Language and Litterature

There is no greater symbol of the American presidency than Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself, his personality, the sources of his dedication and his idealism, remain very much a mystery. The sudden rise to world stature of a hard-travelling lawyer from the frontier, with no prominent family or social connections to back him, was a wonder of the age.Well over a thousand books about Lincoln have been

Philosopher, psychoanalyst, politician, propagandist, prophet...although difficult to categorize, Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) is one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century and one of our most powerful writers on race and revolution. The book opens with a biography, following Fanon from his birthplace of Martinique through combat in World War II and education in France, to his heroic in

Charles Bukowski, novelist, short-story writer, poet, journalist and cult figure of the dissident and rebellious, was born in Germany in 1920 and died in the USA in 1994. During his life he was hailed as "laureate of American lowlife" by Time Magazine and literary critic, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker, wrote: "the secret of Bukowski's appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet's promi

If you haven't read Toni Morrison, TONI MORRISON FOR BEGINNERS will introduce you to her novels - plot descriptions, subtexts, reviews and Morrison's comments on her work. However, if you have read - or attempted to read - Toni Morrison, you may need this book even more. Many people consider Morrison's novels difficult to read. Most of her readers have at least one book on their shelves that they

Ayn Rand, author of the best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, is beloved by millions of readers, and equally despised by a significant number of detractors. Her novels and her revolutionary philosophy of Objectivism have acquired a world-wide following. They have also created legions of readers who are hungry for a deeper understanding of her writings.Despite her undeniably sig

Jane Austen's novels are classics.  They have never been out of print, and have continuously been turned into countless movies and TV series, yet her works still remain largely misunderstood.  On their surface, Austen's novels all involve characters from provincial communities in rural England, far removed geographically and thematically from greater social movements, war, industry, colonization,

A concise, accessible introduction to the great linguist who shaped the study of language for the 20th century, SAUSSURE FOR BEGINNERS puts the challenging ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) into clear and illuminating terms, focusing on the unifying principles of his teachings and showing how his thoughts on linguistics migrated to anthropology.Ferdinand de Saussure's work is so powerful

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Vital reading for Americans and people anywhere who seek to understand what is happening ‘after the fall´ of the global system created by the United States” (New York Journal of Books), from the former White House aide, close confidant to President Barack Obama, and author of The World as It Is   At a time when democracy in the United States is

The never-before-told story of one woman's heroism that changed the course of the Second World War In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her."

One of the most influential physicists of our time, Stephen Hawking touched the lives of millions. Recalling his nearly two decades as Hawking’s collaborator and friends, Leonard Mlodinow brings this complex man into focus in a unique and deeply personal portrayal. We meet Hawking the genius, who pours his mind into uncovering the mysteries of the universe—ultimately formulating a p

An inspiring new selection of poems exploring faith and the divine, featuring poets from across the world, from antiquity to the present, compiled by renowned poet and author of Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar A Penguin Classic Poets have always looked to the skies for inspiration, and have written as a way of getting closer to the power and beauty they sense in nature, in each other and in the cosmos. Thi

"Angels In My Hair" is the autobiography of a modern day mystic, an Irish woman with powers of the saints of old. When she was a child, people thought Lorna was 'retarded' because she did not seem to be focusing on the world around her. Instead Lorna was seeing angels and spirits. As Lorna tells the story of her life, the reader meets, as she did, the creatures from the spirit worlds who also inha

P. D. Ouspensky's classic work In Search of the Miraculous was the first to disseminate the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff, the mysterious master of esoteric thought in the early twentieth century who still commands a following today. Gurdjieff's mystique has long eclipsed Ouspensky, once described by Gurdjieff as "nice to drink vodka with, but a weak man." Yet Ouspensky was a brilliant, accomplished ph

Popular Disinformation author, Russ Kick, is known for his quirky, ingenious and surprisingly useful collections. He's done it again. This is the most comprehensive, not to mention the first, anthology of death poetry ever published in the English language and is ultimately life affirming. DEATH POEMS is an unprecedented, vast survey of death in poetry that cuts across time, world cultures and lan

This book is a meditation on facing fear, heartbreak and mortality. It is the story of a man who in rapid succession has his wife die in his arms, loses his house and his job and is left to care for his 19-month old daughter. Oddly enough, the best tools for coping with all of this were those he learned in more than two decades of the martial arts practice. NOT AFRAID tackles this extremely heavy

Before you read any further, take a few moments to note all of the devices that are powered by electricity within a 10-foot radius of your body. The number will astonish you. Imagine how this number grows exponentially as you broaden the circle beyond the room, throughout the building, around the block and out across the world. It is hard to imagine that one man - Nikola Tesla - was responsible fo

The memoirs of a Tibetan freedom fighter who fought in the resistance against the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1950s, centered on his moral progression under the influence of the Dalai Lama from vengeful violence to compassion and forgiveness. The active resistance to the Chinese invasion of Tibet coalesced into a guerrilla army of freedom fighters, the Chushi Gangdruk. In the 1950s, China´

Jennifer Howd had been building a mindfulness practice for a few years before taking on the challenge of her first nine-day silent meditation retreat. In this debut memoir, she chronicles the humorous--and often harrowing--adventures of the dueling inner voices that emerge in the silence: one intent on focusing on the seemingly negative aspects of her experiences, and the other on helpin