One of Dostoyevsky's most famous novels, this 1872 work utilizes five main characters and their philosophical ideas to describe the political chaos of Imperial Russia in the nineteenth century. Based on an actual event involving the murder of a revolutionary by his comrades, this novel depicts a band of ruthless radicals attempting to incite revolt in their small, rural community. At the center of "Demons" lies Dostoyevsky's desire to protest the...

Excerpt: "Considering our present advanced state of culture, and how the Torch of Science has now been brandished and borne about, with more, or less effect, for five thousand years and upwards; how, in these times especially, not only the Torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely than ever, but innumerable Rushlights, and Sulphur-matches, kindled thereat, are also glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest cranny or dog-hole in Nature...

Contained within this volume is a collection of writings by George Boon, painstakingly selected and edited by H. G. Wells for inclusion in The Times newspaper. Chapters include: 'The Back Of Miss Bathwick And George Boon', 'Being The First Chapter Of 'The Mind Of The Race'', 'The Great Slump, The Revival Of Letters, And The Garden By The Sea', 'Of Art, Of Literature, Of Mr Henry James', 'Of The Assembling And Opening Of The World Conference On The...

The Grand Inquisitor is a poem (a story within a story) inside Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879-1880). It is recited by Ivan Karamazov, who questions the possibility of a personal and benevolent God, to his brother Alexei (Alyosha), a novice monk. "The Grand Inquisitor" is an important part of the novel and one of the best-known passages in modern literature because of its ideas about human nature and freedom, and its fundamental...

"1920 - Dips Into The Near Future" is a 1917 work by English economist John Atkinson Hobson. It contains a number of satirical writings that predict what life and the world will be life in 1920, just three years after the first publication of this book. In these short satirical pieces, Hobson attempts to point out some of the hypocrisies of the 'Never-Endian' attitude which betrayed "every cause of liberty at home in a war of liberty" and claimed...

In her fourth book, Lillian Moats constructs an astonishing appraisal of humanity through the eyes of Death itself. As an insightful, philosophical and witty narrator, Death takes a tour through the follies of human past, present and future to approach seemingly complex matters with startling directness. Full of intelligent humour and deep insights, this book will engage and enlighten as it offers new perspectives on religion, militarism and the contradictions...

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. When Evan MacIan, a fervent Catholic, becomes enraged by an atheist newspaper, he challenges the editor, James Turnbull, to a duel. Turnbull, just as passionate in his atheism as MacIan is in his Catholicism, eagerly accepts. Their sword fight interrupted wherever they go, MacIan and Turnbull duel with words. The more MacIan and Turnbull debate, the more they realize...