English Classics Reviews

Catechism of the Catholic Church/English

Published in Hardcover by Liguori Pubns (1994-07)

Authors: Liguori Publications and Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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Great

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-14

The official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. All good stuff!

**THE** official catechism of the Roman Catholic Church

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 1998-01-31

Written by the Vatican and translated by the Vatican as the official, most complete answer to "What are Catholics to believe?" short of visiting the Vatican itself and conducting interviews with Vatican officials. Written in modern English, it is very readable cover to cover or as a reference manual. The only aspect of this work which mars it from a perfect 10 rating in my opinion is the fact that it is not simply one volume in a multivolume set, where these other hypothetical volume(s) would delve into apologetic biblical/historical evidence supporting each Catholic belief and explaining away Protestant objections to Catholic beliefs. This book exhaustively answers "What do Catholics believe?" but not "And why do they believe that?" nor "And why don't they believe these Protestant beliefs?"

As a practicing Latin Rite Roman Catholic, I refer to this book all the time. I would consider the book useful to non-Catholics as well, who want to learn precisely what Catholics believe, straight from the horse's mouth: the Vatican, which is the custodian and focal point of all statements, decisions, and publications of Roman Catholic bishops worldwide (who are believed to be, by Catholics, successors of the 11 apostles---minus Judas---after Christ's resurrection and who are the modern day apostles). All other cathecisms are knock-offs and immitations of this official Vatican publication.

803 pages total

This feedback is solely my individual opinion and is in no way associated with my employer nor with any other organization.

A great book

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-22

Comprehensive book of catholic teachings. The rhetoric is powerful as is the moral message. For example, in the section on Conscience we read: "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment....For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God....His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths." All aspects of catholic teaching are clearly explained, and a summary is given at the end of each section. It is a good education for catholics and non-catholics.

Fundamental to raising a Catholic family

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 1998-03-10

"Dad, what HAPPENS when you go to cofession?" "Do dogs have souls?" "What about capital punishment?" "My friends say evolution is wrong. What does the Church teach?"

Answers to these and hundreds of other questions your kids (or you) are likely to ask while you try to raise them in the faith are answered here. And, they are good answers ... ones that just about anybody can understand.

An great book, essential for answering the tough questions your kids come up with in between dinner and bedtime.

Cathedrals of Kudzu: A Personal Landscape of the South

Published in Hardcover by Louisiana State University Press (2000-08)

Author: Hal Crowther

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Cathedrals indeed

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-19

My long-time readers are aware that I am drawn to essayists as unswervingly as I am drawn to essaying. In my online journal (The Soupletter, 1993-2003) I reviewed collections by Diane Ackerman, Annie Dillard, Stephen Jay Gould, Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Lamott, Kurt Vonnegut, E.B. White, Terry Tempest Williams and many others. Each and all are wonderful wordsmiths, and Crowther belongs right up there with the best of them. CATHEDRALS OF KUDZU is largely drawn from the author's regular contributions to The Oxford American a lofty journal, with a regretably small readership. Though Crowther's newspaper column runs regularly in the Independent of Raleigh, and irregularly elsewhere in the alernative press, he deserves a much wider audience. On the other hand, one cannot ignore the fact that writing at his level is aimed a little high for a general readership. Crowther draws on wide knowledge of literature and history, a marvelous vocabulary, a well-honed scepticism, and his enormous good nature, in delineating, skewering, praising and confessing to the sins and glories of his South. His discussion of race relations is the sanest I have seen in print, period. His consideration of the meaning of the Confederacy and its lingering traces is thought provoking and deep, as his consideration of bourbon and hurricanes, evangelists and trees. Well done, I say, well done. A book of southern grace and southern cussedness, showcasing a writer fully deserving of the H.L. Mencken Award he received in 1992, who is still at the top of his form.

Southern Superstar!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-06

A WONDERFUL read! Great for any Southern culture enthusiast! Good source for other Southern books as many refernces are made in the text. Excellent!!!

Y'alternative Reading

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-15

This book is really worth your time. Hal Crowther is funny and serious and highly original, even with the South's easy targets, like Elvis or the Southern Belle. Even when Hal Crowther is highly critical, he really gets at the essence of why regionalism is relevant, especially when he's writing about about literature and religion.

Nostalgia at its Best

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-04-29

I was born, raised and educated through college in Alabama, and I was riveted by Hal Crowther's account of life and culture in the South. I couldn't put it down; my husband kept asking why I was laughing out loud. It covers the gamut of everything Southern--from race relations to dogs to barbeque to Elvis. Crowther is a sympathetic writer, but pulls no punches and is not (in my view) the least bit revisionist about the South's mottled history. You'll enjoy the book more if you've paid homage at the altar of Southern literature--Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Walker Percy. I would recommend it especially to any Southern ex-pats. Fire up your grill, make some iced tea (or pour yourself a bourbon if you're so inclined), put an Elvis CD on the stereo, and kick back.

A Celtic Miscellany: Translations from the Celtic Literature (Penguin Classics)

Published in Paperback by Penguin Classics (1972-02-28)

Author:

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this is a wonderful collection

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-21

This is a terrific and pretty comprehensive collection of Celtic poetry and prose. Everything is nicely indexed according to what style of writing it is, and what the subject is, in the table of contents. Under each poem or whathaveyou is a description of where the work comes from, when it dates from, and who (if it is known) wrote the work.

You'll find Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Scots-Gaelic, and Irish works of art here. I know I've often been dissapointed before to buy a book on "Celtic" poetry to find out it was only on Irish works.

To top it all off there is a huge list of end-notes. These explain all those obscure references you'll find in old poetry. Don't know where Aberffraw is, but its in your favorite poem? Flip to the back and find out.

I'm very pleased with this book. I can use it for my classes, simply by looking up a topic and browsing over the many selected works. And I also read it for pleasure, I find the section on humorous works especially enjoyable.

