19th Century Books - Page 2

The Annotated Wizard of Oz (Centennial Edition)

L. Frank Baum

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

An updated version of the definitive guide, The Annotated Wizard of Oz provides a facsimile color version of the first edition of L. Frank Baum's children's classic along with extensive notes and a thorough history of the immense Oz project. In his excellent introduction, Michael Patrick Hearn describes the author's early life and interests and the development of his collaboration with W.W. Denslow, the original illustrator for his books.

An energetic and excitable fellow, Baum's devotion to make-believe began in his early 20s, when he joined a small touring theatrical troupe on the East Coast. Later attempts to run a general store and a newspaper in South Dakota (then the Wild West) failed miserably. Although few of his business ventures or artistic efforts had met with success, in 1897 Baum's "Father Goose" rhymes (designed and illustrated by Denslow) became a surprise bestseller, and Baum was able to buy his family a summer cottage on Lake Michigan, christened "The Sign of the Goose," for which he made most of the furniture (goose-themed, of course) and stenciled the walls with a frieze of green geese.

The idea for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, "a modern fairy tale," as he considered it, soon followed, and the book appeared in May 1900. The 10,000-copy first printing sold out in two weeks, and about 90,000 sold within the first year. Hearn goes on to describe the many books that followed, as well as the 1902 musical extravaganza The Wizard of Oz and Baum's subsequent, ill-starred attempts to depict the world of Oz on film. (He died long before the 1939 MGM musical made his fairy tale known around the globe.) In 1907, he told a reporter for the Grand Rapids Herald why he preferred young readers:

To write fairy stories for children, to amuse them, to divert restless children, sick children, to keep them out of mischief on rainy days, seems of greater importance than to write grown-up novels. Few of the popular novels last the year out, responding as they do to a certain psychological demand, characteristic of the time; whereas, a child's book is, comparatively speaking, the same always, since children are always the same kind of folks with the same needs to be satisfied.

Hearn has gone to great lengths in his notes to this facsimile of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, often referring to subsequent volumes in the series, slowly building a key to the rules and history of Oz, pointing out inconsistencies as well as hints to Baum's literary sources (such as Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress), and providing, among other delights, a mini-treatise on malevolent vegetation in Oz. This is an essential volume for the Oz aficionado or the student of children's literature, and a wonderful resource for parents of young readers. --Regina Marler

Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (Dover Thrift Editions)

Henry David Thoreau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Hobo Philosopher 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

My first copy of this book was indubitably from some other publisher. So I'm not commenting on this particular volume but the content of the work itself.
I have always loved this book but it wasn't until recent years that I realized what a controversial book this was. Thoreau published this book at his own expense and he sold very few copies. Later on he stored most of his unsold copies in an attic. He once claimed to have the largest collection of book published by Henry David Thoreau than anyone alive - and I'm sure he did.
But why didn't people buy this book? Well, for one thing it was critical of "the neighborhood". For another thing it was critical of "the values of his neighbors". For another thing it was critical of the values of his countrymen; it was critical of Capitalism; it was critical of modern life; it was critical of the "consumer mentality"; it was critical of the work ethic; it was critical of buying things; it was critical of "getting ahead" and "accumulating; it was critical of working for a living; it was critical of achieving; it was a critique on the civilization of the day - and it was not positive.
So why did it make me feel good to read it then and why does it have the same effect on me today?
I don't know but whenever I get lonely to go have a talk with an old friend I go to the book shelf and pick up Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie"
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose"
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"

Editorial Review:

One of the great books of American letters and a masterpiece of reflective philosophizing. Accounts of Thoreau's daily life on the shores of Walden Pond outside Concord, Massachusetts, are interwoven with musings on the virtues of self-reliance and individual freedom, on society, government, and other topics.

The Awakening (Norton Critical Editions)

Kate Chopin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

quietly submersed 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" is the classic novel about women that "Madame Bovary" purports to be but isn't. It's not just a "woman's" novel, though, it perfectly (and poetically) captures the inner life of a solitary person who is forced to live for the sake of others. And while this has been a distinctly female position for a large part of Western history, it is a position that can be identified with by just about anyone in our current age of employee internet-use monitoring. This is a twentieth-century tale of discomfort with and reaction to antagonistic surroundings. For those of us who don't feel the need to procreate in an overpopulated world, Edna's (and presumably Chopin's) discomfort with children will make sense. For those of us who may not always know exactly what we want out of life, this story will strike a chord.

Kate Chopin's writing is deliberate but not labored. She is particularly successful at depicting ambiguity in a way which is highly descriptive and communicative. This is a skill which I can't praise highly enough, and it culminates in an ending which is absolutely perfect. While criticism could be raised against "The Awakening" as another apology for the suicidal artist, Edna's literal and symbolic escape is less pretentious than Harry's in "Steppenwolfe," nor as indecipherable as that of any of Joyce's creations. Kate Chopin's novel is truly a classic in the sense that it should be a part of any survey of American literature. The Norton Critical edition is the best way to go, too, with helpful biographical information and literary criticism. If you want a more enriching experience with this novel, I'd highly recommend this version.

