Best of
19th-Century

1879

The Brothers Karamazov


Fyodor Dostoevsky - 1879
    Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbalinventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.

The Grand Inquisitor


Fyodor Dostoevsky - 1879
    The central character in this work is a Grand Inquisitor who arrests Jesus. A Grand Inquisitor, or Inquisitor Generalis in German is the individual who leads an Inquisition, just like Spanish Dominican Tomas de Torquemada who was the official in charge of the Spanish Inquisition.

Four Major Plays: A Doll's House / Ghosts / Hedda Gabler / The Master Builder


Henrik Ibsen - 1879
    Taken from the highly acclaimed Oxford Ibsen, this collection of Ibsen's plays includes A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder.

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains


Isabella Lucy Bird - 1879
    In this volume, she paints an intimate picture of the "Wild West," writing eloquently of flora and fauna, isolated settlers and assorted refugees from civilization, vigilance committees and lynchings, and crude table manners yet a gentle civility — even chivalry — among the men she encountered in the wilderness. Thoughtfully written, this captivating narrative provides a vibrant account of a bygone era and the people that forever changed the face of the frontier.

Aeterni Patris


Pope Leo XIII - 1879
    The aim of the encyclical was to aid and advance the restoration of Christian philosophy, which had fallen into danger and disrepute by adhering to modern trends in secular philosophy, by urging a return to the scholastic thinkers of the Middle Ages, most especially the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, and the related philosophical system of Thomism. The encyclical attempts to clarify the roles of faith and philosophy (later to be covered again in John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio [[On] Faith and Reason]), showing how most beneficially each may profit from the other."

Andersonville - Volume 1 A Story of Rebel Military Prisons


John McElroy - 1879
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Barchester Towers, Miss Mackenzie and Cousin Henry


Anthony Trollope - 1879
    Trollope was of course interested in the Church, that pillar of Victorian society - in its susceptibility to corruption, hypocrisy, and blinkered conservatism - but the Barsetshire novels are no more 'ecclesiastical' than his Palliser novels are 'political'. It is the behaviour of the individuals within a power structure that interests him. In this novel, Trollope continues the story of Mr Harding and his daughter Eleanor, adding to his cast of characters that oily symbol of progress Mr Slope, the hen-pecked Dr Proudie, and the amiable and breezy Stanhope family. The central questions of this moral comedy - who will be warden? Who will be dean? Who will marry Eleanor? - are skilfully handled with that subtlety of ironic observation that has won Trollope such a wide and appreciative readership.Miss Mackenzie: In 'Miss Mackenzie' Trollope made a deliberate attempt 'to prove that a novel may be produced without any love', but as he candidly admits in his 'Autobiography, the attempt 'breaks down before the conclusion.In taking for his heroine an middle - aged spinster, his contemporaries of writing about young girls in love. Instead he depicts Margaret Mackenzie, overwhelmed with money troubles', as she tries to assess the worth and motives of four very different suitors.Although her creator calls her 'unattractive', most readers will warm to Miss Mackenzie and admire her modesty, dignity, and shrewdness.Cousin Henry: Cousin Henry, first published in 1879, is perhaps the most unusual and intriguing of Trollope's shorter novels. Trollope's masterly handling of the novel's unlikely hero, a tiresome and timid coward, is notable for its insight and compassion.