A wonderful selection, beautifully translated!

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-01

Despite the recent 'boom' in Celtic literature, there are not that many anthologies around, which present the whole palette, as it were, of the Celtic mind, feeling and imagination. In this respect, Kenneth Jackson's anthology remains one of the best. When he died in 1991, his obituary notice in The Times declared him 'a master of all four of the major Celtic languages' - an accolade not many could claim. In fact, the material here has been drawn from six Celtic sources - Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish and Manx (the variety of Celtic spoken in the Isle of Mann).

Hence, this anthology enables you to savour the taste of Celtic literature, from an unusual number of sources. While all translations have their limitations, Jackson had an uncanny way of reproducing the alliteration and feel of Celtic. In this book, we find Hero tales, epics, reflections on nature, love, delightful epigrams, Celtic magic poems, descriptive sketches,humour & satire, Bardic Poetry, Elegies, religious reflections etc. - a rich collage indeed.

The main text comprises 305 pages, but reading it is more akin to perusing a Celtic library, for that is effectively what Jackson had to do, to procure this rich diversity of sources. The text includes a map of Ireland and Wales, in case you want to locate places mentioned in the text. Extensive notes have been appended to the text - with a pronouncing index. Not everyone will want to get their tongue round that, but the beauty of this text is that you can dip into the material without worrying unduly about such matters, savouring the imagery for its own sake.

It is hard task to select passages for review, for the whole book deserves to be savoured. I may prejudice the reader's mind with my choices. Epics are too long to quote, but you'll hear of Cu Chulainn and all the rest. At random, how about this from the section titled 'Nature':

(34) To the Sun

Greeting to you, sun of the seasons, as you travel
the skies on high, with your strong steps on the
wing of the heights; you are the happy mother
of the stars.

You sink down in the perilous ocean without harm
and without hurt, you rise up on the quiet wave
like a young queen in flower.

Scottish Gaelic; traditional folk prayer.

- or how about these beautiful lines, from the end of
'The Wish of Manchan of Liath' (Religion. 223.)

" This the housekeeping I would undertake, I would
choose it without concealing; fragrant fresh leeks,
hens, speckled salmon, bees. "

How about this sweet epigram (93) 'Her Light Step'

"There's my darling merry star, flower of the
parish of Llangeinwen; beneath her foot the
grass no more bends than does a rock beneath
a bird's foot."
Welsh. Traditional verse.

Another charming epigram (84, The Snowfall).

White flour, earth flesh, a cold fleece on
the mountain, small snow of the chill black day;
snow like platter, bitter cold plumage,
a softness sent to entrammel me. "

- Welsh englynion.

Here's a snippet of Irish 'Zen.'
A Vain Pilgrimage

" Coming to Rome, much labour and little profit!
The King whom you seek here, unless you bring
Him with you - you will not find him. "

Irish;author unknown; 9th c.

The strange mixture of pity, humility and assertiveness in the following, is peculiarly Celtic.

244. A Charm with Yarrow.

" I will pick the smooth yarrow that my figure may be more elegant, that my lips may be warmer, that my voice may be more cheerful;may my voice be like a sunbeam, may my lips be like the juice of the strawberries.

May I be an island in the sea, may I be a hill on the land, may I be a star when the moon wanes, may I be a staff to the weak one: I shall wound every man, no man shall wound me. "

Scottish Gaelic; traditional folk charm.

Yarrow, a delicate wild flower, long used in Celtic herbal lore and suchlike, grows all over Britain. Like the Japanese Yamato nadeshiko, Yarrow symbolises and invokes ideal qualities of femininity. Yet it is a resilient and tough little plant. Reading this verse, I have always imagined a young woman, tender enough to go through life without betraying the better qualities of womanhood, yet apprehensive that she may be abused. So, along with her wish to be - and remain charming, she also nurtures her sense of cosmic attunement and the strength of the feminine in nature, the power of yielding, happy to be a star when the moon wanes, and a staff to the weak. The closing line - 'I shall wound every man, no man shall wound me' - looks callous, even violent, but really, it conveys nothing more than the wish to remain lucky in love, that the 'charm' with the yarrow should work, not leaving the young woman hurt. It is quite likely that the original form of the verse comprised the first four lines - and the closing line. The additional components soften it, making it less predatory.

Just for its own sake, I've included:

The Harp of Cnoc I Chosgair

"Harp of Cnoc I Chosggair, you who bring sleep to eyes long sleepless;sweet, subtle, plangent, glad, cooling, grave. "

" Excellent instrument with the smooth gentle curve, trilling under red fingers, musician that has charmed us, red, lion-like, of full melody. "

" You who lure the bird from the flock, you who refresh the mind, brown spotted one of sweet words, ardent, wondrous, passionate. "

" You who heal every wounded warrior, joy and allurement to women, familiar guide over the dark blue water, mystic, sweet sounding music. "

"You who silence every instrument of music, yourself a pleasing plaintive every instrument of music, dweller among the Race of Conn, instrument yellow-brown and firm. "

" The one darling of sages,restless, smooth, of sweet tune, crimson star above the fairy hills, breast jewel of High Kings."

"Sweet tender flowers, brown harp of Diarmaid, shape not unloved by host, voice of the cuckoos in May! "

"I have not heard of music such as your frame makes since the time of the fairy people, fair brown many coloured bough, gentle, powerful, glorious."

" Sound of the calm wave on the beach, pure shadowing tree of true music, carousals are drunk in your company, voice of the swan over shining streams. "

"Cryof the fairy women from the Fairy Hill of Ler, no melody can match you, every house is sweet stringed through your guidance, you the pinnacle of harp music. . ."

Irish. Gofraidh Fionn O Dalaigh; c. 1385

At the risk of butchering things, I've thrown in these random extracts from verse found under 'religion.'

