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In his book Pragmatism, William James attacked the transcendental, rationalist tradition in philosophy and tried to clear the ground for the doctrine he called radical empiricism. The book caused an uproar; it was greeted with praise, hostility, and ridicule. Determined to clarify the pragmatic conception of truth, James collected nine essays he had written on this subject before he wrote Pragmatism and six written later in response to criticisms of that volume by Bertrand Russell and others. He published the collection under the title "The Meaning of Truth" in 1909, the year before his death.

Much Ado About Nothing appears to have been written about 1599, shortly before As You Like It and Twelfth Night. The action combines two narrative threads: the spirited comedy of the courtship of Benedick and Beatrice, and the somber tale of confused love between Hero and Claudio. The first is a creation by Shakespeare and the second appears to have been drawn from an Italian source, either by Bandello or Ariosto. The action takes place in Messina. Eponymous lovers Hero and Claudio seem to be ideally matched and nearly everyone is looking forward to their impending marriage.

Emile Gaboriau first introduced the young police officer and detective Monsieur Lecoq in his novel L'Affaire Lerouge. He based his character on an actual thief who later became no less than the head of the Paris police -- Eugine Francois Vidocq. As a character, Lecoq would later influence Arthur Conan Doyle in his creation of Sherlock Holmes. In this, his first foray into detection, Lecoq reveals his mastery of the art of disguise and his zeal for detection. Monsieur Lecoq: Volume I is the first of a two-part novel and details the crime and ensuing investigation.

American psychologist William James (1842-1910) was also a philosopher of considerable repute and borrowed the theory of pragmatism first put forward by Charles Peirce to help form his own interpretation of the philosophy. Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking is based on the notion that the meaning of any idea is valid only if it works both experientially and practically. The book consists of a series of eight lectures, delivered at the Lowell Institute in Boston in November and December of 1906, and at Columbia University in January 1907.

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) may be considered the Canadian counterpart to Mark Twain. For many years he was professor of economics at Magill University and published a number of well-regarded texts on economics and political science. However, he is best known today for his many volumes of humorous fiction. During the 1920s he was one of the most widely read authors in the English-speaking world and was considered by Jack Benny and Groucho Marx to be one of the greatest comic writers of all time.

After the death of their father, Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene return to Thebes. The ruler is their unyielding uncle by marriage, Creon, who assumed command after the death of the sons of Oedipus, Eteocles, and Polynices in a fratricidal struggle to take control of the city. Creon has the body of one brother buried with full civic honors but forbids the burial of the body of the other, whom he regards as a traitor. Antigone's challenge to Creon's decree, which she considers unjust, results in the extinction of the family line of Oedipus.

A dead woman is discovered in the parlor of an empty luxury home in New York's famed Gramercy Park. Thus opens Anna Katharine Green's popular detective novel That Affair Next Door.

Born in England in 1869, Stephen Leacock would immigrate to Canada and become a teacher, political scientist, and writer. He would ultimately come to be best known and loved as a humourist. Literary Lapses was first published as a collection of sketches in 1910, although many of the individual stories were first printed in various newspapers and periodicals, such as Punch, New York Life, and the Detroit Free Press.

Hornung published this second volume of the adventures of genius cracksman A.J. Raffles in 1901. Raffles is always casing rich homes to burgle, and is always accompanied by his trusted friend and confidant 'Bunny.' While they generally score, their escapades are never without a certain degree of risk, but Raffles seems always prepared.

This collaboration between French writer Maurice Leblanc and British writer/translator Edgar Jepson introduces the world to the fictitious French gentleman thief Arsene Lupin. The book was based on a play by Leblanc, and was first published in 1909. While the work reflects a young Lupin, listeners will recognize the character of this lovable burglar.

Anna Katharine Green (1846 - 1935) was one of the crime novelists and paved the way for later female writers of detective novels, like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh.

The life of a law clerk at a New York firm is hectic. It can only be made more so by the addition of a murder trial. Alongside his job at Graham & Royce, Lester has a front-row seat to the murder trial of Wall Street multi-millionaire Hiram Holladay. The banker’s loving daughter, Frances, is the prime suspect. This captivating novel details Lester’s experience as he attempts to prove Frances’ innocence.

Published in 1907 ‘That Affair at Elizabeth’ is a detective novel set in turn of the century New York City. When bride-to-be Marcia disappears just hours before her wedding, friend of the groom Lester decides to turn detective as he tries to track down the bride and uncover the mysterious reason behind her disappearance. An intriguing classic mystery novel from renowned author Burton E. Stevenson.

Raffles had vanished from the face of the town, and even I had no conception of his whereabouts until he cabled to me to meet the 7.31 at Charing Cross next night. That was on the Tuesday before the Varsity match, or a full fortnight after his mysterious disappearance. The telegram was from Carlsbad, of all places for Raffles of all men!

A Thief in the Night is the third book in the series, and the final collection of short stories. In it, Raffles, a gentleman thief, commits a number of burglaries in late Victorian England. Chronicler and accomplice Bunny Manders narrates additional adventures which he had previously omitted, from various points in their criminal careers.

"The thing happened so suddenly that I really had very little time to make up my mind what course to adopt under somewhat singular circumstances. I was seated at my favorite table against the wall on the right-hand side in Stephano’s restaurant, with a newspaper propped up before me, a glass of hock by my side, and a portion of the plat du jour, which happened to be chicken en casserole, on the plate in front of me."

This translation, by an unknown hand, of D'Aurevilly's salacious miscellany, which consists of six novellas, was published in 1900 under the title Weird Women and is in the public domain. When the collection was first published in France in 1874, it caused up an uproar; it was declared a danger to public morality and the prosecutor issued orders for its seizure on the grounds of blasphemy and obscenity.

Guy de Maupassant, France's gift to the world of short stories, was a prolific writer of this genre. His complete collection numbers just under 200.

The Amelia Butterworth Mysteries is a series of three novels featuring Amelia Butterworth teaming up with Ebenezer Gryce. Miss Butterworth is a nosy high-society lady whose wealth and lack of family give her plenty of free time in which to solve several Victorian-era crimes.

Guy de Maupassant, France's gift to the world of short stories, was a prolific writer of this genre. His complete collection numbers just under 200. Volume XII contains the following titles: