Literary History & Criticism

In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town....

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

A leading scholar draws on fifty years of reading and studying J.R.R. Tolkien to explain how he created an entire world.

'I wish I was half as critically respected as Garth Marenghi, even if I currently trounce him sales-wise (for now)' RICHARD OSMAN 'I bought all three novels of the TerrorTome trilogy in a bargain slipcase edition and have read two of them already. Albeit in the wrong order' DERMOT O'LEARY...

Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant....

Short Stories in French for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment....

Over the course of a steamy and tense afternoon, twelve jurors deliberate the fate of a 19-year-old boy alleged to have murdered his own father....

Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades...if you dare. Hear shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate....

Significantly expanded and updated—a lively excursion into Japanese folklore and its increasing influence within global popular culture.

For over 500 years, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli has been one of the most influential—and controversial—works ever written on leadership, politics, and human nature.

Short Stories in German for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment....

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, read by Max Deacon and Dan Stevens. At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex...

Author Benjamin Hoff shows that the philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh is amazingly consistent with the principles of Taoism....

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult intermediate learners of Italian....

For over 40 years, Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan has inspired audiences to expand their world view beyond traditional Western forms....

Ramayana must rank as one of the most loved and revered books of all time. A part of India's ancient Vedas, it is a beautiful story of romance and adventure....

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Nicholas Khan, best known for their role in Transformers. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Malcolm Heath, read by Roy McMillan. One of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western...

Short Stories in Russian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment....

Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon...

A stunningly beautiful youth and the city of Venice set the stage for Thomas Mann’s introspective examination of erotic love and philosophical wisdom....

Stephen King has received enormous attention from both the popular press as well as academics seeking to explain the unique phenomenon of his success.

Goddess with a Thousand Faces blends historical research with mythological retelling, taking an inspirational, enlightening and fiercely feminist deep dive into ancient goddesses to explore the modern concept of femininity....

In this groundbreaking work, Sara Ahmed demonstrates how queer studies can put phenomenology to productive use. Focusing on the “orientation” aspect of “sexual orientation” and the “orient” in “orientalism,” Ahmed examines what it means for bodies to be situated in space and time.

A timeless, terrifying tale of one man’s obsession to create life—and the monster that became his legacy. “If ever a book needed to be placed in context, it’s Frankenstein” (The New York Times Book Review). A timeless, terrifying tale of one man's obsession to create life—and the...

A daily shot of eloquence and reflection. Let yourself be nourished with everyday lines from the Bard....

Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde is a timeless collection of the sharpest observations, paradoxes, and epigrams from one of literature’s most brilliant minds. Oscar Wilde’s wit is elegant, mischievous, and relentlessly insightful. With effortless precision, he skewers social conventions, exposes hypocrisy, and reveals enduring truths about love, ambition, beauty, morality, and human folly. Each quotation stands alone yet contributes to a larger portrait of Wilde’s worldview—one that prizes individuality, intellectual courage, and the art of living well.

Stephen King has received enormous attention from both the popular press as well as academics seeking to explain the unique phenomenon of his success. Books on King explore his canon in religious contexts, in political and historical contexts, in mythic contexts, in Gothic/horror contexts, and in a wide variety of other contexts appropriate to a writer who has become "America's Storyteller.

AWFULLY HILARIOUS STORIES WE NEVER TELL. Ever had a moment so embarrassing, so outrageously awkward, that you swore you’d take it to the grave? Well, we didn’t (take it to the grave, that is!). Here, for the benefit of all, we bare our souls (and other body parts we'd rather not mention).

In Bad Indians Book Club, we examine works about history, science, and gender as well as fiction, all written from the perspective of "Bad Indians"—marginalized writers whose refusal to comply with dominant narratives opens up new worlds.

What if the vastness of the cosmos and the depths of your own mind were reflections of the same truth? Dr. Shirish M Narsapur invites readers to explore the frontier where black holes meet human thought and quantum uncertainty mirrors the choices that shape our lives.