Each working day from January 29 to November 1, 1951, John Steinbeck warmed up to the work of writing East of Eden with a letter to the late Pascal Covici, his friend and editor at The Viking Press. It was his way, he said, of "getting my mental arm in shape to pitch a good game." Steinbeck's letters were written on the left-hand pages of a notebook in which the facing pages would be filled with the test of East of Eden. They touched on many subjects—story arguments, trial flights of workmanship, concern for his sons.Part autobiography, part writer's workshop, these letters offer an illuminating perspective on Steinbeck's creative process, and a fascinating glimpse of Steinbeck, the private man. Read more

Originally edited by Dorothy Lobrano Guth, and revised and updated by Martha White. With a foreword by John Updike.These letters are, of course, beautifully written but above all personal, precise, and honest. They evoke E.B. White’s life in New York and in Maine at every stage of his life. They are full of memorable characters: White’s family, the New Yorker staff and contributors, literary types and show business people, farmers from Maine and sophisticates from New York-Katherine S. White, Harold Ross, James Thurber, Alexander Woolcott, Groucho Marx, John Updike, and many, many more.Each decade has its own look and taste and feel. Places, too-from Belgrade (Maine) to Turtle Bay (NYC) to the S.S. Buford, Alaska-bound in 1923-are brought to life in White’s descriptions. There is no other book of letters to compare with this; it is a book to treasure and savor at one’s leisure.As White wrote in this book, “A man who publishes his letters becomes nudist—nothing shields him from the world’s gaze except his bare skin....a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.” Read more

The last of Edmund Wilson's posthumously published journals turned out to be one of his major books, The Sixties: the Last Journal, 1960–1972--a personal history that is also brilliant social comedy and an anatomy of the times. Wilson catches the flavor of an international elite -- Stravinsky, Auden, Andre Malraux, and Isaiah Berlin -- as well as the New York literati and the Kennedy White House, but he never strays too far from the common life, whether noting the routines of his normal neighbors or the struggle of his own aging."Candor and intelligence come through on every page--in this always absorbing journal by perhaps the last great man of American letters." - Kirkus Reviews Read more

At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering and the nature of advice itself; these profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for writers and artists of all kinds. This book also contains the 'Letter from a Young Worker', a striking polemic against Christianity written in letter-form, near the end of Rilke's life. In Lewis Hyde's introduction, he explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. Charlie Louth's afterword discusses the similarities and contrasts of the two works, and Rilke's religious and sexual wordplay. This edition also contains a chronology, notes, and suggested further reading. Read more

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations . . . this is what he is like in person.”–USA Today In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this age–or any age–holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of America’s soul. From his coming of age in America, to his formative war experiences, to his life as an artist, this is Vonnegut doing what he does best: Being himself. Whimsically illustrated by the author, A Man Without a Country is intimate, tender, and brimming with the scope of Kurt Vonnegut’s passions.Praise for A Man Without a Country“[This] may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir.”–Los Angeles Times“Like [that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, [Kurt Vonnegut’s] crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted. . . . [Reading A Man Without a Country is] like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend.”–The New York Times Book Review “Filled with [Vonnegut’s] usual contradictory mix of joy and sorrow, hope and despair, humor and gravity.”–Chicago Tribune “Fans will linger on every word . . . as once again [Vonnegut] captures the complexity of the human condition with stunning calligraphic simplicity.”–The Australian “Thank God, Kurt Vonnegut has broken his promise that he will never write another book. In this wondrous assemblage of mini-memoirs, we discover his family’s legacy and his obstinate, unfashionable humanism.”–Studs Terkel Read more

Eat, Pray, Love meets Claude Monet in this epistolary ode to the French capital from the New York Times–bestselling author of Paris Letters.What started as a whim in a Latin Quarter café blossomed into Janice MacLeod’s years-long endeavor to document and celebrate life in Paris, sending monthly snippets of her paintings and writings to the mailboxes of ardent followers around the world. Now, Dear Paris collects the entirety of the Paris Letters project: 140 illustrated messages discussing everything from macarons to Montmartre.For readers familiar with the city, Dear Paris is a rendezvous with their own memories, like the first time they walked along the Champs-Élysées or the best pain au chocolat they’ve ever tasted. But it’s about more than just a Paris frozen in nostalgia; the book paints the city as it is today, through elections, protests, and the World Cup—and through the people who call it home. Wistful, charming, surprising, and unfailingly optimistic, Dear Paris is a vicarious visit to one of the most iconic and beloved places in the world.Praise for Paris Letters“Janice MacLeod’s charming Paris Letters takes us on her starry-eyed discovery of Paris, the joys of learning the French language, a unique career in art and, best of all, the romance of a lifetime! C’est bon!” —Lynne Martin, author of Home Sweet Anywhere“Written as though to a best friend telling her story over lattes—or café crème. Relatable and inspiring . . . cleverly crafted with wit and unexpected wisdom.” —New York Journal of Books Read more

