A raging thunderstorm and a broken carriage axle have brought Judge Dee, his three wives, and his reformed con-man assistant Tao Gan to the gates of the remote Morning Cloud Monastery, where three young women have died under mysterious circumstances. Ghosts are reputed to walk the halls, and even the normally unflappable magistrate has no ready explanation for his terrifying vision of a ghostly soldier and a one-armed woman. Judge Dee and Tao Gan must penetrate the ancient mysteries of a mountai... more info>>

The broad scope and exquisite details of Japanese storytelling. The stories, beliefs, and poetry of Japan are presented in a higly-organized format. Dozens of legends grouped by type (Animals, Trees, Insects, etc.)--including a number of categories unique to Japanese lore, such as Bells, Mount Fuji, and Fox Legends. Creation myths, hero tales, festivals, gods and goddesses, ghosts and superstitions, and lots more.

An innkeeper is accused of murdering two traveling silk merchants. A man dies under mysterious circumstances, and his young daughter immediately loses the power of speech. A beautiful bride is poisoned on her wedding night. The courageous and resourceful magistrate will stop at nothing to assure that justice is done in each of these puzzling cases. With the help of the faithful Sergeant Hoong, reformed swindler Tao Gan, and a couple of ex-bandit martial artists named Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, lege... more info>>

He's handsome, he's charming, he's well-read. He's a lover of fine art, which is why he steals so much of it. Meet France's gentleman cambrioleur, Arsène Lupin, in his first fictional bow, from 1907. Millionaire arriviste M. Gournay-Martin has already been burglarized once by the famous Arsène Lupin. Now Lupin has written to inform him that tonight he will help himself to more of the millionaire's treasures. Even the combined wits of the renowned Chief-Inspector Guerchard and the brilliant young... more info>>

A Letter to God: Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa, penned this epistle to his God in the year 401 A.D., enumerating his sins, of flesh, of mind, and of spirit, and confessing a lifetime of spiritual anguish and doubt. Augustine lived the profligate life of an educated young Roman until his conversion to Christianity at the age of 33. His relentless examinations of his deeds, his thoughts, his experience of the phenomenal world, and the depths of his soul, helped to form th... more info>>

Jerusha Abbott has spent her entire eighteen years in an orphanage. Now a wealthy trustee of the home has offered to put her through college, and all he asks in return is that she write him one letter per month, addressed to "Mr. John Smith," to which he will never reply. She will never meet her benefactor, or even know his name.

Experience history as the American public heard it on the radio during those eventful and dramatic years of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the American public 30 times over the radio between 1933 and 1944. These addresses are collected here with other Roosevelt speeches, a timeline fitting these addresses into events of the day, and 30 historic photographs.

Join America's most beloved humorist and commentator on a sea and land journey through tropical latitudes and exotic lands in this 19th century classic of travel literature. From the Australian Outback to the sacred shrines of India; from quarantine in Hawai'i to colonial wars in South Africa, Mark Twain's entertaining and enlightening commentary never fails to delight, educate, and amuse his readers.

Hagakure ("In the Shadow of Leaves") is a manual for the samurai class consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido--the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of philosophy as most would understand the word; it is a collection of thoughts and sayings recorded over a period of seven years, and as such covers a wide variety of subjects, often in no particular sequence. T... more info>>

n his lifetime Samuel Langhorne Clemens was as well known for being Mark Twain the performer as he was for being Mark Twain the author. These 103 examples of Mark Twain's genius as a speechmaker and entertainer, collected from 43 years of speechmaking all over the world, cover topics from the author's brief career as a rebel to Joan of Arc and Queen Victoria; from the joys of theatre to the horrors of the German language (translated word-for-word from German, to hilarious effect). By turns thoug... more info>>

A Recipe for an Emperor--a Masterpiece of Everyday Philosophy: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, emperor of Rome, was an intensely private man with intensely public obligations. His philosophical observations, relevant for an ordinary man or ruler of the civilized world, were written in large part written on the battlefields of Germania shortly before his death. Reminding himself how a man might be just, pious, and unconcerned about the opinions of others, he reminds future generations to live life so ... more info>>

Ulysses S. Grant rose from a simple childhood as the hardworking son of an Illinois tanner to heights of fame that he never sought and never expected. "I never thought of acquiring rank..." he wrote his doctor a few days before he died, "...yet it came for me. I certainly never had taste for political life; yet I was twice President of the United States. If anyone suggested the idea of my becoming an author I was not sure whether they were making sport of me..." He had just completed one of the ... more info>>

Volume 2 begins with Grant's elevation to commander of all armies in the West, and later to General-in-Chief of all National armies, and continues through the last two years of war to Robert E. Lee's ultimate surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia during the famous meeting between the two great commanders at Appomattox Court House, Virginia in April 1865. No student of history will want to miss this well-written and warmly human memoir--the greatest first-hand Civil War account ever written.

