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Virginia Woolf is one of the most influential and controversial feminine figures in the literary life of the London society. Night and Day is one of her first novels published in 1919 which displays the moral and spiritual issues that people confront. The author herself was an emotionally unstable person, her episodes of mental illness and suicidal depression being recurrent and always brought into the public attention. The novel revolves around the life of the main character, Katherine Hilbery, a superb girl, free spirited and living in her twenties. Being the only child of a traditional English family, Katherine spends her time surrounded by intellectual ideas, literature, and family duties. The young lady is pursued by two gentlemen, William Rodney and Ralph Denham. The first one sees Katherine as the perfect image of womanhood, a strong feminine figure delimited by strong moral laws. Ralph is different; he is the idealistic kind of person who falls in love with her at a first sight. He is loved, at his turn, by Mary, but Woolf decides to make the narration even more exciting by introducing a new feminine figure, Katherine’s cousin, Cassandra. Virginia Woolf depicts the gender difference by creating female figures like Katherine who consider themselves strong enough to have an independent life. These ladies delay marriage because they follow their own interest, and they see the full satisfaction in the work they do. This novel will hold your attention with the conflict played out between traditional roles and the emerging modern view of Women.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Night and Day, romance, Virginia Woolf

Arthur Schopenhauer, an early 19th century philosopher, made significant contributions to metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. His work also informed theories of evolution and psychology, largely through his theory of the will to power – a concept which Nietzsche famously adopted and developed. Despite this, he is today, as he was during his life, overshadowed by his contemporary, Hegel. Schopenhauer’s social/psychological views, put forth in this work and in others, are directly derived from his metaphysics, which was strongly influenced by Eastern thought. His pessimism forms an interesting and perhaps questionable contrast with his obvious joy in self-expression, both in the elegance of his prose and in his practice of playing the flute nightly. His brilliance, poetry, and crushing pessimism can be seen immediately in this work, as for example in this claim from the first chapter: “The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other.” We see also, in this work, his misogyny, as for example in his claim that “as lions are provided with claws and teeth, and elephants and boars with tusks, . . . so Nature has equipped woman, for her defence and protection, with the arts of dissimulation; and all the power which Nature has conferred upon man in the shape of physical strength and reason, has been bestowed upon women in this form.” Given his opening comment, the translator, T.B. Saunders, seems to have been at least somewhat sympathetic to this perspective.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: Arthur Schopenhauer, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Studies in Pessimism

Revealed to be a personal favorite by Montgomery herself, The Story Girl follows the lives of a group of young children as they experience a summer of charming and realistically clumsy adventures. Published in 1911, the novel explores themes of childhood innocence and its transience, while highlighting the value of intangible things which prove to be the very essence of life. The novel begins when the young narrator Beverly King and his brother Felix are sent to stay with their Aunt Janet and Uncle Alec at their country estate over the summer, while their widowed father is away on business abroad. The two city boys arrive in the beautiful countryside on the idyllic Edward Prince Island, where they are then introduced to their cousins Felicity, Dan and Cecily, with whom they are to live with for the next few months. In addition they meet their other cousin Sara Stanley, who like them is without a mother and is the story girl referred to in the title. However, the group would be incomplete without their neighbor Sara Ray and hired boy Peter Craig, who also partake in frequent mischievous escapades. The group’s days are filled with countless interesting incidents which occur even in the most ordinary of situations. Nevertheless, the most imaginative out of the colorful bunch is Sara Stanley, the story girl of the title, who entertains and enchants the rest of her cousins and friends with her vivid stories. Having an evident talent for words, the young storyteller brings to life many gripping tales, which she musters from numerous sources including fables, family history, legends, and myths, as she mesmerizes both young and old. Rich with imagination, the classic depicts each child in a different light, and endows them with individual characteristics which in turn prepare them for both the triumphs and failures they experience. Montgomery’s enthralling novel seems to have it all including petty squabbles, innocent mischief, and a heart-warming portrayal of the simplicities and complexities of life as shown through a child’s point of view. Capturing the purity of childhood fantasies, The Story Girl is an uplifting story sure to bring back a few memories with its evocative imagery and language. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Story Girl, War stories

