"I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him – only to bring him to life."Innocent Smith, an "allegorical practical joker", turns everything upside down with his arrival at Beacon House, a London Boarding establishment. His passion and liveliness brightens up the place immediately, but at the height of the enjoyment, everyone is shocked when Smith tries to murder one of them.But in 'Manalive' (1912), Chesterton's perhaps mos...

"The Frenchman works until he can play. The American works until he can't play; and then thanks the devil, his master, that he is donkey enough to die in harness. But the Englishman, as he has since become, works until he can pretend that he never worked at all."'Eugenics and Other Evils' (1922) is a magnificent takedown of the entire basis of eugenic thought – the idea that controlled breeding will improve the human population. But it is about far more than eugenics: it is about h...

When the Spanish government declared war against the United States in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to take his place as lieutenant colonel of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. His involvement with this unit, nicknamed The Rough Riders, established "Teddy" as a household name. The Rough Riders is the future president's account of his experiences and of the Spanish-American War.

'Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.'Published in 1905, Heretics is Chesterton's fascinating reckoning with atheism. Wide-ranging in topic and eloquently argued, it is a significant work in Chesterton's corpus of moral theology.A compelling series of twenty essays, Heretics sees Chesterton take aim at fashionable contemporary thinkers – writers and philosophers suc...

First published in the Forum in 1889, In the Year 2889 was published in France the next year. A humorous and insightful look into a future society, the novella is now believed to be chiefly if not entirely the work of Jules Verne's son, Michel Verne, albeit continuing the work of Jules Verne by echoing many of his much-visited themes and ideas.

George Eliot's brilliant fiction debut contains three stories from the lives of clergymen, with the aim of disclosing the value hidden in the commonplace."The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton" portrays a character who is hard to like and generally despised—until his suffering shocks others into fellowship and sympathy.In "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story," young Caterina is courted by two opposite men: Wybrow, who is capable of loving only himself, and Mr. Gilfil, whose love is ...

Please note: This audiobook has been created using AI voice. In a desire for better sheepfarming land on an unnamed British colony, Higgs decides to traverse the distant mountain range. On the other side he discovers not the empty rolling plains of his imagination but an entirely new civilization: the land of Erewhon. Inducted into the ways of their culture, he attempts to transcribe as best he can their thoughts on birth, death, machines, the production of food, their financial system, an...

Penguin Island is Anatole France’s most searching and satirical novel. A humorous critique of customs and laws, rituals and rites, its subject is human nature, but its characters are penguins in the mythical land of Penguinia. The story of the strutting penguins and their virtues and vices is not merely a burlesque allegory of French history, but a satire of the history of mankind. With gentle yet biting irony, France challenges the Spencerian belief in the ultimate perfectibility...

H. G. Wells sets forth an intriguing, first-hand observation of Italy, France, and Britain under severe duress during the "War to End All Wars," World War I. He examines the technological effects of modern warfare on human nature, particularly the introduction of the tank and aerial bombing. Two prophetic visions of his philosophy to truly end all war are revealed: the control of war weapons and the creation of a world state.

This famous novel deals with the early frontier period of American history and is set in 1757 during the Seven Years War between the French and the British. Intrepid frontiersman and scout Natty ‘Hawkeye’ Bumppo, has lived among Indians for most of his life, respecting their customs and acquiring the skills of an experienced woodsman. His closest companion Chingachgook, the Mohican chief, and his son Uncas are the last surviving members of the Mohican tribe. When the evil Magua threatens t...

There is a pleasure in listening to the imagery of Alexander’s Bridge that is similar to viewing a beautiful watercolor, as in the following description of a Boston street in late afternoon: “The sun sank rapidly; the silvery light had faded from the bare boughs and the watery twilight was setting in when Wilson at last walked down the hill, descending into cooler and cooler depths of grayish shadow.”Against this delicate imagery, Willa Cather renders the tough inner terrain of a m...

This delightful collection of lesser-known gems by Mark Twain begins with the story of a town called Hadleyburg, which prides itself on the honesty of its citizens. One day a citizen of Hadleyburg offends a stranger passing through, who vows to take his revenge by revealing just how corruptible the sanctimonious town really is. Twain is at his best here, poking fun at common hypocrisy as the self-satisfied pillars of the community are done in by their own greed.Other stories in the...