Great American Stories: Ten Unabridged Classics

Stephen Crane, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Successful Gift 5 out of 5 stars.
30 of 30 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this for my father along with a selection of other audio books. He reported that he liked this one the best. Apparently the selection of stories was excellent, and the reading was clear and expressive.

Wonderful! 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 15 people found this review helpful.

I bought this and a few other books on CD for my husband who has a bit of dislexia (sp?) and has trouble reading. He was so engrossed in the stories that if he were near the end of one, he would sit in the driveway and listen until it was done. So then, by proxy, I know all of the stories and it seems like a wonderful 'read'. This is a perfect gift for someone who enjoys fine adventure literature by fine authors.

Editorial Review:

These ten classic stories from four of America's greatest authors of the 19th and early 20th century were selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic oral qualities. The stories include Mark Twain’s "The One-Million Pound Bank Note," "A Visit to Niagara," and "A Mysterious Visit;" Stephen Crane’s "The Blue Hotel;" Ambrose Bierce’s "The Eyes of the Panther;" and Jack London’s "The Love of Life" and "To Build a Fire."

Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)

Herman Melville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 329 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The worst book ever written 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Before reading "Moby Dick" I considered "War and Peace" the worst book I had ever read, but compared to "Moby Dick" "War and Peace" is a light, fun read where your eyes just fly across the page. It's almost impossible to acurately descibe how bad of a book "Moby Dick" is. First of all, classiflying it as fiction is a mistake. Probably a good 60% of the book is non-fiction - chapter after chapter dedicated to every imaginable detail of the biology of the whale and every imaginable nuance of whaling. These non-fiction chapters are made all the more unbearable by the style of writing, which is so pretentious, poetic and over the top that at times it actually made me laugh out loud. Almost every sentence is 100 words long with 10 commas. And the over the top writing is not confined to the book's non-fiction chapters, it's just the opposite - it gets even worse when Melville switches over to the fiction. Especially in the many and endless soliloquies. The ridiculous writing style completely crushes any chance the book might have had of actually telling a story. Finishing the entire book is something that I'm proud of myself for having done, which is never the mark of a good read. I would suggest that unless a person wants to torture themself, read something else. Although I do think there is some value in setting your mind to reading the worst book ever written from cover to cover, and acomplishing that goal. It's the ultimate test of patience and courage, and succeeding will make you a better person, which is maybe what Herman Melville had in mind when he wrote this piece of junk.

Editorial Review:

Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself.

Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Explanatory Commentary by Tom Quirk

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Puffin Classics)

Mark Twain

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Mark Twain's Classic, if Problematic, Adventure Tale 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My daughter's fourth-grade reading teacher urged that parents continue the practice of reading to their children, and specifically recommended ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. It had been some 35-40 years since I had read the work myself, and so I relished the opportunity to read it again with my daughter.

For those who have just arrived from another planet, HUCK FINN is 19th-century humor writer Mark Twain's episodic adventure tale about a good-hearted young rustic named Huckleberry Finn, who boldly and ingeniously escapes the abusive treatment of his father and sets off on a raft down the Mississippi River. Almost immediately, he is joined by a runaway slave of his previous acquaintance named Jim. The greater part of this lengthy novel consists of the various adventures they experience on the River, including an encounter with thieves aboard a sinking steamship, an escape from a bloody family feud, and, most prominently, various scrapes in the company of a couple of ne'er-do-wells who wish to be treated by Jim and Huck as the Duke of Bridgewater and the King of England. The novel is written as a sequel of sorts to THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, but can be read independently of it.

Two things stood out for me in reading HUCK FINN aloud. Let me start with the second: reading this story aloud really helps one appreciate the dialects that Mark Twain captures in the novel. Certainly, Jim's dialect is different from Huck's, but with careful attention to the language one will also notice the distinctive dialects of the other prominent characters such as the Duke and King. The first thing that stood out for me is how uncomfortable I was reading a literary work--even a classic such as this one--that liberally uses the "N" word and heaps other abuse on African Americans.

This is one reason the book is banned by many libraries. In reading HUCK FINN with my daughter, however, I found that the story could be both a literary experience and a teaching tool. We could and did discuss the terrible power of words to hurt people, as well as the treatment of slaves in 19th-century America. Also, over the course of the novel, Huck Finn comes to see the humanity in Jim and sees him as a friend. Still, the novel doesn't entirely justify itself on those grounds, particularly after the humiliating treatment Jim experiences in the final chapters. Moreover, one might argue that, at least in parts of the story, Jim comes off as a racial caricature.