The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. It announced that the thirteen American colonies, who were at war with Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, no longer considered themselves part of the British Empire. They now called themselves a new nation, The United States of America. This famous document went on to become a well-known keystone of the human rights movement. However, the newly formed state had no real identity or philosophy and were merely a loose collection of states that had freed themselves from colonial rule. The Continental Congress was considered to be their governing body and by 1777, this congress decided to bring the colonies together via the articles of confederation. Individual states could come together on a common platform whenever issues that affected all of them arose, but inside each state, there was freedom to conduct affairs independently. In time, the states realized that there was no centralized power which became necessary to maintain unity and uniformity. In 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia led by George Washington established a strong central policy with a federal system for states and the three branches: the judiciary, the executive and the legislative. The delegates to the convention became known as the framers of the constitution. The US Constitution is the work of many combined intellects and sought to include various different viewpoints. They included famous Americans like Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, George Washington, George Mason and many others. The average age at the convention was about 38 – which was appropriate for the founding and the birth of a young nation. After nearly four months of intense debate and discussions, the final document was agreed upon. Since then, there have been nearly 27 amendments to the constitution, the most important being the Bill of Rights. This famous document, which begins, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility….” has become the template for many countries which became independent in later years. It is an interesting and insightful document that records the history, aspirations and hopes of the New World. Benjamin Franklin admitted that it was not perfect, but felt it was necessary to establish a central government. The original document, written on parchment is on display at the National Archives, Washington DC. Modern day readers will indeed find it a fascinating and impressive read. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: 1787, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Founding Fathers of the United States, free audio books, History, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Politics, The Constitution of the United States of America

Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important and influential work in the West in medieval and early Renaissance Christianity, and is also the last great work that can be called Classical. Consolation of Philosophy was written during Boethius’ one year imprisonment while awaiting trial, and eventual horrific execution, for the crime of treason by Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome and was brought down by treachery. It was from this experience he was inspired to write a philosophical book from prison reflecting on how a lord’s favor could change so quickly and why friends would turn against him. It has been described as ‘by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen.’ The Consolation of Philosophy stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the heathen philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas Aquinas. – The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). More great books at LoyalBooks.com

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Tags: Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, The Consolation of Philosophy

“Few books make history and fewer still become the foundational texts for the movements and struggles of an entire people….” One such great work was The Souls of Black Folk by William EB Du Bois. Published in 1903, it is a powerful and hard-hitting view of sociology, race and American history. It became the cornerstone of the civil rights movement and when Du Bois attended the first National Negro Conference in 1909, he was already well-known as a proponent of full and unconditional equality for African Americans. In the following year, he became one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In fact, the word “colored” was suggested by Du Bois instead of “black” to include people of color everywhere in the world. Du Bois was appointed Director of Publicity and Research of the NAACP and his main duty was to edit and bring out NAACP’s monthly journal The Crisis. The journal also served as a vehicle for his thoughts on socialism, black activism, unionization, inter-racial marriage, women’s rights and combating racism in all spheres of life. The Souls of Black Folk is a series of essays on different subjects. The theories and ideas contained in it went on to become the key concepts that guided strategy and programs for civil rights protests in America. In this work, Du Bois discards Booker T Washington’s concepts of “accommodation” of white supremacy and propounds that this would only lead to further oppression of African Americans. He also felt that human rights are to be enjoyed by all and neither “given” not “taken” and it is below a human being’s dignity to beg for rights. The publication of this book had an immediate and devastating effect in that it polarized the movement into two distinctly different groups. The more conservative and less confrontational approach advocated by Washington was rejected by those who found Du Bois’ more aggressive ideas better suited to their thinking. The writing style is extremely lyrical and poetic, with interesting turns of phrase. The ideas are thought provoking and stimulating, while presenting the reader with little known facts about African American history and sociology. Du Bois talks eloquently about “double consciousness,” the awareness that African Americans experience as citizens of America and also as a race apart. Du Bois speaks confidently as a proud American but also as one who is supremely conscious of the ills that plague American society. The Souls of Black Folk is an important historical document that provides great insights into the building of America as a nation.

