...The entire East Side of New York City is in a state of uproar. Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of anarchists and socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years. --From The Last President, 1896

1900, or The Last President, by INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD, is a surrealistic 1896 novel, where Americans are protesting a corrupt election process while the president's hometown of New York City is fearing the collapse of the republic after the transition of presidential power. If this reminds you of the attitudes after the 2016 Trump presidential win, you are not the alone. During 2017, this book, as well as Lockwood's two children's books, The Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger (1890) and Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey (1893), drew attention due to its uncanny connections with President Trump and his family.

Does this book foresee Donald Trump as the last president of a republic as we know it? Is this a bizarre coincidence or prophetic? Let the reader decide.

The early Christian Fathers such as Jude respected The Book of Enoch, as did the Essenes of Qumran. However, by the fourth century AD the text was considered heretical and all extant copies were destroyed. It was not until the 18th century that a surviving Ethiopic version was found, and its ideas and beliefs could once again be made known to the world. 'The Book of Enoch' tells of the enigmatic Watchers, fallen angels who breed with human females and give rise to the race of Nephilim, evil giants who wreak havoc on earth, and are destroyed by The Flood. Following sections describe Visions, of a messiah-like Son of God, of the Astronomical/Spiritual make-up of the Universe, and of the apocalyptic Final Judgment to be visited upon evil-doers. The R H Charles translation remains the standard English version of the text and is presented here in its entirety.

...the World-War was no longer a momentary constellation of casual facts due to national sentiments, personal influences, or economic tendencies, ...but the type of a historical change of phase occurring within a great historical organism of definable compass at the point preordained for it hundreds of years ago. --Oswald Spengler, Decline of the West Vol. I, 1914

The Decline of the West by German historian Oswald Spengler, originally published in German as Der Untergang des Abendlandes (Vols. I and II in resp. 1918 and 1922), became an instant success in Germany after its defeat in World War I. Spengler's description of the end of the Western world and the implication that Germany was part of this larger historical process resonated with the German readers. He described great cultures following a cycle from inception to expansion followed by death. By understanding this cycle, one could reconstruct the past and predict the future. He specifically predicted that in the final stage of Western civilization, in the 20^th century, Caesarism, a new and overpowering leadership would arise, replacing individualism, liberalism and democracy.

Even though this book was criticized by scholars, it became a bestseller in the 1920s and laid the foundation for the social cycle theory, which states that stages of history generally repeat themselves in cycles.

'There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them...' (I accept this Constitution), 'because I expect no better and because I am not sure that it is not the best.' --Benjamin Franklin, one of the 39 signatories of the Constitution, September, 1787

The Constitution of the United States, signed by the members of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, replaced the Articles of Confederation on June 21, 1788. One of the most influential works of political philosophy and practicality ever written, it is the oldest national constitution still in use today and continues to inspire freedom-loving peoples around the world. Its three-pronged system of government-balancing power among legislative, judicial, and executive branches was groundbreaking.

This handy edition includes the Bill of Rights and the twenty-seven amendments.

In hunting, the finding and killing of the game is after all but a part of the whole. The

free, self-reliant, adventurous life, with its rugged and stalwart democracy; the wild surroundings, the grand beauty of the scenery, the chance to study the ways and habits of the

woodland creatures all these unite to give to the career of the wilderness hunter its peculiar

charm. --Theodore Roosevelt, The Wilderness Hunter

The Wilderness Hunter (1893), by Theodore Roosevelt, describes hunting of many kinds of game, from blacktail deer to antelope, bighorn sheep, moose, and elk. Roosevelt shows his love for the outdoors in a colorful and vivid manner.

The ideas which go to form a nation, as opposed to a mere crowd of human animals have usually been accepted under the pressure of a common tribulation, and under a common necessity of resistance to external force. --Sir Halford Mackinder at the Royal Geographical Society, 1904

The Geographical Pivot of History was a paper submitted by Sir Halford John Mackinder in 1904 to the Royal Geographical Society in London. Mackinder had won earlier attention with his concept of geography as a bridge between the natural sciences and the humanities. In this paper, Mackinder advanced his so-called Heartland Theory, whereby the interior Asia and eastern Europe (the Heartland) had become the strategic center of the world as a result of the relative decline of sea power against land power and of the economic and industrial development of southern Siberia.

