.
11) King John
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First published in the "First Folio" in 1623 and likely written in the 1590s, "King John" is one of William Shakespeare's best historical plays. It centers on the events of King John's reign of England during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. King John, son of Henry I of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, inherits the throne after the death of his older brother, King Richard I. John's claim to the throne is challenged by the King of...
13) Pericles
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Likely written around 1607 or 1608 and attributed at least in part to Shakespeare, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" is an adventure-filled play that follows the extended sailing journeys of a young prince. Pericles, a young prince from Phoenicia, is forced to flee Antioch when he correctly guesses a riddle that reveals the incestuous activity of King Antiochus. Unable to stay at home in Tyre because of Antiochus' vengeance, he sails away and ends up shipwrecked...
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Lady Windermere misinterprets her husband's interest in an older woman, Mrs. Erlynne, causing a rift that could lead to both marital and societal ruin. Lady Windermere's Fan Is an intriguing tale that examines intention versus outcome in a world driven by perception.
Lady Windermere is a young wife who's concerned by her husband's connection to the mysterious, Mrs. Erlynne. She believes the woman is a threat to her marriage and livelihood. Despite...
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"Jonathan Lethem's third collection of stories uncovers a father's nervous breakdown at SeaWorld in "Pending vegan"; a foundling child rescued from the woods during a blizzard in "TravelerhHome"; a political prisoner in a hole in a Brooklyn street in "Procedure in plain air"; and a crumbling, haunted "blog" on a seaside cliff in "The dreaming jaw, the salivating ear." Each of these locates itself in Lethem-land, which can be discovered only by visiting....
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Antony and Cleopatra (1607) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives-a series of biographies on influential figures of the ancient world-Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra sometime between 1599 and 1601. Often considered a sequel of sorts to his earlier play Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra has served as source material for countless film and television adaptations. "Let Rome in Tiber melt,...
18) Timon of Athens
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"Timon of Athens" was first, published in the "First Folio" in 1623 and was likely, written by William Shakespeare in 1605 or 1606. Often regarded as one of the more difficult of Shakespeare's plays to categorize, "Timon of Athens" blends elements of comedy with components of tragedy in Timon's allegorical downfall and death. The play depicts an Athenian man, Timon, who is popular and wealthy and who selflessly gives away his possessions to a large...
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The king of Thebes is a tyrant but his young relatives, Palamon and Arcite, defend him anyway. The two noble kinsmen find their loyalty rewarded with imprisonment when they end up on the losing side of a battle with the great hero, Theseus of Athens. From the window of their jail they observe Emilia, the sister-in-law of their conqueror, whose stunning beauty shatters their vow of eternal brotherhood. Now the former friends must find a way to evade...
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This lush romantic drama depicts a family of cigar makers whose loves and lives are played out against the backdrop of America in the midst of the Depression. Set in Ybor City (Tampa) in 1930, Cruz imagines the catalytic effect the arrival of a new "lector" (who reads Tolstoy's Anna Karenina to the workers as they toil in the cigar factory) has on a Cuban-American family. Cruz celebrates the search for identity in a new land.