232. The Tree of Life

"Lovely is the flock of birds which keeps it, on every bright and goodly bird a hundred feathers; and without sin, with pure brilliance, they sing a hundred tunes for every feather. "

243. A Prayer to the Virgin

"The Virgin of ringlets most excellent, Jesus more surpassing white than snow, melodious Seraphs singing Their praise, and the King of the Universe saying it was fitting. "

"The Virgin most excellent of face, Jesus more surpassing white than snow, She like the moon rising over the hills, He like the sun on the peaks of the mountains. "

All in all, there is something very satisfying about this book. Something about its 'feeling tone' lingers and sticks to you, like incense. I've dipped into it for twenty years, on and off, and always recall the story of the Christian hermit on a tiny island, shedding tears of joy for catching a fish. Its hard to feel like that in a supermarket.

A great collection

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-17

This has been one of my two or three very favorite books since it came out. I read from it almost every day. I think that anyone interested in poetry or literature or just in the human spirit should have it by their sides. It is a wonderful selection, beautifully translated. It brings out the two things I like best about Celtic literature: the intense, immediate sensitivity to nature, and the extreme importance given to individual men and women (as opposed to the great big abstractions, symbols, word games, etc., in so much of literature). The Celts seem to have remembered, more often than most people, that individual human beings matter.

Useful and enjoyable

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 1998-04-16

I've had this book for over ten years and find new things to appreciate that I'd skipped over in the past. I've used some of the shorter poems and englyn for caligraphy and needlework, and on my website. I also feel that to understand a people, it is necessary to read the literature, and this book offers a good selection.

The Chronicle of King Edward The First Surnamed Longshanks with The Life of Lluellen Rebel in Wales, with insert David and Bethsabe (Samples)

Published in Hardcover by Longshanks Books (1998-06)

Author: George Peele

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Longeshank's (Latest) Retourne

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-03

George Peele's King Edward the First Modernized & Illustrated

Peele, George. King Edward the First. Ed. G. K. Dreher. Midland, TX: Iron Horse Free Press, 1999;
ISBN: 0-9601000-7-5 (hardcover, 224 pages with illustrations).

The publication history of George Peele's chronicle play, Edward I, begins in 1593, as the Stationers' Company register tells us:

Die Octobris./. [1593] Entred for his Copie vnder thandes of bothe the wardens an enterlude entituled the Chronicle of Kinge Edward the firste surnamed Longeshank with his Retourne out of the Holye Lande, with the lyfe of Leublen Rebell in Wales with the sinkinge of Quene Elinour [.]

Alternately called Longshank, Longshanks, and Prince Longshank, Peele's Edward I was performed fourteen times by the Lord Admiral's Men between August 29, 1595, and July 14, 1596. The play's successful stage history occasioned the printing of a second edition, which appeared in 1599.

At least eleven modern editions have been published since R. Dodsley's 1827 text, the most recent of which is: King Edward the First, a retroform edited by G. K. Dreher, published by Iron Horse Free Press. Publisher George R. Dreher, son of G. K. Dreher, notes that the "aim of this edition is to provide . . . a few unriddles in the text, modern spelling and punctuation, and an introduction for readers who are not familiar with the play." Partly a celebration of Peele's life and works and partly a tribute to Dreher's father's scholarship, the volume brings together G. K. Dreher's previous editions of Peele's Edward I (Adams Press, 1974) and David and Bethsabe (Adams Press, 1980). The new edition also includes an introduction, a commentary, and 23 images: 8 medieval illustrations from the British Library, plus 1 each from the Public Records Office, Eton College, and the Beinecke Rare Book Collection (featured in Edward I); 12 illustrations from museums around the world by the artists Raphael, Michelangelo, Salviati, Rembrandt, Chapron, Berton, Beckmann, Picasso, and Chagall (featured in David and Bethsabe). Together these components fashion a useful volume for a general reading audience; indeed, this text does more than any previous edition to popularize Peele's work. Although not a critical edition, the book will perhaps be most valuable as a teaching text for undergraduate studies.

George Peele (1556-96), born in London, was one of the principal writers of chronicle history plays in the Elizabethan literary movement, which culminated in Shakespeare's Henry IV plays and Henry V. Peele was educated at Christ's Hospital, Broadgates Hall (Pembroke College), and Christ Church, Oxford where he won praise as a translator of one of the Iphigenias of Euripides. In 1580 Peele married Anne Cooke, daughter of an Oxford merchant. With Ann he returned to the environs of London in 1581 where he pursued an active literary career in association with the "University Wits", a group of playwrights that included John Lyly, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge, Thomas Nashe, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Watson. Peele's works concern courtly and patriotic themes and can be classified according to three main categories: plays, pageants, and miscellaneous verse. In 1589, in a vitriolic preface to Greene's Menaphon, Nashe suspends his condemnation of most late-sixteenth-century English writers to praise Peele as the "chiefe supporter of pleasance now living, the Atlas of Poetrie, and primus verborum Artifex" who "goeth a steppe beyond all that write." In 1592 Greene considered him "no lesse deserving" than Marlowe and Nashe; "in some things rarer, in nothing inferiour." Peele's surviving plays are: The Araygnement of Paris (1584); Edward I (1593); The Battle of Alcazar (1594); The Old Wives' Tale (1595); and David and Fair Bethsabe (1599). His miscellaneous verse includes The Tale of Troy (1589), Polyhymnia (1590) and The Honour of the Garter (1593), an epideictic poem to the Earl of Northumberland. Excerpts from Peele's writings were first anthologized in 1600 in Englands Helicon and Englands Parnassus.

Peele's Edward I combines three narratives, each announced by the original text's full title: the Chronicle of Kinge Edward the firste surnamed Longeshank with his Retourne out of the Holye Lande, with the lyfe of Leublen Rebell in Wales with the sinkinge of Quene Elinour. Peele derives the first story, the return from the Holy Land of King Edward I (1272-1307), from at least four different chronicles, but chiefly those of Grafton and Holinshed. Peele shapes his account of the life of Llywelyn (?-1282) from popular tales of Robin Hood. The third story is an unhistorical account of Queen Elinor portrayed as a divinely judged murderess. Peele subordinates the second and third narratives under the first in order to frame the play's central plot of Edward's glorious military victories over the Scots and Welsh, especially his devastating campaigns of 1277 and 1282-83 in which he conquered the Welsh principality of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd.

Edward I resounds with nationalistic pride at a time when England's victory, in 1588, over the Spanish Armada continued to fuel public celebrations. Edward's first speech in the play, for example, invokes a providential design for England's history:

O God my God, the brightnes of my daye,

How oft haft thou preferu'd thy feruant fafe, By fea and land, yea in the gates of death, O God to thee how highly am I bound, For fetting me with thefe on Englifh ground?

G. K. Dreher's modern edition standardizes the text's spelling, punctuation, and stage directions, thus achieving a very readable version:

O God, my God, the brightness of my day, How oft hast thou preserved thy servant safe, By sea and land, yea in the gates of death. O God, to thee how highly am I bound For setting me with these on English ground.

This latest return of Longeshank will certainly contribute to George Peele's popular reputation as one of the most important chronicle playwrights in Elizabethan England. In addition to Peele's Edward I, Iron Horse Free Press currently offers three other books by G. K. Dreher: Samuel Huntington, Longer Than Expected (an illustrated essay on the Presidency of Samuel Huntington, first president of The United States in Congress Assembled); Now the Dog is Quiet (a novella written in opposition to world hunger); and Ourselves & One Other (a collection of Christian devotional meditations).

New Edition Solves Riddles in the Text

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1999-06-09

Author George Peele was in a group of London playwrights, precursory to Shakespeare, known as the "university wits" as were Marlowe, Lyly, Nashe, and Greene. In 1587 Thomas Nashe called Peele "The chief supporter of pleasance now living, the Atlas of poetry, and primum verborum artifex (most excellent artist of words)," and "one who goeth a step beyond all that write." Editor George Kelsey, through extensive research of primary sources at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, has provided a retroform of KING EDWARD I, solving several riddles in the text that he discusses in the 43 page introduction covering Chronicle History Plays, Sources, Structure, Theme, Characterization, and Diction. In the special insert of DAVID AND BETHSABE (SAMPLES) Dreher juxtaposes Peele's verse with parallel Bible passages from the 1525 translation by Miles Coverdale and demonstrates that Peele worked directly from the Latin and used as sources the Psalms as well as Samuel II. Dreher offers a 35 page discussion of Peele's viewpoint, emotional involvement, and style. The book is 6 x 9, 224 pp., with color printed case, 20 illustrations from the finest museums around the world, a Foreword, Introduction, Comments, and Bibliography.

You saw the movie "Braveheart", now read about Lluellen.

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1998-10-29

George Peele (1556-1596) was evidently one of the principle writers of chronicle history plays in the movement which rose to Shakespeare's One and Two HENRY IV, and HENRY V. His experimentation in theatrical art was precursory to the work of Shakespeare. His repertoire included such forms of literature as history, melodrama, pastoral, tragedy, folk, play and pageant. His varied interests accented a desire not to be narrowly classified and a worry about poverty. While attending Oxford, Peele launched his diverse literary career and won praise as a translator of a play by Euripedes. Here he also wrote the first of his surviving works, THE TALE OF TROY (published 1589), a 485-line verse epitome of the ILLIAD. Peele joined an assembly of fellow Oxonians living just outside London, known as the "university wits." The group of playwrights (including Lyly, Greene, Nashe, and Marlowe) were experimental with poetry in various meters. In 1587, Thomas Nashe could call him "The chief supporter of pleasance now living, the Atlas of poetry, and primus verborum artifex" and as to his dexterity of wit and variety of invention one who "goeth a step beyond all that write." Peele developed his eloquent blank, or unrhymed, verse which greatly contributed to the tone of idyllic romance that later came to characterize comedy, demonstrated most in his works THE OLD WIVES TALE (1595) and THE ARAYGNMENT OF PARIS (1584). Consequently his generation looked on him as a literary giant. Eight years after THE ARAYGNMENT, Robert Greene considered him "no less deserving" than Marlowe and Nashe; "in some things rarer, in nothing inferior." EDWARD I (1593) and THE LOVE OF KING DAVID AND FAIR BETHSABE (1599) are two of only four dramatic works that certainly are the products of Peele's wit.

Edward I and Llewelyn

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-09

This was a play first published in 1593, with the theme of King Edward's struggle against the Welsh prince Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, otherwise known as Llewelyn the Last. Llewelyn was a prince of Gwynedd who adopted the style Prince of Wales in 1258 and was formally recognised in this role by King Henry III at the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Edward I became King of England in 1272 but it was only on his return from the Crusades in 1274 that he had to confront the problem of Wales. In 1277 he invaded Wales and Llewelyn was forced to pay homage. Several years of comparative peace followed but hatred of English laws and settlers caused the Welsh to rise again in 1282. The king crushed the revolt and Llewelyn was killed. These events prompted a Welsh bard to ask "Is this the end of the world?" and another to yearn "Ah God, that the sea would drown the land!".

Llewelyn is rarely mentioned in English literature so I read the play with interest. This edition is edited by the late G. K Dreher who wrote an interesting introduction and modernized the spelling and punctuation. I did not expect to find new historical insights into Llewelyn but was interested to see how he was portrayed to an Elizabethan audience. In fact, George Peele is surprisingly sympathetic in his presentation of the man who posed such a threat to the English crown. As Dreher points out, the play was written for an audience of people who "under Elizabeth were enjoying health, expansion, new knowledge, relish and hope". They were citizens of a country in the midst of becoming a great power and enjoying a cultural renaissance. Peele knew that they would sympathize with King Edward's desire to unite Britain under one monarch but would also respect the motives of the Welshman who fought for the rights and dignity of his own people.

