19th Century Books - Page 3

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Enriched Classics Series)

Mark Twain

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Total reviews: 134 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP

A nineteenth-century American travels back in time to sixth-century England in this darkly comic social satire.

THIS ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:

• A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information
• A chronology of the author's life and work
• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
• An outline of key themes and plot points to guide the reader's own interpretations
• Detailed explanatory notes
• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON

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:

A beloved classic comes to life with this beautifully illustrated annotated edition on the 100th anniversary of Oz. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the quintessential American fairy tale, but also one of the most controversial children's books ever published. Michael Patrick Hearn, the world's leading Oz scholar, provides a spellbinding annotated edition that illuminates all of Oz's numerous contemporary references, provides fascinating character sources, and explains the actual meaning of the word "Oz." A facsimile of the rare 1900 first edition appears with the original drawings by W. W. Denslow--scrupulously reproduced to mimic their correct colors, using a different color for each region of Oz--as well as twenty-five previously unpublished illustrations. In addition, Hearn provides an extensive bibliography, compiling Baum's published work, every notable Oz edition, and the stage and motion-picture productions from 1939's The Wizard of Oz to the 1974 Broadway smash The Wiz. The result is a classic to rival Baum's own, and a book no family's library can do without. 90 black-and-white, 56 color, and two-color illustrations throughout.

Fathers and Sons

Ivan Turgenev

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Total reviews: 76 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

FATHERS AND SONS was the most closely studied of Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev's works in the Soviet high school curriculum. An inadvertent political agenda favorite, juxtaposing two generations, "the fathers," or the fading aristocracy, and "the sons," or the new fresh blood of the middle class and the nihilists, the novel seemed a perfect vehicle for portraying the brewing unrest of the pre-revolutionary era, and introduced the character of Bazarov -- the spirited nihilist who was seen as a brilliant idealistic rebel, the new kind of perfect man who rejected the old notions of class and came to disrupt nobility's status quo. Growing up, Turgenev witnessed much class injustice in Russia, and his themes reflect his overwhelming concern with the suffering of the poor and the voiceless serfs. But FATHERS AND SONS is not merely a convenient socio-political piece; Turgenev is a lyrical romantic. At the novel's heart lies the ultimately tragic human story of Bazarov's flippant kiss of a servant girl and the bizarre tension it causes in a cozy country gentry household where he is a guest. An important period classic.

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.

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.

The Awakening (Norton Critical Editions)

Kate Chopin

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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."

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly (Everyman Paperbacks)

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 146 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A towering, very important American classic 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

For whatever reasons, I'm one of those who, over the years, never gave "Uncle Tom's Cabin" much thought. I'm afraid I dismissed the book based on the derogatory cliche of describing a complacent black man as an Uncle Tom. What a pleasure to find how wrong I was.

Although the style of narration, the punctuation style of the day and the evolution of contractions, compound words and other bits of syntax show this book to be from the mid 1800s, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a modern novel. It is largely without the stifling level of detail offered in other books of the time, and it pushes the concept of omniscient narrator (perhaps along the lines of Vonnegut in "Breakfast of Champions") to a level that would likely be absurd in another story and purpose.

And Harriet Beecher Stowe did have a purpose - a daring, countervailing, completely forward-thinking challenge to the complacency of the day. The action of the story concludes in the second-to-last chapter. In the last chapter, called simply "Concluding Remarks," Stowe, referring to herself in third person, explains how she came to write the book, and in so doing pulls the reader beyond the realm of fiction in order to cap off her sermon. And a 500-page sermon is exactly what "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was and is.