Categories: Arts, Music, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Essay/Short nonfiction, fiction, free audio books, History, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, music, Non-fiction, The Souls of Black Folk, William E. B. Du Bois

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (also sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is an 1888 collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde. It is most famous for The Happy Prince, the short tale of a metal statue who befriends a migratory bird. Together, they bring happiness to others, in life as well as in death. The stories included in this collection are:The Happy PrinceThe Nightingale and the RoseThe Selfish GiantThe Devoted FriendThe Remarkable RocketThe stories convey an appreciation for the exotic, the sensual and for masculine beauty.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, Fairy tales, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, Oscar Wilde, Short stories, The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first published in 1913. It was the third book in an eleven part series known as the Barsoom Chronicles which relate to a sequence of exciting adventure tales set on the fictional planet of Barsoom. In the Barsoom series, Mars, assumed to be older than Earth, is a dying planet. “Barsoom” is the native word for Mars in the Martian language. The stories first appeared in serialized form in various magazines like All-Story, Argosy, Amazing Stories and The Blue Book. They were later compiled into book form and were hugely popular in their day. Edgar Rice Burroughs, known more famously as the creator of the Lord of the Jungle, Tarzan, was an extremely prolific American writer who churned out potboilers by the hundreds. His work covered several genres including science fiction, adventure tales, historical sagas and Westerns. Though literary critics carped at what they called “pulp fiction” Burroughs’ influence on generations of young people in search of excitement and adventure is undeniable. He influenced “more serious” writers to explore the world of Sci-Fi writing. Burroughs was also extremely media savvy and far ahead of his time about marketing his work. Tarzan was converted into a bestselling comic strip, film rights were sold, Tarzan theme parks and merchandise were planned. The Barsoom series is based on the expedition of Earthmen to Mars by a mysterious method of transportation that involves astral projection. John Carter an American Civil War veteran travels to Mars, engages in fierce battles for supremacy with various denizens of the Red Planet and falls in love with and marries one of its lovely inhabitants. In Warlord of Mars, the hero, John Carter’s mission is to rescue his wife Princess Dejah Thoris who has been imprisoned by the evil Goddess Issus. Carter explores deeper and further into the planet’s far flung regions and discovers all manner of fantastic creatures who he has to vanquish to gain the title of Warlord of Mars. In the Barsoom series, Burroughs has created an entire fictional universe, complete with history, geography, politics, religion and people with their own set of values. He based much of his work on the scientific information available at the time and used it to create these fantasy worlds. For Sci-Fi fans, Warlord of Mars is indeed a gripping and entertaining read.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Edgar Rice Burroughs, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, science, science-fiction, Teen/Young adult, Warlord of Mars

This collection is part of an initiative to create a language learning resource. The Language Learning Collections contain readings from various language learning books, grammars, primers, phrasebooks, dictionaries, readers and even other works which contain information on various languages, recount experiences of language learning and encountering new languages or provide guides for correct pronunciation, writing or discourse in a language. These works could describe English or any other language whatsoever, from Latin to Sumerian, Chinese to Wampanoag, Esperanto to Swahili (etc.).This Volume includes a treatise by Sir Arthur Cotton, author of an “Arabic Primer”. His daughter, Lady Hope, on page 523 of her biography of her father, writes that he “had very strong theories on the subject of learning “Living Languages,” his opinion being that, as every child who comes into the world learns its mother tongue orally, and at first without grammar… so the learning of all modern languages would be very much facilitated by a similar process.” Also included are the orientalist E.G. Browne’s opinions on language learning (taken from the introduction to A Year Amongst the Persians), the first lesson from Dr. Emil Otto’s “French Conversation-Grammar”, a talk by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the need for a universal auxiliary language, Samuel Johnson’s “A Grammar of the English Tongue”, several sections from Henry Sweet’s “First Steps in Anglo-Saxon”, Lessons 1 – 5 from “Esperanto in Twenty Lessons”, two sections on language by Varro, a story in Latin from “Fabulae Faciles”, “Greek Lessons: 1-10”, the Phonology Section from a “Primer of Persian” and Lessons 1 – 19 from “A Practical Arabic Course”. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Education

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, instruction, Language Learning Collection, Languages, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, various

History made interesting for young readers—This Country of Ours by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall provides a simple and easy to comprehend way of looking at the history of the United States. Arranged chronologically in seven long chapters, it presents events in a story form, making them memorable and very different from other formats. One of the challenges that writers of history face is about fleshing out the characters and making the bland repetition of dates and dynasties seem relevant to modern day readers. Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall was a British writer who wrote several children’s books. Her most famous work is Our Island Story, a book of British history, which was considered to be the definitive children’s history of Britain for more than half a century. However, some of Marshall’s books may be found to be historically inaccurate, racially biased and often rely on mythology, legend and even Shakespeare as the source of material. This Country of Ours was published in the UK in 1917 and later was also reissued as The Story of the United States in 1919. It begins with a brief account of the Vikings and how they were the people who really discovered America, before the advent of Columbus. The story of Columbus and his famous expedition are thrillingly recounted along with stories of the English and French explorers who also sailed to the New World. New England, the Middle and Southern Colonies, the American War of Independence, the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, the abolition of Slavery and finally the coming of World War I where the book ends make up the rest of the story. Apart from children, adults will also find it interesting to skim through as many of us have forgotten the details of our history lessons learned in school. Another important aspect is that This Country of Ours was written at a time when it was still fashionable to be patriotic! Today, we are so accustomed to having our great leaders’ lives ripped open to public scrutiny and very few of them have survived the onslaught of scandal and the loss of personal reputation. This Country of Ours takes us back to a more innocent era when the great figures of history were still role models for children to be emulated. As a general overview of American History, This Country of Ours is indeed a good book to read.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall, History, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Politics, Short stories, Teen/Young adult, This Country of Ours

Tom Swift is an inventor, and these are his adventures. The locale is the little town of Shopton in upstateNew York, near Lake Carlopa. While some of Tom’s inventions are not well-founded in a scientific sense, others elaborated developments in the news and in popular magazines aimed at young science and invention enthusiasts. Presenting themselves as a forecast of future possibilities, they now and then hit close to the mark. Some predicted inventions that came true include “photo telephones”, vertical takeoff aircraft, aerial warships, giant cannons, and “wizard” cameras. However some other devices, such as magnetic silencers for motors, have not appeared yet. -adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, or, Teen/Young adult, the Naval Terror of the Seas, Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship, Victor Appleton

Written nearly seven decades before Neil Armstrong’s historic “Giant leap for Mankind” this book by one of the most influential sci-fi writers in English is an interesting read. The First Men in the Moon by Herbert George Wells, the English author who is today called the Father of Science Fiction, describes a strange and fantastic voyage. Businessman and budding playwright, John Bedford takes a sabbatical from his work and decides to write a play. He moves to a lonely cottage in Kent where he hopes to come up with a theatrical masterpiece. However, strange events interrupt his progress. A mysterious stranger accosts him and insists on sharing a brilliant scientific discovery with Bedford. The man is a physicist named Cavor who has developed a novel new anti-gravity material that he has named Cavorite. With the aid of this material, he plans to explore space and wants to undertake an experimental journey to the moon. Bedford is excited by this and immediately sees the commercial value of Cavorite. Together the two launch into a moon voyage. However when they get there, they discover that the moon is not an uninhabited satellite as was hitherto assumed. What follows is classic sci-fi with a twist of romance. Scholars have dubbed The First Men in the Moon as the first alien dystopia, where the denizens of another world are hostile to humans. The book probably launched a whole new genre of sci-fi horror fiction and has had a huge influence on films, TV, stage, animation, video-games and comics. It has been adapted to film four times. A scandal erupted when Wells was accused of plagiarism by an Irish writer, but no evidence was found for the charges. Though modern-day readers may find some of the scientific concepts quaint and outdated, the plot and characters more than make up for any such shortcomings. A great read for young and old alike! More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy, Kids & Family

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, H. G. Wells, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, satire, science, science-fiction, Teen/Young adult, The First Men in the Moon

As children, our first experience of the magic of talking animals, the conflict between good and evil, the battle of wits between the cunning and the innocent most probably came from Aesop’s Fables. These delightful, pithy and brief narratives are simple, easy to understand and convey their message in a memorable and charming fashion. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop consists of about 600 tales, some well-loved and familiar, others less known but just as entertaining and educative and help us map the perimeters of our moral universe. Fables have existed almost since the dawn of time. They hark back to a time when humans and animals lived in harmony and mutual respect. We humans could learn a great deal from the uncomplicated justice and the commonsense values of the animal kingdom. Animals are endowed with immutable personal traits like foxes being cunning, donkeys being patient, lions being proud and wolves being cruel. There is very little biographical information about Aesop. He is reputed to have been born a slave in Samos in ancient Greece in about 600 BC. He earned his liberty through his learning and wit and went on to become a respected diplomat and traveler. Ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle, historians like Plutarch and Herodotus mention Aesop’s fables in their works. Today, these immortal fables have come down to us, as fresh and pristine as they were when they were first told. Aesop’s fables were known at the time of Socrates in the 5th century BC, when they were recounted in oral form. However, they were systematically compiled sometime in 300 BC by a Greek philosopher Demetrius Phalereus. The fables gradually vanished from popular literature till the 14th century AD when they re-surfaced in Byzantine Constantinople. Since then, they traversed with traders and diplomats to Europe and then to the rest of the world. Generations of children have enjoyed old favorites like The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Bear and Two Travelers, The Hare and the Tortoise, The Hen who laid Golden Eggs, The Thirsty Crow, The Lion and the Mouse and many others found in this volume along with less familiar ones. Their charm lies in their simplicity and the plain, straightforward way in which they deliver universal values of honesty, compassion and justice and teach us to shun pride, greed, envy and other negative qualities. They provide an enduring foundation for inculcating values and ethics in children and are at the same time, amusing and entertaining. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Education, Kids & Family

