Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen


It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's classic novel of manners and mores in early nineteenth century England. As the Bennets prepare their five grown daughters to enter into society, each shows personality traits that illuminate their future prospects as wives. Jane, the oldest, is the most demure and traditional, and Lydia, the youngest, the most headstrong and impulsive. Attention centers on haughty second-born Elizabeth, and her blossoming relationship with the dashing but aloof Fitzwilliam Darcy. Adversaries at first in the endless rounds of balls, parties, and social gatherings, they soon develop a grudging respect for one another that blossoms into romance when each comes to appreciate the tender feelings that course beneath the veneer of their propriety and reserve.

First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular tales of romance in the English language and a cornerstone of Jane Austen's reputation as one of the greatest novelists of all time. This exquisite collectible edition features an elegant bonded-leather binding, a satin-ribbon bookmark, distinctive stained edging, and decorative marbled endpapers. It's the perfect gift for book-lovers and an artful addition to any home library.

Don Quixote

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
by Miguel de Cervantes

A Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered one of the most influential works of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as the Bokklubben World Library collection that cites Don Quixote as authors' choice for the "best literary work ever written". It follows the adventures of a nameless hidalgo who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote.

 He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story. Throughout the novel, Cervantes uses such literary techniques as realism, metatheatre, and intertextuality. It had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844), Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), as well as the word "quixotic". Arthur Schopenhauer cited Don Quixote as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with Tristram Shandy, La Nouvelle Héloïse and Wilhelm Meister.

Smithsonian Magazine - Jan/Feb 2016

Smithsonian: The Holy Land, January/February 2016
Volume 46, No. 9

Unearthing the World of Jesus

Surprising archaeological finds are breaking new ground in our understanding of Jesus’s time—and the revolution he launched 2,000 years ago

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unearthing-world-jesus-180957515/#peVBJf7RZSQch3Gl.99
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Under Spring: Voices+Art+Los Angeles

Under Spring: Voices+Art+Los Angeles
by Jeremy Rosenberg


The winner of the first CHS Book Award reimagines what a history book can be, and it tells a story all California needs to hear in order to understand itself. Beneath Los Angeles’s North Spring Street bridge, a deteriorated concrete landscape was used for years as a homeless encampment and a buffer zone between gang territories. Between 2006 and 2013, artist Lauren Bon and her Metabolic Studio team transformed the underpass into a vibrantly creative space that served as a public square, ceremonial ground, art gallery, community garden, and musical instrument. Under Spring explores the unlikely history of this underpass, revealing the past of Los Angeles itself.

 Sixty-six people from all walks of life—artists, scholars, laborers, graffiti artists, urban planners, activists, gang members—chronicle the underpass’s many metamorphoses, and in doing so construct an energized account of change and development in LA. We come to understand how agriculture and transportation have shaped the city’s growth; how abandoned places serve as refuges for people excluded from society; and how civic pride can arise from a city’s blighted core. Under Spring offers a new look at the story of Los Angeles and a new way of telling the story.