The Floating Press: 2252 books

This collaborative short story brings together the creative talents of four of the Victorian era's most popular fiction writers -- Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Adelaide Anne Procter each contributed a section to the work. When an elderly woman notices signs of activity at a...

Though he originally set out to depict criminals in as harshly accurate a light as possible, without the sentimentalization that he saw and disdained in Dickens' work, Thackeray's fictionalized account of the life of Catherine Hayes, an eighteenth-century woman who was burned at the stake for the murder...

Painter Benjamin West was an important figure in art history, as he was born in what later became the United States in 1738 and was reaching his creative peak just as the Revolutionary War broke out. As such, he is regarded as one of the first significant painters to focus on American history as his subject. This comprehensive biography of West is a must-read for art lovers.

Before he gained notoriety as the lawyer who defended teenage murderers Leopold and Loeb, lawyer Clarence Darrow was an important figure in the labor movement and progressive causes. In his talk Industrial Conspiracies, Darrow provides a wide-ranging look at his own political philosophy, including his...

Humorist Stephen Leacock was known for targeting the excesses of the aristocratic class in his lighthearted satire. This tendency is on full display in Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, a series of stories and vignettes that mock the pomp, pretensions and silly customs of the upper classes.

Known as the "Dean of American Letters," author and editor William Dean Howells produced many novels and plays over the course of his august career. In the novel The Story of a Play, he ingeniously combines both genres, penning a tale about a romance between a woman and a journalist who dreams of becoming a famous playwright.

A prolific writer of gripping historical fiction novels, author Anne Manning penned more than 50 short stories and book-length tales over the course of her literary career. The Duchess of Trajetto follows the plight of a well-born aristocrat who suddenly finds herself immersed in a world of danger, drama, and intrigue.

Milan-born author Nathan Gallizier brings the enchantment and intrigue of early medieval Italy to vivid life in his classic romance novel The Hill of Venus, set in the year 1266. Lovers Francesco and Ilaria want nothing more than to spend their lives together -- but seemingly insurmountable circumstances stand in the way.

American minister and public speaker Russell Conwell was one of the most fascinating figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among many other accomplishments, Conwell composed one of the most popular essays of the period, "Acres of Diamonds," which he went on to deliver as a speech more than...

Researcher Hermann Schultz sets off on a voyage to Greece with the aim of collecting botanical and natural specimens. Once he arrives, however, he finds that his field work will be rather more complicated than he bargained for. The mountain range where he intended to carry out his study is controlled by a shadowy league of thieves and bandits. Will Schultz be able to escape their clutches?

French writer Honore de Balzac had many unique strengths, and chief among them is his ability to limn and illuminate subtle differences between social classes. In this pastoral novel, Balzac explores the virtues and follies of country life through the eyes of Emile Blondet, a journalist who was born...

Though the two terms are often used interchangeably today, "psychology" and "psychotherapy" actually refer to two related but fundamentally distinct concepts. This volume, penned in the era when the two fields of practice were just beginning to branch away from one another, helps to clarify the differences and similarities between psychology and psychotherapy.

New York-born writer Samuel Hopkins Adams got his literary start in the rough-and-tumble world of investigative journalism. Some of his most famous exposes uncovered the seamy underbelly of patent medicines and faith healing. Adams skillfully weaves his own experiences into the tightly plotted novel The Clarion, producing a compelling look at life in early-twentieth-century America.

Many readers associate H. G. Wells solely with his bestselling science fiction novels, including The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. But to Wells himself, fiction was of secondary importance, and his nonfiction essays like those collected in In the Fourth Year took center stage. This collection...