History

Ruskin's treatise on the need for individual artistic freedom remains powerfully relevant to our ideas of beauty today. More...

A searing vision of the human condition - Schopenhauer's perception of the importance of art, morality and self-awareness in a blind struggle against a Godless, meaningless world. More...

The work that changed the face of the twentieth century beyond recognition. More...

'Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust: hatred alone is immortal'
William Hazlitt More...

A passionate declaration of female independence from the founder of modern feminism. More...

The book that created the modern United States, Paine's incendiary call for Americans to revolt against British rule converted millions to the cause of independence and set out a vision of a just society. More...

Gibbon's subversive and iconoclastic description of the rise of Christianity inspired outrage upon publication, and remains one of the most eloquent and damning indictments of the delusory nature of faith. More...

The Meditations of the great Roman Philosopher-Emperor Marcus Aurelius are simple yet profound works of stoic philosophy. More...

Swift's exuberant, bawdy fable is a unique satire on politics, religion, fashion, madness and on writing itself. More...

'Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains'
Jean-Jacques Rousseau More...

A profound influence not only on Christian theology but on the psychology and political philosophy of the West since the Dark Ages. More...

'Montaigne is one of the great sages of that modern world which in a sense began with the Renaissance. He is the bridge linking the thought of pagan antiquity and of Christian antiquity with our own'
M.A. Screech More...

'One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves'
Machiavelli, The Prince More...

'We are all frail; consider none more frail than yourself.' More...

'After Theory's huge achievement is to show just how formidable a presence the Marxist cultural critic can be, even here in the thronged and dismaying universe of Bush, Blair, Derrida and the celebrated M.Jean Baudrillard'
Independent on Sunday More...

With caution, dignity and a spare pair of pants thrown to the wind, Ben Fogel presents his charming journey through the last flag-flying outposts of the British Empire. More...

A gripping account of the bloody vendetta between Miami and Havana since Fidel Castro came to power. More...