Tags: Aesop, Aesop's Fables, animals, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Fairy tales, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Languages, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Philosophy, satire

Considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, the tragedy King Lear portrays some of the darkest aspects of human nature that can be found in literature. The helplessness of the human condition, as we fall prey to our destinies, the injustice and random cruelties practiced by people, suffering and humiliation, the lust for power and the greed for wealth are all depicted in this magnificent play. And through it all, runs the golden thread of love and sacrifice, daughterly affection and the true nature of our relationship with our parents. Little is known about the writing of the play. It is thought to have been drafted some time in 1603 but the authorship of Shakespeare was finally attributed to it only in the 1623 First Folio. Early 17th century audiences disliked the gloomy aspects of the play and it was given a happy ending. However, in the 19th century, the original was brought back and with it, Shakespeare’s unerring grasp of human nature, love and family values. The almost fairytale quality of the opening scene can beguile the reader into a sense of familiarity. However, this is literally the lull before the storm! King Lear of Britain is aging and he wishes to divide his inheritance and the kingdom among his three daughters. However, he devises a strange test for each, based on which he will give the largest share to the winner. The daughters have to describe how much they love him. The elder two, Goneril and Regan heap praise on their father, layering their speech with fulsome compliments designed to please and flatter the old man. However the youngest, his favorite daughter, Cordelia remains silent, saying she has no words to express her love. Enraged and disappointed, the old king disinherits Cordelia and gives her share to her two sisters. Her lover, the Duke of Kent, objects, but he is banished. Lear then declares that he will spend the rest of his life with his two faithful elder daughters and here begins the kernel of the play. Said to be based on a legendary ruler of ancient Britain, Shakespeare’s brilliance turns the bland myth into a towering narrative, filled with wonderful quotations and dramatic elements, creating an immortal portrait of the human condition. Lear’s descent into madness and the final tragic aspects of the play make it an unforgettable read. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, free audio books, King Lear, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, play, tragedy, William Shakespeare

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his detective stories, he also wrote other short stories which are masterpieces of mystery and suspense. In some of the stories in “Tales of Terror and Mystery”, a suppressed uneasiness gradually builds up and evolves into sheer terror. In others, the story line unexpectedly changes and comes to a horrific conclusion. Sit back in the comfort of your armchair and let yourself be transported to the strange but compelling world created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Horror/Ghost stories, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, MYSTERY, Short stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Tales of Terror and Mystery

If you have read DH Lawrence’s The Rainbow, you’d certainly want to read the sequel, Women in Love. Published in 1920, the two books were originally meant to be a single work, spanning several generations of the Brangwen family, especially the women. However, a complicated publishing history, delays and editorial revisions, followed by the hostile reception and controversies that faced The Rainbow led to a gap of five years between the two books. Yet, by 21st century standards, Women in Love seems almost tame, and modern-day readers may well be bewildered by the amount of criticism it generated among the custodians of morals in an earlier age. The moral backlash prevented many readers from appreciating the true nature and depth of this insightful novel. The plot deals with the continuing saga of the Brangwen sisters, Ursula and Gudrun. Gudrun falls in love with a wealthy industrial tycoon, Gerald Crich while Ursula’s heart is captured by a school inspector, Rupert Birkin. However, Birkin is also a passionate and intellectual man, whose unconventional ideas attract Ursula. Spanning the time before and during World War I, Lawrence drew many of the characters from real life. Ursula was based on his own wife, Frieda, while Birkin is a close self-portrait of himself. His friend Katharine Mansfield comes alive as Gudrun and Gerald Crich, her husband John Middleton Murry. Hence, the book is also an invaluable biography of contemporary writers and their lives. Though the book examines physical and emotional love in a frank and fearless way, Lawrence’s critics suggested that it was also told from a male chauvinistic point of view. Lawrence was deeply influenced by Freudian psycho-analysis and also by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Victorian ideas of a woman’s role, her rights and her expectations were undergoing a sea-change at this time. Her desire to work at a job outside the home, earn an independent living and the blurring of social boundaries are other themes that Lawrence felt deeply about and depicts in this book. The conflict between society’s conventions and individual desires is another theme that runs through Women in Love. The dawn of the Industrial Revolution was about to change the structure of society forever and we find Lawrence’s characters, grappling with changing ideas and vanishing traditions. Women in Love also contains many of the characters who appear in The Rainbow, like Tom, Anna and Billy Brangwen. Tom Brangwen’s struggle with the ideas and ways of his unconventional daughters also forms part of the story. An interesting and absorbing read!