Although practically unknown today, George Peele was highly respected by his literary contemporaries. He was an Oxford "Maister of Artes" and the play contains a sprinkling of the Latin tags and classical allusions that we expect from an educated writer of his time but my own favourite passage is a homely one:

(The Friar's novice responds to his master's command to visit town in order to buy food and wine)
"Now, master as I am true wag,
I will be neither late nor lag,
But go and come with gossip's cheer
Ere Gib our cat can lick her ear ."

This new edition of the play published by the Iron Horse Free Press in Texas.

Cicero: Brutus, Orator; Volume V (Loeb Classical Library No. 342)

Published in Hardcover by Loeb Classical Library (1939-01-01)

Author: Cicero

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Average review score:

thorough

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-17

This book is very simple to understand. I used it for a class and found it helpful. The index is very thorough and useful.

An Analysis of Ancient Advocacy

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-18

This is a review of "De Oratore" books I-II and "De Oratore" book III in the Loeb Classical Library.

Marcus Tullius Cicero may not have been the greatest trial lawyer of ancient Rome, but he is the best remembered. He wrote much on many subjects, and some of his private correspondence also survives. He did his best writing in the field of rhetoric. Although he was not an original thinker on the subject of rhetoric, "De Oratore" shows him to have had an encyclopedic practical knowledge of oratory in general and criminal trial advocacy in particular.

Cicero wrote "De Oratore" as a dialog among some of the preeminent orators of the era immediately preceding Cicero's time. The occasion is a holiday at a country villa, and the characters discuss all facets of oratory, ceremonial, judicial, and deliberative. They devote most of the discussion to judicial oratory, and their discussion reveals the trial of a Roman lawsuit to be somewhat analogous to the trial of a modern lawsuit. You have to piece it together from stray references to procedure scattered throughout the work, but it appears that a Roman trial consisted of opening statements, the taking of evidence, and final arguments. Modern trial advocacy manuals devote most of their attention to the taking of evidence, but Cicero dismisses the mechanics of presenting evidence as relatively unimportant compared to the mechanics of presenting argument.

"De Oratore" is divided into three books. The first speaks of the qualities of the orator; the second of judicial oratory, and the third of ceremonial and deliberative oratory. The modern trial lawyer would find the second book most interesting and most enlightening. A lot about trial advocacy has changed since Cicero's day (e.g. no more testimony taken under torture), but a lot hasn't.. Much of what Cicero says holds true even in the modern courtroom.

Trial lawyers cannot congregate without swapping "war stories," and Cicero's characters are no exception. They pepper their discussion with references to courtroom incidents which have such verisimilitude that they could have happened last week instead of 2,000 years ago. I have no doubt that Cicero, had he lived today, would have made a formidable trial lawyer.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of "De Oratore" consists of two volumes. Volume one contains Books I and II of "De Oratore," and volume two contains Book III along with two shorter philosphical works and "De Partitione Oratoria." "De Partitione" purports to be a discussion between Cicero and his son on oratory. "De Partitione" differs so much from "De Oratore," that many (myself included) doubt Cicero wrote it.

Trial Techniques for the Ancient Attorney

Helpful Votes: 20 out of 21 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-09

When I was in law school at the University of Florida back in the 70's, our student bar association raised money by selling "looms" on the law courses. Looms were the typed up notes of the students who made the highest grades in each of the classes. Looms were clear, concise statements of the essentials of a course without all the extraneous verbiage that creeps into didactic presentation.

"Rhetorica ad Herennium" reads like a loom. It states its points in clear, concise language without elaboration. The points are well made and highly relevant to the subject of persuasive oratory.

You might well describe "Rhetorica" as an ancient handbook on the subject of arguing a criminal case to a jury. At some trial advocacy school I attended sometime during my career as a lawyer, I learned a basic outline for delivering a final argument. You can imagine my amusement when I learned that this basic outline came from a 2,000 year old book. That isn't the only part of the book applicable to the modern courtroom.

The ancient rhetorician was to be skilled in five areas: 1. Invention: Deciding what to say. 2. Arrangment: Deciding what order to say it in. 3. Style: Saying it well. 4. Memory: Remembering what to say. 5. Delivery: The nonverbals that accompany speech.

"Rhetorica" consists of four books arranged as follows:

Books I & II cover Invention, especially as it relates to Judicial or Forensic Rhetoric, giving an analysis as timely as an article from last week's law journal. Although the technology of rhetoric has changed markedly since the days of Cicero, the general principles of rhetoric haven't changed much at all.

Book III takes up Ceremonial and Deliberative Rhetoric and also deals with Arrangement, Delivery, and Memory.

Book IV, which proves the most tedious, deals with Style.

Rhetoric for Dummies

Helpful Votes: 20 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-13

I think this is one of the best books on public speaking I have ever read. It is clear and concise. The author lays out what you are to know and do very well. I would recommend Ad Herennium to anyone. I am really glad my 10th grade Rhetoric teacher made me read this!!!

Classic English Interiors

Published in Hardcover by Rizzoli International Publications (2003-09-13)

Author: Henrietta Spencer-Churchill

List price: $50.00

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Beyond CLASSIC

Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-18

A must have reference for any professional or amature decorator. But be warned, if this is your first book by Lady Henrietta you will be hooked and will soon order her entire body of work.

Classic English Interiors

Helpful Votes: 19 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-04

Very beautiful book, I enjoy looking at it, lovely (mostly formal) drapery ideas, but for the money, I wish I could have checked it out at the library.

a MUST in ANY LIBRARY!

