Artisan: 415 books

Now in its third printing, Philip Dossick’s magnificent historical study illustrating the humanity, science, and savagery of the Aztec nation, Aztecs: Epoch of Social Revolution takes us into a world we thought we knew, but will never seem the same again. Drawn from original research, Aztecs...

Joshua Raintree is a man in need of assistance. Seeking that help from an old acquaintance he finds himself more than 500 years in the future, in the middle of a maze and fighting for his life. He quickly discovers that this is a world where machines have reinvented the gods of mythology,...

"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong—and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading...

Bret Harte’s classic tales bring the California Gold Rush to life with their boisterous assemblage of rough-clad miners, prostitutes, pistol-packing preachers, iron-willed women, and philosophical gamblers. Theirs was an unpredictable world, filled with gold strikes and freak tragedies, when...

Regarded by many as the greatest of the Metaphysical poets, John Donne was also among the most intriguing figures of the Elizabethan age.   A sensualist who composed erotic and playful love poetry in his youth, he was raised a Catholic but later became one of the most admired...

“Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm; And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands…” Enoch Arden is a narrative poem published in 1864 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, during his tenure as England's poet laureate. Merchant sailor Enoch Arden leaves his wife Annie and three children...

“Surely, one must be either undiscerning, or frightened, to love only one person, when the world is so full of gracious and noble spirits.” Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna St. Vincent Millay was one of the most popular and respected poets in America. She is noted for both her dramatic works,...

“Once more the torturing whip was swung, Once more keen lashes the bare flesh stung. “Oh, spare! They are bleeding!”’ a little maid cried, And covered her face the sight to hide.” In The Bay of Seven Islands, Whittier’s idiosyncratic style, along with his...

The penultimate novel of the Rougon-Macquart cycle, The Downfall (1892) takes as its subject the dramatic events of the Franco-Prussian War. The Downfall seeks to explain why the Second Empire ended in an overwhelming military defeat and revolutionary violence. Zola focuses on ordinary...

Nana opens in 1867, the year of the Paris Worlds Fair, when France, thronged by a cosmopolitan elite, was a perfect target for Zola's scathing denunciation of hypocrisy and moral corruption. Zola tells the story of French realism's most beguiling siren, Nana Coupeau and her rise from streetwalker...

“When you call me that, smile!” The Virginian is the pioneering novel set in the Wild West by American author Owen Wister. It paved the way for many more westerns by such legendary authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour. First published in 1902, The Virginian created the familiar...

Herbert Devereux, the son of Sir Francis Devereux, is a soldier in Africa. A gallant soldier, he is dismissed by his regiment and disowned by his father because he has been found guilty—on false evidence—of cowardice in the field. In the heat of battle, he deserts his post to go to the...

“As to electricity, that will often be found on the individual himself. Each will work his pocket apparatus by a fluent current ingeniously set in motion; the whole system may be kept in a simple opera-glass case, and suspended by a strap from the shoulder...” The End of Books is great...

If you wish to learn something about William Makepeace Thackeray, both as a person and of his works generally, Thackeray will most certainly satisfy. Written by the novelist Anthony Trollope who had been a friend of William Makepeace Thackeray, this classic biography surveys the life and works...