Barnes Noble: 2826 books

Not everything Twain wrote was family-friendly—least of all this hilariously bawdy sketch depicting a friendly chat on matters sexual and scatological among Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, and others. Privately published by William Dean Howells in an edition of only six copies, here is a side of Mark Twain largely unknown.

Having fallen upon hard financial times, Mark Twain decided to tour the British Empire and write about the journey, publishing his travels in 1897 as a way to make money. With his trademark observational wit in full play, in this travelogue Twain addresses such perennially controversial topics as racism, imperialism, and religion.

The last story published by Twain, in 1909, tells of Captain Elias Stormfield's journey to heaven and his experiences there.  This irreverent satire punctures conventional religious views of the afterlife and delivers a sharp critique of so-called human virtues—which are often humanity’s own vanities in disguise.

Published in 1896, this work purports to be the found memoirs of Joan's page and secretary, Louis de Conte.  Twain considered this, his last published novel, to be his greatest; his lifelong fascination with Joan of Arc made this a fourteen year project.  The novel follows Joan through youth, then as a commander of Charles’s army, right up to her trial at Rouen.

The author, who pioneered historical studies of the South and was criticized by Southern elites for his views on class and slaveholders, profiles three leaders in this 1911 book: President Thomas Jefferson, secessionist advocate John C. Calhoun, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Dodd claims...

In these seven volumes, published in 1908, Justin McCarthy takes on the contemporary history of England with an unbiased yet unflinching eye. This politically moderate, even-tempered work is an ambitious yet brilliant piece of history. Picking up in 1848, McCarthy discusses Chartism and The Young Ireland...

John Thadeus Delane (1817–1879) was the editor of The Times (London) for thirty-six years, beginning in 1841. Cook’s biography of this influential editor focuses not only on the history of the era in which Delane lived, but more specifically Delane’s career at the paper, examining his methods,...

This 1913 biography of the British Radical and Liberal statesman John Bright (1811-1889) was hailed by the New York Times as "masterly" and destined to "assume a position of authority and permanence in the library of English political literature." The volume follows Bright’s life from his schooldays, through the battle of the Corn Laws and the American Civil War, to his death.

In these seven volumes, published in 1908, Justin McCarthy takes on the contemporary history of England with an unbiased yet unflinching eye. This politically moderate, even-tempered work is an ambitious yet brilliant piece of history. After the death of Lord Palmerston, volume four starts its narrative...

One of the youngest prime ministers in Britain’s history, William Pitt The Younger captured the fascination of historians for decades after the end of his term. In this 1891 biography, Lord Rosebery—himself a former prime minster—offers intriguing details of Pitt’s life, career, and apathetic...

This five-volume history of modern England was published between 1904 and 1906. Regarded as a masterwork, The New York Times said of the series, “[Paul’s] work is brilliant, epigrammatic, interesting.” Volume three starts in 1865 with the new government of the Russell-Gladstone Ministry, discusses...

Drawing on the 1874-1892 archives of the iconic British satirical magazine Punch, the author uses excerpts and commentary to showcase Victorian attitudes about high politics, wages and work, the status of women, education, religion and the churches, London and its government, railways and inventions, crown and court, journalism and letters, and more.

By employing chapters focusing on individual essayists, Walker tells the history of the English essay in its entirety, while staying detailed. Among the chapters of this 1915 volume are “Anticipations of the Essay,” “The Aphoristic Essayists,” and “The Historian-Essayists.” Essayists treated include Addison, Arnold, Carlyle, Goldsmith, and Hazlitt.

In addition to essays on Cicero, Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Edward Gibbon, philosopher John Selden, and military man William Halifax, this collection includes “The Classical Poems of Tennyson,” “Matthew Arnold’s Letters,” “The Decay of Classical Quotation,” “The Victorian Novel,” “The Philosophical Radicals,” and more.