To quote Stowe from the last chapter, "For many years of her life, the author avoided all reading upon or allusion to the subject of slavery, considering it as too painful to be inquired into, and one which advancing light and civilization would certainly live down. But, since the legislative act of 1850, when she heard, with perfect surprise and consternation, Christian and humane people actually recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens,- when she heard, on all hands, from kind compassionate and estimable people, in the free states of the North, deliberation and discussions as to what Christian duty could be on his head,- she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussion. And from this arose a desire to exhibit it in a LIVING DRAMATIC REALITY [emphasis the author's]. She has endeavored to show it fairly, in the best and worst phases. In its BEST [emphasis the author's] aspect, she has, perhaps, been successful; but, oh! Who shall say what yet remains untold in that valley and shadow of death, that lies the other side?"


Within the narrative arts can be found a gray area between complete fiction and straightforwrad documenting. Within this area itself is a fine line of storytelling that sheds the fluff factor of fiction and the yawn factor of documentation. A story told along this line is not only compelling but offers to the receiver of the story a glimpse of what a life in the world depicted by the story must have been like. Or at the very least might have been like. This glimpse, whatever else it is, will be visceral, allowing the reader an actual emotional link. Finding this line is hard, staying on it harder and pulling off a finished work while remaining true to the line harder still. This is what Stowe did, a century before such a point of view emerged again in Americam media.

As such, Stowe explains that many of the characters are based on real people - yes, there really was a man as horrible as Simon Legree - and that most of the events in the book were based on true events known to her personally or through trusted reporting. This novelizing of reality was so compelling the book would be translated into twenty-two languages.


It would be relatively easy to take sentences and paragraphs out of context and reach the conclusion that Stowe decried slavery while holding the black race paternalistically. It's very possible to find any number of passages and label them as apologetic and paternalistic. There is, in fact, paternalism throughout the story, but this is a reflection of America ten years before the Civil War; and by the end of Stowe's "Concluding Remarks" this paternalism is gone.

I would describe the main apologist, St. Clare, who is keenly aware of the state of his own culture, as more of a rationalist. By making this character so, Stowe is able to open our eyes, as she opened many eyes of the day, to the subtler forms of defacto slavry - not at all to excuse slavery in general as some kind of natural order, but to bear witness to those toiling in other forms of captured work.

In 1851 the scullery maid of an English country home was not a slave, of course. Her employment was voluntary, after all, and at the end of a year she would have a few schillings to her name. But economically, perhaps even geographically, her freedom was largely unavailable to her, and so while not a slave under the law, the other side of her employment was the delivery of herself to twelve- or fifteen-hour days of scrubbing pots and pans. The delivery of herself to, at the end of any of those days, climbing three or four flights of a rear stairs to a garret; to a social life limited to the kitchen staff, which itself was a hierarchy that lorded over her; to little hope of marriage, if that's what she wanted, or to any sort of a life she might call her own. Why? To keep from starving to death.

And think about this today. Are you watching a 27" color TV with full remote that cost $199? Do you honestly think that set could have been made, boxed, shipped to a port in Asia, shipped by boat to the US, shipped by train and truck to your local StuffMart and sold to you profitably for one or two day's wages while every worker along the way was treated fairly? Do you care?


For the vast majority of those reading this review slavery is an abstracted and distant topic. It is a practice from a long ago past that might be given two meetings in a high school American History class, a cursory survey from which students might understand the concept of the economics of buying, selling and breeding human beings, from which they might be encouraged to imagine the suffering implicit to such practices.

Stowe's great achievment in writing "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was to belie the nuts and bolts, the mere logistics and schematics of slavery. She established for the reader the point of view of the slave, of a human life set against the legally sanctioned bureaucracy of slavery. She successfully depicted a person - an individual, a human being - sold as a product, warehoused as a product, transported as a product, and then set to use as an organic machine that was discarded and replaced when it broke. More to the point, she allows us glimpses into the inner lives, thoughts and prayers of those sold, warehoused, transported and used up while their ties to family and place, while their smallest hopes, are given credence only as an afterthought that may never coalesce. Only if, after having purchased a brother or a mother, there should be enough money remaining to buy the sister or the child. Only if it should be convenient and expedient for the planter to do so, only if it should strike that planter's fancy one particular afternoon but
not another.