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, D. H. Lawrence, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, romance, Women in Love

Chicago, May 4, 1886. In the Haymarket region of the city, a peaceful Labor Day demonstration suddenly turns into a riot. The police intervene to maintain peace, but they soon use violence to quell the mob and a bomb is thrown, resulting in death and injuries to scores of people. In the widely publicized trial that followed, eight anarchists were condemned to death or life imprisonment, convicted of conspiracy, though none of them had actually thrown the bomb. A young Russian immigrant, Emma Goldman, had arrived just the previous year in the United States. She was deeply affected by what came to be known as the Haymarket Affair. She took on various jobs, including that of a factory worker before becoming a writer and lecturer committed to anarchist philosophy. In the years to follow, she and her lover planned to assassinate a well known financier and industrialist. Though the victim survived, Goldman’s lover was sentenced to life imprisonment while she received a lesser sentence. However, she continued to spend time in and out of jail for various activities including distribution of literature regarding birth control, inducing people not to join the newly introduced military draft etc. She was deported back to Russia but found the regime there highly repressive and lived in Canada, England and France. She wrote passionately about issues that concerned humanity including prisons, religion, marriage, free love, the right of choice, capitalism, homosexuality, gender politics and militarism. Anarchism and Other Essays was first published by her own publishing house, Mother Earth. It opens with an introduction by Hippolyte Havel, a Czech anarchist who lived in Greenwich Village in New York. He was a great friend of the playwright, Eugene O’Neill, who based some of the characters in his plays on Havel. Havel provides a detailed biography of Emma Goldman and ends with a stirring call to emancipate humanity. Emma Goldman’s preface describes her own journey and motives. Twelve chapters delineate Goldman’s philosophy and ideas. They include thoughts on Minorities versus Majorities, Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure, The Hypocrisy of Puritanism, Marriage and Love, The Tragedy of Women’s Emancipation and several more. Living in an age marked by the rise of unbridled capitalism, self righteousness, imperialism and greed, in these essays she writes simply, passionately, earnestly and penetratingly about ideas and ideals and how individuals are constantly in conflict with society. Goldman wrote ceaselessly; her works include pamphlets, essays, books and tracts. As an interesting and radical viewpoint, Anarchism and Other Essays is a thought provoking read which was also strangely prophetic about the future of politics to come. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: Anarchism and Other Essays, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Emma Goldman, Essay/Short nonfiction, fiction, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Politics, science

“There are very few persons who have not heard of the fame of Peter the Great, the founder, as he is generally regarded by mankind, of Russian civilization. The celebrity, however, of the great Muscovite sovereign among young persons is due in a great measure to the circumstance of his having repaired personally to Holland, in the course of his efforts to introduce the industrial arts among his people, in order to study himself the art and mystery of shipbuilding, and of his having worked with his own hands in a ship-yard there. The little shop where Peter pursued these practical studies still stands in Saardam, a ship-building town not far from Amsterdam. The building is of wood, and is now much decayed; but, to preserve it from farther injury, it has been incased in a somewhat larger building of brick, and it is visited annually by great numbers of curious travelers.The whole history of Peter, as might be expected from the indications of character developed by this incident, forms a narrative that is full of interest and instruction for all.” (from the Preface of Peter the Great)

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Biography, ebooks, free audio books, History, Jacob Abbott, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Peter the Great