The original and insightful collection that combines Mark Twain's journal writings with his rarely seen sketches and doodles. Fascinating and often hilarious, this is a complete record of the thoughts, ideas, and observations of the father of American literature. A national treasure and a cultural and literary icon, Mark Twain was called "the father of American literature" by William Faulkner. His beloved works include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and 26 other books. His inimitable prose seamlessly weaves together humor, insight, vivid details, and memorable characters. Along with these published works, Twain, who was also a journalist, produced approximately 40 to 50 pocket notebooks and wrote countless letters, essays, travelogues, and lectures in his lifetime.Mark Twain's Notebooks is the first collection to gather these writings and combine them with dozens of Twain's rarely seen sketches, doodles, and diagrams, as well as facsimiles of his original journal pages, letters, and essays. The result is page after beautifully designed page of some of the best, yet little-known, writings of Mark Twain. Organized by topics such as science, literature, health, family life, and food, the collection also includes intimate letters that describe the home he built in Hartford, Connecticut; his travels across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States; and his agony over the death of his favorite daughter. The writing and art is selected by book and publishing veteran Carlo De Vito, who provides fascinating commentary and insights into the material throughout the book. Read more

“Engaging and revealing, The Letters of Sylvia Plath offers a captivating look into the life and inner thinking of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.” — Paul Alexander, Washington PostThe second volume in the definitive, complete collection of the letters of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Sylvia Plath, from the early years of her marriage to Ted Hughes to the final days leading to her suicide in 1963, many never before seen.One of the most talented and beloved poets, Sylvia Plath continues to fascinate and inspire the modern literary imagination. The tragedy of her untimely death at age thirty, almost fifty-five years ago, has left much unknown about her creative and personal life. In this remarkable second volume of the iconic poet and writer’s collected letters, the full range of Plath’s ambitions, talents, fears, and perspective is made visible through her own powerful words.As engaging as they are revealing, these remarkable letters cover the years from 1957 to 1963. They detail the last six tumultuous and prolific years of her life, covering her marriage to Ted Hughes, the births of her children Frieda and Nicholas, her early success, including the publication of the classic The Bell Jar, and her ongoing struggle with depression.The first compendium of its kind to include all of Plath’s letters from this period, The Letters of Sylvia Plath Volume 2 offers an intimate portrait of the writing life and mind of one of the most celebrated poets in literary history. Read more

“One of the finest and most original writers…and one of the greatest Polish writers of [the 20th] century. [Herbert] is a figure comparable to, say, T. S. Eliot or W. H. Auden.”—Edward Hirsch, The New Yorker Polish essayist, poet, and spiritual leader of his nation’s anti-Communist movement, the late Zbigniew Herbert is a literary giant whose writings are revered throughout Europe and the world. A companion volume to the author’s Collected Poems (Ecco 2007), Collected Prose is the only English language edition of the award-winning writer’s prose works collected in a single, beautiful, accessible volume—including in their entirety his  renowned Labyrinth on the Sea, Still Life with a Bridle, King of the Ants, and Barbarian in the Garden. Read more

“A vivid and unforgettable word picture of the destruction of Nazi Germany” (The New York Times).   A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William L. Shirer was new to the world of broadcast journalism when he began keeping a diary while on assignment in Europe during the 1930s. It was in 1940, when he was still virtually unknown, that Shirer wondered whether his eyewitness account of the collapse of the world around Nazi Germany could be of any interest or value as a book.   Shirer’s Berlin Diary, which is considered the first full record of what was happening in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich, appeared in 1941. The book was an instant success—and would not be the last of his expert observations on Europe.   Shirer returned to the European front in 1944 to cover the end of the war. As the smoke cleared, Shirer—who watched the birth of a monster that threatened to engulf the world—now stood witness to the death of the Third Reich. End of a Berlin Diary chronicles this year-long study of Germany after Hitler. Through a combination of Shirer’s lucid, honest reporting, along with passages on the Nuremberg trials, copies of captured Nazi documents, and an eyewitness account of Hitler’s last days, Shirer provides insight into the unrest, the weariness, and the tentative steps world leaders took towards peace. Read more

'What matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now.'A hugely influential collection for writers and artists of all kinds, Rilke's profound and lyrical letters to a young friend advise on writing, love, sex, suffering and the nature of advice itself.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants. Read more

