Best of
19th-Century

1978

The Proud Breed


Celeste De Blasis - 1978
    A FEARLESS MAN... A MAGNIFICENT LOVE. THE MONUNENTAL ADVENTURE THAT SWEEPS ACROSS A MIGHTY CENTURY OF AMERICAN HISTORY.The first time Gavin Ramsay sees Tessa MacLeod y Amarista -- a violet-eyed beauty swimming naked in a hidden pool--she reacts by attacking him with a knife. Realizing her mistake, she nurses him back to health and into a deep, enduring and courageous love. Together, despite tremendous obstacles Gavin and Tessa pursue their golden dream--they tame the land, raise a family, and reap great wealth and power. A vast empire is theirs, yet greater still is the magnificent family dynasty they have begun--a dynasty that will flourish on their firm foundation of love.Passionate, colorful and peopled with unforgettable characters, The Proud Breed vividly re-creates California's exciting past, from the wild country to the pirated coast, from gambling dens to lavish ballrooms, from the rush for gold to the triumph of statehood.

Complete Winnetou Trilogy


Karl May - 1978
    The adventures of Old Shatterhand, the young German adventurer, and Winnetou, the young Apache chief. During his first journey into the Wild West, a young greenhorn—Karl May, the adventurer—meets a young Apache, called Winnetou, while performing his job as a railroad surveyor in the Wild West. The first encounter is not at all amicable and during a violent Indian attack, the young German is near-fatally wounded. He is taken to the Apache pueblo to be nursed back to health, destined to die by torture at the stake…

The Black Swan


Day Taylor - 1978
    Adam Tremain, the captain of the Black Swan will deny his loyalty to the South to become a blockade runner, transporting fugitive slaves to freedom. Dulcie Moran is the beautiful, defiant daughter of Savannah's most prosperous slave-breeder. Despite and treachery, jealousy, deceit and passion weave and interweave through their epic love story, played out against the backdrop of a land at war.

The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics


Don E. Fehrenbacher - 1978
    On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the Supreme Court's decision against Dred Scott, a slave who maintained he had been emancipated as a result of having lived with his master in the free state of Illinois and in federal territory where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise. The decision did much more than resolve the fate of an elderly black man and his family: Dred Scott v. Sanford was the first instance in which the Supreme Court invalidated a major piece of federal legislation. The decision declared that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, thereby striking a severe blow at the legitimacy of the emerging Republican party and intensifying the sectional conflict over slavery. This book represents a skillful review of the issues before America on the eve of the Civil War. The first third of the book deals directly with the with the case itself and the Court's decision, while the remainder puts the legal and judicial question of slavery into the broadest possible American context. Fehrenbacher discusses the legal bases of slavery, the debate over the Constitution, and the dispute over slavery and continental expansion. He also considers the immediate and long-range consequences of the decision.

The Golden Key and Other Stories


George MacDonald - 1978
    S. Lewis but also such literary masters as Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien. Though his longer fairy tales Lilith and Phantastes are particularly famous, much of MacDonald’s best fantasy writing is found in his shorter stories. In this volume editor Glenn Sadler has compiled some of MacDonald’s finest short works—marvelous fairy tales and stories certain to delight readers familiar with MacDonald and those about to meet him for the first time.

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait


Alfred Stieglitz - 1978
    O'Keeffe and Stieglitz first met in 1916 when she heard that he was giving her drawings their first showing—without her consent. The following year he began his portrait of his future wife in a series that would portray her many aspects. 79 photos.

The Maclarens


C.L. Skelton - 1978
    War, secrets and betrayal cast a shadow over the Maclarens from the battlefield to the drawing-room. Young Andrew Maclaren, a brave yet sensitive soldier, faces the danger of conflicts in India and China. He must choose between the regiment he serves and the woman he loves. Willie Bruce, Andrew's childhood friend and fellow soldier, discovers loyalty is not always rewarded. Maud Westburn, beautiful but damaged, is the woman who loves them both. Will this love tear a family, and a regiment, apart? A sweeping saga about passion and honour, and the senseless brutality of war.

The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe


Julian Symons - 1978
    Symons reveals Poe as his contemporaries saw him a man struggling to make a living out of hack journalism and striving to find a backer for his new magazine, and a man whose life was beset by so many tragedies that he was often driven to excessive drinking and a string of unhealthy relationships. Fittingly written by another master in the art of crime writing, this volume brilliantly portrays the original creator of the detective story and reveals him as the genius and unashamed plagiarist that he was."

The Great Mutiny: India 1857


Christopher Hibbert - 1978
    First published in 1978 and re-issued with a handsome new cover for the 2002 paperback edition.

Germany 1866-1945


Gordon A. Craig - 1978
    Craig, author of several distinguished books including The Politics of the Prussian Army 1640-1945 ('55), has written a magisterial history of Germany from Prussia's 1866 triumph over Austria at Koeniggroetz to the destruction of the 3rd Reich in 1945. His story focuses upon the two dominating personalities of the period: Bismarck, the "great star" whose genius & penetration are undeniable, but whose achievement "had its 'night side' as well as its 'day side,'" & Hitler, who, unlike the Iron Chancellor, was "sui generis a force without a real historical past." Craig agrees with Dahrendorf (Society & Democracy in Germany) that, paradoxically, it was precisely because he lacked roots in tradition that Hitler could destroy the major obstacle to its progress towards a liberal modernity--"the conservative-militaristic concern that had dominated politics in the Wilhelmine period, done everything possible to shorten the life of the Weimar Republic & elevated him to power in 1933." The concentration on these two figures in no way represents a failure to appreciate institutional, economic & social factors of development. A major part of the story--the place & treatment of women under the Empire, Weimar & Hitler--receives an overdue coherent treatment as do religion & education. Craig (J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Stanford) displays an equally keen appreciation of the role of culture. In particular, he forcefully portrays the flight from political responsibility which was characteristic of most artists & intellectuals under the Empire & which marred the splendid cultural achievements of Weimar as well. The combination of his learning with his gracefully lucid style has yielded a work of historical synthesis more readable & better organized than any book of comparable scope.--Kirkus (edited)

The Way of Life


Charles Hodge - 1978
    A new edition of The Way of Life and excerpts from other writings by this 19th-century leader of Presbyterian theological education.

The Portable Tolstoy


Leo Tolstoy - 1978
    The soul that shines through the work of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) is a vast and contradictory thing. It generates the narrative floodtides of War and Peace and Anna Karenina and short stories so intimate that we seem to inhabit their characters rather than just observe them. Tolstoy's soul is that of a consummate artist who despises artfulness and seeks to approximate the disorder of life, of a sensualist who aspires to sainthood, of an aristocrat who identifies fiercely with the small and humble.All the aspects of Tolstoy's work and character are on display in this masterful anthology. The Portable Tolstoy includes a complete short novel, The Kreutzer Sonata; passages from the author's fictional memoirs of his childhood, youth and military life; excerpts from The Cossacks; The short stories "The Wood-Felling,""Master and Man," and "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"; the play "The Power of Darkness"; selections from such philosophic, social and critical writings as "A Confession" and "What Is Art?"; and a chronology, bibliography and critical introduction by the renowned scholar John Bayley. The result is a splendid and authoritative volume of work by a writer whose moral vision, narrative powers, and stylistic range all but defy containment.

Christmas Drawings


Thomas Nast - 1978
    Finely detailed drawings of St. Nick, sleigh rides, reindeer, "The Night Before Christmas," North Pole, and more are all depicted in this seasonal collection.

Рассказы


Mark Twain - 1978
    Featuring popular tales such as “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” and “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” as well as some delightful excerpts from The Diaries of Adam and Eve, this compilation also includes darker works written in the author’s twilight years. These selections illuminate the depth of Twain’s artistry, humor, irony, and narrative genius.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Doyle Diary


Charles Altamont Doyle - 1978
    His random jottings and exquisite illustrations in an attempt to prove his sanity, later became this fascinating journal.

Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy, 1800-1900


James C. Mohr - 1978
    'The history of how abortion came to be banned and how women lost--for the century between approximately 1870 and 1970--rights previously thought to be natural and inherent over their own bodies is a fascinating and infuriating one.

River of Fire


Bettie Wilson Story - 1978
    Two girls, one a runaway slave, are forced together to survive in the Alabama wilderness of 1836.

The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm


Ellen Moers - 1978
    

Lillie


David Butler - 1978
    Along with Queen Alexandra she was acknowledged to be the most beautiful woman in Edwardian England.Lillie Langtry was Edward VII's mistress, painted by Millais, courted by King Leopold of the Belgians, loved by Oscar Wilde, and protected by Queen Alexandra herself when she bore an illegitimate child in secret. This novel, upon which the stunning television series of the same name is based, takes Lillie's story from her girlhood, through the glamour and the triumphs, the scandals and the tragedies, to 1902 and Edward VII's accession to the throne.

Three Victorian Detective Novels


E.F. Bleiler - 1978
    

Trail Of An Artist Naturalist: The Autobiography Of Ernest Thompson Seton


Ernest Thompson Seton - 1978
    

Glengarry's Way and Other Stories


William Roughead - 1978
    

The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville: Benito Cereno/Bartleby the Scrivener/The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles/Billy Budd, Foretopman


Herman Melville - 1978
    Contents: Benito Cereno; Bartleby the Scrivener; The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles; Billy Budd, Foretopman.

Dear Osborne: Queen Victoria's Family Life in the Isle of Wight


John Matson - 1978
    Queen Victoria's family life on the Isle of Wight.