The Library of America – serie

THE PURR-FECT GIFT FOR CAT LOVERS: Discover the literary legend's quirky and winsome cat poems, meditations, and drawings Includes the hard-to-find The Art of Bunditsu, plus 30+ other delights from a lifetime of reflection on the mystery and magic of cats"The presence of a cat keeps me in touch with the mystery, the unreasonableness, the beauty, the stubborn wildness of the nonhuman world." In her life as in her art, Ursula K. Le Guin was fascinated by the feline. This irresistable book about cats gathers poems, meditations, and drawings dedicated to the complicated creature that captured her imagination. Here are:The Art of Bunditsu, Le Guin's hard-to-find “tabbist” meditation on the arranging of cats26 cat poems, many illustrated by Le Guin herselfThe Historic First Issue! of Le Guin's one-of-a-kind cat comic book, Supermouse Comix! Cat Correspondence: letters between Le Guin’s cat and those of her daughter detailing the Five Deliberations that cats spend their lives studyingCat Tai Chi, as depicted in a charming series of drawingsA first-of-its-kind collection from a science fiction legend, this delightful purr-purri is a gift for cat lovers and Le Guin fans!

Gathered together for the first time, Walt Whitman's urgently needed prose writings on the democratic spirit and the soul of the nation. 12 short works encapsulate the American Bard's fiery passions and timeless wisdom for today.Here for the first time in a convenient pocket edition are all of Walt Whitman’s essential prose writings on democracy, including his unforgettable reflections on the roots on American division, the fearful legacy of the Civil War, and shining example of Abraham Lincoln. Few writers have been as harsh in their condemnation of America’s sins and spiritual shortcomings or as abiding in his faith in democratic ideals as Whitman. His clarion voice speaks to us with renewed urgency today.Gathered here are:“The Eighteenth Presidency!,” written during the 1856 presidential campaign, in which Whitman expresses his rage over the immediate prospects for American democracyDemocratic Vistas (1871), in which he dramatizes his role as poet-prophet of a better Americathe searing essay “Origins of Attempted Secession” and shorter extracts on democracy from the classic book Specimen Days (1882).In his introduction, acclaimed political observer David Bromwich examines Whitman’s political prose writings and highlights why they matter today.

INDEPENDENCE WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING: A historian and former presidential speechwriter traces the origins and legacy of the words and ideas that made America. Illustrations and close readings of 68 original texts offer new insights on the American Revolution, the Civil War, and other key moments and figures in American history.We hold these truths to be self-evident . . . all men are created equal . . . with certain inalienable rights . . .  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 250 years after they were written, these words remain at once familiar and startling. What do they mean to us today? Do we understand them in the same way the Founders did? Historian and former presidential speechwriter Ted Widmer seeks to answer these questions by returning to where the nation’s story began, the Declaration of Independence, to trace the remarkable history of how it came to be and how it has shaped the democratic aspirations of Americans and others for more than two centuries.  Weaving together more than sixty fascinating original texts, Widmer finds in the words of succeeding generations of Americans—radicals and conservatives, revolutionary insurgents and civil rights leaders, presidents and philosophers—the key to understanding the extraordinary durability of America’s founding ideas.An expert guide, Widmer introduces us to: the revolutionary writings that set the stage for the Declaration Noah Webster, of dictionary fame, offering a surprising definition of “equality”the true story of a fake declaration of independence “discovered” in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, in 1819 searing challenges to the Declaration’s philosophical claims by Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton radically divergent readings of the Declaration that contributed to the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln’s vision of a “new birth of freedom”the ways in which the Declaration inspired civil rights activists in the twentieth and twenty-first centurieshow the Declaration inspired democratic aspirations globally.The voices gathered here are impassioned and often disagree, but they are united in the belief that the Declaration has something crucial to tell us about the American people and the larger struggle for human freedom. “They speak to us,” Widmer writes, “and they talk to each other as well, in a conversation that will never end.”