There was a time when people communicated through letters— and when it came to expressing their love, the correspondence brimmed with heartwarming, endearing love letters. Sometimes these letters were beginnings of tempestuous, controversial, clandestine love affairs and soon cultivated into relationships that lasted a lifetime, and at other times they were mere feverish rants, the intensity diminishing as soon as it had escalated. No matter who they were— scholars, kings, queens, writers, painters— they all fell passionately and irrevocably in love, their letters capturing their happiness, longing, insecurity, and even suspicion and distrust. We bring together a treasure trove of hundred beautiful letters from around the world in our edition. Beginning with Pliny the Younger, the magistrate of Ancient Rome, pining for his wife as he lay awake at night, and ending with Virginia Woolf' s confession that her lady love' s mere presence was intoxicating and even ‘ physically stimulating' , the letters are accompanied by their profound love stories, telling a tale of how their love began, what turmoil it faced, and in some cases, why it ended. Read more

The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only known survivor, just after the war was over. The diary has since been published in more than 70 languages Read more

“A poignant, nostalgic collection of literary criticism by one of America’s premier authors.”—Kirkus Reviews In Rough Country is a sterling collection of essays, reviews, and criticism from Joyce Carol Oates that focuses on a wide array of books and writers—from Poe to Nabokov, from Flannery O’Connor to Phillip Roth. One of our foremost novelists, National Book Award and PEN/Malamud Award winner Oates demonstrates an unparalleled understanding and appreciation of great works of literature with In Rough Country, and offers unique and breathtaking insights into the writer’s art. Read more

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Here is the Nobel Prize winner in her own words: a rich gathering of her most important essays and speeches, spanning four decades that "speaks to today’s social and political moment as directly as this morning’s headlines” (NPR).These pages give us her searing prayer for the dead of 9/11, her Nobel lecture on the power of language, her searching meditation on Martin Luther King Jr., her heart-wrenching eulogy for James Baldwin. She looks deeply into the fault lines of culture and freedom: the foreigner, female empowerment, the press, money, “black matter(s),” human rights, the artist in society, the Afro-American presence in American literature. And she turns her incisive critical eye to her own work (The Bluest Eye, Sula, Tar Baby, Jazz, Beloved, Paradise) and that of others. An essential collection from an essential writer, The Source of Self-Regard shines with the literary elegance, intellectual prowess, spiritual depth, and moral compass that have made Toni Morrison our most cherished and enduring voice. Read more

For over a hundred and fifty years, the essays, poetry and journals of the leading transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau have won the admiration of readers, due to the author’s natural observation, symbolic meanings, poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity and practical detail. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete published works of Henry David Thoreau, with numerous illustrations, informative introductions and the largest collection of journals available for Kindle readers. (Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Thoreau's life and works* Concise introductions to the books and other texts* All 5 books, with individual contents tables* Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts* Excellent formatting of the texts* The complete essays - with rare works often missed out of collections* The complete poetry, with special chronological and alphabetical contents tables* Easily locate the poems or short stories you want to read* Includes Thoreau's letters - spend hours exploring the author’s personal correspondence* Features over 2,000 pages of Thoreau’s journals * Special criticism section, with essays evaluating Thoreau’s personality and contribution to literature* Features a bonus biography by the author’s close friend Ralph Waldo Emerson - discover Thoreau's literary life* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresPlease note: due to copyright restrictions we are unable to offer the complete journals. However, the collection provides a generous sample of Thoreau’s journals, offering the complete journals for 1837-1847, a detailed example of the ‘middle’ journals for 1855-1856 and the complete last year of Thoreau’s life, as well as a generous selection from all of the other journals.CONTENTS:The BooksA WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERSWALDEN, OR, LIFE IN THE WOODSTHE MAINE WOODSCAPE CODA YANKEE IN CANADAThe EssaysAULUS PERSIUS FLACCUSTHE SERVICENATURAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTSA WALK TO WACHUSETTSIR WALTER RALEIGHDARK AGESA WINTER WALKTHE LANDLORDPARADISE (TO BE) REGAINEDHOMER. OSSIAN. CHAUCER.HERALD OF FREEDOMWENDELL PHILLIPS BEFORE THE CONCORD LYCEUMTHOMAS CARLYLE AND HIS WORKSON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCEWALKINGLOVECHASTITY AND SENSUALITYSLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTSLIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLEAUTUMNAL TINTSA PLEA FOR CAPTAIN JOHN BROWNMARTYRDOM OF JOHN BROWNTHE LAST DAYS OF JOHN BROWNTHE SUCCESSION OF FOREST TREESWILD APPLESNIGHT AND MOONLIGHTHUCKLEBERRIESThe PoemsLIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe TranslationsPROMETHEUS BOUND OF ÆSCHYLUSTRANSLATIONS FROM PINDARThe LettersFAMILIAR LETTERS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAUThe JournalsTHOREAU’S JOURNALSThe CriticismHENRY DAVID THOREAU: HIS CHARACTER AND OPINIONS by Robert Louis StevensonBROOK FARM AND CONCORD by Henry JamesExtracts from AMERICAN NOTEBOOKS by Nathaniel HawthorneTHE FORESTER by Amos Bronson AlcottA FABLE FOR CRITICS by James Russell LowellHENRY D. THOREAU by Elbert HubbardTHOREAU by Virginia WoolfANOTHER WORD ON THOREAU by John BurroughsThe BiographyTHOREAU: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH by Ralph Waldo Emerson Read more