Mackinder's Heartland Theory has been considered the founding moment of geopolitics, the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. Mackinder's theories are further described in his book, Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919), also from Cosimo Classics.

Putting his many years of research into a single volume, Hereward Carrington presents readers with a self-help guide for increasing their psychic abilities. Everyone who has experienced psychic phenomena, he says, wants to know how they can develop such powers on their own. And in this book, first published in 1920, he gives them their answers. As the path of development differs for each kind of medium, he has provided instruction on a variety of abilities, including automatic writing and clairvoyance. Serious students of the paranormal as well as those interested purely for entertainment value will find this book a helpful reference. British investigator of psychic phenomenon HEREWARD CARRINGTON (1880-1958) was a member of the Society for Psychical Research and wrote many books on the paranormal. Despite many of his most convincing cases being shown to be frauds, he continued to study claims of psychic power and established a research society in the United States in 1921. Some of his most famous works include Eusapia Paladino and Her Phenomena (1909) and Psychical Phenomena and the War (1918).

This is the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the great German inflation from 1914 to 1923. -Henry Hazlitt

The Economics of Inflation: A Study of Currency Depreciation in Post-War Germany (1931), by Costantino Bresciani-Turroni is a widely-regarded study of the rise of hyperinflation in Germany between the two world wars. It is often considered unsurpassed or the clarity of its description of the effects of monetary expansion. Moreover, the data and statistical analysis it provides take the reader well beyond such fundamental knowledge to provide a critical understanding of the origins of the global disasters-the Great Depression, the rise of Fascism, and the Second World War-that ensued.

Readers interested in history and finance will find this a fascinating study.

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, written by Captain Edward Ruppelt in 1956, was the first serious, unbiased account written about UFOs by anyone connected with the official government investigations of UFO phenomena. Ruppelt, who coined the term unidentified flying objects and headed Project Blue Book from 1951 to 1953, includes his personal investigations and findings in his extensive research on UFOs. He discusses both well-publicized UFO sightings and lesser-known accounts, as well as the inner workings of Air Force UFO research. This edition is the original 1956 edition; in 1960 Ruppelt released a second edition which seemed to weaken his original views that some UFO reports could not be explained, and reinforce the Air Force's position that there was nothing mysterious about UFOs. EDWARD J. RUPPELT (1923-1960) was the head of Project Blue Book during the Korean War, from 1951-1953. He served at the Air Technical Intelligence Center, where he took over Project Grudge, a formal investigation by the U.S. military with the goal of debunking extraterrestrial and UFO activity. Under Ruppelt's supervision, the project, later named Blue Book, experienced its most fruitful years, when investigations were properly conducted without judgment or disdain. Many UFO researchers hail him as a pioneer of UFO research and hero in the fight to earn respectability for the field.

Enuma Elish, the Babylonian version of the story of creation, predates much of the Book of Genesis. Passed down orally for generations until finally being recorded on seven clay tablets, this epic was discovered by 19th-century archeologists among the ruins of the Library of King Ashurbanipal in modern-day Iraq. Translator and editor L.W. King has divided the Seven Tablets of Creation into two volumes, which are combined in this book. In Volume 1, readers will find the English translation of each of the seven tablets, plus sections on the composition of the poem, parallels in Hebrew literature, and the reconstruction and arrangement of the text. In Volume 2, readers will find other accounts of the history of creation, an index, a glossary, and numerous indices and appendices. Religious scholars and anyone interested in human origins will enjoy King's translation of and commentary on this classic, first published in 1902. British classical scholar LEONARD W. KING (1869-1919) was Assistant Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum and professor of Assyrian and Babylonian archaeology at the University of London, King's College. He also wrote Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (1896) and A History of Sumer and Akkad (1910).

Originally published in 1647, Christian Astrology is a guide to horary astrology, in which astrological charts are created to answer specific questions based on place and exact time. Written by the foremost astrologer in the 1600s, it is still considered an authority on the subject today. This version is a complete combined edition; it was originally published by Cosimo in three separate volumes. Topics include: - the characteristics and motions of the seven planets - how to cast a horary horoscopes - how to know whether events predicted will come to pass - how to interpret questions on specific subjects, such as longevity, wealth, and marriage - what is signified by such aspects as the querent's face and hair color - how to interpret infirmities of the body - the importance of the questioner's religion - and much more Readers interested in the history of the paranormal, as well as contemporary fans of astrology, will find this a fascinating book. WILLIAM LILLY (1602-1681) was the most prominent English astrologer of the 17th century-he supposedly predicted the Great Fire of London of 1666 fourteen years before the event. He was a trusted advisor of numerous politicians and soldiers and an influential player in the English Civil War on the anti-royal Roundhead factions.

Based on work originally published in 1650 and 1651, this book combines Jeremy Taylor's two most famous writings: *The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living* and *The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying.* These books are owner's manuals for the soul, describing for readers how to attain virtue, avoid vice, and live a proper Christian life. The book is divided into sections based on which virtue and which vice the reader needs help with. *On Dying* speaks to those who, before they are old and ill, have given some thought to dying and wish to ensure that they pass properly to Heaven. Devout Christians will find this book inspirational and instructional.

(while Soviet power was) impervious to the logic of reason, it was highly sensitive to the logic of force. -The Long Telegram, George F. Kennan (1946)

Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, their relationship soon changed after the war. In February 1946, the US Moscow embassy was asked by the US Treasury why the Soviet Union was not supporting the newly created World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

George Kennan, the Chargé at the US Embassy in Moscow, responded by telegram, also explaining his broader views of the Soviets. His extensive response, dubbed The Long Telegram, became the inspiration for the US containment policy. According to this strategy, the United States and its allies needed to contain the Soviet Union by preventing the spread of communism.

The Long Telegram offers unique insight in a turning point in the US-Soviet relationship and is a must-read for students of US foreign policy, diplomats, and policymakers.

In Mazzaroth; or The constellations, originally published in 1862, 19th-century English linguist and scholar FRANCES ROLLESTON (1781-1864) presents readers with her theory of the gospel in the stars. Rolleston believed that through the ancient names for the stars, one could discover the oldest knowledge transmitted from God to man: the method of man's redemption and the coming of the Jewish messiah. Mentioned in the book of Job, the Mazzaroth is generally believed to be the signs of zodiac. By passing through each sign, a person with a full understanding of the constellations and their meanings can interpret God's message. Rolleston painstakingly provides readers with evidence, she claims, that the signs of the zodiac are an allegory for the New Testament. Through Egyptian hieroglyphs, Assyrian writings, and even the writings in ancient Mexico, she constructs a system of symbols and metaphors all of which attest to a singular meaning to the arrangement of the constellations. Students of the occult and readers with an interest in astrology will find this an entertaining read.

One of the first great events in Christian history was the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, convened to organize Christian sects and beliefs into a unified doctrine. The great Christian clergymen who wrote before this famous event are referred to as the Ante-Nicenes and the Apostolic Fathers, and their writings are collected here in a ten-volume set. The Ante-Nicenes lived so close to the time of Christ that their interpretations of the New Testament are considered more authentic than modern voices. But they are also real and flawed men, who are more like their fellow Christians than they are like the Apostles, making their words echo in the ears of spiritual seekers. In Volume I of the 10-volume collected works of the Ante-Nicenes first published between 1885 and 1896, readers will find the writings of: Clement of Rome, the fourth pope, who was supposedly martyred by being tied to an anchor and tossed overboard Mathetes, an anonymous writer considered the first Christian apologist Polycarp, a Christian bishop who was stabbed to death after he failed to burn at the stake Ignatius, a student of John the Apostle, who was Bishop of Antioch before he was killed Barnabas, an anonymous writer given the name of Saint Barnabas Papias, author of Interpretations of the Sayings of the Lord, a textbook on quotes from Jesus Justin Martyr, a Christian apologist and accomplished philosopher, and Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp, apologist, and bishop of Lugdunum.

