Stories and essays deal with Indian mythology, a truck driver's revenge, an ex-convict with a scheme to break the Sante Fe racetrack, and a sheep rancher's strained marriage

In this book's preface, Joseph Shipley explains, "To know the origin of words is to know how men think." This lively, fascinating, and entertaining book is the result of his efforts-Shipley traces the derivations of hundreds of common English words, from the adventurous tales of their beginnings to their then-current meanings.

Literary Nonfiction. Essays. This book is a chronicle of the overlooked and unsung, a collection of award-winning essays based on Brian Jabas Smith's popular column, "Tucson Salvage."

Embark on a riveting literary journey with Agatha Christie's "The Big Four," a captivating novel that takes the celebrated detective Hercule Poirot beyond the familiar terrain of conventional murder mysteries. In this enthralling tale, Poirot and his steadfast companion, Captain Hastings, are drawn into the mysterious web of a powerful and elusive criminal organization known only as "The Big Four." The story unfolds against the backdrop of an international...

One of Ernest Hemingway's classics. The novel introduces characters Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and follows them and their diverse group of expatriates as they travel from Paris to Spain.

An inspiring collection of the personal philosophies of a group of remarkable men and women Based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty essayists-from the famous to the unknown-completing the thought that begins the book's title. Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others. Featuring a well-known...

Set against the tumultuous years of the post-Napoleonic era, The Count of Monet Cristo recounts the swashbuckling adventures of Edmond Dantes, a dashing young sailor falsely accused of treason. The story of his long imprisonment, dramatic escape, and carefully wrought revenge offers up a vision of France that has become immortal.

A mischievous youth encounters a runaway slave and together they travel down the Mississippi in search of adventure, in the classic novel accompanied by essays by Van Wyck Brooks and Carl Van Doren.

Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published...