A collection of seven lectures, published as a book of essays in 1850. The first essay discusses the role played by "great men" in society, and the remaining six each extoll the virtues of one of six men deemed by Emerson to be great: Plato ('the Philosopher'); Emanuel Swedenborg ('the Mystic'); Michel de Montaigne ('the Skeptic'); William Shakespeare ('the Poet'); Napoleon ('the Man of the World'); and, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ('...

Several hundred of Bierce's pet peeves. Bierce's list includes some distinctions still familiar today. The which-that rule, less vs. fewer, lie and lay – but it also abounds in now-forgotten shibboleths: Ovation, the critics of his time agreed, meant a Roman triumph, not a round of applause. Reliable was an ill-formed coinage, not for the discriminating. Donate was pretentious, jeopardize should be jeopard, demean meant "comport ones...

Ladies and Gentlemen: An honest god is the noblest work of man. Each nation has created a god, and the god has always resembled his creators. He hated and loved what they hated and loved, and he was invariably found on the side of those in power. Each god was intensely patriotic, and detested all nations but his own. All these Gods demanded praise, flattery, and worship. Most of them were pleased with sacrifice, and the smell of inno...

A collection of thirty-three essays, including: American Literature By John Macy; Mary White By William Allen White; Niagara Falls By Rupert Brooke; The Almost Perfect State By Don Marquis; The Market By William Mcfee; Holy Ireland By Joyce Kilmer; A Familiar Preface By Joseph Conrad; On Drawing By A. P. Herbert; O. Henry By O. W. Firkins; The Mowing Of A Field By Hilaire Belloc; The Student Life By William Osler; The Decline Of The ...

Considered by some to be the 'supreme prose fantasy of English literature', Suspiria de Profundis ('sighs from the depths') is a collection of short essays in psychological fantasy. Includes; The Affliction of Childhood; The Palimpsest of the Human Brain; Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow; The Apparition of The Brocken; and, Savannah-la-Mar.

A lecture on the art of fiction, given by the English critic Walter Besant on April 25, 1884, and an answer to the lecture by American writer Henry James in the same year. For example, Besant insisted that novelists should confine themselves to their own experience, whilst James argued that a sufficiently alert novelist could catch knowledge from everywhere and use it to good purpose.

A collection of essays in which Bierce talks about modern civilization and all its faults, including the death penalty, emancipated women, immortality, civilisation and more.

A collection of essays dealing with various topics, such as human nature, current affairs, science and religion. Chapters include: The Case For The Ephemeral; Cockneys And Their Jokes; The Fallacy Of Success; On Running After One's Hat; The Vote And The House; Conceit And Caricature; Patriotism And Sport; An Essay On Two Cities; French And English; The Zola Controversy; Oxford From Without; Woman; The Modern Martyr; On Political Secr...

This is a collection of three of the essays written by Mark Twain. Included is The Fly, Thou Shalt Not Kill, and The War Prayer. The War Prayer is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervor as motivations for war. This was published after his death for fear that his family may be affected by his views.

A self explanatory title; Lang writes letters to authors who have passed on. Those chosen include; Charles Dickens, Alexander Pope, Herodotus, Alexandre Dumas, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Byron.