by P.J. O'Rourke (2007)
An upbeat dissemination of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" and "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" condenses and illuminates the key points of the original works while discussing how their messages remain relevant.
Asher Cantrell
Hundreds of bizarre, ugly, gross, and otherwise extreme words have what it takes to break some serious records. From the seven longest speeches ever given to twelve of the most popular passwords used today, each of these entries reveals the history behind the world's most noteworthy expressions and pronunciations-- with definitions and sample sentences for each award-winning word. Includes one-of-a-kind superlative lists.
Gwyn Jones
These twelve essays and addresses range widely from consideration of the nature of Anglo-Welsh literature to incisive commentary on critical approaches to the European novel. Authors such as Dylan Thomas, Richard Savage, and Caradoc Evans ('the best-hated Welshman of them all') come under the author's sympathetic scrutiny; there is a trenchant analysis of the Heroic poetry of the Welsh, Norse, and English peoples. Here too are some reflections on Viking themes, an area in which Gwyn Jones has established a world-wide reputation. Gwyn Jones's critical insights and literary judgements are constantly enlivened by his genial personality and a gift for vivid description, expressed in prose that is at once thoughtful and unsolemn. These explorations are the witty and lively writings of a man whose heart is in Wales, but whose head allows him to range freely across the wider world.
Alexander Welsh
"Welsh closely examines the two novels Dickens wrote after David Copperfield and reassesses the importance of this crucial stage of Dickens's career.". "In spite of the famous double narrative of Bleak House, says Welsh, the various actions and roles of the characters answer the needs of the protagonist much as they do in David Copperfield. Dickens redresses himself as the female narrator Esther Summerson and at the same time redirects his artistic energy in forms less explicitly personal. When he wrote Hard Times - which can be considered an epilogue to the much longer Bleak House - Dickens was able to conceive a plot neither centered around a hero nor fueled by the kind of wish fulfillment that structure had implied. Welsh's engaging discussion and original insights into two of Dickens's most successful novels will enhance the enthusiast's pleasure in reading these works and inspire longtime students of the novelist to think about Dickens's extraordinary accomplishments in new ways."--BOOK JACKET.
retold by Barbara Cohen
A somewhat humorous retelling, featuring Balaam's donkey, of the Bible story in which Balak, king of Moab, calls upon Balaam, the prophet, to curse the Israelites, but he blesses them instead.