See this at: doubtaboutwill.org| Added on 09/08/07

The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition runs this website so anyone who cares about Shakespeare, as we do, can easily see why his identity has long been in doubt, and sign a definitive declaration addressing the issue — the Declaration of Reasonable... See more

The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition runs this website so anyone who cares about Shakespeare, as we do, can easily see why his identity has long been in doubt, and sign a definitive declaration addressing the issue — the Declaration of Reasonable Doubt About the Identity of William Shakespeare, located on this site. We have nothing against the man from Stratford-on-Avon, but we doubt that he was the author of the works. Our goal is to legitimize the issue in academia so students, teachers and professors can feel free to pursue it. This is necessary because the issue is widely viewed as settled in academia and is treated as a taboo subject. We believe that an open-minded examination of the evidence shows that the issue should be taken seriously. Your signature on the Declaration will help us make the case that there is reasonable doubt about the author. The Declaration was written not just to advocate, but also to educate. It provides an introduction to the issue. Many scholars with... See less

See this at: amazon.com| Added on 08/03/07

The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors.

The Shocking True Stories History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors. See less

Highlights: The subject is a bit shallow, perhaps, but Farquahar's writing is hilarious and you must admit, it's fun. His stories are well researched and accurate portrayals of some shocking, dirty, horrendous, and often VERY funny escapades in the lives of prominent European rulers down through the...

See this at: amazon.com| Added on 08/03/07

Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing.

Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Fathers and Others Who Let Freedom Swing. See less

Highlights: Many of the scandals referred to in Farquhar's title are familiar (Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton's duel; Ben Franklin's animosity toward his son; Robert Lincoln's commitment of his mother to an insane asylum, but there are quite a few that strike a cord. Thomas Jefferson's brother...

See this at: amazon.com| Added on 08/01/07

Both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are literary superstars, known around the world as the creators of Middle-earth and Narnia. But few of their readers and fans know about the important and complex friendship between Tolkien and his fellow Oxford academic... See more

Both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are literary superstars, known around the world as the creators of Middle-earth and Narnia. But few of their readers and fans know about the important and complex friendship between Tolkien and his fellow Oxford academic C.S. Lewis. Without the persistent encouragement of his friend, Tolkien would never have completed The Lord of the Rings. This great tale, along with the connected matter of The Silmarillion, would have remained merely a private hobby. Likewise, all of Lewis' fiction, after the two met at Oxford University in 1926, bears the mark of Tolkien's influence, whether in names he used or in the creation of convincing fantasy worlds. They quickly discovered their affinity--a love of language and the imagination, a wide reading in northern myth and fairy tale, a desire to write stories themselves in both poetry and prose. Both Tolkien and Lewis were central figures in the informal Oxford literary circle, the Inklings. This book explores their lives,... See less

Highlights: "Two boys crouch on the edge of a Birmingham railway embankment, half hidden in the wild plenty of its flowers and grasses."

See this at: fantasticfiction.co....| Added on 08/03/07

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after World War II. They drank beer on Tuesdays in the "Bird and Baby" and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis's Magdalen College rooms... See more

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after World War II. They drank beer on Tuesdays in the "Bird and Baby" and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis's Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing: jokingly they called themselves "The Inklings". C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced "The Screwtape Letters" and "The Lord of the Rings" to an audience in this company. This biography draws upon unpublished letters and diaries to tell their story. See less

Highlights: Also, on this page is a bibliography of Charles Williams's books, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability.

See this at: amazon.com| Added on 08/03/07

Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College, home of the Wade center, the largest collection of original Lewis writings and extant works in the world (as well as the inspirational wardrobe and Lewis' Beer mug). It shows. It becomes obvious... See more

Alan Jacobs is an English professor at Wheaton College, home of the Wade center, the largest collection of original Lewis writings and extant works in the world (as well as the inspirational wardrobe and Lewis' Beer mug). It shows. It becomes obvious early on in this text that he is intimately familiar with Lewis's writings and letters. It is robust and well documented while being readable and interesting and well worth the pages. I brought it with me on a recent visit to Oxford and found it made the university come alive with the formidable specters of Lewis, Tolkein and Charles Williams. See less

Highlights: First Sentence: When Clive Staples Lewis was four years old, in 1902 or 1903, he quite suddenly announced to his mother, father, and older brother that from that day forth he would no longer be known as Clive, but rather as "Jacksie."

See this at: amazon.com| Added on 08/01/07

If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a... See more

If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cache of yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of the book are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressed to: "My dear and unfortunate successor." When the girl confronts her father, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out to concern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search was a fellow student named Helen Rossi (the... See less

Highlights: A movie is in production

See this at: npr.org| Added on 08/03/07

Fresh Air - A novel about vampires prowling around dark forests and damp crypts in Central Europe may not seem like ideal summertime reading, but The...

See this at: manybooks.net| Added on 12/08/07

Browse through the most popular titles, recommendations, or recent reviews from our visitors. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the special collections. There are 19,053 eBooks available here and they're all free! Recent Additions to the... See more

Browse through the most popular titles, recommendations, or recent reviews from our visitors. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the special collections. There are 19,053 eBooks available here and they're all free! Recent Additions to the library. See less