Books published by publisher Quora Media

"The procession that crosses Chaucer's pages is as full of life and as richly textured as a medieval tapestry. The Knight, the Miller, the Friar, the Squire, the Prioress, the Wife of Bath, and others who make up the cast of characters -- including Chaucer himself -- are real people, with human emotions and weaknesses. When it is remembered that Chaucer wrote in English at a time when Latin was the standard literary language across western Europe, the magnitude of his achievement is even more remarkable. But Chaucer's genius needs no historical introduction; it bursts forth from every page of The Canterbury Tales."

"Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny."

"Little Lord Fauntleroy (1885, 1886) by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a beloved children's novel that made a huge impact on the 19th century public, shaping everything from boys' clothing fashions to copyright law. Cedric Errol is a generous, kind, and exemplary middle-class American boy who is suddenly found to be the heir of the Earl of Dorincourt. Saying loving goodbyes to his working-class friends, Cedric goes to England together with his mother to embrace his new fortune. His grandfather, the old earl, is a bitter old man ridden with gout and a foul temper, trusting no one. However the angelic boy elicits a profound transformation in the grandfather, which not only benefits the castle household but the whole populace of the earldom.If only the old man's heart would soften toward Cedric's estranged mother, the family would be healed at last. And when another potential heir to the earldom makes a claim, it seems that everything is lost.But all things are possible through a child's innocent trust, true friendship, and unconditional love."

Kate Douglas Wiggin started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the Silver Street Free Kindergarten). With her sister during the 1880s, she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Kate Wiggin devoted her adult life to the welfare of children in an era when children were commonly thought of as cheap labor. Kate Douglas Wiggin tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her two stern aunts in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. Rebecca's joy for life inspires her aunts, but she faces many trials in her young life, gaining wisdom and understanding. Shirley Temple did a lot to make Rebecca famous when she won the world's heart in the movie we all remember. But the story is more than Temple, the film, or our memory of it: this is the tale of the little showgirl who, sent to the country to live with prim and proper relatives, is forbidden to do anything, well, showy. But Rebecca has other ideas, of course, and you know she'll win over the hearts and minds of everyone who'll see her show. . . . Certainly she won over Jack London. In 1904 he wrote to Wiggin herself: "May I thank you for Rebecca. . . ? I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday.... Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn't it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?" And Mark Twain, too: he described Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as "beautiful and warm and satisfying." (less)

"Among the autobiographies of great military figures, Ulysses S. Grant's is certainly one of the finest, and it is unarguably the most notable literary achievement of any American president: a lucid, compelling, and brutally honest chronicle of triumph and failure. General Grant's personal memoirs are a must read for all Civil War buffs and those even remotely interested in history. This book, includes both Volume I and II. The reader is given a (very) short review of his early childhood, life at West Point, and early Army life. The next one hundred pages are dedicated to the Mexican War followed by his resignation from the military and civilian life in Illinois. The remainder of Volume I and all of Volume II extensively deal with the war between the states. Volume I (written before Grant realized he was critically ill) is rich in detail of the various military campaigns and his ascension through the military ranks. Volume II hurls the reader into the conflict, reads rapidly, and is rife with Grant's personal observations and insights. This second volume picks up where the first left off"

Prospero, sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, along with his daughter Miranda, has lived on an island for many years since his position was usurped by his brother Antonio. Then, as Antonio's ship passes near the island one day, Prospero conjures up a terrible storm...This play, combining elements of both tragedy and comedy, is believed by some to be the last Shakespeare wrote on his own, as well as one of his most fascinating works.

In a time when there were damsels in distress to save, and mythical dragons to slay, King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table were there to render justice in the face of any danger. From the incredible wizardry of Merlin to the undeniable passion of Sir Launcelot, these tales of Arthur and his knights offer epic adventures with the supernatural, as well as timeless battles with our humanity.Keith Baine's splendid rendition of Le Morte d'Arthur faithfully preserves the original flavor of Malory's masterpiece - that of banners and bloodshed, knights and ladies, Christians and sorcerers, sentiment and savagery. It remains a vivid medieval tapestry, woven about a central figure who symbolizes the birth of an age of chivalry.

"The story of Huck and his companion Jim, a runaway slave, as they travel down the Mississippi to escape from slavery and ""sivilization"" has been delighting readers around the world since Twain first published it in 1885. Simply put, it is a masterpiece: revolutionary in its narrative method, surpassingly funny, and at the same time deeply perceptive about human nature. No other American novel of the nineteenth century still commands so vast an audience, and certainly no other retains the capacity to stir controversy with its sharp satire on American racism.Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley - a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity."