Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in All Categories

The importance of the volume in the American Nation series is that it includes colonies of the three types which persisted down to the Revolution—the crown colonies, the proprietary colonies, and the three New England charter colonies. On one side the volume emphasizes the variety of conditions and experiments in government. On the other side, it brings out that characteristic that gives the volume its name, the steady determination of the colonists in all three types of colonies to enjoy self-government in internal affairs.

A prominent focus of the works of New Thought author Christian Larson (1874-1954) was the cultivation of positive mental states for the attainment of success and happiness. In this short treatise, he analyzes some common mental maladies and gives suggestions for their treatment.

Funny, outrageous, sometimes touching, and perhaps a little bit naughty - in Queen Lucia, E. F. Benson has created not only a wonderful character study in Mrs. Lucas, but a whole village of memorable characters.

A collection of 15 beloved Chinese myths, legends, and folktales that are rich in tradition and culture. Each story transports the listener back to ancient times and is filled with excitement, adventure, magic, and laughter.

While exploring the beach, four adventurous children make the acquaintance of a very odd creature: a sand fairy. When they have adapted to the brusque and forthright demeanor of the fairy, they discover that he has unusual powers, which he can be persuaded to demonstrate. As a result, the children enjoy many bizarre adventures, some of which are dangerous, but all of which are entertaining. Five Children and It is the first volume of a trilogy.

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.

When James Forrestal resigned as secretary of defense in March 1949 before apparently committing suicide (arguably the highest ranking US government official to do so), he left in his office a large accumulation of files and papers. Among them was a private record. This was the "diary", as he called it, that he had maintained in one form or another since the middle of 1944, shortly after his appointment as secretary of the Navy.

Possibly one of the most dissected poems ever, Eliot's poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King combined with vignettes of contemporary British society. Eliot employs many literary and cultural allusions from the Western canon, Buddhism, and the Hindu Upanishads. The poem shifts between voices of satire and prophecy featuring abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location, and time and conjuring a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures.

A man was hanged in Reading Gaol during Wilde's imprisonment there. In "The Ballad", written after his release, he tells of the horror of the event and its effect on himself and his fellow prisoners. First published 1898, under the pseudonym C.3.3 - the number by which Wilde was known in the prison, consisting of the cell block, landing number and cell number of his cell.

New Poems by D.H.Lawrence. Narrated by Denis Daly. This audiobook is a collection of 42 poems first published in 1920. In it, Lawrence explores the possibilities of free verse, of which he says in the preface: “This is the unrestful, ungraspable poetry of the sheer present, poetry whose very permanency lies in its wind-like transit.”

In this story, by American writer Dorothy Parker, a woman gives a laundry list of men she's not married to. She also convincingly states the reasons why she is not and would not want to be married to the various men. Parker's wit and humor shine through as the eccentricities and foibles of the men are described.

This quintessentially English novel is considered by many to be a masterpiece of storytelling. Set for the most part on a riverbank in rural England, against a backdrop of social, agricultural, and industrial change typical of the early 20th century, Kenneth Grahame's portrayal of the anthropomorphic characters (which include Mole, Ratty, Badger, Otter, and, of course, the incorrigible Mr. Toad) is imaginative, lyrical, and without doubt uniquely humorous.

This condensed version of the King Arthur narrative was compiled by folklorist Andrew Lang from traditional sources and features all the familiar iconography: the sword in the stone, Excalibur, the Round Table, Camelot, Merlin, knights and chivalry, and the quest for the Holy Grail.

The Adventures of Buster Bear follows a bear who has moved from the Great Woods to the Green Forest. Unknown to the little people of the Green Forest, Buster Bear, although is big and has a grumbly rumbly voice is actually very shy. As with most Burgess books, there is a positive morale to the story.

One day Peter Rabbit sees a strange thing that scares him. He tells many of his friends in the Green Forest who at first don't believe him. Then, after Unc' Billy Possum sees the same thing, others begin to wonder what this strange thing is. Peter eventually learns the truth of what scared him and together with his friends, they start scaring Green Forest predators such as Reddy Fox, Granny Fox, and Ole Man Coyote. But, what is it that is scaring them up on Prickly Porky's hill?

This is what may be described as the bad-day book of the Bible. King Solomon held onto the greatest wisdom of his generation, but after all his work, and at the end of his life, he saw all his life's work as "Madness and folly". The wise king would learn that even in these down days there is a plan. There is a purpose. No matter what he felt there was something greater than he could see. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

Perhaps there is a knack to being able to talk coherently to a two year-old, but this skill is lost on the storyteller in this highly relatable and humorous short story from the creator of Winnie the Pooh. Narrated by Glenn Hascall.

This is the handwritten book that Carroll wrote for private use before being urged to develop it later into Alice in Wonderland. It was meant to entertain his family and friends. When a sick child in a hospital enjoyed it so much, the mother wrote him saying it had distracted her for a bit from her pain and led eventually to Carroll expanding the story.

Jack London draws upon his own experiences of a long Klondike winter to tell the story of two men, complete opposites in almost every way, who break off from their gold-searching party to spend a long winter together in a remote cabin. Thinking it will be easier than pushing on further north with the rest of the party, they fight against the cold, dwindling supplies, endless days of complete darkness, encroaching madness, the ubiquitous "Fear of the North", and ultimately, each other.

Beautifully performed by Ann Richardson, this bedtime prayer by Sabine Baring-Gould is a comfort to listeners young or old.