Books published by publisher Benediction Classics

Tom Sawyer is an intelligent resourceful orphan who enjoys a life of freedom that is unsheltered from life’s hardships. He is an immediately attractive character who draws the reader through his adventures. Huck Finn is more superstitious and naïve, but still an adventurous survivor. Together they engage with their world in this classic coming of age story.What makes these two books classics? Twain’s characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. The dialog faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day. Twain explains, “In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike County’ dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.” The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. Twain’s trademark humor and observations of human nature are never far.Hemingway concludes “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn . . . It is the best book we have.”Features of this edition: Complete and unabridged Includes 335 original illustrations Crisp text set in modern easily read font.

The Stoic philosopher Seneca offers piercing and profound insights into human nature and a vision of the good life, so that one may say with him “Life is long, if you know how to live it.”Seneca (5 BC to AD 65) was born in Cordoba and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. He was a tutor and later an advisor to Nero, but later Nero forced him to take his own life. His stoic and serene suicide is portrayed in countless paintings.

Booker T. Washington (April 18, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an African American educator, leader, author and orator and was an adviser to several US presidents. He was born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia, remembering“I cannot recall a single instance during my childhood or early boyhood when our entire family sat down to the table together. On the plantation in Virginia, and even later, meals were gotten to the children very much as dumb animals get theirs… a piece of bread here and a scrap of meat there.”He was nine when his family gained their emancipation and he describes the rejoicing and the apprehension as freed slaves entered a new life. His mother took the family to the free state of West Virginia. The only name he had known was “Booker,” but at school, when first asked his name by the teacher, he coolly added “Washington” to be like the other children who had at least two names. This established him on a path of fitting into the white world.In the course of his life he established the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, helped found the National Negro Business League, now eclipsed by the NAACP, and advised several US presidents. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African American community and of the contemporary Black elite. He established a powerful political and financial network to advance the cause of African Americans through education and business known as the Tuskegee Machine.Up from Slavery chronicles Washington's life from slave to schoolmaster to statesman. It was a best seller when published and for many years thereafter. In it he writes“The temptations to enter political life were so alluring that I came very near yielding to them at one time, but I was kept from doing so by the feeling that I would be helping in a more substantial way … through a generous education of the hand, head, and heart.”Up from Slavery along with Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and du Bois’s Souls of Black Folk are essential early African-American classics. This edition, set in an easy to read 11 point font, is complete and unabridged.

Tom Sawyer is an intelligent resourceful orphan who enjoys a life of freedom, unsheltered from life’s hardships: the life that most children secretly or not-so-secretly yearn for. He is an immediately attractive character who draws the reader through his adventures; falling in love, being dumped, becoming a pirate, being thought to be dead, fearing that he would surely die, uncovering a murder, finding hidden treasure, and all the while skipping school and playing pranks.Twain’s characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. His dialog faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day, in all its varied dialects. The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. Twain’s trademark humor and observations of human nature are never far.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was initially a commercial failure, but in his life-time it was his bestselling book, and today is regarded by many as a masterpiece of America literature. Features of this edition: •Complete and unabridged.•Includes 161 original illustrations.•Crisp text set in modern easily read font.

The Stoic philosopher Seneca offers piercing and profound insights into human nature and a vision of the good life, so that one may say with him “Life is long, if you know how to live it.”Seneca (5 BC to AD 65) was born in Cordoba and raised in Rome, where he was trained in rhetoric and philosophy. He was a tutor and later an advisor to Nero, but later Nero forced him to take his own life. His stoic and serene suicide is portrayed in countless paintings.

Times are tough around the little brown house! The widowed Mrs. Pepper sews all day long just to earn enough to pay the rent and to feed the five growing Peppers. But she faces poverty and trouble with a stout heart, a smiling face, and the help of her jolly brood: blue-eyed Ben, the eldest and the man of the house at the age of 11; pretty Polly, so eager to cook for the family and make everyone happy and comfortable; and the three littlest Peppers, Joel, Davie, and baby Phronsie. A favorite of children, parents, and teachers for generations, this heartwarming classic first appeared in 1880. Since then, it has inspired countless young imaginations with its tender tales in which courage and good cheer overcome adversity.

Sun Tzu's classic is profound and absolutely clear. Although ostensibly on military strategy, it is a treatise on the command of a hierarchical organisation in the face of conflict, and as such is invaluable in the worlds of politics and business. We present the definitive translation, by Lionel Giles, assistant curator at the British Museum and Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts.