Best of
Non-Fiction

1926

You Can't Win


Jack Black - 1926
    Jack Black's autobiography was a bestseller and went through five printings in the late 1920's. It has led a mostly subterranean existence since then - best known as William S. Burrough's favorite book, one he admitted lifting big chunks of from memory for his first novel, Junky. But it's time we got wise to this book, which is in itself a remarkably wise book - and a ripping true saga. It's an amazing journey into the hobo underworld: freight hopping around the still wide open West at the turn of the 20th century, becoming a member of the "yegg" (criminal) brotherhood and a highwayman, learning the outlaw philosophy from Foot-and-a-half George and the Sanctimonious Kid, getting hooked on opium, passing through hobo jungles, hop joints and penitentiaries. This is a chunk of the American story entirely left out of the history books - it's a lot richer and stranger than the official version. This new edition also includes an Afterword that tells some of what became of Black after he wore out the outlaw life and washed up in San Francisco, wrote this book and reinvented himself.

Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West: Love Letters


Virginia Woolf - 1926
    I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone. I just miss you...' At a dinner party in 1922, Virginia Woolf met the renowned author, aristocrat - and sapphist - Vita Sackville-West. Virginia wrote in her diary that she didn't think much of Vita's conversation, but she did think very highly of her legs. It was to be the start of almost twenty years of flirtation, friendship, and literary collaboration. Their correspondence ended only with Virginia's tragic death in 1941.Intimate and playful, these selected letters and diary entries allow us to hear these women's constantly changing feelings for each other in their own words. Eavesdrop on the affair that inspired Virginia to write her most fantastical novel, Orlando, and glimpse into their extraordinary lives: from Vita's travels across the globe, to Virginia's parties with the Bloomsbury set; from their shared love of dogs and nature, to their grief at the beginning of the Second World War. Discover a relationship that - even a hundred years later - feels radical and relatable.WITH AN ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers


Will Durant - 1926
    Few write for the non-specialist as well as Will Durant, and this book is a splendid example of his eminently readable scholarship. Durant’s insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is a key book for anyone who wishes to survey the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.

Microbe Hunters


Paul de Kruif - 1926
    Gonzalez-Crussi, from the Introduction An international bestseller, translated into eighteen languages, Paul de Kruif’s classic account of the first scientists to see and learn about the microscopic world continues to fascinate new readers. This is a timeless dramatization of the scientists, bacteriologists, doctors, and medical technicians who discovered the microbes and invented the vaccines to counter them. De Kruif writes about how seemingly simple but really fundamental discovers of science—for instance, how a microbe was first viewed in a clear drop of rain water, and when, for the first time, Louis Pasteur discovered that a simple vaccine could save a man from the ravages of rabies by attacking the microbes that cause it.

How Should One Read a Book?


Virginia Woolf - 1926
    In revised form it appears to have been first published in The Yale Review, October, 1926. Along with other essays, it first appeared in book form in Woolf's The Common Reader: Second Series in 1932.

History in English Words


Owen Barfield - 1926
    History in English Words, his classic historical excursion through the English language, is now back in print after five years.This popular book provides a brief, brilliant history of those who have spoken the Indo-European tongues. It is illustrated throughout by current English words—whose derivation from other languages, whose history in use and changes of meaning—record and unlock the larger history."In our language alone, not to speak of its many companions, the past history of humanity is spread out in an imperishable map, just as the history of the mineral earth lies embedded in the layers of its outer crust.... Language has preserved for us the inner, living history of our soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness" (Owen Barfield).About the Author:Owen Barfield (1898-1997), British philosopher and critic, has been called the "First and Last Inkling" because of his influential and enduring role in the group known as the Oxford Inklings, which included C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. It was Barfield who first advanced the ideas about language, myth, and belief that became identified with the thought and art of the Inklings. He is the author of numerous books, including Poetic Diction; Romanticism Comes of Age; Unancestoral Voice; History, Guilt, and Habit; and Worlds Apart, as well as works of fiction and poetry. His history of the evolution of human consciousness, Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry, achieved a place in the list of the "100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century."

The Tomb of Tutankhamun: Volume 1: Search, Discovery and Clearance of the Antechamber


Howard Carter - 1926
    Despite its plundering by thieves in antiquity, the burial of the king lay intact with its nest of coffins and funerary shrines, surrounded by a mass of burial equipment arranged in three peripheral chambers.Published in 1923, this is the first volume of Carter's trilogy, describing the years of frustration in search of the burial site, the triumph of its eventual discovery and the long, painstaking process of exploring and cataloguing its treasures. Containing over 100 images from the site itself, this volume also includes Carter's short article, 'The Tomb of the Bird,' which inadvertently spawned the legend of the great curse of Tutankhamun's tomb.

On the Trail of Ancient Man


Roy Chapman Andrews - 1926
    This book takes an anthropological perspective in its exploration of the Mongolian landscape and culture, as well as a paleontologist's point of view when discussing the fossils uncovered, from dinosaur eggs to a Protoceratop's skull.

An Island Hell


S.A. Malsagoff - 1926
    Malsagoff (also spelled as Malsagov) who escaped from the Solovetsky Island prison camp in the Soviet Arctic in the 1920s.

Gifted Children: Their Nature and Nurture


Leta Stetter Hollingworth - 1926
    

Art and Production


Boris Arvatov - 1926
    This is the first English edition of this influential work—a crucial intervention for those seeking to understand the social dynamic of art and revolution during the period. Derived from the internal struggles of Soviet constructivism, Arvatov’s writing played a major role in the split that occurred in the constructivist movement of the early 1920s—Productivism. Arvatov acknowledges the problems of a factory-based Productivism, and he presents a new role and function for art outside the conventional studio and traditional gallery setting. Dealing with issues such as artistic versus productive labor, the artist as technician, the multidisciplinarity of art, and the struggles of finding new relevance amidst the contemporary participatory art trend, Art and Production offers a timely and compelling manifesto for contemporary debates on art and politics.

The Nights of London


H.V. Morton - 1926
    He always replies: 'There is no secret. You either enjoy yourself or you do not. If you do, say so; if you do not - say so ' This disarming sincerity is, perhaps, responsible for the charm and fascination of his books. The feel and smell of the countryside, also a sense of movement, find their way into these light-hearted wanderings, and, combined with humour, acute observation, sympathy and an engaging curiosity, have justly gained for them a wide and increasing popularity. This book is full of anecdotes from his nightly trawls of London, packed with humour and charm. Contents Include: The Nights of London - The Dead City - When the 'Tubes' Stop - Ships at Night - Under Waterloo Bridge - A Jungle Night - At a Stage Door - Night in Hospital - Fan-Tan - Drama on Wheels - Cabaret - The First Edition - A Lost Day - 'Sir Percivale' - White and Yellow - Ambition's Road - Love and Youth - Omnibuses in Bed - Dining Out - The 'Spring Onion' - 'Charlie Brown's' - Fire - Behind the Scenes - Gladiators - The Unborn Home - Chinese New Year - The Happy Man - Sorting the '5.30' - The Thames: Two A.M. - Bloomsbury - The 'Old Vic' - The East's 'West End' - A Suburban Dance - 'Pub Crawlers' - A Night Club - To Anywhere - Our Last Inn - Dawn Over London

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary Series)


James Alan Montgomery - 1926
    This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Canning Wonder


Arthur Machen - 1926
    She returned a month later, but to this day no one has been able to discover whither she went, or why. She claimed to have been abducted, but there was no viable evidence of such. One of the most remarkable causes celèbres of the Eighteenth Century, here examined in depth by Mr. Machen.