The Best American Essays 2020


Book Description

Compiles the best literary essays of the year 2019 which were originally published in American periodicals.




Long Life


Book Description

"The gift of Oliver's poetry is that she communicates the beauty she finds in the world and makes it unforgettable" ( Miami Herald ). This has never been truer than in Long Life, a luminous collection of seventeen essays and ten poems. With the grace and precision that are the hallmarks of her work, Oliver shows us how writing "is a way of offering praise to the world" and suggests we see her poems as "little alleluias." Whether describing a goosefish stranded at low tide, the feeling of being baptized by the mist from a whale's blowhole, or the "connection between soul and landscape," Oliver invites readers to find themselves and their experiences at the center of her world. In Long Life she also speaks of poets and writers: Wordsworth's "whirlwind" of "beauty and strangeness"; Hawthorne's "sweet-tempered" side; and Emerson's belief that "a man's inclination, once awakened to it, would be to turn all the heavy sails of his life to a moral purpose." With consummate craftsmanship, Mary Oliver has created a breathtaking volume sure to add to her reputation as "one of our very best poets" (New York Times Book Review ).




The Best American Essays 2007


Book Description

Published: Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., -




Why I Wake Early


Book Description

The forty-seven new works in this volume include poems on crickets, toads, trout lilies, black snakes, goldenrod, bears, greeting the morning, watching the deer, and, finally, lingering in happiness. Each poem is imbued with the extraordinary perceptions of a poet who considers the everyday in our lives and the natural world around us and finds a multitude of reasons to wake early.




United States: Essays 1952-1992


Book Description

A compilation of 114 classic essays from Gore Vidal. "A marvelous compendium of sharp wit and independent judgment that confirms his status as a man of letters." —Publishers Weekly From the age of Eisenhower to the dawning of the Clinton era, Gore Vidal’s United States offers an incomparably rich tapestry of American intellectual and political life in a tumultuous period. It also provides the best, most sustained exposure possible to the most wide-ranging, acute, and original literary intelligence of the post–World War II years. United States is an essential book in the canon of twentieth-century American literature and an endlessly fascinating work.




Owls and Other Fantasies


Book Description

A perfect introduction to Mary Oliver’s poetry, this stunning collection features 26 nature poems and prose writings about the birds that played such an important role in the Pulitzer Prize winner’s life. Within these pages you will find hawks, hummingbirds, and herons; kingfishers, catbirds, and crows; swans, swallows and, of course, the snowy owl, among a dozen others-including ten poems that have never before been collected. She adds two beautifully crafted essays, “Owls,” selected for the Best American Essays series, and “Bird,” a new essay that will surely take its place among the classics of the genre. In the words of the poet Stanley Kunitz, “Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing. Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations.” For anyone who values poetry and essays, for anyone who cares about birds, Owls and Other Fantasies will be a treasured gift; for those who love both, it will be essential reading. This book was published with two different covers. Customers will be shipped the book with one of the available covers.




The Best American History Essays on Lincoln


Book Description

This new volume in the Best American History Essays series brings together classic writing from top American historians on one of our greatest presidents. Ranging from incisive assessments of his political leadership, to explorations of his enigmatic character, to reflections on the mythos that has become inseparable from the man, each of these contributions expands our understanding of Abraham Lincoln and shows why he has been such an object of enduring fascination.Contributions include:* James McPherson on Lincoln the military strategist* Richard Hofstadter on the Lincoln legend* Edmund Wilson on his contribution to American letters* John Hope Franklinon the Emancipation Proclamation* James Horton on Lincoln and race* David M. Potter on the secession* Richard Current on Lincoln's political genius* Mark Neely on Lincoln and civil liberties.




The Iconic Obama, 2007-2009


Book Description

How is Barack Obama represented in popular culture? More than the United States' 44th president, he is also a lens through which we can examine politics, art, comics, and music in various contexts. The essays in this collection focus on the buildup to the 2008 election as well as Obama's first year as president, a brief historical moment in which "Obama" was synonymous with possibility. The contributors represent a variety of scholarly fields such as film, journalism, mass communication, popular culture and African American studies, each adding a unique perspective on Obama's relationship to American culture.




Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged


Book Description

While the fiction of novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand is extremely popular and enduring, little has been written on it so far. This book consists of essays, most of which are new, by top Rand scholars on Atlas Shrugged, her magnum opus. The essays deal with historical, literary, and philosophical topics, surpassing related writings in breadth and depth of analysis. The historical essays cover the writing of Atlas Shrugged, its publication history, and its reception. The literary essays cover analysis of the novel's plot, theme, and characterization; comparisons with other works, such as the novels of Hugo, Dostoyevsky, and Joyce; and the proper approach to adapting Atlas Shrugged to film. The philosophical essays cover a vast range of topics, including the place of Galt's speech in the novel, the role of the mind in human life, and the evil of non-objective law. Some of the essays make use of previously unpublished material from the Ayn Rand Archives.