One of the key themes that is woven throughout Balzac's masterpiece, The Human Comedy, relates to the dangers of materialism and greed. In this novella, the narrator overhears some fellow diners discussing a complicated financial scheme that contributed to the fortunes of one of the wealthiest families in the country. The story also provides important background information about many characters who appear elsewhere in The Human Comedy.

Thompson and Ware, nationally known consultants in the fields of management and leadership, offer a practical guide that focuses on the skills G.W. Bush has used throughout his career and in the White House. Each useful chapter highlights one of his leadership lessons. From identifying core values to getting results, this clearly-written guide is filled with timeless and time-tested advice.

Some of the short stories in the Philosophical Studies section of Honore de Balzac's The Human Comedy have hints of the mystical and supernatural. These elements are very pronounced in the spine-chilling tale "The Elixir of Life," which veers into the territory of gothic horror. In the story, a dying man confides to his son that he has found a way to cheat death and achieve immortality.

In "The Elixir of Life," Honoré de Balzac explores themes of ambition, desire, and the complexities of human relationships through a rich tapestry of characters embroiled in a quest for immortality. Written in Balzac's characteristic realist style, the narrative is interwoven with elements of fantasy and philosophical inquiry, reflecting the author's keen interest in the human condition and societal aspiration during the early 19th century. This novella stands out within Balzac's extensive...

Hardcore, Punk, and Other Junk: Aggressive Sounds in Contemporary Music, edited by Eric James Abbey and Colin Helb,is a collection of writings on music that is considered aggressive throughout the world. From local underground bands in Detroit, Michigan to bands in Puerto Rico or across Europe, this book demonstrates the importance of aggressive music in our society. While other volumes seek to denigrate or put down this type of music, Hardcore, Punk, and Other Junk forces the audience to ...

It is common to feel that corporate meetings are a waste of time. Time that could be better spent getting “real work” done. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This book is dedicated to the proposition that meetings can be meaningful, productive, and even fun—all at the same time. We need to bring business meetings into the digital age in the same way that we have reinvented business planning and written communication. In a technology-rich world filled with people working flexibly, remotel...

A historical study of a little-known episode of the American Revolution in which Charleston residents were held in a British-occupied region of Florida.In the months following the May 1780 capture of Charleston, South Carolina, by combined British and loyalist forces, British soldiers arrested sixty-three Americans and transported them to the borderland town of St. Augustine, East Florida—territory under British control since the French and Indian War. In Patrio...

A groundbreaking exposition of the resurrection hope in 1 Corinthians 15Making a compelling case based on new evidence and fresh exposition, James Ware affirms the church's historic reading of 1 Corinthians 15. He shows that the apostolic formula in 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 proclaims, in continuity with the Gospels, the resurrection of Jesus's crucified body from the tomb, and that the hope of the resurrection described in 1 Corinthians 15:12–58 involves the miraculou...

Owing to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature.Balzac sought to present his characters as real people, neither fully good nor fully evil, but completely human. His labyrinthine city provided a literary model used later by English novelist Charles Dickens and Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky.The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napo...

Memories are not like historical records that progress along an uninterrupted time line. They are more like computer games and jigsaw puzzles; they do not continue in straight lines. They move by association; one memory triggers another and so on. In one sense, what you will be reading is an autobiography (my story as I remember it), but it is more than that. It includes a sage of a family, which reaches out six generations and encompasses a cluster of clans, cousins, and significant peopl...

La Cousine Bette (English: Cousin Bette) is an 1846 novel by Honoré de Balzac. It has been adapted for film or television at least four times, including a 1998 movie starring Jessica Lange.Le Cousin Pons is a novel by Honoré de Balzac written in 1847. It is considered Part Two of Poor Relations, Part One being La Cousine Bette and, of course, is part of La Comédie Humaine. Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hardened criminal Jacques Collin has been hiding under the guise of a false identity in order to escape the long arm of the law. In the novel Scenes from a Courtesan's Life, however, Collin's deceptions seem finally to have caught up with him. Will he be able to pull off the labyrinthine scheme cooked up to secure his freedom?