James Harrington

In Three Mystics Walk into a Tavern, Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Moses de León, and Meister Eckhart-three of the greatest mystics of all time-meet in Venice for an imaginary night-long conversation that will inspire everyday individuals of the twenty-first century to find their own spirituality and realize that everyone can be a mystic. Although the mystics came from different backgrounds and religious traditions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), their...

Step into the world of 'Manalive,' a 1912 masterpiece by the incomparable G. K. Chesterton where the vibrant and eccentric Innocent Smith takes center stage. Smith, who sees the world as an unexplored playground filled with wonders waiting to be discovered, is determined to infuse that sense of excitement into the lives of those mired in conventionality. As the narrative unfolds, Innocent Smith embarks on a whirlwind of unpredictable adventures and...

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He is an important figure in Western philosophy, and in the history of the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume first gained recognition and respect as a historian, but academic interest in Hume's work has in recent years centered on his philosophical writing. His "History of England" was the standard work on English history for many years, until Macaulay's "The History of England from the Accession...

The Ball and the Cross G. K. Chesterton - The Ball and the Cross starts with a prologue in a flying ship made by a Professor called Lucifer. He is discussing the real truth with a man of religion a pastor called Father Michael. Father Michael believes in religion while the Professor believes in science. The ship runs into a ball and a cross over a Cathedral, where Lucifer pushes Father Michael out on a rooftop in anger caused by their argument. He...

First published in 1922, "One of Ours" is Willa Cather's Pulitzer Prize winning story of Claude Wheeler, a Nebraska native at the turn of the 20th century. Claude is a young man who finds himself conflicted by the constraints of his overly pious mother and the demands that his father's farm places on his education and life. While attending Temple College, a Christian university, Claude befriends Julius Erlich, whose free-thinking family begins to...

Retired grocer Dickson McCunn embarks on the journey of a lifetime in John Buchan's classic adventure tale Dickson McCunn has led a respectable, if unremarkable, life. He's a grocer in Edinburgh and an esteemed member of the community. Still, he has a romantic spirit. For his entire life, all of his adventures have taken place in the pages of books, but he's always wanted to play more of a part in the real world than just providing his neighborhood...

The Four Million (1906) is a collection of short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and in prison, these stories address themes of poverty, persecution, and hope. The Four Million refers to the population of New York City, where O. Henry was living at the time of its composition. Containing twenty-five works of short fiction, the collection includes several of the author's best-known stories. "The Gift of...

The Great Learning is the first of the Four books which were selected by Zhu Xi during the Song Dynasty as a foundational introduction to Confucianism. It was originally one chapter in Classic of Rites. The book consists of a short main text, attributed to Confucius, and nine commentaries chapters by Zeng Zi, one of Confucius' disciples. Its importance is illustrated by Zeng Zi's foreword that this is the gateway of learning. Some of the terms within...

Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) is a novel by English author E.M. Forster. The work was Forster's first novel, and its success helped launch his lengthy and critically acclaimed career as a writer of literary fiction. Where Angels Fear to Tread, the title is drawn from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism (1711), is a moving meditation on class, gender, social convention, and the grieving process. Following the death of her husband, a widow named...

Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC) was an important Greek philosopher. One of the most influential thinkers in Western culture, he was a disciple of the philosopher Plato. Aristotle developed an entire philosophical system in which he pondered on virtually all existing subjects, such as geometry, physics, metaphysics, botany, zoology, astronomy, medicine, psychology, ethics, drama, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, and logic. Being one of the oldest and most...