Best of
19th-Century
1959
Selected Poems and Letters
Emily Dickinson - 1959
Includes both poems and letters of Dickinson, as well as a contemporary description of the poet in Thomas Wentworth Higginson's account of his correspondence with the poet and his visit to her in Amherst.
The General’s Wife: The Life of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant
Ishbel Ross - 1959
This maxim was never truer than with Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia. Through all the turbulence of his lengthy career, Julia stood firm to support him through all the obstacles that fortune threw in their way. Julia was certainly not passive as her husband rose through the ranks of the army and eventually became President of the United States. Indeed, through the course of the Civil War, she left their children with relatives and stayed with Ulysses during campaigns in Memphis, Vicksburg, Nashville and Virginia, travelling more than ten thousand miles in four years. She performed the role of First Lady with great dignity, organizing spectacular events and hosting leaders from across the globe. Yet, as Ross highlights, the marriage was not without difficulty and sometimes contradictions, for although Ulysses was fighting for the Union and the cause of emancipation, Julia had come from a slave-owning family and this had caused a great deal of consternation in his family. Ishbel Ross’s superb biography of this remarkable woman uncovers a truly remarkable marriage and has brought the life of this fascinating First Lady back from the shadows of her husband’s career and into the public eye once more. “Ulysses and Julia Grant were a profoundly united couple, and so it is not easy to make a clear distinction between his life and hers. The two loved and needed each other. … It is very pleasant to get to know Julia Grant, who, in her devotion, was one of the more potent women in American history.” The Saturday Review “Lengthy, well-written, carefully detailed, this biography of the plain, devoted and ambitious wife of a great general and lesser president will appeal greatly … its emphasis on the life and manners of the Grant era should make it a valuable addition to the domestic history of Victorian America.” Kirkus Reviews Ishbel Ross was a prominent biographer of many of the most important women in American history. Her book The General's Wife: The Life of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant was first published in 1959, and she passed away in 1975.
Master and Man and Other Stories
Leo Tolstoy - 1959
The Two Hussars, inspired by his time in the army, contrasts a dashing father and his mean-spirited son. Illustrating Tolstoys belief that art must serve a moral purpose, What Men Live By portrays an angel sent to earth to learn three existential rules of life. And in the deeply moving Master and Man, a mercenary merchant travels with his unprotesting servant through a blizzard to close a business deallittle realizing he may soon have to settle accounts with his maker.Two hussars --Strider --God sees the truth but waits --A prisoner of the Caucasus --What men live by --Neglect a spark and the house burns down --The two old men --The three hermits --How much land does a man need? --Master and man.
Selected Works of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde - 1959
A writer of late nineteenth century, Oscar Wilde is popular for such works of literary art that portray aesthetic beauty, verbal craftsmanship and unbeatable wit.His works are characterized by a brilliant display of art and its relation with real life.
Selected Tales and Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne - 1959
With a determined commitment to the history of his native land, Nathaniel Hawthorne revealed, more incisively than any writer of his generation, the nature of a distinctly American consciousness. The pieces collected here deal with essentially American matters: the Puritan past, the Indians, the Revolution. But Hawthorne was highly – often wickedly – unorthodox in his account of life in early America, and his precisely constructed plots quickly engage the reader’s imagination. Written in the 1820s, 30s, and 40s, these works are informed by themes that reappear in Hawthorne’s longer works: The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance. And, as Michael J. Colacurcio points out in his excellent introduction, they are themes that are now deeply embedded in the American literary tradition.--back coverHollow of the Three HillsSir William PhipsMrs. HutchinsonWives of the DeadMy Kinsman, Major MolineuxRoger Malvin's BurialPassages from a Relinquished WorkMr. Higginbotham's CatastropheHaunted MindAlice Doane's AppealGray ChampionYoung Goodman BrownWakefieldNotch of the White MountainsAmbitious GuestMay-Pole of Merry MountMinister's Black VeilSunday at HomeMan of AdamantEndicott and the Red CrossNight SketchesLegens of the Province-HouseHall of FantasyBirthmarkEgotism; or the Bosom-SerpentChristmas BanquetCelestial RailroadEarth's HolocaustArtist of the BeautifulRappacini’s DaughterEthan Brand
Knots Untied: Being Plain Statements on Disputed Points in Religion from the Standpoint of an Evangelical Churchman
J.C. Ryle - 1959
One day in 1837 he happed into a church where, hearing Scripture read out loud, he was transformed. One verse, and the emphasis made in between each clause, gripped him. "By grace are ye saved ... through faith ... and that not of yourselves ... it is the gift of God." Of his conversion Ryle said, "nothing to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct as my own sinfulness, Christ's presence, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity of coming out of the world, the need of being born again, and the enormous folly of the whole doctrine of baptismal regeneration." At one time, Ryle actually pursued a career in banking. However, in 1841 his father's investments collapsed, and instantly his whole future changed. "We got up one summer's morning with all the world before us as usual, and went to bed that night completely and entirely ruined." By autumn of that year, Ryle applied himself to the Christian ministry. He was ordained in 1841, and after thirty-nine years of faithful service he was made the first Bishop of Liverpool. Known for his exceptional writing skills, he once commented, "In style and composition, I frankly avow that I have studied as far as possible to be plain and pointed and to choose what an old divine calls picked and packed words. I have tried to place myself in the position of one who is reading aloud to others." J.C. Ryle was a man of extraordinary fortitude. One of his biographers described him as a "man of granite." Indeed, Ryle himself said, "Nothing I believe roots principles so firmly in people's minds as having to fight for them and defend them. Argument, controversy, and combat are of course very disagreeable things, especially about religion. But God overrules them I believe entirely to our good; they help to make us know what we believe and to develop more distinctly our religious system." Again, "What is won dearly is priced highly and clung to firmly." Minister of the gospel, evangelical champion, man of granite -- simply put, J.C. Ryle was one of Christ's gift to His church (Eph. 4:11).
