Books published by publisher Signet

Harriet Beecher Stowe's timeless and moving novel, an incendiary work that fanned the embers of the struggle between free and slave states into the fire of the Civil War. Uncle Tom's Cabin is the story of the slave Tom. Devout and loyal, he is sold and sent down south, where he endures brutal treatment at the hands of the degenerate plantation owner Simon Legree. By exposing the extreme cruelties of slavery, Stowe explores society's failures and asks a profound question: “What is it to be a moral human being?” And as the novel that helped to move a nation to battle, Uncle Tom's Cabin is an essential part of the collective experience of the American people. With an Introduction by Darryl Pinckney and an Afterword by Jonathan Arac

Featuring an extensive, provocative introduction by historian Martin Malia, this authorized English translation of The Communist Manifesto, edited and annotated by Engels, with prefaces to editions published between 1872 and 1888, provides a new opportunity to examine the document that shook the world.In 1848, two young men published what would become one of the defining documents of modern history, The Communist Manifesto. It rapidly realigned political faultlines all over the world and its aftershock resonates to this day. In the many years since its publication, no other social program has inspired such divisive and violent debate. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world’s first regime to adopt the Manifesto’s tenets, historians have debated its intent and its impact. In the current era of market democracy in Russia and Eastern Europe, nationalism on every continent, and an ever tightening global economy, does the specter of Communism still haunt the world? Were the seeds of Communism’s ultimate destruction already planted in 1848? Is there anything to be learned from Marx’s envisioned utopia? With an Introduction by Martin Maliaand an Afterword by Stephen Kotkin

The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's Othello, a disturbing exploration of jealousy and wrath.Tragedy takes hold as the cunning and hateful Iago drives the titular heroic Moor of Venice first to suspicion, then to homicidal rage against his love Desdemona, in one of the Bard's darkest plays.This title in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes:• An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater• A special introduction to the play by the editor, Alvin Kernan• Selections from Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi, the source from which Shakespeare derived Othello• Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Maynard Mack, and others• A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions of Othello• Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format• Recommended readings

THE SIGNET CLASSIC SHAKESPEARE SERIESThe Work of the World’s Greatest DramatistA great way to enjoy twenty of Shakespeare’s timeless plays, this volume is a retelling of the stories in prose by the famous nineteenth-century brother and sister Charles and Mary Lamb. Keeping Shakespeare’s own words whenever possible but making the plots and language easily accessible, this entertaining and readable collection has enthralled both children and adults ever since it first appeared in 1807. Here Shakespeare’s best-known tragedies and comedies come to life. Defined by moving drama, vivid action, great wit, or fantastic imagination, each play comes alive with charm and clarity for readers of any age—as a helpful preface to the original Elizabethan version or even as enriching, unforgettable stories in themselves.With an Introduction by Susan J. Wolfson and an Afterword by Sylvan Barnet, general editor of the Signet Classic Shakespeare series.

The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's timeless story of star-crossed lovers.One of the Bard's most popular plays, this is both the quintessential story of young love and a cautionary tale of the tragedy that can occur when the forces of passion and familial pride are at odds.This title in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes:• An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater• A special introduction to the play by the editor, J.A. Bryant, Jr.• The source from which Shakespeare derived Romeo and Juliet, Arthur Brooke's The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet• Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Michael Goldman, and others• A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions of Romeo and Juliet• Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format• Recommended readings

The celebrated author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn mixes fact and fiction in a rousing travelogue that serves as “a portrait of the artist as a young adventurer.”* In 1861, young Mark Twain found himself adrift as a newcomer in the Wild West, working as a civil servant, silver prospector, mill worker, and finally a reporter and traveling lecturer. Roughing It is the hilarious record of those early years traveling from Nevada to California to Hawaii, as Twain tried his luck at anything and everything—and usually failed. Twain’s encounters with tarantulas and donkeys, vigilantes and volcanoes, even Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, come to life with his inimitable mixture of reporting, social satire, and rollicking tall tales. With an Introduction by Elizabeth Frank* And a New Afterword by Mark Dawidziak

The greatest tragic plays of William Shakespeare—including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.What is tragedy? The Elizabethans defined it as a "lofty" play showing "personages of great state" caught up in a "lamentable" action that "beginneth prosperously and endeth unfortunately." Whether judged by this or any other standard, the plays selected for this collection are considered to be the four central works of Shakespearean tragedy and must be included in any list of the world's finest tragic literature. And to make these plays more accessible for the modern reader, this edition includes the following special features:· Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars · Texts printed in the clearest, most readable type · Names of each speaker given in full · Detailed footnotes at the bottom of each page keyed to the numbered lines of the text · Textual notes · Updated bibliography

Dostoyevsky’s epic masterpiece, unabridged, with an afterword by Robin Feuer MillerOne of the world’s greatest novels, Crime and Punishment is the story of a murder and its consequences—an unparalleled tale of suspense set in the midst of nineteenth-century Russia’s troubled transition to the modern age. In the slums of czarist St. Petersburg lives young Raskolnikov, a sensitive, intellectual student. The poverty he has always known drives him to believe that he is exempt from moral law. But when he puts this belief to the test, he suffers unbearably. Crime and punishment, the novel reminds us, grow from the same seed. “No other novelist,” wrote Irving Howe of Dostoyevsky, “has dramatized so powerfully the values and dangers, the uses and corruptions of systematized thought.” And Friedrich Nietzsche called him “the only psychologist I have anything to learn from.”With an Introduction by Leonard J. Stanton and James D. Hardy Jr.and an Afterword by Robin Feuer Miller

The Signet Classics edition of one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.Full of cruelty and betrayal, King Lear is the timeless and timely story of a kingdom held in the thrall of an aging ruler’s descent into madness. Desperate for praise, he banishes those who would guide him with honesty and surrounds himself with sycophants—an action which leads to his ultimately tragic downfall...This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: • An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater • A special introduction to the play by the editor, Russell Fraser• Selections from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, and The True Chronicle History of King Lear, the sources from which Shakespeare derived King Lear • Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, A. C. Bradley, John Russell Brown, and others • A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text • And more...

The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's incomparable tragic play."To be, or not to be: that is the question"There is arguably no work of fiction quoted as often as William Shakespeare's Hamlet. This haunting tragedy of a troubled Danish prince devoted to avenging his father's death has captivated audiences for centuries. This title in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes:• An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater• A special introduction to the play by the editor, Sylvan Barnet• A note on the sources from which Shakespeare derived Hamlet• Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A.C. Bradley, Maynard Mack, and others• A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions of Hamlet• Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format• Recommended readings