In the medi val stage of evolution of the production of commodities, the question as to the owner of the product of labour could not arise. The individual producer, as a rule, had, from raw material belonging to himself, and generally his own handiwork, produced it with his own tools, by the labour of his own hands or of his family. There was no need for him to appropriate the new product. It belonged wholly to him, as a matter of course. His property was, therefore, based upon his own labour. --from Chapter III In 1875, Dr. Eugene Duehring, a professor at Berlin University, proclaimed himself converted to Socialism, and even went so far as to promulgate his own theories on the philosophy. German philosopher FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820-1895), who had coauthored The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx in 1848, was not pleased, and set out to refute Duehring in a highly charged work 1878 book called Anti-Duehring. In 1880, Engels excerpted three vital chapters from Anti-Duehring, which became this pamphlet, the most popular distillation of Marx and Engel's philosophies after the Manifesto itself. This primer on Marxism is an excellent introduction to concepts of socialism from one of its originators.

...I fancied that they too, as they looked at the Casuarina tree, grey, rugged and sad, a little out of place in the wanton tropics, might very well be reminded of their native land... -W. Somerset Maugham, The Casuarina Tree (1926) The Casuarina Tree (1926) by W. Somerset Maugham is a collection of short stories loosely based on the author's travels to the Federated Malay States in the 1920s. Many of the characters struggle with alienation and fate as the author develops themes of race, class division, and adultery. After its publication, Maugham was criticized for depicting the region in an unflattering light. Included in this volume are: Before the Party, P. and O., The Outstation, The Force of Circumstance, The Yellow Streak, and The Letter. Anyone intrigued by the early twentieth century and Maugham's insightful character studies will want to add this compilation to their personal library.

...Do not wait for an opportunity to be all that you want to be; be all that you can today, and when an opportunity to be more is offered to you, take it... --Wallace D. Wattles

How to Promote Yourself, after being first published as Making the Man Who Can in 1909, was republished in 1914. This book shows how to become the man, or woman, who can live a successful, powerful life, and how to achieve it. Some of the themes are familiar from Wallace Wattles' other books, but repetition is the mother of learning.

These teachings are as inspiring as they were a century ago as evidenced by the 2006 hit movie and bestseller The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and the practice of many self-help gurus.

Egyptologist Gerald Massey challenged readers in A Book of the Beginnings to consider the argument that Egypt was the birthplace of civilization and that the widespread monotheistic vision of man and the metaphysical was, in fact, based on ancient Egyptian mythos. In The Natural Genesis, presented here in an omnibus edition, Massey delivers a sequel, delving deeper into his compelling polemic. In Volume I, he offers a more intellectual, fine-tuned analysis of the development of society out of Egypt. From the simplest signs (numbers, the cross) to the grandest archetypes (darkness, the mother figure), Massey carefully and confidently lays the cultural and psychosocial bricks of evolutionism. Volume II provides detailed discourse on the Egyptian origin of the delicate components of the monotheistic creed. With his agile prose, Massey leads an adventurous examination of the epistemology of astronomy, time, and Christology-and what it all means for human culture. British author GERALD MASSEY (1828-1907) published works of poetry, spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best known works are in the realm of Egyptology, including The Book of the Beginnings, The Natural Genesis, and Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World.

From its early stories of gods, monsters, and mischievous mythical creatures to its more grounded recountings of historical events, this classic collection of the first literary efforts of the Japanese people is the preeminent source of knowledge about Japanese antiquity. First published in this translation in 1896, includes a history of the Shinto, variations on the basic myths and legends of the nation, and insight into the manners and customs of the early Japanese. Students of folklore and comparative religion as well as those of Japanese history will find this an invaluable resource. British Japanologist and diplomat WILLIAM GEORGE ASTON (1841-1911) was one of the first Europeans to acquire a working understanding of the Japanese language. He served in Japan and Korea in a variety of diplomatic posts, and authored, among other works, Shinto: The Way of the Gods and A History of Japanese Literature.