Remarkable for their eloquence, depth of feeling, and oratorical mastery, these 82 compelling speeches encompass five centuries of Indian encounters with nonindigenous people. Beginning with a 1540 refusal by a Timucua chief to parley with Hernando de Soto (With such a people I want no peace), the collection extends to the 20th-century address of activist Russell Means to the United Nations affiliates and members of the Human Rights Commission (We are people who love in the belly of the monster).
Other memorable orations include Powhatan's Why should you destroy us, who have provided you with food? (1609); Red Jacket's We like our religion, and do not want another (1811); Osceola's I love my home, and will not go from it (1834); Red Cloud's The Great Spirit made us both (1870); Chief Joseph's I will fight no more forever (1877); Sitting Bull's The life my people want is a life of freedom (1882); and many more. Other notable speakers represented here include Tecumseh, Seattle, Geronimo, and Crazy Horse, as well as many lesser-known leaders.
Graced by forceful metaphors and vivid imagery expressing emotions that range from the utmost indignation to the deepest sorrow, these addresses are deeply moving documents that offer a window into the hearts and minds of Native Americans as they struggled against the overwhelming tide of European and American encroachment. This inexpensive edition, with informative notes about each speech and orator, will prove indispensable to anyone interested in Native American history and culture.

Absolutely wonderful; a marvelous journey which meanders through some of the most formative literature, non-fiction, and poetry to come out of the United States. -- The Literary Sisters
At the end of the Civil War, another long and arduous struggle began as the nation attempted to reunite. Literature offered a path toward solidarity, and this concise anthology surveys the writings of major American authors from the war's end to the dawn of the Jazz Age.
Featured works include those of Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and other poets. Mark Twain is prominently represented among the storytellers, along with Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Three short novels appear in their entirety: Daisy Miller by Henry James, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Speeches by Sitting Bull and Theodore Roosevelt, memoirs by Booker T. Washington and Helen Keller, and many other selections recapture a vibrant era in American literature. Informative introductory notes supplement the authoritative texts.

Knausgaard is both a daring writer and a daring interviewee. He grounds his observations in the ordinary aspects of the world around him, which, he insists, is the same world in front of most of his readers. He regards his appearances in newspapers, magazines, and literary festivals as a performance, where he plays himself. While that role may differ from his inner life, it is consistent with the role he plays in his autobiographical novels. Fans of Knausgaard will easily recognize this public persona, an embodiment of the protagonist, husband, and father featured in My Struggle and in the Seasons quartet.

Knausgaard discusses his work, aspects of his personal life, and his writing routines and practices in marvelous detail. He comments on literary and artistic world classics and on international contemporary authors. A bilingual speaker, he is accustomed to appearing before the press and in front of audiences in his roles as a famous author and as the publisher and cofounder of the publishing house Pelikanen (Pelican). Remarkable for his candor and directness, Knausgaard delivers the same variety and number of surprises in these interviews as he does in his most thrilling books.

The relative peace and prosperity of the Elizabethan age (1558-1603) fostered the growth of one of the most fruitful eras in literary history. Lyric poetry, prose, and drama flourished in sixteenth-century England in works that blended medieval traditions with Renaissance optimism.
This anthology celebrates the wit and imaginative creativity of the Elizabethan poets with a generous selection of their graceful and sophisticated verse. Highlights include sonnets from Astrophel and Stella, written by Sir Philip Sidney -- a scholar, poet, critic, courtier, diplomat, soldier, and ideal English Renaissance man; poems by Edmund Spenser, whose works combined romance with allegory, adventure, and morality; and sonnets by William Shakespeare, whose towering poetic genius transcends the ages. Other celebrated contributors include John Donne (Go, and catch a fallen star), Ben Jonson (Drink to me only with thine eyes), and Christopher Marlowe (The Passionate Shepherd to His Love). The poetry of lesser-known figures such as Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, and Fulke Greville appears here, along with verses by individuals better known in other fields -- Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Walter Raleigh -- whose poems offer valuable insights into the spirit of the age.

In 1886, a twenty-six-year-old Anton Chekhov was publishing short stories, humor pieces, and articles at an astonishing rate, and was still a practicing physician. Yet as he honed his craft and continued to draw inspiration from the vivid characters in his own life, he found himself--to his surprise and occasional embarrassment--admired by a growing legion of fans, including Tolstoy himself.

He had not yet succumbed to the ravages of tuberculosis. He was a lively, frank, and funny correspondent and a dedicated mentor. And as Bob Blaisdell discovers, his vivid articles, stories, and plays from this period--when read in conjunction with his correspondence--become a psychological and emotional secret diary.

When Chekhov struggled with his increasingly fraught engagement, young couples are continually making their raucous way in and out of relationships on the page. When he was overtaxed by his medical duties, his doctor characters explode or implode. Chekhov's talented but drunken older brothers and Chekhov's domineering father became transmuted into characters, yet their emergence from their family's serfdom is roiling beneath the surface.

Chekhov could crystalize the human foibles of the people he knew into some of the most memorable figures in literature and drama.

In Chekhov Becomes Chekhov, Blaisdell astutely examines the psychological portraits of Chekhov's distinct, carefully observed characters and how they reflect back on their creator during a period when there seemed to be nothing between his imagination and the paper he was writing upon.

Knausgaard is both a daring writer and a daring interviewee. He grounds his observations in the ordinary aspects of the world around him, which, he insists, is the same world in front of most of his readers. He regards his appearances in newspapers, magazines, and literary festivals as a performance, where he plays himself. While that role may differ from his inner life, it is consistent with the role he plays in his autobiographical novels. Fans of Knausgaard will easily recognize this public persona, an embodiment of the protagonist, husband, and father featured in My Struggle and in the Seasons quartet.

Knausgaard discusses his work, aspects of his personal life, and his writing routines and practices in marvelous detail. He comments on literary and artistic world classics and on international contemporary authors. A bilingual speaker, he is accustomed to appearing before the press and in front of audiences in his roles as a famous author and as the publisher and cofounder of the publishing house Pelikanen (Pelican). Remarkable for his candor and directness, Knausgaard delivers the same variety and number of surprises in these interviews as he does in his most thrilling books.

This is a fantastic compilation of some really important pieces of American Literature. If you are a college student or even a motivated high school student, you will definitely want this on your bookshelf. Most importantly though, if you are someone who just genuinely enjoys reading and would like to expand your repertoire to some of the best in American literature, this is the book for you! -- Old Musty Books
Ranging from colonial times to the mid-19th century, this compact and inexpensive anthology offers a fascinating overview of early American literature. The authoritative texts are supplemented with informative introductory notes and suggestions for further reading.
Starting with Cherokee creation myths and Powhatan's moving speech, Why Should You Destroy Us, Who Have Provided You with Food, the 18th-century selections include the writings of poets Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley; preacher Jonathan Edwards; statesmen Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and others. From the early and mid-19th century come excerpts from the journals of Lewis and Clark; stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Louisa May Alcott; the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Walt Whitman; and essays, speeches, verse, and memoirs by other prominent Americans.

Many of the 20th century's most important and influential poets rallied under the banner of Imagism, a radical poetic movement that extended the frontiers of English literature. By following a strict set of principles -- including direct treatment of the subject, minimal use of adjectives, precision of language, and the development of an individual rhythmic style -- the Imagists created dazzling works of gemlike appeal.
This volume contains over 180 well-chosen Imagist masterpieces by Erza Pound, D. H. Lawrence, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), James Joyce, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and other masters. Its roster of lesser-known poets features Richard Aldington, Walter Conrad Arensberg, Skipworth Cannéll, Adelaide Crapsey, John Gould Fletcher, and many others.
Several of these poems appeared first in books by the represented poets and in the very first Imagist anthologies; others were published in such journals as Poetry, The Dial, The Trend, and The Egoist. Carefully chosen for their individual poetic strengths as well as their characteristic illustration of Imagism, these verses represent the very best of thousands of imagistic verses published from 1913 to 1922.