Herman Melville's towering achievement stands as a timeless monument to the richness and diversity of nineteenth-century American literature. Employing a singularly American idiom, his immortal masterpiece, Moby-Dick, broke the bounds of the novel as it was then known and understood. But Melville's place in the pantheon of American literature is all the more exceptional given the fact that he remained virtually unknown as a writer throughout the course...

Offers a view of Thoreau's life and his extraordinary achievement in their nineteenth-century context.

On the 25th anniversary of the show "Pee-wee's Playhouse," the behind-the-scenes story is being told for the first time by those who experienced it. Complete with an episode guide, biographical information about the cast and key members of the show's creative team, never-before-told anecdotes, and previously unpublished photos.

Living for Change is a sweeping account of the life of an untraditional radical from the end of the thirties, through the cold war, the civil rights era, and the rise of Black Power, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panthers to the present efforts to rebuild our urban communities. This fascinating autobiography traces the story of a woman who transcended class and racial boundaries to pursue her passionate belief in a better society.

"When Martha Summerhayes (1844-1926) came as a bride to Fort Russell in Wyoming Territory in 1874, she "saw not much in those first few days besides bright buttons, blue uniforms, and shining swords," but soon enough the hard facts of army life began to intrude. Remonstrating with her husband, Jack Wyder Summerhayes, that she had only three rooms and a kitchen instead of "a whole house," she was informed that "women are not reckoned in at all in the...

An English veterinarian reminisces about his life, career, and animal patients in a small village.