Dorothy Parker's Elbow

Previously considered the domain of bikers and a rite of passage in the services, tattoos have crawled from society's fringes and onto the ankles of starlets and the biceps of bankers. In this volume, stories from writers including Sylvia Plath and Ra

Intentions

Oscar Wilde was one of the most successful playwrights of the Victorian era. He was also a notorious supporter of the decadence and aesthetic movements, eventually jailed for having a young male lover. His name remains a by-word for social commentary by sharp wit. Intentions is a collection of critical essays by Wilde including The Critic as artist, The Decay of Lying, Pen, Pencil and Poison and The Truth of Masks.

Common Sense

When Thomas Paine first anonymously published his series of pamphlets titles Common Sense they became an overnight success. First released in 1776 at the height of the American Revolution the treatise denounced British rule and is thought to have been so popular as to have influenced the path of the revolution itself. In the words of Historian Gordon S. Wood Common Sense was, "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."

A Room of One's Own

A Room of One´s Own is a curious essay. Presented originally as two speeches to the Arts Society at Newham in 1928, the work is remarkable for its distinctive tone, for Woolf´s witty and deceptively casual style, and for her decision to largely eschew abstract arguments in favor of narrative, anecdote and the guidance of a strong, abiding first person narrator. She also, refreshingly, avoids doctrine and bombast, instead infusing her arguments with subtlety, curiosity and open-minded speculation.

Light and Liberty

Were Thomas Jefferson alive to read this book, he would recognize every sentence, every elegant turn of phrase, every lofty, beautifully expressed idea. Indeed, every word in the book is his. In an astonishing feat of editing, Eric S. Petersen has culled the entirety of Thomas Jefferson’s published works to fashion thirty-four original essays on themes ranging from patriotism and liberty to hope, humility, and gratitude.