Thus the novel does pose a challenge to the reflective and concerned parent. HUCK FINN is no doubt a masterpiece of fiction. It is, moreover, a humorous and sometimes moving adventure story (albeit one that moves at a deliberate pace compared to 21st-century YA fiction). Nonetheless, with respect to the racism that is pervasive in the novel, in reading this story to children one should be prepared to talk about its underlying social problems in the light of American history and contemporary mores.

My daughter and I read this edition (Puffin Classics). It is a conveniently sized book that does not stint on font size to create a small format paperback. It would not be the edition I would choose permanently to grace one's library, but it is an excellent choice for children.

Editorial Review:

Huckleberry Finn had a tough life with his drunk father until an adventure with Tom Sawyer changed everything. But when Huck's dad returns and kidnaps him, he must escape down the Mississippi river with runaway slave, Jim. They encounter trouble at every turn, from floods and gunfights to armed bandits and the long arm of the law. Through it all the friends stick together - but can Huck and Tom free Jim from slavery once and for all? With an inspirational introduction by Darren Shan, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is one of the twelve wonderful classic stories being relaunched in "Puffin Classics" in March 2008.

Walden and Civil Disobedience (150th Anniversary) (Signet Classics)

Henry David Thoreau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

He heard a different drummer- The sun is but a morning star 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Thoreau is more than simply a writer who produced a great American classic. He exemplified the idea which perhaps as much as any other has come to be at the heart of the American creed. "If a man does not keep pace to his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

Throreau when he went into the woods of Walden Pond on July 4, 1845 , a journey in solitude which would last just two years and two months, was the archetypal American individualist. He was the man 'doing his own thing' living in accordance with what only he could know was right for himself. This idea of 'radical individualism' has become part of the American common faith. Its abuses are legion and may be disastrous, but it also has brought about not simply 'better mousetraps' but a whole vast world of innovations and innovators, the like of which Mankind has never known before.

Thoreau as he writes in his introduction went to the woods to explore not simply the natural world, the outdoors he so much loved. He went to the woods to truly go more deeply into and know himself. As he says in his introduction:

" I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me."

Thoreau in that enigmatic, epigrammatic aphoristic style, he shared with his great mentor and fellow pioneering poet- philosopher, Emerson connects the world within with the world without , connects the Concord woods with the Cosmos . He creates a work in 'Walden' of singular beauty and of its own special economy and principles in thought.

Thoreau was too an abolitionist, an opponent of the Mexican war, a civil disobedient who refused to pay the poll tax-, a pioneer
whose followers would include Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

But in his close looking at the world of nature and the world of himself he was first a great explorer of life and reality going out alone in his own way- however geographically close he may have been to home.

His words and his wisdom waken us even today to the hope of new and better worlds i.e. he also embodied the spirit of a great American optimism.

The great individual teaches us even in dark hours to find new worlds in ourselves outside our own darknesses. " There are new worlds yet to be born" he writes, " The sun is but a morning star"

Editorial Review:

Henry David Thoreau's masterwork, Walden, is a collection of his reflections on life and society. His simple but profound musings-as well as "Civil Disobedience," his protest against the government's interference with civil liberty-have inspired many to embrace his philosophy of individualism and love of nature.

Quicksand and Passing (American Women Writers Series)

Nella Larsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Only read Quicksand--wonderful book 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I read this book years ago, in college. It made me much more sympathetic to the struggles of biracial (black and white) women, of the past and today -- I am an Asian-American female. The book is a beautifully written, but painful story of how the protagonist moves through her life in societies where she is kept down on many levels (socially, economically, psychologically, physically) -- basically her journey through the "quicksand" of classism, racism, and sexism. The book deserves a wide audience.

Editorial Review:

Nella Larsen's Quicksand, first published in 1928, was the first novel to give voice to the sexual desires of a black woman. Helga Crane, the book's main protagonist, is frapped in the conflict between sexual fulfilment and middle-class respectability and a conflict of race and sex which even a religous conversion cannot resolve. Passing (1929) tackles the sensitive issue of black people who 'pass' for white. It also explores the desire of one woman for another - a new and daring theme for the writing of the time.

Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race

Mark Twain

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Irreverent, charming, eminently quotable, this handbook-an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race-contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain's private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars. Culled from Twain's personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain's characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project. Illustrations: 36 b/w photographs

Joan of Arc

Mark Twain

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Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Very few people know that Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) wrote a major work on Joan of Arc. Still fewer know that he considered it not only his most important but also his best work. He spent twelve years in research and many months in France doing archival work and then made several attempts until he felt he finally had the story he wanted to tell. He reached his conclusion about Joan's unique place in history only after studying in detail accounts written by both sides, the French and the English. Because of Mark Twain's antipathy to institutional religion, one might expect an anti-Catholic bias toward Joan or at least toward the bishops and theologians who condemned her. Instead one finds a remarkably accurate biography of the life and mission of Joan of Arc told by one of this country's greatest storytellers. The very fact that Mark Twain wrote this book and wrote it the way he did is a powerful testimony to the attractive power of the Catholic Church's saints. This is a book that really will inform and inspire.