Books published by publisher Empire Books

In 1867, Mark Twain and a group fellow-Americans toured Europe and the Holy Land, aboard a retired Civil War ship known as “Quaker City.” Throughout the journey, Twain kept a written record of his experiences. “The Innocents Abroad” is both a travelogue and a critique of clashing cultures—but more importantly, it is an entertaining and insightful work written by one of the great masters of American prose.

The last novel of Tolstoy’s illustrious career, The Resurrection concerns the moral bankruptcy of organized religion and the inequitable enforcement of society’s laws. It tells the story of Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, a Russian nobleman who visits a former lover in a Siberian prison. Finding the prison and its methods senseless and barbaric, Nekhlyudov comes to realize that social order is underwritten by unimaginable horror and oppression.

Henry Fleming, a private in the Union Army, runs away from the field of war. Afterwards, the shame he feels at this act of cowardice ignites his desire to receive an injury in combat—a “red badge of courage” that will redeem him. Stephen Crane’s novel about a young soldier’s experiences during the American Civil War is well known for its understated naturalism and its realistic depiction of battle.

Arguably Zane Grey’s most popular novel and a forerunner of the western genre, Riders of the Purple Sage tells the story of a Mormon woman caught between the persecution of religious zealots and several “Gentile” gunmen seeking to lend her a helping hand. Set in Utah during the nineteenth century, this novel offers an early critique on the practice of polygamy and plural marriage in the Old West.

This is Twain’s recounting of the life of Joan of Arc, a historical figure with whom the author was deeply fascinated. While Twain’s take on the martyr has been dismissed by some critics as heavily romanticized, he considered it to be his finest work. The last of his novels to be completed, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc is an excellent read for anyone hoping to experience Twain at the height of his maturity.

Ulysses S. Grant’s autobiography recounts the campaigns and battles in which he participated during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. Omitting detailed discussion of his childhood and presidency, Grant focuses most of his attention on his military career. This is a straight-forward, clearly-written memoir by one of the men responsible for the Union Army’s victory.

The “Boy Scout Handbook” is a manual providing information about camping, signs and signaling, Scouting games, and more. The original edition of the guide owes much to Baden-Powell’s “Scouting for Boys.” The official handbook of the Boy Scouts of America, this volume contains everything the young Scout must learn to become a “well-developed, well-informed boy.”