G. K. Chesterton's essays are all at least 90 years old, but the topics they address seem as current as today's news websites. His astute analyses of the human condition and the foibles of human philosophies and educational fads still resonate today, and his ability to find inspiration for meditation and wonder in commonplace things remains startling and fresh. Would that more of today's commentators and pundits shared both his piercing insight and his sense of both the ridiculous and the sublime.
G.K. Chesterton was a master essayist. But reading his essays is not just an exercise in studying a literary form at its finest, it is an encounter with timeless truths that jump off the page as fresh and powerful as the day they were written.
The only problem with Chesterton's essays is that there are too many of them. Over five thousand! For most GKC readers it is not even possible to know where to start or how to begin to approach them.
So three of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton - Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Aidan Mackey -…
This book is a deep dive into Tolkien's contributions to twentieth-century literature. It masterfully portrays his work as not only foundational to the modern fantasy genre but as a serious contribution to English-language literature regardless of genre. Of necessity, much of the work explores Tolkien's vast legendarium surrounding his fictional world of Middle-earth, but it also reviews his other writings, particularly Beowulf and his short stories and novellas, and shows the influences of his upbringing, his World War I military service, his religious faith, and his lifelong study of philology in the development of his writing. The result is a much more complex assessment than a simple review of Tolkien's most popular works and lends serious support to the contention that Tolkien may have been the single most influential author of the past century.
The definitive critical study of Tolkien's greatest works by the respected and world renowned Tolkien scholar Professor T.A. Shippey.
Following the unprecedented and universal acclaim for The Lord of the Rings, the respected academic and world-renowned Tolkien scholar, Professor Tom Shippey, presents us with a fascinating and informed companion to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, in particular focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
Written in a clear and accessible style, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century reveals why all of these books will be timeless, and shows how even such complex works…
Baird's portrait of Queen Victoria and her life and times contains much material that is familiar, yet shatters many of the commonly held stereotypes regarding the Queen and the world she lived in. She was a woman of many contradictions: staid and yet passionate; accepting of some positions we would consider terribly chauvinistic, yet surprisingly feminist in others; often conventional, yet making use of both conventional and nonconventional means to navigate the political tensions of her time and to make herself a force to be reckoned with rather than a figurehead. Her influence on the tumultuous politics of the nineteenth century and the shaping of the modern form of England's constitutional monarchy cannot be overlooked, making her biography a must-read for those seeking to understand how Victoria not only defined an era in English history but influenced her nation's culture in ways that outlasted her own time.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY JANET MASLIN, THE NEW YORK TIMES
'Victoria the Queen, Julia Baird's exquisitely wrought and meticulously researched biography, brushes the dusty myth off this extraordinary monarch' The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice).
The true story for fans of the hit ITV drama series Victoria starring Jenna Coleman, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning book is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.
In the world of 1920s horse racing, the sport was a man's game dominated by wealthy sportsmen from the Northeastern establishment; the few women making inroads into the charmed circle of high-end owners were typically from the same social class. Rosa Hoots did not fit that profile. A member of the Osage nation and the widow of an Oklahoma rancher, she was in horse racing to fulfill the dream of her late husband, who believed that his beloved race mare Useeit—a cheap sprinter who spent most of her career running in bush races and at minor Western tracks—could become the mother of a champion. Honoring her husband's last wishes, Mrs. Hoots sent Useeit to Kentucky to be mated to the good stallion Black Toney, and in 1921, an undersized black colt was born. Named Black Gold, he was the fulfillment of Al Hoots's dream, taking an unlikely cast of characters with him into the winner's circle of the 1924 Kentucky Derby and into racing legend.
