A stirring, intimate reflection on the nature of race and American nationhood that is a catalyst for change in a time of turmoilWith clarity, conviction, and passion, James Baldwin delivers a dire war
A young woman learns about life, and love found and lost, in this thought-provoking debut novel by one of the twentieth-century’s most brilliant and prolific writers.Rachel Vinrace is a motherless you
'Villette ! Villette ! Have you read it?' exclaimed George Eliot when Charlotte Bronte's final novel appeared in 1853. 'It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost pret
One of the great works of Western literature, from perhaps the most important thinker of Christian antiquity, in a revolutionary new translation by one of today’s leading classicists Sarah Ruden
One of the great works of Western literature, from perhaps the most important thinker of Christian antiquity, in a radical new translation by one of today’s most highly respected classicists
The early fiction of one of the nation’s most celebrated writers, Truman Capote, as he takes his first bold steps into the canon of American literatureRecently rediscovered in the archives of the New
At his death in 1994, Ralph Ellison left behind several thousand pages of his unfinished second novel, which he had spent nearly four decades writing. Five years later, Random House published Juneteen
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of Richard II, chronologically the first of the eight plays in Shakespeare’s History Cycle, which marks the
In Ethics: The Essential Writings, philosopher Gordon Marino skillfully presents an accessible, provocative anthology of both ancient and modern classics on matters moral. The philosophers represent 2
As the citizens of Venice compete for advantageous marriages, wealth, and status, a moneylender is intent on deadly revenge. Mistrust and resentment thrive in Shakespeare’s dark comedy.Under
A pair of twins are separated by a shipwreck, each believing the other has drowned. A lovesick duke woos a countess deep in mourning for her brother, while her rowdy household plots the downfall of he
Beyond its importance as a literary work of unvarnished genius, Geoffrey Chaucer’s unfinished epic poem is also one of the most beloved works in the English language–and for good reason: It is lively,
Here is “a rich and lyrical masterpiece”–notes Peter Constantine–the first translation of a lost treasure by acclaimed author H. G. Adler, a survivor of Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. Written in 1950,
Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story of a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited
In a society dominated by religion and bound by ties of strict family loyalty, two teenagers are trapped by their secret love. As a dangerous vendetta spills onto the streets, the young lovers are for
Born in rural Carrollton, Mississippi, Elizabeth Spencer has been writing masterly stories and novellas about Southerners for more than half a century. The Southern Woman collects the best of Spencer’
In Prehistory, the award-winning archaeologist and renowned scholar Colin Renfrew covers human existence before the advent of written records–the overwhelming majority of our time here on earth–and gi
Part of Emile Zola's multigenerational Hougon-Macquart saga, The Belly of Paris is the story of Florent Quenu, a wrongly accused man who escapes imprisonment on Devil's Island. Returning to his native
Shakespeare became famous as a dazzling poet before most people even knew that he wrote plays. His sonnets are the English language’s most extraordinary anatomy of love in all its dimensions–desire an
Perhaps no twentieth-century writer was so observant and graceful a chronicler of his times as Truman Capote. Portraits and Observations is the first volume devoted solely to all the essays ever publi
John Milton's Paradise Lost, an epic poem on the clash between God and his fallen angel, Satan, is a profound meditation on fate, free will, and divinity, and one of the most, beautiful works in worl
The Hellenistic Age chronicles the years 336 to 30 BCE, a period that witnessed the overlap of two of antiquity’s great civilizations, the Greek and the Roman. Peter Green’s remarkably far-ranging stu
In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity, a course of action, rather than a mere state
When Gourmet magazine debuted in the 1940s, America’s wineries were still reeling from the lingering effects of Prohibition and the loss of wines from war-torn Europe. But for every closed door, there
In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves
The celebrated American lawyer Clarence Darrow was renowned for his spirited, ruthlessly logical defense of populist causes and controversial ideas. Even today, Darrow’s words continue to frame public
California has always been our Shangri-la–the promised land of countless pilgrims in search of the American Dream. Now the Golden State’s premier historian, Kevin Starr, distills the entire sweep of C
Joyce Carol Oates’s Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. As powerful and relevant today as it on its initial
In its two thousand years of history, London has ruled a rainy island and a globe-spanning empire, it has endured plague and fire and bombing, it has nurtured and destroyed poets and kings, revolution
Spanning the period from the thirteenth century to Vasari's own time, the Lives opens a window on the greatest personalities of the period, including Giotto, Brunelleschi, Mantegna, Leonardo, Raphael
The giant prehistoric gorilla King Kong is one of the most recognized images in our culture. So great is the mighty Kong's hold on the popular imagination that his story - a gripping yarn of man vers
The Wrong Side of Paris, the final novel in Balzac’s The Human Comedy, is the compelling story of Godefroid, an abject failure at thirty, who seeks refuge from materialism by moving into a monastery-l
For sixty years the best food writers have been sending dispatches from Paris to Gourmet. At once unique and universal, these essays by Joseph Wechsberg, Naomi Barry, and Diane Johnson, among others,
A major work of German romanticism in a translation that is acknowledged as the definitive English language version. The Vintage Classics edition also includes NOVELLA, Goethe's poetic vision of an id
Chosen by BusinessWeek as One of the Top Ten Business Books of the YearWith apologies to Hegel, Marx, and Lenin, the basic unit of modern society is neither the state, nor the commune, nor the party;
Throughout America’s history, our laws have been a reflection of who we are, of what we value, of who has control. They embody our society’s genetic code. In the masterful hands of the subject’s great
Rich in playful double entendres, digressions, formal oddities, and typographical experiments, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman provoked a literary sensation when it first appeared
In this remarkable anthology, some of the world’s greatest writers provide a master class on the transformative power of learning and literature. Culled from a course developed by Pulitzer Prize—winni
Oscar Wilde created his final and most lasting play, comic masterpieces of all time, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, in 1895. Considered one of the greatest THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is a farce