St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality
John Meyendorff - 1959
His understanding of hesychasm, the monastic movement centered on solitude and unceasing prayer, is grounded in an incarnational theology: When spiritual joy comes to the body from the mind, it suffers no diminution by this communion with the body, but rather transfigures the body, spiritualizing it rejecting all evil desires of the flesh, it no longer weighs down the soul but rises up with it, the whole man becoming spirit, as it is written: 'He who is born of the Spirit is spirit' (John 3:6-8). Triads 11, 2.9 This richly documented and lavishly illustrated study of Orthodox spirituality traces the development of 'Orthodox mysticism' from the desert fathers through the patristic tradition to Byzantine hesychasm and its heritage in Russian monasticism. It shows how the work of Palamas transcends the limits of one school of spirituality and renews in its deepest essence the life of the Christian Mystery.
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth - 1959
This edition is particulary important in that it presents the poems in order of composition and in a textual form as near as possible to their earliest completed state. This is invaluable for those interested in tracing the development of Wordsworth's art, and also gives the modern reader the opportunity to share something of the experience of Wordsworth's contemporaries such as Keats, Shelley, Hazlitt, and Lamb who would have read the poems when they were first completed.
Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South
Fawn M. Brodie - 1959
She describes his roles as father of the Fourteenth Amendment and prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, his relations with Lincoln, and his battles for black suffrage and schooling.
The Fabulous Showman: The Life and Times of P. T. Barnum
Irving Wallace - 1959
As bachelor, husband (twice), father, and grandfather, Barnum comes to life in Mr. Wallace's crowded book, an exceedingly interesting and human man. here, too, are New York City in all its 19th century color, the London of Queen Victoria, and the Paris of Napoleon III.In 1842, Barnum opened the first of the great museums of curiosities and freaks, adding immeasurably to the gaiety of New York life. He exhibited the tiny Charles Sherwood Stratton so successfully that he became known as General Tom Thumb, a world-famous figure. In 1850, Barnum imported Jenny Lind for a concert tour beginning at Castle Garden (later the Aquarium in Battery Park) which more than prefigured the later exploits of S. Hurok. When past 60, Barnum opened in Brooklyn "The Greatest Show on Earth," the first great American traveling circus. Combining 10 years later with James Anthony Bailey, he gave to millions of American children and grownups The Barnum and Bailey Circus. He bought from the London Zoological Society the huge elephant that became known everywhere as Jumbo. And always, he shrewdly understood that people did not mind being fooled ("There's a sucker born every minute"), if they were only entertained.Besides the towering figure of Barnum himself, this book's cast of characters includes not only Jenny Lind, Jumbo, and Tom Thumb, but also such ill-assorted figures as Chang and Eng (the original Siamese Twins), Queen Victoria herself, captive white whales, The Feejee Mermaid, and Abraham Lincoln.©1959 David Wallechinsky (P)2017 David N. Wilson
Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia 1825 - 1855
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky - 1959
Unable to find a satisfactory analysis of the subject, the author proceeded to write his own. This book largely organized itself: an exposition and discussion of the ideology naturally occupied the central position, preceded by a brief treatment of its proponents. But Official Nationality reached beyond intellectual circles, lectures and books; indeed, for thirty years it ruled Russia. Therefore, the author found it necessary to write a chapter on the emperor who, in effect, personally dominated and governed the country throughout his reign; to add a section on the imperial family, the ministers, and some other high officials to an account of the intellectuals who supported the state; and to sketch the application of Official Nationalty both in home affairs and in foreign policy. In this manner this title is able to bring the state doctrine and its role in Russian history into proper focus.