100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: A richly illustrated, full-color, clothbound celebration of the novel that established Hemingway as the preeminent voice of the Lost Generation Rediscover a literary masterpiece through illuminating commentary that brings its colorful world to vivid lifeThe Sun Also Rises is the novel that established Hemingway as the preeminent voice of the Lost Generation. Now, rediscover this classic work in a fully illustrated annotated centenary edition that features Library of America’s authoritative corrected text, including an introduction by The New Yorker's Adam Gopnik, some 140 illustrations and photographs, and more than 200 fascinating marginal notes.Drawn from the authoritative Library of America edition of Hemingway’s writings, this deluxe edition features: The novel’s original opening two chapters from his typescript, cut at the strong urging of his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald. A selection of letters from Hemingway to Maxwell Perkins, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others that concern the composition, editing, and publication of The Sun Also Rises.Other special features include an introduction by Adam Gopnik and a detailed chronology of Hemingway’s life and career. Throughout, Hemingway scholar Robert W. Trogdon offers fascinating insight into the novel's historical and biographical contexts, language, literary allusions, and contemporary references. The large cast of expat figures whom Hemingway fictionalizes in his book, the setting of 1920s Paris and Spain, the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, and, of course, bullfighting, as well as the novel’s rich cultural afterlife, are brought vividly to life as never before. The new, corrected text of the novel fixes numerous errors, restoring key changes made to his original punctuation—most notably in the novel’s famous final lines—to bring us closer than ever before to the groundbreaking modernist work Hemingway envisioned.

REDISCOVER THIS BELOVED COLLECTION of James Thurber's best tales and drawings about dogs and their men, women, and children in 24 stories, profiles, and essays. “Only a few books have stayed with me through all the moves and upheavals of adult life, but Thurber’s Dogs is one of them, and it will stay with me to the end.”—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post“The dog has got more fun out of Man than Man has got out of the dog, for the clearly demonstrable reason that Man is the more laughable of the two animals,” writes James Thurber in the introduction to this collection of his best writings and drawings about the unpredictable and often inexplicable relationships between dogs and their men, women, and children. In two dozen stories and essays and six sequences of drawings, he honors the dogs, real and imaginary, that have populated his life and work. Included in Thurber’s Dogs:Thurber’s first published story features Josephine, the bull terrier that didn’t seem to live up to a couple’s expectations—until they regretted giving her away and resorted to extreme measures to get her back. “The Dog Who Bit People” remembers Muggs the Airedale, a dog that gave Thurber “more trouble than all the other fifty-four or -five put together” yet somehow found an impeccable ally in Thurber’s mother. Several pieces recall the Scottish terrier Jeannie, another troublemaker, who delighted in wandering off and implanting herself in the homes, parties, and picnics of other families. Rex, the noble pit bull from Thurber’s childhood, developed the perplexing habit of bringing home large pieces of furniture and the gates from the gardens of neighbors’ yards. Blaze, an English mastiff, received preferential treatment on a military plane—and the resulting scandal dominated headlines and hilariously plunged Franklin Roosevelt’s administration into crisis mode. Among the selections available only in this volume are essays defending the reputations of poodles and bloodhounds, two breeds Thurber believed were largely misunderstood and underappreciated.This iconic collection of Thurber’s funniest and most delightful dog cartoons and writings is a must have for dog lovers.

The Library of America presents its authoritative two-volume edition of America's most provocative critic in a deluxe collector's boxed set. Includes Against Interpretation, On Photography, Regarding the Pain of Others, and 6 other classic Sontag collections.Susan Sontag was an incandescent presence in American culture, whether as essayist, fiction writer, filmmaker, or political activist. As a critic, she became the most provocative and influential voice of her time. More than a commentator on her era, she helped shape it.Here for the first time is Library of America's authoritative two-volume edition of Susan Sontag's brilliant essays in deluxe collector's boxed set. Includes 9 complete collections and six uncollected essays:Vollume I: Essays of the 1960s & 70sAgainst Interpretation • Styles of Radical Will • On Photography • Illness as Metaphor • uncollected essays Volume II: Later EssaysUnder the Sign of Saturn • AIDS and Its Metaphors • Where the Stress Falls • Regarding the Pain of Others • At the Same TimeEach cloth hardcover volume comes complete with helpful annotation,  detailed textual essays, and a chronology of Sontag's remarkable life and career prepared by her son, the writer David Rieff.