Shakespeare Simply Retold: Romeo and Juliet brings one of the world's most iconic love stories to listeners in a clear, engaging, and accessible way. Perfect for high school students and adult listeners who find Shakespeare's original language challenging, this audiobook bridges the gap between classic literature and modern understanding.Edited and narrated by Gary MacFadden, and directed and produced by Sarah Bacaller, this retelling draws on the rich storytelling traditi...

Andy Blunden’s Hegel Marx & Vygotsky, Essays in Social Philosophy presents his novel approach to social theory in a series of essays. Blunden aims to use the cultural psychology of Lev Vygotsky and the Soviet Activity Theorists to renew Hegelian Marxism as an interdisciplinary science. This allows psychologists and social theorists to share their insights through concepts equally valid in either domain. The work includes critical reviews of the works of central figures in Soviet p...

Ruttledge Rosenbaugh, a professor of science devoted to his students at Hensley University, has spent years learning from his mentor, whose mantra was that time travelers are constantly around and unnoticed. But nothing Ruttledge has ever heard or read about time travel prepares him for what he witnesses in 1910, when a child travels back in time to his secret laboratory in the basement of his university's science building.

This collection contains nine early stories featuring the Continental Op, an un-named middle-aged detective working for the San Francisco branch of the fictional Continental Detective Agency.The stories are narrated in the first person. The “hardboiled detective” narrative voice was later used by author Dashiell Hammett in The Maltese Falcon, featuring Sam Spade, and the Thin Man series of stories.

Learn about the many talents and achievements of Oscar Wilde—the playwright, novelist, critic, poet, and essayist.Author Charles J. Finger is critical of Wilde as a novelist, claiming that only The Picture of Dorian Gray will be remembered in posterity. But he is effusive in his praise of Wilde as a playwright and essayist, and explores each creative aspect of this talented man’s endeavors.

Charles Finger’s book efficiently covers Oscar Wilde’s background, his early years and education, and his beginnings as an author, poet, and critic for several magazines.The author then turns to the activities of Wilde that drew the attention of others, culminating in the Marquess of Queensbury calling Wilde out as a homosexual. Wilde sued for slander, but the Marquess was acquitted and materials brought forth during the trial resulted in Wilde being arrested and tried for homosexu...

Mistaken identity (which the Elizabethans called “Error”) is nearly always amusing, whether on the stage or in actual life. The Comedy of Errors is a play in which this situation is developed to the extreme of improbability – but we lose sight of this improbability in the roaring fun which results. Nowadays we should call a play of this type a farce, since most of the fun comes from situations which are improbable and the play depends on these for success, rather than on character...

Measure for Measure is one of darkest of Shakespeare’s comedies. Written in about 1603 and first performed in 1604, it immediately preceded the composition of the major tragedies Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.Duke Vincentino, the ruler of Vienna, fears that under his mild sovereignty, the people may have become lazy and lax. He decides to “go over cover” in the disguise of a monk and appoint his deputy, Angelo, who is a reputed paragon of virtu...

Antonio, a wealthy and popular merchant, is in financial difficulty. He approaches a Jewish money lender, Shylock, who agrees to provide 3000 ducats, with a very curious bond – a pound of the merchant’s flesh, to be levied if Antonio fails to make a timely repayment. Feeling confident that his argosies will arrive in time to cover the debt, Antonio agrees to this bizarre transaction.Meanwhile, a wealthy gentlewoman, Portia, must choose a suitor using a curious ritual mandated by he...

Much Ado About Nothing appears to have been written around 1599, shortly before As You Like It and Twelfth Night. The action combines two narrative threads: the spirited comedy of the courtship of Benedick and Beatrice, and the sombre tale of confused love between Hero and Claudio. The first is a creation by Shakespeare and the second appears to have been drawn from an Italian source, either by Bandello or Ariosto.The action takes place in Messina. Eponym...

This collection of 35 short poems was first published in 1927, and is a sequel to When We Were Very Young, which was the first anthology of verse dealing with the domestic adventures of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.As the author explains in the introduction: “We have been nearly three years writing this book. We began it when we were very young … and now we are six. So, of course, bits of it seem rather baby-ish to us, almost as if they had slipped out of some other book b...

Five people are killed when a heavily-traveled rope bridge in Peru collapses. Brother Juniper, a Franciscan friar, witnesses this event and this sets him on a quest: Who were each of these individuals? Why do unfortunate events happen to innocent or undeserving people? What led to these people being on the bridge at the fateful moment?While many view this novel as a serious reflection on life, death, and love, this narration highlights Wilder’s tongue-in-cheek stance, suggesting th...