His successes against an army three times the size of his own are justly renowned, and his campaigns are still studied as models of strategy and tactics, but there is a side of Robert E. Lee that few people in our century know. He was a brilliant military commander revered by his men, but he was also a loving husband and father, and an example to his entire generation and generations to come. General Lee's youngest son Robert compiled this extraordinary volume of letters and intimate reminiscenc... more info>>

The world continues to be enthralled with the story of Lawrence of Arabia. Rejected as unfit for military service, he went on to become the commander of an Arab camel corps instrumental in winning a long and difficult desert war. Here, set down only a few years after his return to England, is his own account of the revolt and the realities, the politics and the people behind Arab independence from Turkish rule.

An Enthralling True Adventure. Ernest Shackleton was an expert Arctic explorer and a veteran of Scott's expedition to the North Pole when he sailed the Endurance toward Antarctica, but only one day's journey from the continent, the ship became trapped in ice. Marooned for ten months, the expedition members contended with inhuman cold, diminishing supplies, and the simple perils of mistakes resulting from boredom and isolation. Shackleton tells the whole story from the perspective of a leader who... more info>>

A Compendium of Fantastickal Escapades Taken From the Life and Times of Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen. From the North Pole to the South Seas, from Russia to the Moon; was there ever such a collection of astonishing adventures as the tall tales of Baron Munchausen? He conquered nations, befriended gods, dug the Suez Canal singlehandedly, traveled in time, was swallowed by a whale and scalped by savages, all while strictly confining himself to the facts. These stories are the bas... more info>>

The state as a work of art, learning as a joyous realm of discovery, art as a sacred task. Here are the wellsprings of the modern world, the new inventions of the age, the spirit of exploration that motivated the voyages of discovery and the rediscovery of the wisdom of antiquity. From the Borgias to the Medicis, from da Vinci to Michaelangelo, a masterpiece of history that has never gone out of print since its publication in 1860.

Born out of wedlock and abandoned in the bedchamber of tender-hearted and virtuous Squire Allworthy, Tom Jones got off to both a bad beginning and a good one. How he progressed from foundling to young gentleman, how he fell in love and how his heart was broken, how he was turned from his home and what adventures he had thereafter, are the subject of this novel, one of the greatest in the English language.

More Exploits of France's Gentleman Burglar. A daring burglary has been perpetrated at Château d'Ambrumesy. Two men were seen carrying something away, but nothing has been stolen. A wounded and possibly dying Arsène Lupin is known to be hiding somewhere inside the gates, but no search can find him. Enter Isidore Beautrelet, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy with nearly miraculous powers of observation and deduction, who must now match his wits against those of France's celebrated gentleman cambriol... more info>>

The Most Evil Man in Italy? Cesare Borgia served as Machiavelli's model of the ideal ruler for The Prince. The illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, he was a cardinal at age 22. He lived hard and died hard, murdering his enemies, seizing power in Florence, and marrying off his sister Lucretia for political gain, not once but three times. This is his remarkable story.

Nostradamus in Your Pocket! Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus) was a prominent physician and astrologer of the 16th century. His highly symbolic quatrains purported to foresee important events from his lifetime (1503-1566) to the year A.D. 3737. He was renowned in his own time, received at the French court, lionized by the public, and feared by the Church. Readers of every century from his to ours have devoured his brief and puzzling prognostications, and attempted to see in them the events of t... more info>>

Beyond the senses lie the objects, say the sages, beyond the objects lies the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, beyond the intellect is the great Atman. The oneness of Soul and God lies at the very root of all Vedic thought, and the message of the Upanishads is how to attain that oneness. Predating Buddhism by at least six centuries, this is an ancient text with a a message for all times and places, and a lesson for all seekers of wisdom and truth; a profoundly reverent translation of a ti... more info>>

Uniting Self and Universe: The sage Patanjali, who lived in the second century BCE, set down a series of aphorisms designed to lead seekers on the path of Raja Yoga, or training the mind to achieve oneness with the universe. These are the earliest known writings on the practice of Yoga, outlining in clear and simple language how meditation, attention, breath control, physical exercises, and other methods can be used to lead to the soul's ultimate liberation.