Helpful Votes: 23 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-07

A book of grace and perfect taste. A good book to come back to when you need another idea... end tables, curtains, carpets, furniture placement...... lovely ideas...ideas that can work in a small apartment, modest colonial or grand house..... it's the 1 book in my collection of 50 or more interior design books that I would NOT sell... it is my favorite....

Excellent photography and content!

Helpful Votes: 30 out of 33 total.
Review Date: 1998-03-11

Classic English Interiors is a great book depicting the more upper-scale homes/interiors of England. The photos are exceptionally good too. If you are contemplating using English style in your decorating scheme, this is surely a good book of information and photos.

The Claverings (Oxford World's Classics)

Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press, USA (1999-01-28)

Author: Anthony Trollope

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A Male, Victorian Version of Austen's Emma

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-19

If you enjoy seeing good, but fundamentally human and weak, characters involve themselves in rather funny, socially embarrassing positions, this is a great novel for you. I'm too feminist to rate this novel a five-Trollope's accurate portrayal of the vulnerable position of women in Victorian society unsettled me. There is no powerful, outrageous woman figure like Mrs. Proudie of "Barchester Towers"-Mrs. Proudie does get a one-line mention in the novel, however! There are some wonderful minor characters here-Archie, Sophie, and Boodles are wickedly fun. If you are a Trollope addict not yet familiar with this novel, I'd say this is a sort of happy "Small House at Allington." If you are familiar with Rousseau, you will recognize the main character Julie is Trollope's variation on "Julie ou La Nouvelle Heloise" sans the premarital or adulterous sex. If all this is mumbo-jumbo to you, the book is a wonderful depiction of Victorian life featuring a love triangle.

The Usual Trollope the Great

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 1999-01-31

Since its first appearance in 1867, this novel has been acclaimed as one of Trollope's most successful portrayals of mid-Victorian life. A novel of conflicting choices in love, often accounted one of Trollope's best, but I still prefer the wicked THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS.

A MUST FOR TROLLOPE FANS

Helpful Votes: 23 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-30

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF ANTHONY TROLLOPE, DO NOT OVERLOOK "THE CLAVERINGS".

"THE CLAVERINGS" MAIN PLOT CONCERNS A YOUNG WOMAN WHO GIVES UP THE MAN SHE LOVES - AND WHO LOVES HER - TO MARRY AN OLD, VERY RICH, UPPER CLASS GENTLEMAN. THE MARRIAGE IS A MISERABLE FAILURE, BUT LUCKILY THE OLD GENTLEMAN DIES, LEAVING ALL OF HIS FORTUNE AND PROPERTY TO HIS YOUNG WIFE. IN THIS MARRIAGE, THE WIFE'S REPUTATION IS ALSO SULLIED BY RUMORS THAT SHE IS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH ANOTHER MAN.

WHEN THE YOUNG WOMAN FINDS HERSELF A WEALTHY WIDOW, SHE DISCOVERS THAT SHE IS UNABLE TO ENJOY HER WEALTH AND TITLE DUE TO THE SLANDEROUS RUMORS THAT BESMIRCH HER CHARACTER. HER WEALTH BRINGS HER NO JOY AS SHE IS ALONE AND SOCIALLY RUINED. SHE THUS BEGINS A CAMPAIGN TO WIN BACK HER FIRST LOVE WHOM SHE WISHES TO SHOWER WITH HER RICHES.PERHAPS THEN SHE WILL FIND HAPPINESS AND RESTORE HER TARNISHED REPUTATION.

IN THE MEANTIME, HER YOUNG MAN WHO TRULY LOVED HER HAS BECOME ENGAGED TO ANOTHER FAR LESS HANDSOME AND QUITE POOR WOMAN.

THE MAIN ACTION OF THE BOOK REVOLVES AROUND THE RELATIONSHIP THAT DEVELOPS BETWEEN THE ENGAGED YOUNG MAN WHO CANNOT TELL HIS PAST LOVE THAT HE IS NOW ENGAGED, AND THE NEWLY WIDOWED WOMEN WHO IS UNAWARE OF HIS ENGAGEMENT AND ATTEMPTING TO WIN HIM BACK.

AS IN ALL OF TROLLOPE'S BOOKS, THERE ARE MANY SIDE PLOTS THAT ARE EQUALLY AS PSYCHOLOGICALLY INTERESTING.

ANTHONY TROLLOP DELVES INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ALL HIS CHARACTERS. IT IS NOT AN 'ACTION' BOOK BUT A STUDY OF LOVE AND GREED AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES.

I IMMENSELY ENJOYED THIS BOOK.

So, you think you've read everything Trollope has to offer...

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-25

...I know I did. After being set onto Phineas Finn a year or two ago, I have been unable to stop a frantic Trollope binge-reading. I thought, however, that I had (unfortunately) read everything Trollope had written, but stumbled across this one.

It is absolutely wonderful. I'm not sure anyone does love triangles as well as Trollope, and The Claverings offers one of his best yet (Harry, Julia, and Florence). Trollope sets it up such that the reader isn't quite sure where Harry's heart should lie in the end (I, for one, wanted Trollope to pull a Phineas Redux and have Harry end up with "Madame Max." But he doesn't, for many good reasons, none of which will make you feel that it couldn't have ended up well with...well, I won't give away the story.)

Needless to say, The Claverings is more than a love story, in classic Trollope fashion. At its most profound, it's a difficult soul-searching of what matters most in life, and how best to get there. And, unlike many of Trollope's other works, he doesn't leave a clear safety net under his characters - you really aren't sure things are going to work out, after all.

I would heartily recommend this to anyone who is either an old Trollope pro or someone wanting to get a taste of Trollope for the first time. Perhaps you, like me, will find the world of Trollope to be rich and worthy of a year or two of your free time.

CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer

Published in Paperback by Cliffs Notes (2000-06-19)

Author: Daniel Moran

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Essential companion for the book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-17

Anyone who has had to read either of these titles for school knows that teachers find a lot more in them than first meets the eye. Cliff Notes are a great way to gain insight into books and get a feel for the various interpretations. NOTE TO STUDENTS: You still have to read the book, folks. This just helps you understand it.

CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11

Reviewing CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer is an excellent way to delve into the novel before reading the novel. Cliffsnotes provides background information about the author Joseph Conrad and summative narratives of the book.

Cliffsnotes helps the reader understand the plot and subplots of the novel as well as a hint about the motives of the characters involved in the conflict.

Fine guide, concise, well written

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-29

This Cliff Notes guide provides a clear and concise analysis and discussion of the famous Conrad short novel. The author discusses Conrad's personal background as it relates to the story, and the characters, themes, plot elements, the social and cultural views and philosophy of the author, and many other aspects of the book in an easy to understand way.

Conrad is one of the few novelists, which include Melville, Tolstoy, Dostoevski, Lawrence Stern, and Jonathan Swift, whose work continues to impress me and has aged well as I've moved into my more mature years. Partly this is because of the dark themes he treats, such as the violence and cruelty and savagery lurking just below the thin veneer of civilization, the brooding and melancholy power of his prose, and partly because English wasn't even his native language--he even learned it as an adult on shipboard.

Heart of Darkness is one Conrad's shortest but greatest works in this sense, and after having read it in high school, I recently reacquainted myself with it after 30 years. I was just as impressed as I was back then. Most readers and movie fans will know the story's influence on Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," which is many ways a tribute to the Conrad book. This is a great book by one of history's greatest authors whose themes continue to resonate today. All an observant and intelligent individual has to do today to realize that Conrad was right about man's innermost nature and that we have not progressed at all in the last 10,000 years of "civilized history" is to look at the current sad state of the world and of humanity in general.

We are reviewing the "notes" not the book or movie

Helpful Votes: 19 out of 25 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-06

I could not stand reading or watching anything about Vietnam for about 10 years. I eventually watched the movie " Apocalypse Now" I found it interesting but it did not relate to anything in the central highlands. Later I saw "Pork Lips Now" and could relate this to the movie. Finally someone told me that the whole thing was based on "Heart of Darkness " ISBN: 0486264645. So I decided to read the book. I found it fascinating and much better than the movie. However I could not see the forest of the trees and needed some help in showing me what I was looking at. Because I was not in some school class, I turned to the "Cliffs Notes" Of course my views don't match the notes exactly but they gave me some questions to ask and showed me the forest. The notes include:

· Life of the Author

· Introductions to the Novel

· Lists of Characters

· Brief Plot Synopses

· Summaries & Critical Commentaries

· Critical Essay

· Suggested Essay Topics

· Selected Bibliography

Later I found a movie that was much closer to the original story,

"Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988)

Collected Shorter Fiction - Volume 2

Published in Hardcover by Everyman's Library (2001-08-07)

Author: Leo Tolstoy

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Wonderful Stories

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-25

Both these volumes are a treasure. Volume 2 contains much of Tolstoy's later short works that emphasize a Christian simplicity. The Stories incude the famous "Where Love Is, God Is" sometimes refered to as Martin the Cobbler, as well as "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", "The Kruezer Sonata", and "The Death of Ivan Ilych", among many others. These stories are thought provoking and a joy to read.

Tolstoy's Collected Shorter Fiction-Vol. 2

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-22

This is an excellent translation of some of Tolstoy's shorter fiction. The binding is also excellent, which makes this particular collection a wonderful gift to someone who enjoys Tolstoy, or a delicious treasure to savor for oneself. For those who can be intimidated by the longer (much longer) works, this is a fine introduction to Tolstoy's voice and worldview. I recommend this edition unreservedly.

TOLSTOY, THE IMMORTAL STORYTELLER!!!!!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-05

What a beautiful set of volumes!! All of Leo Tolstoy's great, great shorter works all in one two volume set! Leo Tolstoy was a perfect storyteller. When you look at a photo or portrait of Tolstoy in his later years, you see that lovable, wise old man who, when he is not helping others, sits on an old chair in the corner of the tavern, attracting all that pass by with his beautiful tales. He has touched many with his two great novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), he has touched even more with his wonderful short stories. When you start reading these lovely short stories, you can just see that lovable image of the wise old Tolstoy telling a story, with his shaggy, long white beard, and his friendly eyes with a laughing fire in them burning out from beneath the bushy eyebrows smiling down at you, a small child, laughing on his knee.

He was the perfect novelist, reveared by many, equally great and legendary. In his time, Dostoyevsky called him, "The greatest living novelist." Virginia Woolf referred to Tolstoy as follows, "There remains the greatest of all novelists, for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?!"

Tolstoy's short stories usually have a moral in it such as the lovely short story, "Where Love is, God is." In that, there is a lonely old cobbler named Martin who finds God in the good deeds he does and is reminded of God's love for man.

This two volume set is not perfect as it does not have Tolstoy's early 1862 masterpiece, The Cossacks. I guess that was just too big to fit into the Collected SHORTER Fiction.

That is only a minor quibble. The beauty and marvel frothing and bubbling from the other stories in this precious set dwarf that complaint and make this reviewer forget of having even thought about mentioning it at all.

Buy this set. You will treasure it for the rest of your days and will always look forward to pulling out one of these two volumes off your shelf, blowing off the dust and partaking in the magic of Tolstoy, the wise old storyteller.