This book is as meaningful today, in new ways, as it was in 1851, and that is wholly remarkable.

Editorial Review:

HarperCollins UK Audio Classics presents abridged and unabridged readings of the world's favorite literary masterpieces. Among the distinguished readers are Christopher Lee, Derek Jacobi, Simon Callow, Linus Roache, Elizabeth McGovern, Terry Jones, Peter Firth, and Rufus Sewell. Each package of cassettes in the Audio Classics series is beautifully packaged and shrink-wrapped.

House of Mirth

Edith Wharton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Men, Women & Money in the 1900's 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This best selling classic was written in 1905 and is a great portrait of how women perceived their financial role in turn of the century American society.

America was coming into the consumer age in the early 1900's - it was the dawn of opulence, excess spending and the obvious and glaring differences between men, women and money. The House of Mirth is an eye-opening account of how women could only be observers of the American Dream. They had to be content with watching men achieve financial independence all the while knowing that it was out of reach for themselves. This book is a glaring reminder that the only way most women could achieve financial security, was to marry it.

Personally, I've always believed that many of the beliefs and attitudes we women have about money, wealth and prosperity must be somehow locked in our DNA. Money attitudes are passed on to us from generation to generation. This book, to me, reinforces this. Our great, great grandmothers were brought up in this turn-of-the-century era. Their beliefs, observations and values have been passed to us consciously and unconsciously. Reading this book, I kept saying to myself, "No wonder so many of us struggle with achieving and enjoying financial independence."

The House of Mirth is the story of Lily Bart and her struggle for financial independence. From birth her role had been set and no matter how much she wanted to change it, her inner programming and her place in society wouldn't allow it. Lily believes in financial success, wants financial success and yet, she cannot achieve it the same way as the men within her social circle are able to. Men, she realized, have a financial freedom women were not allowed to achieve. The question becomes, did Lily ever make peace with this financial inequity?

This book is a powerful look at the traditional role of women in the early 1900's. Beauty, wit and charm were the acceptable methods by which women could achieve financial success.

The House of Mirth is a great comparison of how men and women were allowed to learn, grow and evolve financially. Men had the power and women paid homage to that power.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't believe it was written over 100 years ago. It was such an "aha" and insight into why many of the gender based beliefs and values women have today, are "throw backs" to the early 20th century.

Editorial Review:

Born in 1862 into an exclusive New York society -- against whose rigid mores she often rebelled -- Edith Wharton bridged the literary worlds of two continents and two centuries in her rich and glamorous life. The House of Mirth (1905), her tenth book, is the story of young Lily Bart and her tragic sojourn among the upper class of turn-of-the-century New York, touching upon the insidious effects of social convention and the sexual and financial aggression to which free spirited women exposed

The Turn of The Screw and Other Short Novels (Signet Classics)

Henry James

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Honestly? Don't read it for fun. 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

It's hard to know how to rate this. Of course, it's ridiculously presumptuous for me to give a classic of English literature anything less than the full rating, but honestly? It's hard to read. The sentences are so elliptical, and the sensibilities of the narrator so difficult for a modern reader to intuit, that I finally rated it for its appeal to a casual reader. Reading it now, I didn't really suffer any thrills of horror. The ghost story really hasn't been the same since Stephen King started writing. Instead, what struck me was the flightiness of the governess, her daisy-chains of inference, and at least two instances where she reports things to the housekeeper as facts that contradict elements of her own narrative. That's the beauty of the story for me, the deftness with which James instills doubt about the credibility of his narrator. So, as a foundation of the horror genre and part of the English lit cannon, may every library contain at least one copy. But it's probably best actually read in the context of a class, where it can be appreciated for its structure and significance and no one will expect reading it to actually be fun.

Editorial Review:

Six classic stories-one volume

This indispensible anthology collects the short novels of Henry James, offering readers the full range of his skill and vision-the singular art and imagination of an author who profoundly influenced American literature