Résultats lu par "Charlton Griffin" dans Toutes les catégories

Of the surviving work of Cornelius Nepos, Lives of the Eminent Commanders is the only piece that has come down to us intact, and it was actually only one of a much larger set of volumes on foreign and Roman kings, generals, lawyers, orators, poets, historians, and philosophers. What makes the writing of Nepos highly original was his intent to endow his biographies with a moral purpose and to display the strengths and weaknesses of each great man. Modern listeners will enjoy the work of Nepos and gain new insights into classical Greek leaders, among others.

Spartacus is one of the most unusual historical novels of the 20th century and certainly one of the most realistic. In a whirlwind of savagery, despair, and desperation, the listener is suddenly and violently plunged into the great Roman slave revolt of 73 BC. The author, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, does not waste time by slowly setting up his characters, nor in leisurely describing domestic scenes. From the first word, you are literally hurled into the frenetic life of an escaped Greek slave by the name of Kleon.

The story of Daniel Boone is an excellent example of the courage and tenacity of the early settlers, as well as a compelling look at how those colonists managed to survive and eventually flourish under conditions modern Americans can scarcely imagine. The intrepid spirit of Daniel Boone lives on in this magnificent biography as we travel through the trackless forests, majestic mountains, and pristine rivers of 18th century Kentucky.

Inspired by the chaos of the French Revolution, Rafael Sabatini wrote one of the finest historical novels of the early 20th century. Scaramouche is the story of André-Louis Moreau, a lawyer brought up as an orphan in a noble household. Moreau, as a young man in his 20s, has been threading his way through a pleasant life until a close friend is brutally killed in a duel of swords by a member of the aristocracy. Because of Moreau’s vow to seek revenge, his life begins an arc toward becoming a revolutionary.

The Cassique of Kiawah is the romantic story of Harry Calvert, a privateer in service to King Charles II of England. Set in the year 1684, it is a colonial romance set in South Carolina. Because of a change of political winds in London, Calvert is hiding his crew and ship in the backwaters near Charleston. He sets out in disguise to see his friend, the governor of Carolina, in order to gauge the situation. But then he learns that his titled older brother, who has become the Cassique (or lord) of the beautiful island of Kiawah, is in the area and has married the woman Harry was previously in love with back in England....

Volume Four begins in March, 1865 with Lee's starving soldiers facing annihilation at the hands of Grant's enormous army. Surrounded, with all avenues of escape cut off, Lee honorably surrendered the remnants of his valiant Army of Northern Virginia at Appamattox on April 9. Having done his military duty to his people, Lee next asked himself, "What is now my duty?" Declining handsome financial rewards for the use of his name in commercial ventures, Lee decided to share the misery of the people of Virginia and the South.

This is the story of John Ridd, a yeoman farmer of the border country in southwest England. Set in the turbulent late 17th century, amid political tensions aroused by the religious animosities of a nation that had just emerged from the Commonwealth government of Cromwell, the story follows the adventures of John Ridd and his love, Lorna Doone, an aristocratic beauty who was kidnapped by the Doone family as a child. How John Ridd meets Lorna, wins her love, rescues her from the clutches of the Doone clan, and tries to keep her safe constitutes the bulk of the plot.

In the tradition of Aesop's Fables, The Frogs of Sawhill Ponds are tales for children with mature questions and adults who have not forgotten childhood. Play with ideas and language offers delightful surprise as well as insight into the human condition. Sometimes the listener will not know whether to laugh, cry, or do both; other tales offer witty fun. Those who enjoy Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, or The Little Prince, will enjoy Frog Tales.

Count Luna is the story of Alexander Jessiersky, an Austrian aristocrat who presides over a Viennese transport company. As World War II opens, Jessiersky, who detests the Nazis, is asked by his board of directors to acquiesce in the confiscation of a neighboring parcel of land in order to accommodate expanded war business. Jessiersky refuses to go along, but because of inattention or laziness his board carries out the land seizure behind his back.

Conrad’s Lord Jim is the iconic story of a romantic young man and his struggle with guilt and self-loathing. The novel begins with Jim’s earlier life as a ship’s officer. He and the other crew members abandon an imperiled vessel and its passengers after a mysterious collision reveals a dangerous bulge below the water line. But the ship does not sink and Jim survives to face an official inquiry. He is stripped of his license and faces universal scorn and the reality of his own guilt.

More fables about the lives of the Frogs of Sawhill Ponds. Benjamin Froglin, Dr. Sigmund Frog, and others return to comment with insight and humor on the issues - serious and light - faced by the pond's inhabitants. As with Volume 1, the tales are addressed to children and adults in order to generate thought and raise questions

In Waking Up, Swami Yogeshananda takes on some of the most profound questions that mankind has ever thought to ask. Using Vedanta, a spiritual philosophy that harmonizes the basic tenets of all the world's religions, Yogeshananda seeks to broaden one's faith, whatever it may be, and exapnd the world's capacity for compassion. This is a far-reaching book with infinite spiritual possibilities.

The greatest short story writers strive to achieve a single, dramatic effect, a feature which the early masters of this genre perfected. Although the short story came from Europe, it was reborn in America and reached a pinnacle of superb form on these shores by the turn of the 20th century. In so many of our best writers, we hear echoes of a pioneer ethos that sustains the heart of a great literature. Here are 12 of America's best.

When the Muslims swept out of the Arabian peninsula in the eighth century, one of the first areas to fall under their power was the Holy Land; it was an event that would have long term consequences for three distinct civilizations.

Second Lieutenant James Madison Page was a Union officer of Company A, Sixth Michigan Cavalry during the Civil War. After participating in many skirmishes and battles, including Gettysburg, Page was captured in Virginia on September 21, 1863 by Confederate forces along the Rapidan. After spending several months in various prison camps, he arrived at Andersonville Prison in Georgia on February 27, 1864. He would remain there seven months during a time when the prison population grew from 10,000 to over 30,000.

From the death of Louis XIV in 1715 until the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, there occurred a profound evolution in the thinking of political philosophers, whose epoch is known as The Enlightenment. There were three men whose writings were to be most responsible for this intellectual whirlwind: Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau.

The legend of Robin Hood was based on the career of a real outlaw who lived in the forests near Nottingham, England, in the last half of the 12th century. His character has become world famous and is the subject of hundreds of plays, novels, stories, and films. As a man of the people who was a partisan for the lower classes, he also became strongly associated with an anticlerical yet pious Christian attitude, an animosity toward the sheriff of Nottingham, and a special regard toward women, children, and the infirm.

No nation has ever achieved the literary diversity of America. From nativist humor to immigrant triumph, Americans have recorded their visions and hopes better than anyone

In 1789 a group of sober-minded, concerned citizens set in motion a series of events which were to end up leading to the deaths of thousands of perfectly innocent persons. How did this reasonable movement of level-headed civic leaders spin out of control? At a glance, the French Revolution appears a bewildering series of political factions sweeping in and out of power, massacre and counter-massacre, terror and guillotine, and one economic crisis following another.

The Book of Psalms is a book in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles consisting of 150 poems originally written to be chanted or sung and accompanied by musical instruments. In fact, the word "psalm" comes from the Greek word "psalmoi", meaning "songs sung to a harp". In content they express virtually the entire range of the Jewish religious experience and faith.