A NICE ACCESSIBLE EDITION OF TOLSTOY'S SHORT FICTION

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-03

This is a really handsome book and with it's companion (vol. 2) makes a great addition to world lit. on your bookshelf. Some stories are novellas and some are only a page or two long but they're all artfully written and come from old established translations from late 19th century/early 20th. For anyone who wants to tackle WAR AND PEACE or ANNA KARENINA they should read a little of Tolstoy's more accessible short works and they can't go wrong here. My only complaint (and this goes for all Everyman series books) is that the text printed on the other side is annoyingly visible making reading a bit of a chore. This is a major blunder for any series of books purporting to capture the world's best literature but if you can ignore this (or at least get used to it) this would be a smart purchase because the price is right (if you buy it here).

The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. 2: St. Francis of Assisi, the Everlasting Man, St. Thomas Aquinas (Collected Works of Gk Chesterton)

Published in Hardcover by Ignatius Press (1986-12)

Author: G. K. Chesterton

List price: $39.95

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Average review score:

Chesterton's most important works

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-31

This volume contains the most important works of G. K. Chesterton, his study of St. Francis, his study of St. Thomas Aquinas, and _The Everlasting Man_.

I have chosen the word "study" rather than biography deliberately. Readers looking to find a strict chronological account of St. Francis or St. Thomas according to the modern or postmodern canons of historiography should look elsewhere. What Chesterton does is get you at the heart of these two saints. He tells you what they were all about. He is somehow able to convey to his readers the very air that these saints breathed.

And then there is _The Everlasting Man_. While it is hard to characterize, this is Chesterton's best work. Period. Written as an answer to H. G. Wells's _Outline of History_, Chesterton gets at what is most important in human history: the fact that God became Man in Jesus Christ. It really is an incredible book.

Chesterton had an amazing knack to cut to the heart of the matter. If you want to see what St. Francis or St. Thomas were all about, or to appreciate more the Lord who inspired these saints, I would highly recommend this book.

powerful and passionate apologetics

Helpful Votes: 19 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-14

If you're a Catholic Christian and want to appreciate your faith more, these books will serve you well. If you're not Catholic or Christian and wish to encounter the most persuasive apologetics, this is an excellent place to start.

Chesterton is a wonderful writer. A poet by nature, Chesterton focuses on the material and concrete in ways that seems both paradoxical and wondrous. In "Saint Francis of Assisi," Chesterton takes the most popular saint, and presents all those details that really make us modern secularists most uncomfortable with him. In another book here, he links St. Thomas Aquinas to Francis, showing that, despite their vast differences in temperament, they both strove to save and present the goodness of creation and nature and to rebuke (in word or action) those who would hold the bodily in disdain.

In a sense, the biographies here are more than biographies. They're filled with diversions, and those diversions all point in the direction of the remaining book, "The Everlasting Man," which is presented between the other two. The central point here is that the Incarnation is the central event of human history; it allows us to joyously celebrate the good of creation and nature, as God has blessed matter with His very being.

Also, Chesterton is a real pleasure to read, as this passage shows: "One of my first journalistic adventures, or misadventures, concerned a comment on Grant Allen, who had written a book about the Evolution of the Idea of God. I happened to remark that it would be much more interesting if God wrote a book about the evolution of the idea of Grant Allen."

His wit shines in the conclusion of this anecdote. To his bemusement, his editor castigates *him* for being blasphemous. "In that hour I learned many things, including the fact that there is something purely acoustic in much of that agnostic sort of reverence. The editor had not seen the point, because in the title of the book the long word came at the beginning and the short word at the end; whereas in my comments the short word came at the beginning and gave him a sort of shock. I have noticed that if you put a word like God into the same sentence with a word like dog, these abrupt and angular words affect people like pistol-shots. Whether you say that God made the dog or the dog made God does not seem to matter; that is only one of the sterile disputations of the too subtle theologians. But so long as you begin with a long word like evolution the rest will roll harmlessly past; very probably the editor had not read the whole of the title, for it is rather a long title and he was rather a busy man."

First Rate Apologetics

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-25

Chesterton is one of those rare intellects who says things which actually change your perception of the world and alters the way you think. The Everlasting Man is a great book in so many ways. First, as in all books in this volume, TEM is great apologetics. Chesterton challenges arguments in favor of evolution and atheism. He is a tremendously gifted arguer. He has the ability to control an argument, direct where it's going, and reserve his judgment and wisdom until the very last sentence in such a way whereas the reader is more or less at his mercy. Many times, Chesterton was so convincing playing the devil's advocate (when he was giving the opponents arguments), I found myself acknowledging how legitimate some of the evolution's or atheist's points were...until Chesterton demolished all the psuedo-argument he had presented as their opinions as misguided argument or unsound thinking.

The book on Thomas Acquinas is invaluable as well. While only the surface of some of Acquinas' arguments are covered, the ones which are covered are the most powerful and relevant. Also, this serves as a simple, yet very thorough, biography of Acquinas' life.

Chesterton is a deep thinker, but he is also very practical and common sensical. No one can ever accuse him of bringing up irrelevant points or creating unclear argument. He says everything he means to say, nothing more or less.

If you are interested in apologetics and in reading a book which has influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and not to mention countless other thinkers and writers, you should buy this book. And it's a great deal too.

Three brilliant books

Helpful Votes: 27 out of 27 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-19

Ignatius Press has done the world a great favor by releasing their "Collected Works of Chesterton" series. If you can only afford three volumes, get # 1, 2, and 6. If you can only afford one volume, it should be # 2.

Chesterton's book on St Francis is wonderful. Unlike most modern books, it places Francis squarely in Christianity. (Many contemporary books on Francis portray him as a 13th-century hippie, which would have astounded the devout friar!)

The book on Thomas Aquinas is simply the best biography of him ever, and many noted Thomists have agreed with this sentiment.

But "The Everlasting Man" is the true pinnacle of Chesterton's amazing output. In one book he puts "comparative religion" into a new and brilliant perspective. C.S. Lewis listed "Everlasting Man" as one of the reasons he became a Christian, and it really will floor you.

(If you are short on funds you can always buy Everlasting Man as a single volume, too!)

English Classics Books