The first publication of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s private, intimate diaries, providing “a candid self-portrait of the ‘bad girl of American letters’” (Kirkus Reviews)“Endlessly intriguing and illuminating. The publication of Edna St. Vincent Millay's diaries is a major literary event, providing astonishing insight into the great poet’s art and life.”—Chloe Honum, author of The Tulip-FlameThe English author Thomas Hardy proclaimed that America had two great attractions: the skyscraper, and the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. In these diaries the great American poet illuminates not only her literary genius, but her life as a devoted daughter, sister, wife, and public heroine; and finally as a solitary, tragic figure.This is the first publication of the diaries she kept from adolescence until middle age, between 1907 and 1949, focused on her most productive years. Who was the girl who wrote “Renascence,” that marvel of early twentieth-century poetry? What trauma or spiritual journey inspired the poem? And after such celebrity why did she vanish into near seclusion after 1940? These questions hover over the life and work, and trouble biographers and readers alike. Intimate, eloquent, these confessions and keen observations provide the key to understanding Millay’s journey from small-town obscurity to world fame, and the tragedy of her demise. Read more

The Nobel Prize-winning Prime Minister’s historic speeches from the final year of WWII are collected in this essential volume.   During the final eight months of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave some of the most brilliant and consequential speeches of his career. Here are Churchill’s war status reports delivered to the House of Commons, his rousing statements to the British people, and his global broadcasts, including his announcement of Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 8th, 1945.   These speeches detail Churchill's public reactions to the forming of the United Nations, the death of Roosevelt, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and, lastly, the election that defeats him. Perhaps most notable is the "Gestapo" speech of 1945, in which Churchill made a controversial comparison between a Socialist government and the Gestapo—an extremely charged word at that time—that many believe cost him his job as Prime Minister. Read more

Featuring the legendary and groundbreaking poem "Howl," this remarkable volume showcases a selection of Allen Ginsberg's poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews, and contains sixteen pages of his personal photographs.One of the Beat Generation's most renowned poets and writers, Allen Ginsberg became internationally famous not only for his published works but also for his actions as a human rights activist who championed the sexual revolution, gay liberation, Buddhism and Eastern religion, and the confrontation of societal norms—all before it became fashionable to do so. He was also the dynamic leader of war protesters, artists, Flower Power hippies, musicians, punks, and political radicals.The Essential Ginsberg collects a mosaic of material that displays the full range of Ginsberg's mental landscape. His most important poems, songs, essays, letters, journals, and interviews are displayed in chronological order. His poetic masterpieces, "Howl" and "Kaddish," are presented here along with lesser-known and difficult-to-find songs and prose. Personal correspondence with William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac is included, as well as photographs—shot and captioned by Ginsberg himself—of his friends and fellow rogues William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and others.Through his essays, journals, interviews, and letters, this definitive volume will inspire readers to delve deeper into a body of work that remains one of the most impressive literary canons in American history. Read more

The Road to Dune is a treasure trove of essays, articles, and fiction that every reader of Dune will want to add to their shelf. Includes never-before-published chapters from Dune and Dune Messiah, original stories, and a new short novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. AndersonFrank Herbert's Dune is widely known as the science fiction equivalent of The Lord of the Rings, and The Road to Dune is a companion work comparable to The Silmarillion, shedding light on and following the remarkable development of the bestselling science fiction novel of all time.Herein, the world's millions of Dune fans can now read---at long last---the unpublished chapters and scenes from Dune and Dune Messiah. The Road to Dune also includes the original correspondence between Frank Herbert and famed editor John W. Campbell, Jr.; excerpts from Herbert's correspondence during his years-long struggle to get his innovative work published; and the article "They Stopped the Moving Sands," Herbert's original inspiration for Dune.The Road to Dune features newly discovered papers and manuscripts of Frank Herbert, and also "Spice Planet," an original sixty-thousand-word short novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, based on a detailed outline left by Frank Herbert.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. Read more