J. R. R. Tolkien is one of the most beloved and enigmatic writers of the twentieth century, yet surprisingly little is known about the personal life of the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. After a traumatic childhood, Tolkien experienced the bloody trenches of World War I, then lived most of his life as an Oxford scholar in a cloistered academic community. In this fascinating illustr…
Priest, poet, and prophet, Father Daniel Berrigan has written over a score of book-narratives of his struggle against the war in Vietnam, verse adaptations of the Psalms and of Dante's Purgatorio, plays, and fables for children. Portraits is his first completely biographical work, and it is perhaps his most intimate book, one in which he speaks candidly of some of the people he has known and ad…
Jules Verne’s classic science fiction fantasy carries its hero—Professor Aronnax of the Museum of Paris—on a thrilling and dangerous journey far below the waves to see what creatures live in the ocean’s depths. In the process, Verne imagined a vessel that had not yet been invented: the submarine.
Despite the passage of time, these works remain fresh and relevant today. The immortal lines from Li Bai's Reflections on a Quiet Night', " Raising my head. I look at the bright moon; Hanging my head, I think of home, " continue to strike a chord in the heart of many a traveller far from home, while the tragedy in The Dream of the Red Chamber is still able to move us deeply.